The Hardened Heart, Part 2

[Study Aired May 20, 2026]

Introduction

In Part 1 we established the foundation. Scripture’s vocabulary of hardening — kabad, chazaq, qashah, sklērunō, pōroō — maps a condition with multiple dimensions: the weighted sluggishness, the fixed resistance, the active opposition, the dried brittleness, the calcified unresponsiveness. We saw that this condition is not a fall from an original state of spiritual receptivity but the constitutive starting condition of all humanity — the natural first stage of God’s two-part design, subjected to vanity in hope of what would follow. We traced the conformity principle of Psalm 115: the worshiper becomes like what they trust, and God uses that conformity as His diagnostic hand upon the creature, revealing exactly where we stand in the lifelong process of knowing Him. “Life eternal is knowing God — and Jesus Christ whom He has sent” (John 17:3). Hardening is the condition of not-yet-knowing, worked by God through every dimension of human experience toward the liberation He ordained from before the foundation of the world. With that foundation established, we now turn to examine how God’s sovereign hand operates in practice.

God’s Sovereign Hand — Pharaoh and the Pattern of Divine Agency

No passage in Scripture has generated more theological friction on this subject than the Exodus hardening narrative — and rightly so, because it contains the fullest biblical portrait of how God’s agency and human action relate within the hardening process. A careful reading of the sequence is essential before any conclusion can be reached.

God’s announcement comes before any interaction with Pharaoh: “And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21). The divine intention is declared first. Yet when we trace the actual sequence through Exodus 8 and 9, we find that Pharaoh hardens his own heart before God’s active hardening is specifically recorded: “But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his own heart” (Exodus 8:15), and again, “Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also” (Exodus 8:32). Only at Exodus 9:12 does the text record that “the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh.”

This sequence does not contradict God’s sovereignty — it reveals its depth. Proverbs 21:1 provides the governing image: “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” A river does not stop being a river. It flows according to its own nature, following its own channels. God does not change what the river is. He turns it where He wills. Pharaoh acts according to his own heart’s condition — that condition was already known and declared in Exodus 4:21 — and God directs those actions toward His sovereign purpose. Romans 9:17 makes the telic dimension explicit: “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.” The Greek exēgeira — I raised you up, I positioned you — describes deliberate sovereign placement, not reaction. And Romans 9:18 draws the universal conclusion: “Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.”

Acts 4:27-28 confirms that this pattern extends beyond Pharaoh to encompass all of human history: “For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” Every agent acted according to the condition of their own heart. Every action served what God’s counsel had determined. Neither truth cancels the other. The river flows as a river; God turns it where He will.

Romans 1:18-32 maps the progressive structure of this divine working with architectural precision. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” Paul describes three stages of human rejection — failing to glorify God, exchanging truth for a lie, refusing to retain God in knowledge — each followed by the same judicial action: God gave them over (Greek: paredōken, G3860). This term is drawn from judicial proceedings: a judge releasing a prisoner to the consequences they have chosen. Each stage of human exchange is met with divine ratification, which opens the door to a deeper stage of exchange. The hardening is not God imposing a condition alien to the creature; it is God confirming and making visible the condition the creature has been choosing. Proverbs 1:20-30 describes the terminal point of this process: “How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity [same Hebrew word translated destruction below]; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.”  When Wisdom has called and man has refused, a moment comes when the refused call itself becomes the judgment — “Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer.” Genesis 6:3 names this threshold from God’s own perspective: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” The striving of the Spirit defines the period in which the way of escape remains open. When striving ceases, the condition is ratified.

The Way of Escape — Not Around but Through

We return now to 1 Corinthians 10:13 with the full weight of the framework in place. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Three elements in this promise deserve careful attention when read within the framework of hardening as God’s diagnostic and purposeful hand.

First, every temptation is common to man — the Greek anthrōpinos, human, belonging to the nature of man. This is precisely the language of constitution, of the natural first stage. The temptations that produce hardening — the pull toward idol conformity, the inclination to suppress the knowledge of God — are not exceptional intrusions from outside humanity’s condition. They belong to it. They are the experiences native to the first stage, which God has subjected the creature to in hope.

Second, God is faithful — pistos, trustworthy, reliable. This faithfulness operates within the hardening process, not outside it. The God who hardens Pharaoh is the same God who declares Himself faithful to those in Corinth. His faithfulness does not suspend hardening; it governs it, calibrates it, and ensures that the measure of trial never exceeds what the creature can bear in the stage they occupy.

Third — and this is where the framework transforms our reading entirely — the way of escape is not an exit door that bypasses the furnace. Deuteronomy 8:2 defines what God’s leading through temptation actually accomplishes: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” God led them. The forty years of wilderness trial was not an accident, nor was it divine abandonment. It was the proving — the revealing of what was in the heart. The hardness was being diagnosed, exposed, named. The proving was itself the way of escape, because a condition that cannot be named cannot be healed.

The escape, fully understood, is the mind of Christ given through the experience of what we cannot bear on our own. “For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). What the natural man cannot receive — what the soulish constitution cannot generate from within itself — God gives through the very experience of the furnace. The trial reveals the poverty of the natural mind. The revelation of that poverty creates the hunger. The hunger is the threshold. And at that threshold, the way of escape appears — not as an exit from the process, but as the transformation the process was always designed to produce. God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:9) — and the discovery that our ways cannot sustain us is precisely the moment when His ways become not merely necessary but desired. The way of escape is the new birth approached from the inside of the furnace: “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again” (John 3:7).

The Destroyer — Spiritual Agents Within the Sovereign Plan

Paul’s reference in 1 Corinthians 10:10 to “the destroyer” (Greek: olothreutes, G3644) opens a dimension of the hardening subject that most treatments either ignore or misread. The destroyer is not a rogue power operating against God’s purposes. Scripture is unmistakable on this point: God created the destroyer for precisely this function.

Isaiah 54:16 states it directly: “Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.” The waster — the destroyer — is God’s creation, made for His instrumental purpose. Job 1:12 shows God exercising precise governance over this agent: “And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.” God does not permit the destroyer access so much as He releases His grip selectively, determining both what the destroyer may touch and what remains beyond reach. Job 2:6 adjusts the boundary further without removing God’s governance: “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” The destroyer is held in God’s hand. When God loosens His grip, the destroyer operates. The boundary is God’s, not the destroyer’s.

Revelation 20:1 depicts the architectural picture: an angel holding the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. The language of binding and loosing — which echoes through Matthew 16:19, Matthew 18:18, and the apocalyptic imagery of Revelation — consistently places the authority over spiritual agents in God’s hands alone. What is bound is bound because God binds it. What is loosed is loosed because God loosens it. The destroyer’s range of operation is entirely determined by the One who created it.

Hebrews 2:14 identifies what the destroyer holds power over: “that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The power of death — the condition of not knowing God — is the domain in which the destroyer operates. “For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten” (Ecclesiastes 9:5). John 17:3 defines life eternal as knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Death, therefore, is the condition of not-knowing, and the destroyer is the agent that operates within that condition, making it fully experiential and inescapable in its consequences. The destroyer teaches us what death is — from the inside. As the physical is a type of the spiritual, so physical death — knowing nothing — mirrors the spiritual condition of not yet knowing God.

This is why Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 5:5 is not a contradiction but a completion: “deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved.” The destroyer’s work — the destruction of the flesh, the dissolution of what cannot enter the spiritual stage — is not the end. It is the necessary means. The old man, the natural/carnal condition of the first stage, cannot carry us into what God has ordained for the second stage. What must be destroyed is the confidence in the earthy that prevents the emergence of the heavenly. 1Timothy 1:20 confirms the instructive purpose: Paul delivers Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan “that they may learn not to blaspheme.” The destroyer, in God’s sovereign deployment, is a teacher. Its classroom is painful. Its lesson is irreplaceable.

The Destination — Not Destruction but Liberation

Every thread we have followed converges on the same point. The hardening of the human heart — from its created starting condition to the divine revealing of it, from the conformity principle of Psalm 115 to the progressive ratification of Romans 1, from the destroyer’s necessary work to the way of escape through the mind of Christ — all of it serves a single sovereign destination that Romans 8:21 names without qualification: “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

Paul declares in Romans 11:32 the scope of this purpose: “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” This verse is architecturally stunning. God has enclosed — the Greek synekleisen, shut up together, as in a prison — all in unbelief. The hardening is universal. And the mercy that follows is equally universal in its target. Israel’s hardening served Gentile liberation (Romans 11:11). Gentile liberation was designed to provoke Israel’s jealousy (Romans 11:14). Israel’s jealousy points toward Israel’s own liberation (Romans 11:26). Every hardening is a stage within the liberation process — not a destination in itself, but a door through which God is working His singular purpose. “I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:11-15).

Romans 11:11 uses a word for Israel’s stumbling — paraptōma, a false step — that Paul immediately clarifies is not a final fall: “Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles.” The stumbling is purposive. The hardening is instrumental. John 12:24 names the underlying principle that governs the whole: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The hardening is the seed falling into the ground. The death it brings is the death of what cannot enter the Kingdom. The fruit is the life that God designed from before the foundation of the world. The seed does not fall accidentally. The Sower places it.

Joseph’s words to his brothers in Genesis 50:20 speak across every hardening narrative in Scripture: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” The brothers acted according to the condition of their own hearts. God worked that action toward an outcome they could not have foreseen. This is not God overriding the creature; it is God governing the creature’s nature with sovereignty so complete that even the opposition serves the purpose. The hardening of Pharaoh, the brothers’ betrayal, the disciples’ calcified hearts, Israel’s national stumbling — all of it in the Potter’s hands, all of it shaped toward the vessel He purposed from the beginning.

God’s Hand Has Always Known What It Was Doing

We began with a promise and a warning sitting side by side in 1 Corinthians 10:13-14. The warning points to Israel’s idolatry and destruction. The promise declares that God always provides a way of escape. We have discovered that these are not in tension — they are the two faces of a single sovereign design.

Hardening is not a problem God responds to. It is the first stage He ordained. The creature was made subject to vanity — made, subjected, in hope. The five terms of our lexical study — kabad, chazaq, qashah, sklērunō, pōroō — map the territory of the natural stage in its fullness: the weighted sluggishness, the fixed resistance, the active opposition, the dried brittleness, the calcified unresponsiveness. This is what all humanity begins as, by creation design, as the first half of a two-part plan. “The first man Adam was made a living soul” (1 Corinthians 15:45). Made. Designed. First.

God’s engagement with that condition is not primarily punitive. It is diagnostic. He reveals to us, through the experience of what we cannot do and cannot bear on our own, exactly where we stand in the knowing of Him. Pharaoh’s exposure served Israel’s liberation. Israel’s wilderness exposure served the generation that would enter rest. Israel’s national stumbling served the Gentiles’ salvation. The disciples’ calcified hearts in the boat were the preparation for the revelation that broke through. Every hardening is God’s hand showing us the natural first — fully, experientially, without bypassing any of it — because the spiritual afterward cannot be entered on any other terms.

The way of escape is the mind of Christ given through the trial, not around it. “But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). This is what the proving produces. This is what the destroyer’s work clears the ground for. This is what the conformity principle of Psalm 115 — the worshiper becoming like what they trust — reverses when the object of trust is changed from idols to the living God. We stop conforming to what cannot hear, and we begin to become like the One whose hearing is perfect.

The destination was never in question. “For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:32). “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21). The seed falls into the ground. The Potter works the clay. The river runs in the channel God has turned it toward. And the end of hardening — every hardening, in every creature — is what hope was always holding: deliverance into the glorious liberty that God purposed before the creature ever drew its first breath.

“He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second” (Hebrews 10:9). Paul speaks of the covenants — but the principle governs the whole of God’s working from the foundation of the world. The hardened heart was always the first, created and appointed to give way. God’s hand was always working toward the second. The taking away was never destruction for its own sake. It was the necessary removal of what was first, so that what was second could be firmly established in its place.

Matthew 4:1-25 Jesus’ Temptation and the Beginning of His Ministry

[Study Aired March 17, 2025]

Introduction

Today’s study is about the temptation that Jesus went through before the start of His ministry. It also includes the teaching work he undertook, the places he preached, and the subject he preached. The chapter concludes with His calling of disciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John and the miracles He wrought in the lives of the people and the resulting crowd that His ministry attracted.

The Temptation of Jesus

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 
Mat 4:2  And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 

Jesus being led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil indicates that the temptation by the devil we go through in this life is part of the grand design of the Lord. If we are to become overcomers, then it means that we need to have victory over the devil who operates through our flesh. The fact that Jesus had to go to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil implies that the devil operates best in an environment where there is the absence of the truth of the word of the Lord. It also means that our victory over the devil is through knowing the truth of the word of the Lord. As we are aware, Jesus is the word of the Lord, and therefore there was no way that Jesus could have been defeated by the devil.

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

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (the word of God). 

The number forty represents our trials. Jesus fasting for forty days and forty nights is to show us that we must deny ourselves or die daily if we are to overcome the onslaught of the devil. 

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

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

Jesus feeling hungry after the fast is to show us that it is our point of weakness which serves as the pedestal for the devil to attack us. However, it is in our point of weakness that we are made strong. 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 
2Co 12:10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

The question that comes to mind is that “Should we fast even as our Lord Jesus fasted?” To answer this question, I will refer to part of what Brother Mike posted on the website about fasting.

The last time chronologically that fasting is mentioned in the New Testament is in Acts 27. Paul is in the process of being delivered to Caesar, and the Lord has brought Paul and all on the ship with him to death’s door. All “276 souls,” have endured being tormented by the perception of being hopelessly lost at sea in the mist of a terrible storm:

Act 27:19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
Act 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.

How many days?

Act 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
Act 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
Act 27:35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
Act 27:36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
Act 27:37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

Under such dire circumstances, why would Paul tell these people to “be of good cheer?”

Act 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
Act 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
Act 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
Act 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.

“All hope that we should be saved had been taken away.” All on board were fasting. I seriously doubt that their reason was ‘to be seen of men.’ Their very hope of life was taken away. They were ‘afflicting their souls’ and denying their flesh. To these lost souls, their “bridegroom had been taken away from them.” Just as with the disciples of Christ, the outward circumstances seemed to be clear. Three and one half years of casting out demons, healing the sick and feeding thousands were all for nothing. Where was their Savior right now? “All hope that we should be saved was taken away.” This is the time to afflict one’s soul:

Luk 5:35 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

We might think that Paul’s faith was not being tried through all of this. How little do we understand the pulls of the flesh upon the Son of God Himself:

Mat 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

It seemed at that moment, even to our Savior Himself, that His ‘bridegroom had been taken away.’ Would the apostle Paul have had more faith than our Lord? No, Paul was given the assurance by the angel because he needed that assurance to stand up under the circumstances that seemed to all 276 people on board that ship, that “all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” This is the experience not just of our Lord. Neither is this experience just for His apostles, like the apostle Paul. This experience of having “all hope that we should be saved… taken away” is common to all of God’s elect. It is a time for “afflicting our souls.” But let us never forget this Truth:

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

The Words of Christ concerning ‘fasting’ and ‘afflicting your soul’ are as spiritual as any words of scripture. So what, in the final analysis, is the fast that God wants of us all? How would He have us to spiritually ‘afflict our souls?’ How spiritually should we ‘deny ourselves… and die daily’ to the things of the flesh?

Isa 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

There it is. “This is the fast that I have chosen…” This is the fast that God really wants. This is “a day for a man to afflict his soul.” This is the ‘fast’ that God would prefer for either David or for us. And what is this spiritual fasting and affliction of the soul?

“... This is the fast that I have chosen. To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke! … To deal bread to the hungry… bring the poor that are cast out into your house… when you see the naked, you cover him… and hide not yourself from your own flesh.”

Mat 4:3  And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 
Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

Here in verse 3 the devil is called the tempter. This name refers to the role the devil plays in tempting us to sin against the Lord. In Isaiah 54:16, the devil also plays the role of blowing the coals in the fire. That is to say that he is the one whom the Lord uses to judge us as we can see from the story of Job.

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

This temptation of Jesus Christ is parallel to the temptation in the garden of Eden. In the case of Adam and Eve, they failed woefully because they did not do what the Lord told them to do – that is, they were not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.  

Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 

In the case of Jesus Christ, His victory was in focusing on what God has commanded. His response to the devil that man shall not eat by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God means that our focus should be on fulfilling every word of the Lord. This temptation of Jesus by the devil highlights the lust of the flesh – turning stones to bread to satisfy the flesh. Spiritually, turning stones to bread is seeing the Lord’s people (stones) as opportunity to physical riches. The churches of this world have emphasized the Levitical priesthood, which is of the Law of Moses, to enrich themselves at the expense of the Lord’s children.

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

Jer 2:26  As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,

Jer 5:31  The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

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

This temptation has to do with the pride of life. The desire to have people come to worship, minister to us and attracting attention to ourselves by what we do is a temptation that has plagued many of the Lord’s people. Here the devil quoted the scripture to substantiate his request for the Lord to yield to this temptation. In response, the Lord also quoted the scripture to counter the devil. In this instance, if Jesus leapt without God’s word, He would be tempting God.  The churches of this world is filled with many who are tempting God by their advertisement about crusades and church services that promised the people of their miraculous healing and financial breakthrough. Their motive pertains to the pride of life. Initially, at the beginning of the church, the disciples performed signs and wonders to attest to the resurrection power of the Lord Jesus. However, over time the Lord cut back on signs and wonders. Statements made by Paul in leaving Trophimus in Miletus sick, and telling Timothy to drink wine which would help alleviate his stomach troubles are all to show us that serving the Lord is not about signs and wonders. Of course, the Lord raising us from the dead and making us His sons and daughters is the greatest miracle that can happen to us.

2Ti 4:20  Erastus abode at Corinth: but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.

1Ti 5:23  Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.      

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 

This temptation pertains to the lust of the eyes. That is, what we see and want. What the Lord is demonstrating to us is that we should focus on serving the Lord alone and not to be distracted by the glamor of leadership in this world which has the footprint of the devil. As the Lord told us, our kingdom does not belong to this world.  

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. 

As indicated earlier, the temptation of Jesus is similar to what happened to Adam and Eve. The temptation consists of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life as shown in the following:

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

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. 

The angels coming to minister to Christ is the same as our brothers and sisters who come to minister to us at our point of need.

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? 
Heb 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Jesus Begins His Ministry

Mat 4:12  Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 
Mat 4:13  And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 

The arrest of John the Baptist initiated the ministry of Jesus because it signaled the end of John’s role as the forerunner and the beginning of Jesus’ own public ministry. John the Baptist said concerning Christ “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The arrest of John commenced the fading light of his ministry and the simultaneous rise of the Lord Jesus Christ, our daystar.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease. 
Joh 3:31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 

Galilee was the boyhood home of Jesus Christ. It was historically known among the Jews as “Galilee of the Gentiles.” Galilee had such a mixed population that Solomon could award unashamedly to Hiram, king of Tyre, twenty of its cities in payment for timber from Lebanon.

1Ki 9:11  (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. 

After conquest by the king of Assyria, Galilee was repopulated by a colony of heathen immigrants. For this reason many Jews despised the Galileans. Nazareth was part of Galilee. No wonder Nathaniel asked contemptuously, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” All the disciples of Jesus, with the exception of Judas Iscariot, came from Galilee. It was in Cana of Galilee that He performed His first miracle. Capernaum in Galilee became the headquarters of His ministry. 

2Ki 15:29  In the days of Pekah king of Israel came Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abelbethmaachah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and carried them captive to Assyria. 

2Ki 17:24  And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. 

Mat 4:14  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 
Mat 4:15  The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 
Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. 
Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  

It was when we were in darkness that Jesus came into our lives to give us hope. The first step in our deliverance is repentance from sin. That is why Jesus reiterated the message of John the Baptist about repentance from our sins because the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This process of establishing the kingdom of heaven within starts with repentance from sin. It is through repentance that times of refreshing come to us from the presence of the Lord. 

Act 3:19  Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent:

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

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. 
Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. 
Mat 4:21  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. 
Mat 4:22  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. 

Here Jesus called the first four of the disciples to become His followers – Peter, Andrew, James and John. The fact that they were four suggests that the whole of the Lord’s elect are chosen through the same means. In other words, we were minding our own business when Jesus came on the scene and caused us to follow Him. Although our conversion may seem like something that happened on the spur of the moment, we know that we were marked for salvation even before the foundation of the world.

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 
Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.  

Here in these verses, we are shown our role as the Lord’s elect in this age. In following our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall become fishers of men, just as Peter and Andrew were casting their net into the sea when the Lord called them to become fishers of men. The fact that they were two (Peter and Andrew) suggests that as witnesses of Christ, we are called to become fishers of men. The calling of the two sons of Zebedee, James and John, came at a time when they were mending their nets. Our call is also to mend the nets. That means to correct the wrong doctrines and emphasize the truth which is able to set us free. This is because the church system has fallen away in apostasy, and our role is to speak the truth (mend the net) irrespective of the opposition. As we can see, it was because of the truth that John found himself at the isle of Patmos.

Rev 1:9  I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 

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

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

Mat 4:23  And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. 
Mat 4:24  And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. 
Mat 4:25 And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan. 

It is worth noting that Jesus’ ministry drew a significant following because of the miracles that He performed. He, however, did not commit Himself to them because He knew what was in man. 

Joh 2:23  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 
Joh 2:24  But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 
Joh 2:25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. 

To the great multitude that followed Jesus, He spoke in parables because it is not given to them to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. 

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

Thanks be to the Lord for opening our eyes to see and our ears to hear the mysteries of the kingdom. Amen!

Make a Way to Escape

[Study Aired Sept 17, 2024]

In our walk with Christ, we often encounter a formidable adversary: temptation. It manifests in various forms, challenging our faith, testing our resolve, and sometimes even causing us to stumble. Yet, as we shall see, temptation is not only a universal human experience but also an opportunity for spiritual growth and deepening our reliance on God.

The Apostle Peter, writing to the early church, acknowledged this reality: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you” (1 Peter 4:12). Indeed, the presence of temptation and trials in our lives should not surprise us, for they are part of our spiritual journey.

Here is our key verse, which will be the foundation of our study:

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

This powerful verse, penned by the Apostle Paul, offers both comfort and instruction to believers facing temptation. It reminds us of the universality of our struggles, the faithfulness of our God, and the promise of His provision in our times of need.

The purpose of this study is to examine the truths contained in 1 Corinthians 10:13, seeking to understand not just its literal meaning, but also its spiritual implications for our lives. As we are reminded in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

Throughout this study, we will:

– Examine the nature of temptation and its role in our spiritual lives.
– Explore the profound truth of God’s faithfulness in the midst of our trials.
– Unpack the promise of God’s provision – the “way of escape” He provides.
– Discuss what it means to “bear” temptation and grow through the process.
– Look to Christ as our ultimate example in overcoming temptation.
– Apply these truths practically in our daily walk with God.

As we proceed, let us keep in mind the words of Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Let’s proceed to explore the depths of God’s truth regarding temptation, His faithfulness, and His provision for our spiritual victory.

The Greek word used for “temptation” in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is “peirasmos”, which can be translated as “an experiment, a trial, temptation.” This word encompasses both the idea of testing and the enticement to sin. It’s important to note that temptation itself is not sin, but rather an invitation or inclination towards sin.

James 1:12-15 provides further insight into the nature of temptation:

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

This passage reveals that temptation originates from our own desires (lust) and will lead to sin if not resisted.

Our key verse assures us that no temptation has overtaken us “but such as is common to man.” This truth is echoed in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”

This universality of temptation serves two purposes:

– It reminds us that we are not alone in our struggles.
– It assures us that others have overcome similar temptations, giving us hope.

While James 1:14 points to our own desires as a source of temptation, Scripture also identifies other sources:

– The World: 1 John 2:16 states, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

– The Devil: Matthew 4:1 tells us, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” We are warned in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

–  Our Sinful Nature: Galatians 5:17 reminds us, “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”

It’s crucial to understand that temptation itself is not sin. Even Jesus was tempted, yet remained sinless. Hebrews 4:15 affirms,

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin”.

Sin occurs when we yield to temptation. James 1:15 describes this process:

“Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

Understanding the nature of temptation is the first step in learning how to overcome it. As we continue our study, we will explore God’s faithfulness in the midst of temptation and the way of escape He provides. Let us take comfort in the words of Hebrews 2:18,

“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.”

1 Corinthians 10:13, assures us that “God is faithful.” This statement is not just a comforting thought, but a fundamental truth about God’s character. Throughout Scripture, we see this faithfulness demonstrated:

– Deuteronomy 7:9 declares, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”

– Lamentations 3:22-23 reminds us, “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”

– 2 Timothy 2:13 affirms, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”

God’s faithfulness is an unchanging aspect of His nature. It’s not dependent on our actions or worthiness, but on His own character.

Our key verse states that God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. God, in His sovereignty, will send the tempter within limits that He sets. While God Himself does not tempt us (James 1:13), He does send the devil and evil spirits to test us, as seen in the examples of Abimelech and the men of Shechem (Judges 9:23) and Saul (1Samuel 16:14).

Judges 9:23 “Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:”

1Samuel 16:14 “But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.”

We also see this illustrated in the book of Job. In Job 1:12, God sends Satan to tempt Job, but sets clear boundaries:

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.“

This sovereignty should bring us comfort. As Psalm 103:19 declares,

“The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth overall.”

God’s faithfulness is demonstrated in His promise to limit our trials. This doesn’t mean life will be easy, but it does mean that with God’s help, we can endure any temptation we face.

– Psalm 34:19 reminds us, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.“

– Isaiah 43:2 promises, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

These verses assure us that while we will face trials, God is always with us and will not allow them to overwhelm us.

Scripture provides numerous examples of God’s faithfulness during times of temptation and trial:

– Joseph (Genesis 39:7-12): When tempted by Potiphar’s wife, Joseph relied on God’s strength to resist.

– Daniel (Daniel 6): When faced with the choice between obeying God or the king’s decree, Daniel remained faithful, and God delivered him from the lions’ den.

– Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3): When ordered to worship an idol or face death, these three young men trusted God, who delivered them from the fiery furnace.

– Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11): In His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus relied on Scripture to resist Satan’s enticements.

These examples encourage us that just as God was faithful to His servants in the past, He will be faithful to us in our struggles with temptation.

As we face temptations in our own lives, we must hold fast to the truth of Numbers 23:19,

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?“

God’s faithfulness is our anchor in times of temptation. As we continue our study, we will explore the way of escape that God faithfully provides, enabling us not just to endure temptation, but to overcome it.

Our key verse, 1 Corinthians 10:13, promises that God “will with the temptation also make a way to escape.” This assurance is central to our study, as it reveals God’s provision for us in times of temptation.

The phrase “make G4160 [G5692] a way to escape G1545” in Greek is “poieo ekbasis,” which can be understood as “make an exit” or “make a way out.” This implies that God doesn’t just remove temptation, but provides a means for us to successfully navigate through it.

Psalm 68:20 affirms this truth:

“He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.”

The word “issues” here can also be translated as “escapes,” reinforcing the idea that our deliverance comes from God.

Psalm 68:20 (EMP) “The GOD we have, is a GOD of saving deeds, And, due to Yahweh, My Lord, are escapes from death.”

It’s crucial to understand that the “way of escape” is not always about avoiding temptation altogether. Rather, it’s about God providing the means to endure and overcome the temptation without falling into sin.

2 Peter 2:9 elaborates on this:

“The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.”

God’s “way of escape” can manifest in various forms:

– The Holy Spirit’s guidance: John 16:13 says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth.“

– The counsel of godly counsellors: Proverbs 11:14 tells us, “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

– Circumstances that God arranges: Remember Joseph’s words in Genesis 50:20, “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good.”

One of the most powerful “ways of escape” God provides is His Word. Psalm 119:11 declares,

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”

We see this demonstrated in Jesus’ response to Satan’s temptations in Matthew 4:1-11. Each time, Jesus countered temptation with “It is written,” using Scripture as His defense.

While God provides the way of escape, it is also He who works in us to take it. As Philippians 2:13 reminds us,

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.“

This involves:

– God equipping us with His armor: Ephesians 6:13 states, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” It is God who provides this armor and enables us to stand.

– God enabling us to flee from temptation: 1 Corinthians 10:13 itself reminds us that it is God who provides the way of escape, implying that He also gives us the ability to take it.

As we face temptations in our lives, let’s remember that we are indeed “in the hand of the potter” as described in Jeremiah 18:6:

“O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.“

Let’s trust in God’s sovereign work, knowing that He not only provides the way of escape but also works in us to recognize and take these divine exits. As Isaiah 26:12 beautifully expresses,

“LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us.”

God’s provision of a ‘way of escape’ in temptation reflects His larger redemptive plan for mankind. Just as He provides an escape from individual temptations, He has provided the ultimate escape from sin and death through Christ. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:56-57,

“The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.“

1 Corinthians 10:13, concludes with the promise that God will provide a way of escape “that ye may be able to bear it.” This phrase is crucial to our understanding of how God works in us during times of temptation.

The Greek word for “bear” is “hupophero,” which means “to bear up under, to endure.” This implies that God’s purpose in providing a way of escape is not always to remove us from the temptation, but to enable us to endure it without falling into sin.

James 1:2-4 sheds light on this purpose:

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

This passage reveals that enduring temptation serves to develop our faith and spiritual maturity.

The process of bearing temptation leads to spiritual growth. Romans 5:3-5 elaborates on this:

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.“

This progression from tribulation to hope demonstrates how God uses our trials to shape and strengthen us.

It’s crucial to understand that we do not bear temptation in our own strength. The spirit of God empowers us. Galatians 5:16 instructs:

“This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

The spirit of God provides the strength and guidance we need to resist temptation and remain faithful to God.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 reveals a profound truth about bearing temptation:

“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.“

This passage reminds us that our ability to bear temptation doesn’t come from our own strength, but from God’s grace working in us.

Lastly, let’s remember that bearing temptation faithfully comes with a promise of reward. James 1:12 assures us:

“Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”

As we face temptations, let’s take comfort in knowing that God not only provides the way of escape, but also the strength to bear it. He uses these trials to shape us into the image of Christ, and promises to reward our faithfulness. As Hebrews 12:11 reminds us:

“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”

As we consider how to navigate temptation, we have no better example than Jesus Christ Himself. The writer of Hebrews reminds us in Hebrews 4:15:

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

This verse assures us that Christ fully understands our struggles with temptation, having experienced them Himself, yet remained sinless.

The most detailed account of Jesus facing temptation is found in Matthew 4:1-11. This passage provides valuable insights into how Christ dealt with direct temptation from Satan:

“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”

In each of the three temptations, Jesus responded with “It is written,” followed by a quote from Scripture. This demonstrates the power and importance of God’s Word in resisting temptation. Jesus’ use of Scripture to counter temptation demonstrates the power of God’s Word in our own lives. Just as Christ relied on the written Word to resist Satan, we too can arm ourselves with Scripture, internalizing it and using it as a defense against temptation. This practice aligns with Paul’s instruction in Ephesians 6:17 to take up ‘the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God’ and also, Proverbs 2:10-17 states:

“When wisdom (Jesus Christ, the Word) entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths: To deliver thee from the strange woman (MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH), even from the stranger which flattereth with her words; Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.”

1 John 4:4 further emphasizes Christ’s ability to help us in our temptations:

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.“

Jesus also emphasized the importance of prayer in facing temptation. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He instructed His disciples in Matthew 26:41:

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Finally, we must remember that Christ’s victory over temptation and sin is the foundation of our own ability to resist. As Paul writes in Romans 8:37:

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”

Our victory over temptation is not based on our own strength or willpower, but on the work of Christ and our identity in Him.

As we face temptations in our own lives, let’s look to Christ as our perfect example and source of strength. Let’s rely on the Word of God, engage in prayer, and trust in the victory that is already ours in Christ Jesus.

As we conclude our study on God’s provision for escaping temptation, it’s important to consider how we can apply these truths in our daily lives. Remember, as James 1:22 instructs us,

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

The first step in overcoming temptation is recognizing it. 1 Peter 5:8 warns us:

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

We must be alert to the various forms that temptation may take in our lives. This involves:

– Knowing our personal areas of weakness
– Understanding the tactics of the enemy
– Being aware of our surroundings and influences

Zechariah 4:6 reminds us:

“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.”

We must constantly remind ourselves that our strength to resist temptation comes from the Lord, not from our own willpower.

As we saw in Christ’s example, Scripture is a powerful weapon against temptation. Ephesians 6:17 tells us:

“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Practical ways to use God’s Word include:

– Keeping in mind key verses
– Meditating on Scripture daily
– Speaking God’s Word aloud when faced with temptation

Jesus instructed us in Matthew 26:41:

“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

We should make it a habit to pray:

– For strength to resist temptation
– For wisdom to recognize God’s way of escape
– For Christ to grow in us

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 tells us:

“Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.”

Depend on the church of God to lift you up when you fall. Depending on the church of God involves actively engaging in fellowship, sharing with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and participating in the body’s mutual edification. As Hebrews 10:24-25 encourages,

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

While we can’t avoid temptation; we can be wise about the situations we put ourselves in. Romans 13:14 advises:

“But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.”

As we apply these principles, let’s remember that our ultimate victory is in Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 assures us:

“But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Let’s walk in this victory, relying on God’s strength and provision, as we face the temptations of daily life.

As we come to the end of our study on “Make a Way to Escape,” let’s review the truths we’ve explored in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

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

As we’ve seen, the Greek word ‘peirasmos’ encompasses both the idea of testing and the enticement to sin. This dual nature reminds us that while temptations can be alluring, they also serve as tests that can strengthen our faith when overcome through God’s power.

Throughout this study, we’ve discovered several key principles:

– We are not alone in our struggles. As Ecclesiastes 1:9 reminds us,

“There is no new thing under the sun.”

– In the midst of our temptations, God remains steadfast and true. As 2 Timothy 2:13 assures us,

“If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.“

– He limits our trials and provides a way of escape. As Job 1:12 illustrates, God sets boundaries even for Satan’s actions.

“And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.”

– God uses our trials to shape and strengthen us. Romans 5:3-5 shows us the progression from tribulation to hope.

“And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

– Jesus faced temptation and overcame, showing us the power of God’s Word in resisting the enemy.

– Our victory comes not from our own strength, but from God’s grace working in us. As 2 Corinthians 12:9 states,

“My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.“

– Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness as stated in Titus 2:11-13,

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

As we face temptations in our daily lives hold fast to these truths. Remember that God is faithful, that He provides a way of escape, and that through His strength, we can endure and overcome.

“1 Corinthians 15:57: But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.“

Go forward with confidence, not in ourselves, but in our faithful God who has promised to make a way of escape. May we be vigilant, prayerful, and deeply rooted in God’s Word, always ready to take the escape route He provides.

As we conclude, let the words of Jude 1:24-25 be our prayer and our praise:

“Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

Matt 26:36-46 Mark 14:32-42 Luke 22:39-46 John 18:1-12

[Study Aired December 28, 2021]

Joh 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron,
Luk 22:39 to the mount of Olives;
Mat 26:36 with them unto a place called Gethsemane,
Joh 18:1 where was a garden, into the which he entered,
Luk 22:39 and his disciples also followed him.
Joh 18:2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.
Luk 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Mat 26:36 Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Mar 14:33 And he taketh with him Peter and… 
Mat 26:37 …the two sons of Zebedee…
Mar 14:33 …James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
Luk 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast…
Mat 26:39 …and fell on his face, and prayed, saying…
Mar 14:36 …Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luk 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Luk 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye?…
Mat 26:40 …and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Mar 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
Mat 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mar 14:41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mat 26:46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

Our last studies showed us Christ sharing with the disciples that He must go away in order to have the holy spirit, the Comforter, be sent to them. He also prayed to the Father that they would all be protected from the world by separating them from the world even though they must remain in the world. All these things are being done for us, the elect of God, so that we can reign with Christ in the kingdom of God.

2Co 4:12-15 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Christ has ended His preaching of the gospel to the world and is now being brought into captivity. This represents the stage in our walk where our hope is taken from us, we lose our first love and we forsake Christ. We walked with Christ, believed his doctrines and even performed miracles with Christ. Forsaking Christ and His doctrines is part of the process of salvation. We are willing to fight anyone that tries to capture Christ but do not yet have the understanding that this is the way to salvation. Christ and His disciples now journey to the place called Gethsemane, which means “the oil press”.

Joh 18:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron,
Luk 22:39 …to the mount of Olives… 
Mat 26:36 …with them unto a place called Gethsemane…
Joh 18:1 …where was a garden, into the which he entered… 
Luk 22:39 …and his disciples also followed him.
Joh 18:2 And Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples.

Gethsemane, meaning “the oil press”, is a familiar place to the disciples so they are comfortable being there and do not expect what will take place later. The oil press is where olive oil is made to be used for sacrifices, the lamps that give light, and for anointing the tabernacle, priests and kings. 

Exo 27:20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.

Lev 2:1-3 And when any will offer a meat offering unto the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’: it is a thing most holy of the offerings of the LORD made by fire.

Lev 8:10-11 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them.

Lev 21:10 And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;

1Ki 1:39 And Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet; and all the people said, God save king Solomon.

Christ is beginning the process of being pressed to release the oil needed for the anointing of the kings and priests, and that produces light created by fire. Continuing with our verses:

Luk 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.
Mat 26:36 …Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
Mar 14:33 And he taketh with him Peter and…
Mat 26:37 …the two sons of Zebedee…
Mar 14:33 …James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

This is the fourth time Christ shares something specifically with Peter, James and John separate from the other disciples. Here are the other three times mentioned.

Mar 5:35-43 While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James. And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.

Mar 9:1-10 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.

Mar 13:1-8 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

Peter, James and John witnessed the girl being raised from the dead, was told how the temple would be destroyed, and were warned of the sorrows yet to come. Now Christ shares the following.

Luk 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast…
Mat 26:39 …and fell on his face, and prayed, saying…
Mar 14:36 …Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Christ being in great agony has come to His wits’ end being in a body of sin. He was crying out to the Father to take away the cup of the wrath being poured out upon Him. Nevertheless, Christ knows only the Father’s will is to be done.

Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

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

Joh 6:38-39 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.

Joh 12:27-28 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.

Christ can only do what the Father has sent him to do. Being at His wits’ end, He is showing us what all mankind will endure.

Psa 107:23-32 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Christ came in the flesh to be brought to His wits’ end to experience the pulls of the flesh.

Heb 2:14-18 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Christ told Peter, James and John to pray to not enter into temptation.

Luk 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

Christ said this as a warning because we will enter into temptation. Our flesh is constantly tempted because it is a body of sin and must be destroyed.

Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

After crying out, He walks back to the disciples and finds them sleeping on three different occasions. This is the beginning of the process of judgment that everyone including Christ must face.

Luk 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Luk 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? 
Mat 26:40 and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Mar 14:40 And when he returned, he found them asleep again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist they what to answer him.
Mat 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Mar 14:41 And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Mat 26:46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

The message here is that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Even the flesh of Christ has caused Him to come to His wits’ end and cry out to God. Without the spirit we will not overcome the flesh. Of our own selves we can do nothing, and Christ must go away so that the Comforter can be sent to us.

Joh 16:7-8 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

Dan 6:1-28 And They Brought Daniel, and Cast Him into the Den of Lions

[Study Aired December 20, 2021]

Dan 6:1  It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 
Dan 6:2  And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage. 
Dan 6:3  Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 
Dan 6:4  Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. 
Dan 6:5  Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God. 
Dan 6:6  Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. 
Dan 6:7  All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. 
Dan 6:8  Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 
Dan 6:9  Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree. 
Dan 6:10  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. 
Dan 6:11  Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God. 
Dan 6:12  Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 
Dan 6:13  Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day. 
Dan 6:14  Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him. 
Dan 6:15  Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. 
Dan 6:16  Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee. 
Dan 6:17  And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 
Dan 6:18  Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him. 
Dan 6:19  Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. 
Dan 6:20  And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? 
Dan 6:21  Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. 
Dan 6:22  My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt. 
Dan 6:23  Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God. 
Dan 6:24  And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. 
Dan 6:25  Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 
Dan 6:26  I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. 
Dan 6:27  He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. 
Dan 6:28  So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. 

This chapter focuses on the need for the Lord’s chosen or elect to be cast into the den of lions and the mighty hand of the Lord to deliver us in our affliction so that nothing shall by any means hurt us.

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

Dan 6:1  It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom an hundred and twenty princes, which should be over the whole kingdom; 

Darius here represents our Lord Jesus Christ, and both the princes and the number one hundred and twenty, signify the elect.

Act 1:15  And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

The number one hundred and twenty also signifies the time in our lives when our strength has failed, and we are able to rest in the Lord. This means that the elect are those who have no confidence in the flesh and are relying on the Lord.

Deu 31:2  And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

This verse is telling us that presently it is the Lord’s pleasure to set us up (the new man) to rule over the kingdom of the nations within. In the fullness of time, however, our Lord Jesus will set us over the kingdoms of this world.

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

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.

Dan 6:2  And over these three presidents; of whom Daniel was first: that the princes might give accounts unto them, and the king should have no damage.
Dan 6:3  Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.

The three presidents signify the Lord Jesus Christ and His two witnesses, who represent His bride. So, as His elect, we are both the princes and presidents with Jesus as the preferred above the presidents and princes to whom we are to give account. The fact that there are three presidents is to let us know that it is through judgment, or the furnace of affliction, that we are chosen to reign with Christ.

Isa 48:10  Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

In verse 3, Daniel represents the Lord whom God has set over the whole of His realm and is preferred above us (presidents and princes) because He has an excellent spirit.

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

Heb 1:1  God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Heb 1:2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Heb 1:4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

Heb 1:8  But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9  Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Within us the new man has an excellent spirit and is preferred above the old man to reign within us.

Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Outwardly, verse 3 is saying that at the end of this age, we shall be preferred, just like Daniel, above the presidents and princes of this world as our king Jesus will set us over the kingdoms of this world.

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

Dan 6:4  Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.
Dan 6:5  Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.

In a negative context, the presidents and princes represent the heathen and the kings of the earth. The kings of the earth are the leaders of Babylon, the churches of this world. Remember that earth symbolizes the people of God who do not hear the words of the Lord and therefore represents Babylon.

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

As the Lord said, in this world we shall be hated by men (heathens and our brothers and sisters in Babylon). The evil scheming of the presidents and princes against Daniel, as depicted by verses 4 and 5, is therefore the same as the following:

Psa 2:1  Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2  The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Psa 2:3  Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
Psa 2:4  He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psa 2:5  Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psa 2:7  I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Psa 2:8  Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

Dan 6:6  Then these presidents and princes assembled together to the king, and said thus unto him, King Darius, live for ever. 
Dan 6:7  All the presidents of the kingdom, the governors, and the princes, the counsellors, and the captains, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a firm decree, that whosoever shall ask a petition of any God or man for thirty days, save of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.
Dan 6:8  Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not.
Dan 6:9  Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the decree.

As our Lord prophesied, we shall be hated by men. This conspiracy against Daniel, who represents the Lord’s anointed, by the presidents, princes, governors, counsellors and the captains is an example of being hated by men, and it is written here for our admonition.

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

The decree signed by the king says that anyone who petitions any God or man for thirty days apart from the king should be put in the lions’ den. To understand the significance of this decree, we need to know what thirty days and the den of lions stand for. Thirty days or years symbolize the time that we become mature to be enrolled in the service of our Lord. It is also the time that our new man within rules us or dominates us.

Num 4:3  From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Num 4:23  From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Gen 41:46  And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

2Sa 5:4  David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.

The den of lions represents the noisome beast which is one of God’s four sore judgments.

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Noisome means evil, and so we have evil beasts as one of God’s judgments. As we are aware, we are this evil beast. This evil beast kills by the sword and must be killed by the sword. The sword is the word of God, so these evil beasts represent the propagators of the word of God in Babylon whose words make us worse off or kill us spiritually.

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.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

The following verses show what happens to us when we are given to evil beasts or cast unto the den of lions:

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;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

In summary, this is what we are being told in Daniel chapter 6 verses 6 to 9:  It is written in the books of every elect that before we become mature to perform service in the house of our Lord, represented by thirty days, we are required to petition only the king (Christ) and not any other god. If we flout this rule, then it provides the occasion the Lord is seeking to judge us by giving us over to the dictates of evil beasts (being cast into a den of lions) where we become worse off than when we started.

Dan 6:10  Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime. 
Dan 6:11  Then these men assembled, and found Daniel praying and making supplication before his God.
Dan 6:12  Then they came near, and spake before the king concerning the king’s decree; Hast thou not signed a decree, that every man that shall ask a petition of any God or man within thirty days, save of thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. 
Dan 6:13  Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, which is of the children of the captivity of Judah, regardeth not thee, O king, nor the decree that thou hast signed, but maketh his petition three times a day.

These verses show us that Daniel flouted the law that requires that no man petition any God except the king who represents Christ. Even though Daniel willfully flouted this rule, we know from the scriptures that we do not choose to do anything in this world of our own volition, and all our actions are of the Lord.

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

This means that it is the Lord who caused Daniel to go against the law so that Daniel can be put into the den of lions to serve as an example for all elect that we can mature (represented by thirty days), only when we go through 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?

There is no exception to the rule. All must be judged once we go against the law of the Lord.

Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

As the law states, we are only to petition the Lord Jesus (symbolized by the king) during the days of our immaturity. However, we end up petitioning other gods instead of Christ. In the case of Daniel, just for the fact that he did not petition God through Christ, he is also guilty. In this sense, all the Old Testament prophets and men of God did not petition God through Christ and therefore are all guilty and therefore need to be judged before they can be perfected.

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

Dan 6:14  Then the king, when he heard these words, was sore displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him: and he laboured till the going down of the sun to deliver him.
Dan 6:15  Then these men assembled unto the king, and said unto the king, Know, O king, that the law of the Medes and Persians is, That no decree nor statute which the king establisheth may be changed. 
Dan 6:16  Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spake and said unto Daniel, Thy God whom thou servest continually, he will deliver thee.

These verses are to show us that our Lord feels our pain and all that we go through. He does not leave us alone to suffer.

Psa 103:13  As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
Psa 103:14  For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Daniel being thrown in the den of lions means that he experienced God’s judgment just like the Lord Jesus, who never sinned, was judged for our sakes.

Dan 6:17  And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that the purpose might not be changed concerning Daniel. 

On a positive note, a stone represents Christ and His Christ or elect.

Psa 118:22  The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:6  Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
1Pe 2:7  Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,

A stone, in a negative context, signifies all that resists Christ in our lives. This is demonstrated by Pharoah and his chariots being cast into the sea like a stone. Within us, this stone represents the beast that resists Christ in our lives.

Exo 15:4  Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
Exo 15:5  The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
Exo 15:16  Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

So what verse 17 is inferring is that as long as the beast is alive in our lives which are represented by the stone laid at the mouth of the lions’ den, we shall undergo judgment (the lions’ den). It is when the stone is moved away, that is, when the old man is incapacitated, that our judgment ceases.

Dan 6:18  Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him. 

This verse is re-emphasizing the point we have already made that our Lord feels our pain in all that we go through.

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

Dan 6:19  Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions. 
Dan 6:20  And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? 
Dan 6:21  Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever. 
Dan 6:22  My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also before thee, O king, have I done no hurt.

Daniel’s response to the king that God had sent His angels to shut the lions’ mouth and that they have not hurt him is another way of saying that with every temptation, our Lord provides a way of escape so that we can bear it.

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

In verse 22, Daniel told the king that he was innocent and that before the king, he had not hurt him. Does it mean that Daniel is trusting in his self-righteousness as Job did? No, we need to know the condition under which Daniel made this statement. Daniel had gone through many trials from his tender age when he was whisked away from his parents and Jerusalem to a foreign land. We must also understand that Daniel spoke these words of innocence after judgment (lions’ den) and not before. This means that our judgment makes us innocent before God and that we do not keep on hurting our Lord by our way of life. It is another way of saying that our judgment yields righteousness.

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

Dan 6:23  Then was the king exceeding glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God.

Our judgment is not to hurt us. Rather, it benefits us by making us the beloved of the Lord as we live by His words. It is when we learn righteousness that our Lord will command our judgement to cease.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Dan 6:24  And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and brake all their bones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the den. 

On one hand, our judgment is achieving salvation for us. On the other hand, the suffering of those who are not given to know the mind of Christ in this life hardens their heart and makes them worse off or sends them into more darkness. It is just like the word of God. To us, we are getting more understanding, and to others, it is sending them into more darkness.

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

Dan 6:25  Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. 
Dan 6:26  I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast forever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. 

The decree has already gone out throughout the world that we were created to be to the praise of His glory and that men should tremble and fear the Lord. However, the sum of the Lord’s words makes us know that in this life, it is only a few He is causing to tremble and fear Him. In the fullness of time, all humanity will tremble and fear the Lord.

Rev 7:9  After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10  And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11  And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, 
Rev 7:12  Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. 
Rev 7:13  And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14  And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Dan 6:27  He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. 

The Lord working signs and wonders relates to taking us through His judgment to purify us and bring us into our safe haven.

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

Dan 6:28  So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

The name Darius means ‘lord’, and it refers to several kings of Media and Persia. Cyrus, on the other hand, means ‘possess thou the furnace’. Therefore, this verse is another way of telling us that all things work together for the good of our Lord’s elect, who are represented here by Daniel.

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

What we are being told in verse 28 is that irrespective of those ruling over us or changes in our environment, it is the hand of the Lord at work and will finally work things out for our good. Possessing the furnace is being prepared to suffer for the sake of Christ. Paul gave us an example of what it means to be prepared to suffer for Christ by making the following statement in his speech to the elders at Ephesus:

Act 20:22  And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
Act 20:23  Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Act 20:24  But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

May the Lord give us the strength to say, like Paul, that none of these things (our afflictions) move us. Amen!!

Psa 83:6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
Psa 83:7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
Psa 83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.
Psa 83:9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
Psa 83:10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.
Psa 83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
Psa 83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
Psa 83:13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.
Psa 83:14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
Psa 83:15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.
Psa 83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
Psa 83:17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
Psa 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

The true work of God which He is establishing in the earth bears witness that we are his disciples (Joh 13:34-35), who are connected to the first verse of this Psalm which says “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace^H2790, and be not still, O God”, which is a representation of His wrath that is being filled up within us (Col 1:24) so that we can properly judge the nations of this world after we have been judged through this life and made into vessels of honour fit for the Master’s use (1Pe 4:17, 2Ti 2:21).

We become fit because He blesses us to be a people who are sent and go out and “plow” (peace^H2790) of the first verse (see last week’s study) the earth and break it with His word, which is like a hammer or fire (Jer 23:29).

This week we will look at the names of the many cities, all of which are instructive in showing us how God is the one who brings us through the Red Sea experience, or the Gentile flesh that these cities represent, to baptize us in effect through an experience of evil as we’re made stronger through each encounter and learn to ‘overcome evil with good’ by His hand (Rom 12:15-21). These following verses of Romans are some of the rules of engagement that we must come to learn to follow as we sojourn through these many cities, and in doing so the witness of Christ is being established as we decrease and He gives the increase in our ability to properly obey these words.

I mentioned last week that the first verse addresses this psalm as a prayer of Asaph^H623 (Asaph meaning ‘collector’ or ‘gatherer’, and his sons name Joah means ‘recorder’ Isa 36:3).

God is reminding us over and over in His word that we are His witnesses who both sow and gather together through these many cities He has us visit (Mat 13:30, 1Co 3:6-8).

Amo 9:13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

Amo 9:13 is an interesting verse to consider regarding the order of events in our sojourning, as we seek a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:10). The elect are experiencing a day of small things today; a very small harvest (Zec 4:10) compared to that which is going to happen, and this hope-filled verse reminds us, in type and shadow, that our labours are not in vain in the Lord.

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

We are God’s plowmen today, his servants who are sent into all the earth (Mar 16:15), however the harvest is plenteous and the labourers few (Mat 9:37), which means God’s word for the time being has not returned a great yield, but it has brought forth the wheat harvest in earnest which is who the elect represent in this second feast kept by Israel mentioned in Deu 16:16.

God’s mercy is revealed in giving us a hunger and thirst for the words of eternal life that are judging us today as we visit these cities of Psalm 83 (Joh 6:63,68; Joh 4:10) in this day of judgment or visitation. The cities we will look at in this study are the cities within each of us that grow together with Jerusalem above, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26), and need to grow together “until the harvest” (Rev 11:3, Joh 12:48, Mat 12:36).

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

The visitation of these cities, just as Caleb and Joshua coming into the promised land where there are uncircumcised giants, represent cities that are going to be judged within us as Christ in us examines and judges all things, so that we in turn can gain dominion over these cities He sets in our path to whatever degree He has written in our books (Mat 13:30, 1Co 2:15, 2Co 13:5).

Num 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

We shall not “have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come” of Mat 10:23-25 reminds us that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith who knows exactly how much increase (1Co 3:6) and what fruit will be borne in our life (barley, wheat, grapes, etc.) as a witness to the world of the predestined work of His hands that was predestinated from the foundation of the world.

Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.
Mat 10:24 The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.
Mat 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Eph 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

In regards to the destruction of Jerusalem (‘the city below’ or ‘in the earth’) which is under siege, the Lord is teaching us to become a people who do battle against the powers and principalities of this world together and not by might or power but by His holy spirit which will give us the victory through Christ (Zec 4:6, Rom 8:37). We are Gideon’s army and called to “Keep not thou silence^H2790, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God”.

Little by little the victory has been promised to unfold, but God is careful to show us the process and how blessed we are to be fitly framed together in this making of a new nation that the whole world will one day recognize as the bride of Christ.

Exo 23:30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Eph 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:

Isa 66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

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

We all start off as that city which is under siege, the “Daughter Zion, so beautiful and delicate” of Jer 6:2, and yet God prepares us for battle against her so that we can become a new creation that starts off by pointing to Jesus as John the Baptist did (Luk 3:16-18).

If we are called and chosen in this age, we become Christ’s anointed and baptized, no longer with the baptism of water that John required, but with the baptisms that Christ and His body have to endure in order to gain dominion over the Gentile cities within us, to be able to lay up store of His righteous indignation or put another way to bring us to a point where we “Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God”.

It is through the ‘seven last plagues’ which God pours out upon us that we in turn can become that holy temple that no man will be able to defile and will not enter into until those same seven last plagues are poured out upon them via the angels who represent the elect who have been called unto this work of purifying all the nations of the world first within then eventually without (Deu 23:3-4 old covenant witness of Rev 15:8, Rev 16:1).

Psa 83:6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;

Looking at the meaning of all these various cities is an excercise for us to see the sovereignty of God throughout the history of Israel as mentioned at the conclusion in verse 18 “That [we] men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.”

The first verse tonight (verse 6) sets the stage to describe what all men in Adam are: earthy, of blood, connected to the earth, born of a woman (the church) and returning to the earth where we will remain unless our Lord departs and comes back.

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

Edom– H123 Red, earthy; of blood. From H122 Adom (Adam)
Hitchcock’s definition: red, earthy, of blood
The Bible Dictionary: red

It is those who are blessed to die to self in this age, that experience the day of the Lord today, who will hear the voice of the true Shepherd which is the next word we look at (1Jn 4:6, Mat 13:16-18). If we are one with our Lord and our Father we will hear as ‘they’ hear (Joh 14:20), and that hearing is needful to be led by our Shepherd into those green pastures that He is setting before us and making us lie down in (Rom 8:14, Psa 23:2).

1Jn 4:6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

Deu 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Mat 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

Ishmaelites-H3459 “God will hear” Patronymic from H3458-Ishmael; origins from shama-H8085 & el-H410
Hitchcock: God that hears
TBD: whom God hears

Moab is connected to the flesh, and is a reminder that we are “of his father” the devil at first. God sets the conditions in the garden of Eden that cause Adam and Eve [within] to partake of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (carnal flesh and the devil in their midst to tempt them) and turn their [our] backs on God’s commandments, just as He did with Lot’s wife, to demonstrate what is naturally within the heart of all men who start off being disobedient and subject unto their father the devil.

Moab-H4124 “Of his father” From a prolonged form of the prepositional prefix “m”- and H1-ab- from (her (the mother’s)) father. Moab is of the incestrous seed of Lot and his daughter
Hitchcock: of his father
TBD: of his father

The course of life that God has taken us on as His elect separates us from our brothers, from Babylon, from the world like Lot from his wife who represents Babylon and gives us victory over temptation through Christ (Joh 16:33, Joh 8:23, Rev 18:4, Heb 4:15).

Hagarenes-H1905 “Wanderer” or “stranger” Perhaps patronymically from Hagar-H1904 “a stranger; one that fears”
Hitchcock: a stranger
TBD: wanderer

Psa 83:7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;

Here are three more cities, as well as the Philistines, that God permits us to encounter in our journey of ‘abundant life’ leading toward eternal life (Joh 6:68).

God grants His people to see that the boundaries and limitations in this life that are set by Him are for our good, and we become convinced that he will not withhold anything if it were to impede our growth in becoming those who can endure unto the end (Php 4:19). We also are convinced that God does withhold those things which He knows would be detrimental to our spiritual health. Therefore, we commit our ways unto him as unto a faithful Creator and labour not to be rich in the earth but rich toward God knowing that whatever we commit unto him he is able to establish perfectly and for the good of all (Psa 37:5, Pro 3:5-8, Psa 127:1, Joh 6:27, Rom 8:28).

Gebal-H1381 “A boundary” or “limit” Same as H1380-Gebal, a region in IdumaeaH
itchcock: bound;limit
TBD: mountain

This next word ‘Ammon’ truly reminds us that we are a divided people: the Jews, the Greeks, the polarized world we live in today (Gal 3:28), and much of that polarization comes about as a result of the pride that man has in his lineage, in his heritage that we naturally ‘label’ ourselves calling ourselves ‘Jews’ or ‘Greeks’.

From God’s perfect spiritual vantage point this world has never been more spiritually inbred then it is right now, with multitudenous variations on the theme of what the true gospel is, each tribe claiming themselves to be the Christ with their own clothing and food.

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

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

It is solely by the grace and faith of Christ that we can ‘come out of her my people’ and become that holy seed that all the world will one day be part of, and we must see ourselves as those who are first the incestrous seed of Lot and his younger daughter (Gal 3:16).

Ammon-H5983 “tribal” from H5971; tribal that is inbred. The descendants of Ben-Ammi, who is of the incestrous seed of Lot and his younger daughter, are the Ammonites
Hitchcock: the son of my people
TBD: Defines Ben-Ammi-son of my people

We also must dwell in the valley of the shadow of death, and by virtue of being alive we are doing that; and it is our flesh that God sees as ‘gentile’ or ‘Philistine’ and hopefully circumcised today while it is called “To day”.

Psa 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Amalek-H6002 “Dweller in the valley”
Hitchcock: a people that licks up
TBD: valley dweller

Philistines-H6429 “land of sojourners” From H6428 “rolling” or “migratory”
Hitchcock: people who dwell in villages
TBD: villagers

Tyre is “a rock”, but it is the negative rock that we initially set our hopes on without Christ. We must come out of Tyre and then be built upon the true rock, Jesus Christ (Mat 16:18-19). We are taken on a journey ‘To day’ that shows us that God is sovereign in the process of binding those things on earth and in heaven and loosing those things which are on earth and in heaven and doing this through Christ the Rock who is building His one church the body of Christ.

Mat 16:18 Now I, also, am saying to you that you are Peter, and on this rock will I be building My ecclesia, and the gates of the unseen shall not be prevailing against it.”
Mat 16:19 I will be giving you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth, shall be those having been loosed in the heavens.” CLV

Mat 22:14 For many are called^G2822, but few are chosen^G1588.

Tyre-H6865 same s H6964 “a rock”
Hitchcock: strength; rock; sharp
TBD: rock

Psa 83:8 Assur also is joined with them: they have holpen the children of Lot. Selah.

It is encouraging to know the name ‘Asshur’ or “who is happy; or walks; or looks” is there along the journey of this life that we know must be accompanied with much tribulation (Act 14:22), afflictions (Psa 34:19), and persecution (2Ti 3:12) but assuredly a hundred fold family of believers has been given to the elect who God inspires to hold each other up so we can endure until the end (Mat 24:13, Mat 20:23).

We are “wrapped up; hidden; covered; myrrh; rosin” in a relationship that the world cannot see or perceive at this time, and whatever persecutions we do suffer are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed (Rom 8:18), and the current blessing that is ours to know Christ in each other is part of that glory being revealed in part today (1Co 13:12). It is of course all of our Father who drags us to Christ and enables us to endure as He works in us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure, so we ought to rejoice always in knowing that we are in His hands as His workmanship (Php 2:13, Eph 2:10, Php 4:4, Rom 8:31).

Assur-H804 Asshur or Assyria = a step
Apparently from H833 (in the sense of successful)
See H838-ashur-in the sense of going;a step
Hitchcock: who is happy;or walks;or looks
TBD: Defines Assyria-country of Asshur

Lot-H3876 “covering” The same as H3875-lowt
Hitchcock: wrapped up; hidden; covered; myrrh; rosin
TBD: veil

Psa 83:9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:

The following words demonstrate the thoroughness of God to start and finish this work of judgment upon our first man Adam who again is connected to a gentile culture, “the Midianites”.

It is a battle (Sisera^H5516 “battle array”) against powers and principalities, all of which Christ is higher than, so there is no chance of failure, and it is important to rejoice in hope of the certainty of victory through Christ if it be God’s will today (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21, Rom 5:2-9).

The forces we come up against are strong and likened unto horses, but God is in the most minute details (that sees a horse or a swallow Jer 12:5, Mat 10:23, Mat 10:29). We are in effect through Christ made “ready for war“, and God watches over us (Jabin^H2985 “whom God observes”), and teaches our hands to make spiritual warfare (Psa 144:1). He also knows and understands our frame and will not try us beyond the measure that we can endure, and this is a very comforting thought and verse to hold onto in the midst of trials and temptation (1Co 10:13).

Rom 5:2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
Rom 5:4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Rom 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

It is a long and “Kison^H7028 “winding” road that God has us all on, and there will be many bends in this road that God will cause, and it will be hard, and we will be sore pressed on every side (2Co 4:8), but as was just mentioned, the Lord is doing this to make us competent ministers of his word, not in our comfortable flesh but through a life of crying out to God with strong tears so that we can receive the living waters that we will need to accomplish this task of overcoming (2Co 3:6, Heb 5:7, 1Jn 4:17).

Remember, he knows our frame and is able to make the crooked paths straight, and he has promised it (Isa 45:2)!

Sisera-H5516=”battle array”
Hitchcock: that sees a horse or a swallow
TBD: ready for war

Jabin-H2985=”whom God observes”
From H995-“bene” which means to separate mentally (or distinguish), that is, (generally) understand, have intelligence
Hitchcock: he that understands; building
TBD: observed

Kison-H7028- “winding” From H6983 “koshe,” a primitive root “to bend” Also translated Kishon.
Hitchcock defines Kishon as hard; sore
TBD: crooked

Psa 83:10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.

There has to be a negative use of the word ‘gold’, and when we have “perished at Endor”, our first man Adam is going back into the earth to make our dwelling with the riches of this world which Paul said he likened unto dung in comparison to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (Php 3:8).

This gold is the apple of the world’s eye and is the fountain or the well spring of life that the carnal man aspires to; and God admonishes us to not neglect so great a salvation by stirring up His spirit which alone can put us in remembrance of the pearl of great price that has been given to us in Christ.

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

Heb 2:3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

Mat 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

Endor-H5874=”fountain of Dor” from H5869-ayin=an eye (literally or figuratively), by analogy, a fountain (as the eye of the landscape)-affliction;outward appearance;and from H1755-dor-properly a revolution of time, that is, an age or generation
Hitchcock: fountain, eye of generation, or of habitation
TBD: fountain of Dor (“Dor” is defined as dwelling)

Psa 83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:

This verse, still incorporating more cities, is the precursor to what it is God plans to do to all those things within us that are yet unclean and meant to be dealt with in this age of judgement upon his people mentioned in verses 12 to 18.

Oreb is an unclean bird meaning raven and Zeeb is a wolf, and God in these verses is showing the prince within us and the part that thinks we are noble, yet all of which is unclean Oreb (raven) or wolf (Zeeb), identifying with all the negative animal sacrifice (Zebah) until we do not (only by the grace and faith of Christ). There is no lasting comfort in these sacrifices which are likened unto darkness (shadow;image;idol forbidden) and although we go through the motions, God says they are detestible sacrifices (Pro 21:27, Pro 15:8) because they are done in the shadows which represent the flesh which cannot come before the light as a living sacrifice to be cleansed unless the Lord is allowing this (Joh 6:44, 1Jn 1:7).

Oreb-H6159 “raven”
Hitchcock: raven
TBD: raven

Zeeb-H2062=wolf One of the two princes of Midian mentioned in the conquest; brought to bay in a winepress
Hitchcock: wolf
TBD: wolf

Zebah-H2078=deprived of protection;origin is same as H2077-zebach=a slaughter, that is, the flesh of an animal; sacrifice
Hitchcock: victim;sacrifice
TBD: sacrifice

Zalmunna-H6759=deprived of protection. From H6738 tsale-“shade” and H4513 mana “to debar (negatively or positively) from benefit or injury;deny, keep back” [shade has been denied]
Hitchcock:
TBD: shadow

Psa 83:12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.

God is telling us in this verse who it is that He has reserved His greatest correction toward, and it is those “Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession” those who want to rule over the laity which is all of us in our appointed time. It’s interesting to note that in the previous verse the word “Zeeb” according to Hitchcock means ‘wolf’ and Christ tells us to beware of them.

Mat 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

Psa 83:13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.

That false prophet who is first within us must become crushed by Christ who is the stone of stumbling and rock of offense (Mat 21:44). The stubble represents the hope of repentance that will be granted to everyone in time (1Co 15:22).

Psa 83:14 As the fire burneth a wood, and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire;
Psa 83:15 So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm.

We are God’s storm that has been purposed to be formed from the foundation of the world, and when we come back with our Lord in the clouds, it will be for the express purpose of setting the world on fire with His word and truth so that men can learn righteousness.

1Th 3:13 To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

2Ti 4:1 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Psa 83:16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek thy name, O LORD.
Psa 83:17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
Psa 83:18 That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

There is a period where the world will “be confounded” and “troubled” and “put to shame” and many will “perish” and die in their sins (Joh 8:21), and that ‘many’ is all men until the second resurection and time of judgment or second death (Rev 20:14).

We remember that time when we had no hope, and our former conversation that had us lock stock and barrel a slave to sin.

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

It is truly because of our Father who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, that we have been called out of darkness and into the glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ (2Co 4:4, 2Co 3:18).

All of this judgment which is going to come upon the world has to happen to the elect as well if we are going to live by every word of God, and we must know that these words don’t just apply to those who are in the second resurrection but unto all men and to what end “That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.

It is good to look at all these cities again and again, even if God has given us some victory over them already, because it never hurts to be reminded of where we have come from and who it is who has given us the increase and victory all along the way.

Audio Links

How The Kingdoms of The World Become The Kingdom’s of Our Lord and His Christ

God’s Four Sore Judgments, Part 5 -The Noisome Beast – A

Introduction

Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Our study this week, as we continue to answer the question, “How will the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ?”, considers God’s sore judgment of “the noisome beast” and how “the noisome beast” will be used by God to give the rule of the kingdoms of this world over into the hands of His elect:

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

Rev 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.

Before we consider what part this “sore judgment” will play in delivering the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ, we need to know exactly what this judgment is which in the King James Version is called “the noisome beast”.

When we look at what Strong’s reveals to us to be the Hebrew word translated as “noisome”, this is what we discover:

ra‛  râ‛âh
rah, raw-aw’
From H7489; bad or (as noun) evil (naturally or morally). This includes the second (feminine) form; as adjective or noun: – adversity, affliction, bad, calamity, + displease (-ure), distress, evil ([-favouredness], man, thing), + exceedingly, X great, grief (-vous), harm, heavy, hurt (-ful), ill (favoured), + mark, mischief, (-vous), misery, naught (-ty), noisome, + not please, sad (-ly), sore, sorrow, trouble, vex, wicked (-ly, -ness, one), worse (-st) wretchedness, wrong. [Including feminine ra’ah; as adjective or noun.]

Of the 644 times this Hebrew word appears in the Old Testament, it is translated as ‘evil’ 440 times. This is the same Hebrew word translated as ‘evil’ in this verse of scripture:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The ACV has a much more accurate translation of this verse:

Eze 14:21  For thus says lord LORD: How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

Because we see both words “man and beast” in this verse, we are at first led to forget the truth of these verses of scripture:

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. 
Ecc 3:19  For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.
Ecc 3:20  All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. 

Since “all go unto one place: all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. [therefore] they [mankind] themselves are beasts”, God is not informing us that He intends to release upon mankind all the caged beasts in all of the zoos all around the globe. That would be so easy for mankind to deal with.  The “evil beasts” He is telling us He will use to judge mankind are far more dangerous than any physical “leopard… bear [or] lion. The “evil beast” by which God is judging all men receives his power from the great red Dragon, who is Satan himself. The “evil beasts” by whom God will judge all men is the beast of Revelation 13:

Rev 13:1  And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. 
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him [as one of God’s four sore judgments] to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

This “evil beast” overcomes all of God’s saints! He is “given… power… over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.” “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship [this “evil beast”]. He goes so far as to ‘sit in the temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God’. He kills by the sword, and he is killed by the sword. We are told that all of this “is the patience and the faith of the saints” who acknowledge that it is they, too, who must “keep the things written therein” (Rev 1:3 and Rev 22:7)

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Of course, this not a literal statement. While rulers of men have indeed proclaimed themselves to be gods, such as the king of Babylon, Isa 14, and the prince of Tyre, Eze 28, most men simply place themselves ahead of God, and in that sense they “worship the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” All who have Christ in them know that Christ alone has been capable of ‘making war with the beast’ that is within us all. This is the noisome beast by whom God will judge “all flesh”, and will bring the nations to want God’s elect to take over the reins of government on this earth. (Psa 82:8; Isa 49:26 ; Isa 66:16; Jer 25:31)

Peter speaks of this very same beast, by whom God will judge all men:

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;
2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;

It is with “natural brute beasts” that God is at this very moment judging His house, and it is with “natural brute beasts” that He will outwardly judge this world and make the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord, His Christ, who we are.

Notice what Peter tells us about the function of these “natural brute beasts”, the “noisome [evil] beast” by whom He is judging His people and the kingdoms of this world:

2Pe 2:13  And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you; 
2Pe 2:14  Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: 
2Pe 2:15  Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 
2Pe 2:16  But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
2Pe 2:17  These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

Let’s understand what we are being told. Christ Himself had a “natural brute beast [who was a] spot and a blemish sporting himself with his own deceit while feasting with” Christ and His Christ. That man “followed the way of Balaam” because he, too, loved the wages of unrighteousness. He thought he would be free when he betrayed Christ, but he very soon discovered the he was himself the servant of corruption, and was in fact in bondage to that corruption. He had escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord, but was again entangled in the pollutions of this world, and his latter end was worse than his beginning.

“…As He is so are we” (1Jo 4:17)

Just like Christ we, too, are promised “a kingdom” and “power over the nations”. We are told “the kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”

Dan 2:44  And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

Luk 22:29  And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

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

Rev 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.

Christ has already been given all power in heaven and in earth, and He is wielding that power at this very moment.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

At this very moment, He is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”.

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

If we are predestined to “be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in the Christ,…[who] has been given all power in heaven and in earth”, and if it is true that “as He is, so are we in this world”, then we ought to be able to look at the life of Christ to see how the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. The fact is that we have already done just that when we examined the life of Joseph.

Joseph’s going from Potiphar’s house to prison typified Christ passing from “a body of flesh and bone” into the grave.

Isa 24:22  And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

On coming up out of the realm of death, Christ ascended to His Father’s throne, where He was given “all power in heaven and in earth”. But how did He get to that throne? King David tells us how God made it all happen. It is the same way He judges us, and it is the same way He will judge this world (1Co 6:2) and make the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ:

Psa 105:16  Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
Psa 105:17  He sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: 
Psa 105:18  Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Psa 105:19  Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him.
Psa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21  He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance:
Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

The Word of the Lord tried Joseph, and it was the Word of the Lord which also tried Christ when He was tempted and tried of the Devil:

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

Christ believed His Father’s Words, and that is what Joseph did. It was a true trial to spend 13 years as a slave to the powers of Egypt waiting for the words of the Lord to come to pass.

These are the words of the Lord which tried Joseph’s faith in the Words of His Lord:

Gen 37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

From the time Joseph was given the promise of becoming a ruler, his life went straight down the drain. Everything he had been promised seemed to get farther and farther away from him. First, his own brothers hated him. They put him in a pit, then they sold him into slavery. He served Potiphar as a slave for some time, but things were to get even worse when he was cast into the dungeons of Egypt, typifying the death of his flesh.

But the time came for those words of promised rulership to come to pass, and that is exactly what happened. His brother’s “sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to [Joseph’s] sheaf”:

Gen 42:5  And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Gen 42:6  And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

You and I are in the same place as Joseph. We have been told that we were predestined to be called to “be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in [the Words of] Christ”. Notice all the personal pronouns in these verses:

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 
Eph 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

Does that sound like Paul doubted his election? These verses deal with all the blessings of our election. Judgment is not the subject of these verses. But it is God’s four sore judgments and all seven seals of the book of Revelation which are prerequisites of election:

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

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

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

]]> https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/does-god-tempt-man/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=does-god-tempt-man Sun, 10 Aug 2014 00:34:58 +0000 http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/?p=8219

Hi,

I have a question about temptation.  Jesus prayed to the Father and asked him not to lead us into temptation (Mat 6:13), but there is a Bible verse that says God doesn’t tempt man (Jas 1:13).  If God doesn’t tempt man, then why did Jesus ask the Father not to lead us into temptation?

Regards,

L____

Hi L____,

Thank you for your question.

You said:

“My question is about temptation.  Jesus prayed to the Father and asked him not to lead us into temptation (Mat 6:13), but there is a Bible verse that says God doesn’t tempt man (Jas 1:13).  If God doesn’t tempt man, then why did Jesus ask the Father not to lead us into temptation?”

Here are both of the verses you reference, which seem to contradict each other:

Mat 6:13  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

This King James translation of Jas 1:13 mistranslates the Greek word ‘hautou’ as ‘he’ when it should have been translated as “Himself”.

Here is Strong’s definition of that Greek word:

G848
αὑτοῦ
hautou
how-too’
Contraction for G1438; self (in some oblique case or reflexive relation): – her (own), (of) him (-self), his (own), of it, thee, their (own), them (-selves), they.

Here is a much better translation of this verse of scripture:

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man:

Every apparent contradiction of scripture is easily cleared up when we consult “the sum of [God’s] Word”, and if we do so “line upon line and precept upon precept”. God’s Word is intentionally written in this way for this express purpose:

Psa 119:160  The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ESV)

Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 

What this tells us is that Christ, the Word who was also “the cloud” that led Israel out of Egypt, is darkness and a snare to our old man in the middle of the day, while at the same time, He is bright daylight to our new man in the middle of the night:

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

It is the same ‘cloud’ which is being ‘seen’ by “them” and “these”, yet their perceptions are complete opposite.

Here are the verses immediately preceding the revelation that God’s words are “a snare” to our old man:

Isa 28:9  Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 
Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11  For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12  To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13  But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

There is a paper on the iswasandwillbe.com web site which demonstrates with the scriptures how the writers of the scriptures handled the Word of God. Christ and His apostles set us an example of how we are to approach and understand His Words, and we would do well to follow their example and use God’s words in the same manner in which Christ and His apostles used His Words.

Here is the link to that paper: Rightly Dividing the Word

God’s Word is a book that is to add verse to verse.

So we are to never make the mistake of attempting to understand why one verse seems to contradict the other. We are always to seek to see what is the sum of God’s Word, and in this particular case we discover that While the Father Himself tempts no man, God does indeed send His angels to tempt men many times. Here are but a few examples of where we are plainly told that God led men into temptation:

Gen 22:1  And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Taking this verse by itself, it appears to be a direct contradiction of Jas 1:13, but later in this same story we learn that it was a messenger of the Lord who spoke these very same words to Abraham:

Gen 22:11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
Gen 22:12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

It is the angel of the Lord who says “now I know…” because the angel is speaking for the Lord, and God the Father Himself is not tempting Abraham, but has sent an angel to do so.

The Lord led  Joseph’s brothers to sell him into Egypt:

Gen 45:4  And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 
Gen 45:5  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Gen 45:6  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Gen 45:7  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Gen 45:8  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

It was the spirit of God that drove Christ into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil:

Mat 4:1  Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 

Mar 1:13  And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Yes, He was “tempted of Satan”, but Mark repeats for us that it was the spirit of God that drove Christ into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Mar 1:12  And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. 
Mar 1:13  And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him.

Luke confirms that it was the spirit that “led” Christ to His temptation by the devil:

Luk 4:1  And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 
Luk 4:2  Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

The Lord tempted David to number the people of Israel:

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

But applying the principle of adding the verses of scripture together in a way that brings harmony to the Word of God we discover who the Lord actually used to “move David against [Israel]”:

1Ch 21:1  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. 
1Ch 21:2  And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

I hope all of this demonstrates that this is what is actually being said here in James one when it is properly translated:

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man: 

The scriptures may seem many times to contradict themselves. But the Truth is they never do:

Joh 10:35  If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

If ever there appears to be a problem with the scriptures, that problem is never with the scriptures themselves but it is in our lack of understanding,. We are never to even “think above what has been written”:

1Co 4:6  And, brothers, I transferred these things to myself and Apollos because of you, that in us you may learn not to think above what has been written, that you not be puffed up one over the other.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Marriage in Scripture – Part 6

Bring… Up [Your Children] in The Nurture and Admonition of The Lord. (Part Two)

A husband and wife who are united and in agreement that they intend to rear their children “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord” will avoid a lot of the heartaches that come with diametrically opposing philosophies on the subject of what works and what is the proper means of rearing and disciplining their children and what the values are that should be established in the lives of their children. The time to discuss such an important issues ideally is before marriage, of course.

In our last study we saw that just as Moses was a god to Pharaoh, parents are gods to their children who are not yet able to conceive of an all sovereign, invisible, loving, heavenly Father.

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

So our treatment of our children should be a reflection of how lovingly and patiently our heavenly Father has dealt with us. Our heavenly Father has exercised great patience with us. He has “from the heart” forgiven us of a debt we could never repay.

This is written directly to us and for us:

Mat 18:23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
Mat 18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
Mat 18:25 But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Mat 18:26 The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Mat 18:27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

God strengthens us when we are so weak, and through His patience and His strength He brings us to true repentance.

In our study today, we will see that God wants us to show the physical children with whom He has blessed us, that same patient, forgiving and loving spirit that He has shown toward us.

Christ never disagreed with His Father, and husbands and wives in like manner must never be seen to be disagreeing with each other in the presence of their children. Such an example is devastating to children, and they will reflect your actions in their own lives, and they will just naturally exploit any differences they detect between their parents. So set your children a Godly example, and never allow them to see you at odds with your spouse. As we should do in almost every circumstance, it is best to discuss all your differences in private and to present a united front before your children.

Abraham is revealed to be but a type and shadow of Christ (Gal 3:29). As such we are told this about how Christ is working with us if indeed we are His:

Gen 18:19 For I know [Abraham], that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

If Christ is living within any physical father “he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD”.

Here are just a few of the verses we will be considering in this study on how we should be “bringing up our children in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord”:

This one is twice repeated by the apostle Paul:

Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Col 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

But Christ’s way is narrow, so we are also told:

Pro 22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

A child that is given discipline from the beginning will be well behaved from the beginning. Sandi began disciplining all of our children when they began teething, and would inadvertently bite with those new teeth while they were nursing. That of course is totally intolerable behavior to let be established as a habit. She only had to flip the child on the cheek. and the biting stopped before it became a habit. The baby would burst out crying, but it learned very quickly not to bite while nursing.

That is exactly what we are told God does to us:

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

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace [God’s chastening] did much more abound:

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord love he chastens, and scourges every son whom he loves.

Bad habits like temper tantrums cannot develop unless they are tolerated the first time. Do not tolerate your children ever the first time sassing you, or ever telling their siblings that they hate each other. If you do not permit the first incident to go unpunished, then you will not have to worry about any subsequent temper tantrums. There will always be the temptation for children to lose their tempers with their siblings and even with their parents. If there is pain inflicted at the beginning, that habit will never take hold, and there will be respect within the family, and there will be a peaceful, functional family.

Here is the scripture that reveals this principle:

Ecc 8:11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

Never ever, the first time, allow yourself to make an empty threat. If you say it, mean it and carry it out “speedily”. Children know who you are, and if you are not a man of your word they know it, and they will just naturally exploit that weakness. “…Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil” is the Truth, whether we believe it or not.

We covered the proper use of “the rod of correction” last week, and when it is properly applied it will be done in love with the good and the welfare of the child always in view. Never open your mouth to your children unless you mean what you say. When you do say anything to that child, mean it, and do it. If you tell your child you will take him camping, then carry through with that promise. Try never to let your children down, and make it clear that you are a man or woman of your word.

That principle also applies when it comes to discipline. Discipline is what “the grace of God” does. God let’s the prodigal son think he is going his own way, but the Truth is that the desire to get out from under Dad’s rules is the work of an evil spirit sent to us from our heavenly Father (1Sa 16:14). Then He has it already written in our book that we will waste our substance. Then He sends a famine that causes that prodigal son to have to feed swine for a living. It is nothing less than the chastening hand of his loving, heavenly Father, who will not tolerate rebellion or being disrespected.

Mat 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

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

Yes indeed, God is sovereign, but the single-minded purpose and desire of God’s sovereign actions is to chasten us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live righteously in this present age.

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Making the Biblical way even narrower, we are told that “the rod of correction” ought never be used to the extent that it discourages God’s children. We all need the discipline of ‘the rod of correction’, but equally important to all children is for their parents to provide encouragement for them. Here is what God told Moses to do with Joshua when it was revealed that Moses would not be leading Israel into the promised land:

Deu 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit [the land].

Two chapters later the holy spirit sees fit to repeat this instruction to Moses to let us know just how important an admonition to all of us this matter of encouraging each other and our children is:

Deu 3:28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

Encouragement is strengthening. There is not, nor has there ever been a man or woman who did not come to a time in his or her life when he needed to be encouraged and strengthened. That includes our Lord Himself who came to this earth in the same weak, sinful flesh with which you and I are constructed.

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

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

Twice we are told our Lord had to be encouraged and strengthened to bear the weight of the trial He endured. The first was at the very beginning of His ministry when the adversary offered to relieve Christ from the yoke of the cross, if only our Lord would bow down and worship the adversary and take the easy way out.

You and I are enduring that same temptation. Look at how our heavenly Father encouraged and strengthened His Son while He was yet in a body of weak flesh and blood:

Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The last encouragement was at the very end of our Lord’s ministry, when Christ was staring the cross and death in the face in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Luk 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luk 22:42 Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.
Luk 22:43 And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.
Luk 22:44 And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
When Christ needed strength, His Father ministered to that need. That is what we are to do for those God gives to us.

Little children in particular desperately crave and need encouragement. When my children were very young I used to jokingly tell them, ‘You deserve a pat on the head’, when they would do something really good. I remember going fishing with them once when my oldest son caught a bass which, if I remember right, weighed about two pounds. It was the first fish he had ever caught, and he was so proud of himself. I remember him asking me, ‘Daddy, don’t I deserve a pat on the head?’ I assured him that he did indeed deserve a pat on the head, and I even gave him a big hug to go with his pat on the head. That might sound like an insignificant thing to you or me, but that was a very important thing to that little boy at that moment.

It doesn’t matter how many degrees you have after your name, any man who thinks it is unhealthy for a mother or a father to recognize the accomplishments of their own children with a hug, a kiss and a pat on the head when they take another step in life, is simply lacking common sense. Children crave the approval of their parents, and any Godly parent will be looking for every opportunity to shower that approval upon a child who is seeking to please his or her parents.

God did just that with His Son, and we have record of Him doing so twice:

Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Mat 3:17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Mat 17:5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.

Never fail to praise and encourage you children. It makes for a very happy family and a happy marriage. If you see your child has a strong suit give that child the opportunity to demonstrate that strength just for the purpose of encouraging and strengthening him or her. Never under any circumstance ever mock and discourage your child because of his faults and weaknesses. Mocking our children’s weaknesses and their bad behavior serves only to provoke them to anger, and it encourages them to continue in their bad behavior. At the same time it discourages the child from striving to please his or her parents.

As was quoted before, God has two times inspired these words for our admonition:

Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Col 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

Let’s compare the admonitions in those two verses with those two verses in Deuteronomy we read earlier:

Deu 1:38 But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.

Deu 3:28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.

Putting the sum of these verses together we are to “nurture and admonish [our children] lest they be discouraged”. We are to “encourage and strengthen them… to inherit the land” which is the kingdom of God within (Luk 17:20-21). The explicit implication is that if they are not encouraged and strengthened they will not “inherit the land”.

Why are fathers told “provoke not your children to wrath”? The answer, as a YouTube video which our brother Tom shared with us demonstrates, that is exactly what we fathers tend to do to our children. Here is the link to that video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td8NDwFDmp8

This father is mocking his six year old daughter by lip syncing her temper tantrum. The entire family is laughing while he mocks his daughter’s completely uncontrolled temper tantrum. The fact that he anticipates and lip syncs her every scream demonstrates that he and his family have been enduring and encouraging this out-of-control behavior for quite some time.

I read subsequent news stories referring to this video and suggesting that this father might be nominated for “Best father of the year” because of the unique way he handles his six year old daughter’s temper tantrums. The fact is, this father is doing exactly what the holy spirit admonishes us not to do, and he get accolades from the world for doing so. It always amazed me that on the TV program, America’s Funniest Home Videos, the video the audience voted winner so many times was a misbehaving, rebellious, out-of-control child. No father who knows that “foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him” would ever countenance provoking his daughter, and thereby encouraging her to continue her tantrum in this manner. This father and all who laud his methods are demonstrating their ignorance of what the holy spirit tells us about the proper use of the rod of correction, the need to encourage our children and the need to be careful never to provoke them to anger because of its discouraging and destructive effect upon our precious children.

What that little six year old girl needs is to be taken to her room and have “the rod of correction” applied to her posterior. Then after she is given time to cry herself out, and it is important to do that – to give a child time to stop sobbing – then she needs to be given the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That “admonition of the Lord” should include the fact that the Lord “chastens us to forsake ungodliness” (Tit 2:11-12). She needs to be told why she will not be permitted to disrupt the family, and exactly why she is not being given what she wants. Then she, and any child with a temper, needs to be given the following “admonition[s] of the Lord” followed by a loving hug to let the child know he/she is still loved:

Pro 14:17 He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly: and a man of wicked devices is hated.

Pro 14:29 He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.

Pro 15:18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Pro 16:32 He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.

But “the admonition[s] of the Lord” also extend to us parents who are instructed against provoking our children to wrath while they are having a temper tantrum. Temper tantrums are not to be tolerated. If you doubt that statement just read what Christ did to Israel every time they threw a temper tantrum in the wilderness. Here is but one example of many:

Num 16:32 And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
Num 16:33 They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation.
Num 16:34 And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also.
Num 16:35 And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

When Israel’s temper tantrum continued the very next day, in this same chapter, this is how the Lord reacted to Israel’s stubbornness:

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

The punishment was first just the death of the 250 rebels. The punishment for continued stubbornness was fourteen thousand seven hundred. That is more than 58 X 250. The scriptures are not advocating that we kill our stubborn, rebellious children. The deaths of the rebellious in the Old Testament represent and typify the death of our old man. God’s wrath, His anger, was not out of control. It was measured, and it was for the good of Israel. It happened to them and it is written for our admonition, so we will know what is the fruit of throwing a temper tantrum with God, and so we will know not to tolerate temper tantrums from our own children.

1Co 10:11 But, these things, by way of type, were happening unto them, and were written with a view to our admonition, unto whom, the ends of the ages, have reached along. (REV)

The deaths of all of those who died in this plague, just as the deaths of all who died in the wilderness, are “by way of type[s]” of how we are to deal with “…everything that breathes” as “everything that breaths” pertains to our stubborn, rebellious, carnal-minded, old man. We are not to make deals with, or in any way tolerate his ways, and as that applies to child rearing, we do not negotiate with our children. We are to lead them by example, we are to show them the results of disobedience, and when needed we are to maintain order in the home by using “the rod of correction”, until they are able to make proper decisions on their own. The ability to know good from evil is not an inherent part of human nature regardless of how many secular child psychologists think otherwise:

Isa 7:16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings.

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

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

Here “by way of type”, is how we are to deal with our carnal-minded, old man:

Deu 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

God has taken the time to show us the results of our temper tantrums against Him and His ways, and He has instructed us to be on our guard against the natural inclination we all have to act as the father in that YouTube video, which leads only to more of the same and to discouraging a child from even attempting to please his or her parents.

Col 3:21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

It takes the manufacturer Himself to make that connection for us. Provoking our children to wrath discourages them. While “the rod of correction [and] the admonition of the Lord” teaches them what works and what does not work.

If all a child ever hears is the word ‘No!’ without the benefit of godly admonition as to why he is being told ‘No!’, it simply provokes a child to want what he is told he cannot have, or to do what he is told he is not to do. Sandi always told our children ‘No, hot’ when they wanted to touch a hot stove, or touch hot food, or pull a pan of hot grease off the stove onto themselves. But she knew enough to first let each child stick its finger into her hot cup of coffee, knowing it would not maim the child, but they would learn the meaning of the word ‘hot’. After that the child reaching to touch something that would cause great pain or scarring would hear the word ‘hot’ and immediately draw back. The child would never have known to quickly draw back from a real danger such as a hot stove or pan of hot grease without experiencing that small pain first. If all a child hears is ‘no, no, no’ they have no knowledge imparted to them to realize danger to themselves or to something them may be wrongly reaching for.

But be it known unto you, there are many spiritual lessons which even after years of proper child-rearing, your children must learn by cruel experience. That prodigal son we read about earlier is you and me, first, but it is also your children and my children. Our children at their very best are still beasts as we all are, and as such our children will disappoint us just as we have so sorely disappointed our own parents and our own heavenly Father, our God. The story of the prodigal son is not the story of some exceptionally bad ne’er-do-well child of some unfortunate parents. The story of the prodigal son is the story of every one of us (Luk 15:11-32), and it is the story of our own children. It is part of the “one event” which is “common to all” of Ecclesiastes 9:

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

Christ experienced that same disappointment. It is the story of how we all disappoint our Lord, and it is the story of how our own children will also disappoint us.

On the night of His apprehension by the Jews, Christ already knows He is facing an excruciating death by crucifixion within mere hours, and He informs his disciples of the mental anguish He is enduring, and He asks them to watch with Him:

Mat 26:38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.

But when He returns from His prayers, asking His Father if there is not another way, this is what he discovers:

Luk 22:45 And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow,
Luk 22:46 And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

Christ is the father of His children. We are His children, and His disciples are merely types of us and of our children. The disappointment of finding His disciples asleep was just the beginning of how they were about to let Him down that night. Here is what happened next:

Mat 26:55 In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me.
Mat 26:56 But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.

This applies to our children also. Our children forsake us every time they turn their backs on what we have taught them straight out of the Word of God, and if you still think your children will not disappoint you, just look at what Christ had to witness next. I will quote both Matthew and Luke to give us the full picture of how our children will be pressured by this world to deny us and what we have taught them:

Mat 26:67 Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands,
Mat 26:68 Saying, Prophesy unto us, thou Christ, Who is he that smote thee?
Mat 26:69 Now Peter sat without in the palace: and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee.
Mat 26:70 But he denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest.
Mat 26:71 And when he was gone out into the porch, another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.
Mat 26:72 And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man.
Mat 26:73 And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, Surely thou also art one of them; for thy speech bewrayeth thee.
Mat 26:74 Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew.
Mat 26:75 And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he went out, and wept bitterly.

Now look at one detail Luke adds in his account:

Luk 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

Don’t you know that Christ was looking with great compassion and mercy upon His poor weak child. Sure He was disappointed, but He knew His son, Peter could not resist the pressure of standing up for Him and His doctrine without the spirit of God, which was not even made available to Peter at this time. The Lord knew the burning, bitter torment that was in Peter’s heart, “and the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord… and went out and wept bitterly”.

Let none of us ever be guilty of provoking our children to wrath, and thereby discouraging them from even wanting to please us as their parents. Rather let us always take every opportunity to encourage and strengthen our children who crave our approval.

Let the husbands and wives of the body of Christ, be of one mind when it comes to the rearing of their children, and let us always present the united front of that one mind to our children, and never let them see us, their parents arguing in the presence of our children.

Let us do what our Lord tells us to do, and ignore the writings and opinions of men. If we are give to do that then the way of peace within our families we will know and we will reap the joy of knowing the peace of our Lord’s one mind and His ways.

Because there is yet so much to be said about the blessings of being a nonconformist, next week we will deal with teaching our children how to deal with living their lives not ‘conforming to the ways of the world’. We will consider what the scriptures reveal about not following the multitude to do evil, and how we should teach our children to deal with the trials of not esteeming one day above another, by not observing ‘days, months, times and year’, which is one of the strongest trials they will usually face when they are in public school.

The theme of temptation is very closely linked to our previous theme and discussion on the role of this subtle serpent (or evil) in God’s plan. Temptation is an important spiritual instrument which God is using since the beginning to make all in the generation of the first man Adam in His spiritual image:

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

Within this theme we will discuss, among others, how temptation is intimately linked to our trials. In our next discussion (study #19) we will look at how Jesus is our perfect and spotless lamb, even while He was subjected to the same temptations all of us face in our lifetimes in this marred physical condition:

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities [our fleshly nature with all its lusts]; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

God is spirit, and no flesh can inherit His spiritual kingdom because flesh and all earthly temporary things are called “corruption” (2Co 4:16-18). So it is clear for those who can receive this, that we are involved in an age or eon of death which has the appearance of life, as determined by God. Through this “sore travail” (or evil experience) we are being formed to eventually worship God “in spirit and in truth”:

Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

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

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

The serpent’s role in all of this should be seen as necessary when he approached Adam and Eve with evil subtlety which they were not able to resist because they could not submit to God and His commandment at this stage (Jas 4:7):

Gen 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Gen 3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
Gen 3:3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Gen 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

God does everything with a purpose in mind, and He never deviates from that one purpose or will. Temptation is a foundational theme in Genesis because it helps us to understand the deeper spiritual work of God in the earthly generations of the first man Adam, even in ourselves. Only in the last Adam, Jesus Christ, are we given victory over temptation and all evil. God indeed created evil and darkness as all things are “of Him”, but that does not make Him either evil or being in darkness (1Co 8:6, 1Co 11:12, 2Co 5:18, Rom 11:36, Rom 13:1):

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

In the same way God Himself tempts no man, though God is the one who leads us into the temptation as He is the cause of everything in our lives. God sends evil spirits, and nobody can do anything without God causing it (1Sa 16:14, 1Sa 18:10, 2Ch 18:18-22, 2Sa 24:1, 1Ch 21:1):

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Jas 1:13 (ASV) Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man.

1Th 3:5 For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain.

As we know, the temptations or trials of Job were directed by God (Job 1 and 2). So, too, was the temptation of Adam and Eve. As the book of Job demonstrates, God uses different “agencies” of evil to bring temptation and trials to us. In Job the Sabeans (“men of stature” – Isa 45:14), the “fire of God”, the Chaldeans (or Babylonians), “a great wind from the wilderness”, boils, Job’s own wife and his three friends were all used to bring the severe trials to Job (Job 1:13-19, Job 2:7-13). Some falsely claim that Satan’s temptations are independent of the tests God sends. It is very important to note that temptation is intimately linked to all trials. Two verbs with their noun forms, one in the Hebrew and one in the Greek (“nâsâh” and “peirazō” respectively) help us to see this (Deu 6:16, Mat 4:1, Mat 46, 1Co 10:9, Rev 3:10, 1Pe 4:12). Here, however, is a verse that can cause confusion:

Gen 22:1 (KJV) And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt [Hebrew: “nâsâh” meaning “to test”, “to tempt”, “to try”] Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.
Gen 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

God did not “tempt” Abraham as the King James translation wants it to say because He “cannot be tempted with evil”. God has absolute control over everything – He never lost control over anything, especially in His creation as some shamelessly blaspheme God. Everything is still within His one perfect will and plan; yes, even the evil. Abraham also did not commit an act of sin or trespass in this case (Jas 1:13-17). The book of Hebrews gives us the right approach:

Heb 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried [Greek: “peirazō”], offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Abraham was given this trial to show us something about God’s heart! Again we should be reminded that God knows all things before we find out about it, even the end of a thing from the beginning (Isa 46:10, Mat 6:8). So these tests (temptations and trials) are not for His information, but for those who are given to accept His “strange work” in this age (Isa 28:21). We painfully learn about our own natural condition and the state of our own natural “heart” through temptations and trials, as Adam and Eve also learned:

Deu 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove [Hebrew: “nâsâh”; The Greek Septuagint has “peirazō” here] thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Deu 8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end.

God also knew what was in Abraham’s heart before He asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in the mountain of the land Moriah, the “mount of the Lord” where God also revealed Himself as “Jehovahjireh” – the God who has provided because He “knows all things” in advance! (Gen 22:2, Gen 22:14, 2Ch 3:1, Mat 6:8, 1Jn 3:20):

Gen 22:12 And he [God] said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked [he did not notice this until the appointed time], and behold behind him a ram caught [or “seized”] in a thicket [The Greek Septuagint has the word “sabbaton” which is from “shabbâth”] by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

This happened historically and was written for our admonition to show why Abraham was used here to show the Father’s heart of God who did not withhold His only beloved Son, Jesus (1Co 10:11, Rom 8:32). Jesus was prepared by God “before the foundation of the world”, like the ram that was behind Abraham in a thicket where he could not see it until he “lifted up his eyes” – away from his own restricted point of view:

1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,

All of these temptations and trials are on the kingdom of the “man of sin”, even the first Adam in us (Gen 1:26, Psa 51:5, 2Th 2:3-4). God’s spiritual sons submit to these tests because they help to grow the faith of Jesus which “works patience” to enter the kingdom of God. That is why we are encouraged to accept these diverse temptations and trials with “all joy” because in the end it is worth it (Act 14:22):

Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations [Greek noun “peirasmos”]
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying [Greek “dokimion” which means “to test” also] of your faith worketh patience.

Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment [Greek: “basanismos” – a touchstone, which is a black stone used to test the purity of gold or silver] ascendeth up for ever and ever [for the eons of the eons = in “every man” in the eon of the first man Adam indeed]: 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 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

One of the most subtle temptations is to quit praying when we first discover God’s sovereignty. However, prayer is an integral part of God’s sovereign plan and His saints are the ones to do that part (Rev 5:8, Rev 8:3-4). We indeed pray to God to keep us spiritually strong against Satan’s temptation in this evil world, inside and outside, because we want to be delivered from this world through the one and only “way to escape”, even Jesus Christ in us, as we endure until the end (1Co 10:13, Mat 26:41, 2Co 12:9-10). Jesus prayed, and as He is so are we in this world (1Jn 4:17):

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

I want to thank our brother James Bernini for adding the following paragraph:

“The only way for them to come to know that they were incapable [of fulfilling] God’s commandment was through the process that began with the humiliation of the temptation which the serpent brought as in time they will come to realize, as they look back, that they were created marred from the beginning and that this was all part of God’s plan for redeeming his children:”

Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die…in dying you shall die.

Even today the same commandments of God provide the base for the temptations and the trials in our lives. We know that all things are “of God” but “the spirit in the world” which is “the [natural] spirit of a [natural] man” is not “the [holy] spirit of God…the Father” – “these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal 5:17):

1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

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

The “spirit of man” in the first man Adam is clearly not the holy spirit of God. Man was given “earthy” breath when God breathed in his nostrils, but this breath or spirit in Adam was just a type and shadow of the “heavenly” spirit of God (Gen 2:7, 1Co 15:47-49). The life or light in the first Adam was indeed “without form, and void; and darkness” (Gen 1:2):

Pro 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle [a small light] of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

The serpent used “the spirit of the world” in Adam and Eve to entice their inherent fleshly lusts:

Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

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

This “friendship of the world” was in Adam and Eve which made them enemies of God from the beginning. The hearts of Adam and Eve were made by God to attend to “the things of the flesh” and not “the things of the spirit” (Rom 8:5, Mat 15:18-19). The commandment which God gave to them not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil “worked…the motions of sin” in their “members” (Rom 7:5-8). This is what they experienced within themselves before they even touched the forbidden fruit:

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

The minds of Adam and Eve were “subject to vanity” because the natural mind is death, and it is “an abomination to the Lord” (Pro 15:26, Rom 8:6). “Every imagination of the thoughts of [our natural] heart [is] only evil continually” (Gen 6:5, Isa 59:7, Mat 15:18-19):

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.

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

Those in Christ are strengthened by His spirit (His words) to keep His commandments through the “light affliction” of temptations and trials. This is also how we should see His grace to us. The end justifies the means from God’s perfect perspective.

2Co 4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Psa 119:64 The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach [Hebrew: “lâmad” – meaning ‘to goad with a stick or rod’] me thy statutes.
Psa 119:65 TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Psa 119:66 Teach [Hebrew: “lâmad”] me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.
Psa 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.
Psa 119:68 Thou art good, and doest good; teach [Hebrew: “lâmad”] me thy statutes.

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching [Greek: “paideuō” – ‘chasten’ as in ‘smite with pain’] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.