[Posted March 28, 2025]

Luk 11:1  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
Luk 11:2  And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
Luk 11:3  Give us day by day our daily bread.
Luk 11:4  And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

This is not a prayer, rather it is Christ’s instructions to His disciples on how they ought to pray. Therefore this is an outline of how we ought to approach our heavenly Father. Every prayer we pray should always include the words… “Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth”. If we are granted the faith to truly believe that God is “working all things after the counsel of His own will” then we will be forced to acknowledge that whatever occurs in our lives day by day is the Lord’s answer to our prayer to that moment.

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Luk 18:2  Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:
Luk 18:3  And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.
Luk 18:4  And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;
Luk 18:5  Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
Luk 18:6  And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.
Luk 18:7  And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8  I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Heb 9:19  For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
Heb 9:20  Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.
Heb 9:21  Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
Heb 9:22  And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves [our hearts and our minds] with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself [into us], now to appear in the presence of God for us:  

When we begin our prayers with the words… ‘Our Father which art in heaven’ we are acknowledging that He dwells within us and that He is working all things after the counsel of His own will, as we are informed in: 

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:  

If we acknowledge God as our heavenly Father and we know that ‘heaven’ is the realm of the spirit in which we dwell with Christ and His Father, then we will indeed ‘hallow’ His name. ‘Hallowed’ is the verb form of ‘holy’ and has the same Greek root which is the Greek adjective ‘hagios‘ as in ‘hagios pneuma‘, translated as ‘holy (G40, ‘hagios’, “most holy thing”) spirit’ (G4151, ‘pneuma’).

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. 

Exo 37:1-29  The Making of the Ark, the Table, the Lampstand and the Altar of Incense

[Study Aired February 13, 2023]

Exo 37:1  And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it:
Exo 37:2  And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.
Exo 37:3  And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. 
Exo 37:4  And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. 
Exo 37:5  And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. 
Exo 37:6  And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof. 
Exo 37:7  And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat; 
Exo 37:8  One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 
Exo 37:9  And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims. 
Exo 37:10  And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof: 
Exo 37:11  And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. 
Exo 37:12  Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about. 
Exo 37:13  And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. 
Exo 37:14  Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. 
Exo 37:15  And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. 
Exo 37:16  And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold. 
Exo 37:17  And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same: 
Exo 37:18  And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: 
Exo 37:19  Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick. 
Exo 37:20  And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers: 
Exo 37:21  And a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it. 
Exo 37:22  Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold. 
Exo 37:23  And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold. 
Exo 37:24  Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof. 
Exo 37:25  And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same. 
Exo 37:26  And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about. 
Exo 37:27  And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal.
Exo 37:28  And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. 
Exo 37:29  And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

Today’s study focuses on the construction of the Ark, the Table, the Candlestick and the Altar of incense.  A closer look of the making of these items will give us insight into how to become like our Lord Jesus Christ who is our standard of measurement. As indicated in previous studies, Bezaleel represents our Lord Jesus Christ. It is through Him that all the items to be constructed within us are made.  

Exo 37:1  And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it: 

The ark represents our Lord Jesus Christ. When we are in Him, we are delivered from the flood waters of false doctrines, carnality, traditions, human wisdom, etc. The ark was to be made of shittim wood from shittah tree, probably from acacia. They were found growing wild in the Sinai desert and the Jordan River valley. Growing wild means that it is not planted and taken care of by man. In other words, it is not the work of man. If we are to become like Christ, then we need to know that from the beginning to our maturity is all the work of Jesus Christ – not man. Even our sins are all part of the work of God. All we do to become like Christ is to believe in Him.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 
Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

The ark had the following dimensions: Two and half cubits in length and a cubit and half in breadth and height. What is significant about the measurements is that they are all in halves. This means that we cannot obtain the stature of Christ in this life. It is in resurrection that we become perfected like Jesus Christ.

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 
1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Another significant point to note in verse 1 is that to become like Christ means we are constantly being measured to see if we have obtained the standards of Christ. This means that we are constantly being judged to conform to the standard of Christ. All those who are not measured are not part of the commonwealth of Israel or His elect. They belong to the Gentiles!!

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Exo 37:2  And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.

Overlaying the ark with gold means that to become like Christ, we must be refined just like gold refined in the fire. This is the judgment of our old man which brings us to learn righteousness.

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Exo 37:3  And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it. 
Exo 37:4  And he made staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. 
Exo 37:5  And he put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark.

In Ezekiel chapter 1, the living creatures who represent the elect have wheels, which are rings full of eyes. These living creatures represent the elect. The four cast rings of gold are therefore the elect who are placed in every corner of the earth even as the Lord fills the earth. The number four means the whole of all the elect scattered over the four corners of the earth. The fact that two are placed on one side and two on another is to let us know that we serve as witnesses of Christ on this earth.

Eze 1:15  Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold one wheel upon the earth by the living creatures, with his four faces.
Eze 1:16  The appearance of the wheels and their work was like unto the colour of a beryl: and they four had one likeness: and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel. 
Eze 1:17  When they went, they went upon their four sides: and they turned not when they went. 
Eze 1:18  As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

The staves are long rods of wood which pass through the rings to make it easier to carry the ark so that the ark is not touched. The function of the staves suggests that spiritually, they represent the spirit of the Lord which helps us bear Christ wherever we go. These staves are made from shittim wood and therefore are not of man’s origin, but by the Lord. In verse 5, the staves being in the rings means the promise of the comforter being within us to lead us into all truth so we can have the mind of Christ and therefore “carry” Christ wherever we go.

Joh 14:16  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
Joh 14:18  I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.

Exo 37:6  And he made the mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length thereof, and one cubit and a half the breadth thereof.
Exo 37:7  And he made two cherubims of gold, beaten out of one piece made he them, on the two ends of the mercy seat;

One of the significant aspects of the ark is the mercy seat. This is to make us aware that the heart of our Lord Jesus Christ is to show mercy to humanity.

Psa 145:8  The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

Psa 147:11  The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

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

If we are to be like Christ (the ark), then the mercy we have received from the Lord should translate into us being merciful in all our dealings. This is what the Lord requires of us.

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 
Rom 11:32  For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 
Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

The scriptures above show us that we have a significant role to play in showing mercy to humanity during the lake of fire age. The measurement of the mercy seat is to let us know that as His elect, we are being measured regarding our mercy attribute. What this means is that as we fall short of this measure, we are being disciplined to conform to our Lord’s mercy attribute. The fact that the measurement of the length and breadth of the mercy seat are given as two and half cubits and a cubit and half are to remind us that we cannot grasp the fullness of our Lord’s mercy in this age until we are perfected.

1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

We need to know what the Cherubims represent in order to understand what is being said here. The Cherubims are living creatures and it is in the midst of these Cherubims that the Lord dwells and speaks to His people.

Eze 10:20  This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river of Chebar; and I knew that they were the cherubims.

1Sa 4:4  So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

2Sa 6:2  And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.

This is what we know of where the dwelling place of God is – among His people. This means that the cherubims represent His people or His elect.

Exo 29:46  And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the LORD their God.

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 

2Co 6:16  And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

What verse 7 is therefore telling us is that in order to become like Christ, we  must be like the beaten work of gold. Gold can be beaten to assume any shape only when it is melted through heat. It is through our fiery trials (heat) that the Lord can make us become like Him.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.  

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.

The fact that Moses was required to make two Cherubims suggests that, through the beaten work of gold, we become witnesses of Christ.

Exo 37:8  One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy seat made he the cherubims on the two ends thereof. 
Exo 37:9  And the cherubims spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy seat, with their faces one to another; even to the mercy seatward were the faces of the cherubims. 

What these verses tell us is that the mercy seat is between the two Cherubims who cover it with their wings as they behold each other. The mercy seat is where the Lord dwells. Wings in the scriptures serve as a hiding place and also a place of protection.  

Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

Psa 57:1  To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.

The wings of the Cherubims hide the mercy seat where the Lord dwells. This means that the Lord is hidden in the elect in this age. As we are aware, Christ is the word of God. The mercy seat sandwiched between the two Cherubims means that the two Cherubims protect the mercy seat. This means that the role of the elect is to protect the truth of the word of the Lord in this age. This role was made clear to us when the Lord was laying the foundations of the earth. We are the ones who are keeping the way of the tree of life, which is Christ and His words, through a flaming sword which turns in every way.

Gen 3:24  So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Exo 37:10  And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof: 
Exo 37:11  And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about.
Exo 37:12  Also he made thereunto a border of an handbreadth round about; and made a crown of gold for the border thereof round about.

A Table is used often in the Bible to indicate where people gather to eat as shown by the following verses: 

2Sa 9:11  Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons.

1Ki 2:7  But shew kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those that eat at thy table: for so they came to me when I fled because of Absalom thy brother.

The Table of the Showbread is not different – it is where the priests eat the Showbread in the presence of the Lord. Aaron and his sons, representing the priesthood, were only those privileged to eat the bread in the presence of the Lord in a holy place every Sabbath day. Aaron and his sons symbolize the elect who are privileged to eat the bread of heaven, that is, the words of the Lord in the presence of the Lord. So, the making of the Table for Showbread is to show us how the Lord prepares us to be given eyes to see and ears to hear. 

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.

The Lord dining with His disciples (called the Lord’s supper) when He was about to die, is a foreshadow of our being fed with the word of the Lord in His presence. The measurement given of the Table is to make us aware that to be given eyes to see and ears to hear entails being constantly measured to see if we have obtained the standards of Christ. This means that we are constantly being judged to conform to the standard of Christ. All those who are not measured are not part of the commonwealth of Israel or His elect. They belong to the Gentiles!!

Rev 11:1  And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.

Overlaying the Table with gold means that to be privileged to eat at the Lord’s Table requires us to be refined just like gold refined in the fire. This is the judgment of our old man which brings us to learn righteousness. 

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

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

The molding of gold together with the rim round about the table was to support it so that nothing that is placed on the table would fall down. What was placed on the Table were the showbread and the vessels for frankincense and offering, which spiritually represent the word of the Lord and the elect. As our understanding is being enlightened and our eyes are seeing, we are kept by the word of His power through our fiery trials which are represented here by the gold molding and the rim roundabout the table.

Heb 1:3  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

Exo 37:13  And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in the four feet thereof. 
Exo 37:14  Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. 
Exo 37:15  And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. 
Exo 37:16  And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold. 

The four cast rings of gold represent the elect which are placed in every corner of the earth even as the Lord fills the earth. The number four means the whole of all the elect scattered over the four corners of the earth. 

Eze 1:18 As for their rings, they were so high that they were dreadful; and their rings were full of eyes round about them four.

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

The staves are long rods of wood which pass through the rings to make it easier to carry the table so that it is preserved. The function of the staves suggests that spiritually, they represent the spirit of the Lord which helps us bear Christ wherever we go. These staves are made from shittim wood and therefore are not of man’s origin but the Lord. The staves placed in the rings means the promise of the comforter being within us to lead us into all truth so that we, His elect, can have the mind of Christ (showbread) and therefore continue the feasting wherever we go.

As indicated earlier, the dishes, spoons, covers, and bowls all represent the elect.

2Ti 2:20  Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.
2Ti 2:21  Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

The utensils were to be made of gold which means that they have to be refined as gold through the fire. This is the judgment of our old man.

Rev 3:18  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Isa 48:10  Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

These utensils are used for holding frankincense and for offering. As we are aware, we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to the Lord. The prayers of the elect are signified by the frankincense. 

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,
Rev 8:4  and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 

Rom 12:1  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Rom 12:2  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. 

Exo 37:17  And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; his shaft, and his branch, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, were of the same: 
Exo 37:18  And six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof: 
Exo 37:19  Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knop and a flower: so throughout the six branches going out of the candlestick.

The candlestick must be made of pure gold and of beaten work. What this is telling us is that the church of Christ consists of those who are like gold beaten to assume any shape through the process of melting through heat. This means that it is through our fiery trials (heat) that the Lord can make us become part of the church of the firstborn like Him.

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

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.

The shaft represents Christ, and the branches symbolize the elect, and they are all beaten works of gold. There are three branches on each side of the shaft, and for each branch there are three decorative almond blossoms (bowls). Where each pair of branches come out from the shaft or stem, there must also be a decorative almond blossom. 

The fact that there must be three decorative almond blossoms on each branch is to make us aware that it is through judgment that we blossom or mature to produce fruits (almond). In other words, being given to partake of the Lord’s words (showbread) is through our fiery trials, which cause us to produce fruits (almond). That is when our light will shine before men so that they see our good works and therefore glorify our Father in Heaven.  

Num 17:8  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds. 

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Exo 37:20  And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, his knops, and his flowers:
Exo 37:21  And a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches going out of it. 
Exo 37:22  Their knops and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.

As we have indicated, the shaft or the stem is Christ who has four of the decorative almond blossoms. This is to demonstrate that it is through Christ that the whole (the meaning of the number four) of the elect becomes mature. The pairing of the branches together with a blossom on each pair is to show us that we become witnesses of Christ as we mature. The lampstand, its branches and the decorative flowers being all made from one beaten work of pure gold is to bring to our attention that even as our Jesus Christ matured through the things He suffered, we are also to mature through our fiery trials in order to become the light of the world.

Heb 5:5  So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee.
Heb 5:6  As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. 
Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 
Heb 5:10  Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.

Exo 37:23  And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, of pure gold. 
Exo 37:24  Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.

The seven lamps refer to the complete number of the elect from every generation. The candlestick is to give light to the space in front of it in the Holy place. What is insightful to note is the fact that the light given by the candlestick is not seen outside the Holy place. It is to give light for the priest to perform his duty. In this dispensation, although we are the light of the world, we are not seen that way by many (the world). It is only the elect who see our light and use it to perform their duty – that is, live a life worthy of the Lord. This light is the word of the Lord, which is the light for our path. Paul sums up our being beaten like the work of gold in order to give light as follows:

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 
2Co 4:8  We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 
2Co 4:9  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 
2Co 4:10  always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies (providing light for the priest to function).
2Co 4:11  For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Exo 37:25  And he made the incense altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the height of it; the horns thereof were of the same. 

The altar of incense then, can be seen as a symbol of the prayers of God’s people. Our prayers ascend to God as the smoke of the incense ascends to God in the sanctuary.

Psa 141:2  Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. 

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. 

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

Luk 1:9  According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.
Luk 1:10  And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.

So, the making of an altar of incense is basically to show us how we can communicate with the Lord. The altar of incense is required to be made of shittim wood, which comes from acacia. What this means is that to be effective in communicating with the Lord, we must know that it is all the work of the Lord and that we do not contribute anything to this. Since we do not bring anything to the table, our prayers before the Lord must be accompanied with a heart that is humble and grateful for being counted worthy to come before His presence. That is what the story of the two gentlemen who went to pray teaches us.

Luk 18:9  And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Luk 18:10  Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 
Luk 18:11  The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 
Luk 18:12  I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
Luk 18:13  And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14  I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbled himself shall be exalted.

The shape of the altar of incense is to be a square. This implies that from whatever situation we find ourselves as priests of the Lord, we must offer prayers to the Lord. That is another way of saying that men must always pray and not faint.

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

There is a horn at each of the four corners of the square-shaped altar of incense. Horns symbolize strength. This is to let us know that our strength to resist the devil is through prayers. As He is, so are we. Jesus was strengthened when He prayed. In the same way, we are also strengthened to overcome temptation when we pray.

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

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

Eph 3:14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Eph 3:15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 
Eph 3:16  That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

Exo 37:26  And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and the sides thereof round about, and the horns of it: also he made unto it a crown of gold round about. 
Exo 37:27  And he made two rings of gold for it under the crown thereof, by the two corners of it, upon the two sides thereof, to be places for the staves to bear it withal.
Exo 37:28  And he made the staves of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold. 
Exo 37:29  And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

The fact that the altar of incense must be overlaid means that to become a house of prayer, we must be refined just like gold refined in the fire. As we are aware, if we are to become a house of prayer, then Jesus has to come into our temple to drive away all that offends with a scourge of small cords. The scourging signifies our fiery trials or the refining process of gold which cleanses us to become a house of prayer. 

Mat 21:12  And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
Mat 21:13  And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Rings of gold were attached to the altar so that it could be carried about with acacia wood poles which were slipped through the rings. The altar of incense was placed before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. As indicated earlier, the two rings of gold are the elect who serve as witness of Christ. The staves being in the rings means the promise of the comforter being within us to lead us into all truth so that we can have the mind of Christ and therefore “carry” Christ wherever we go.  The anointing oil also represents the Holy Spirit. The work of the apothecary is the work of Christ in sending us the Holy Spirit and to make us become the sweet fragrance of Him. Amen!!

by Steven Crook

In part 1 of this series, I ended the study by saying:

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

 

Declare ALL HIS WORKS with rejoicing, even those we may perceive as negative or bad!

 

Psa 47:6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
Psa 47:7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.

I wanted to start this study where we ended last time to continue this thought and also to learn if we can glean from scripture how it is we live this out practically in our lives today.

How do we sing praises to the Lord, with understanding and to declare his works with rejoicing? Why is thanksgiving referred to as a sacrifice?

Let’s be honest. How many times do you catch yourself saying, or at least remember thinking, “Lord, I just don’t understand?!…”?

That is a phrase that is common to the human condition because we oftentimes have NO CLUE what is happening to us, our family, friends, enemies, people who are our neighbors or people across the  globe, nor do we have a CLUE what to expect is coming next, but we put on “happy faces” and pretend that everything is going to be okay because yesterday was.

Well, today is the day of the Lord!

What comes today is all of the Lord, just as the Truth has been from the beginning of time. We just seem to think our thoughts, emotions, remedies, revenges, hugs, defeats, wins, etc., etc, etc., are going  to somehow change the outcome of things.

The Truth is that God is in control of it all, and once we understand that to our core, until that shakes and rattles you like an undeniable earthquake in your heavens, then you will never be able to declare His works with rejoicing and to praise Him with lips of thanksgiving and understanding, for our God is a consuming Fire.

I am often touched, so to speak, by the words I read. I can be affected quite easily, when the moment is right, by the words that pour forth as springs of living water from the scripture.

We read Psalms 47 and 48 in the last study. I am going to continue to read the next few chapters in Psalms in this study, because these Psalms, or SONGS to the Lord, are very precious to Him ESPECIALLY in times of DURESS and great CHANGE.

The Lord only accepts praises WITH UNDERSTANDING, so what is it we are to understand, especially in the context of this study?

Psa 49:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
Psa 49:2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
Psa 49:3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

Notice that we are told, right here just a few verses later, what we should be doing to gain understanding. One of the key ingredients in the recipe of success is to meditate with your heart.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jer 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

We do not need to fear, because the Lord places upon our hearts what steps we will take, therefore we are protected from Him by His own hand.

When trying to understand why things happen or are happening to us and others around us, we need to learn to dance to the music being played! That hard-to-be-understood dark saying is being played on the harp of the Lord!

Psa 49:4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
Psa 49:5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her  seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Gen 25:26 And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.

Psa 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the  earth trembled and shook.
Psa 77:19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.

So our walk is important to understanding that “the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about” tells us that the Lord is working it all. Don’t believe me? Let Him speak on the matter then.

Psa 49:6 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
Psa 49:7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Psa 49:8 (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
Psa 49:9 That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
Psa 49:10 For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

We all go to the grave the same as the next person.

Psa 49:11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling  places to all generations; >they call their lands after their own names.
Psa 49:12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
Psa 49:13 This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.

At the end of the day, the Lord just wants us to take some time to ponder why it is we are here, what we are doing, and where we are going. We need to do that. What we will discover very quickly is that we are the basest of beasts. I mean the BASEST when it gets down to the core of it.

Even in the garden of Eden, we were given dominion to NAME all the beasts, tend to the GARDEN OF GOD, that He HIMSELF had planted, watered and nourished to PRESENT TO US to tend; just for us to go about the work and then one day WANT MORE… in the form of “a helper”. Turns out,  men need a helper at night most times.

Naming the beasts in the garden of God is akin to naming the lands after our own names. We take pride in the things we OWN or have DOMINION over, but it is always short-lived and always at the discretion of the LORD. How painful is that to “Selah” over! Your flesh will weep for its loss and “hard work”. Why?

Psa 49:14 Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
Psa 49:15 But God will redeem my soul from the POWER of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.

Even so Lord come quickly. When we accept whatever is to come in the day of the Lord, which happens to be every day, then we have arrived at peace in the Lord. That does not mean NO FIRE. It means DWELLING CONTENTEDLY in the FIRE; whatever the Lord decides to do WITH THAT FIRE!

Some days you wake up with plans and find out that “house” in your “land of plans” caught fire last night while you slept, and the Lord willed something else to happen.

Some days you wake up and find that King Neb is making an edict that if anyone so much as coughs at your Lord’s name the wrong way, they would be cut asunder and spread around the kingdom, as we saw at the end of the last study.

Psa 49:16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
Psa 49:17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
Psa 49:18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
Psa 49:19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
Psa 49:20 Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

‘Man in honour, without understanding, ends up like all perishing beasts.’ These men will NEVER SEE LIGHT.

Why? Light comes FORTH out of darkness, but it is NOT darkness. Likewise, DEAD things cannot be ALIVE to SEE the LIGHT that can only be seen during the DAY.

Remember the day that it is and who it is that we are versus the rest of humanity. It doesn’t matter what time period, age, aion or whatever length of time you want to label time as, is. Right now, it is the ‘today’.

Today = a very particular moment in time.

“Man in honour, without understanding, ends up like all perishing beasts.” These men will NEVER SEE LIGHT.

If you want to perish WITH understanding, then let us CONSIDER what the Lord has to say on the matter, because it matters to ALL MATTERS under the SUN! The mighty God the Lord has spoken.

Love is a consuming Fire, and love as defined in scripture as keeping His commandments. The Truth is, we cannot keep His commandments without Him DOING IT IN US. Flesh cannot glory in front of God.

The difference between “us” and “them” in the bible, is that we were once the “them” and we now KNOW, via KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING, that the Lord calls the shots. Get with that PROGRAM and plan and you will be able to understand who you are and WHY things happen the way they do.

When someone asks you, “How’s it going?”, “You know, life has a way of kicking you when you’re down” is a phrase that comes to mind; KNOW that LIFE does have a way of DOING to you what HE WILLS according to fulfilling the WILL of GOD the Father. That is His purpose, and you are His bride, but you get NO SAY in the affairs of HIS HOUSE!

It’s like when people make a big deal out of the “policies” or things the first lady or wife of the U.S. president says. What she says or thinks DOESN’T matter in the context of running the country. She hasn’t been elected.

This is as true if it were a husband or a husband who had previously been president like Bill Clinton and Hillary. If Bill stepped in one day and tried to take over a join chiefs national security briefing, I think there would be some fireworks. I’d like to see as a fly on that wall!

You get my point then. We, as the bride of Christ, have no BUSINESS telling our Husband Jesus, what’s up from down and down from up. We don’t get to criticize the things happening to us for the sake of it. We must also be careful to FEIGN worship. After all, a “warship” is always in WAR. Let your worship reflect your dedication to the mission.

Psa 50:1 A Psalm of Asaph. The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth  from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
Psa 50:2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
Psa 50:3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
Psa 50:4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

Contrary to popular thought, judgment beginning at the house of God is the only place it is happening NOW, currently. The “END” of that judgment has not yet began.

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?

Continuing in Psa 50:

Psa 50:5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.

Oh, oh, oh! We made a covenant with GOD via SACRIFICE? Uh, oh. We had better keep this deal! Seriously, the Lord is very serious about this, and you will know it in your heart if you fulfill these verses.

Psa 50:6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Psa 50:7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am  God, even thy God.
Psa 50:8 I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
Psa 50:9 I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
Psa 50:10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
Psa 50:11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Psa 50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
Psa 50:13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?

We aren’t going to be reproved right now so that we can go kill some poor animal and sacrifice their blood to the Lord. No, we are going to SACRIFICE another kind of sacrifice. A true sacrifice. A sacrifice that is felt in the innermost heart of who we are.

There are stony hearts, and there are fleshly hearts, but that is not what it sounds like. There are DEAD hearts, and there are LIVELY hearts; full of life. God wants you to sacrifice to Him of UNDERSTANDING LIPS.

We could be like the disciples (and we are at our appointed time), and tell Jesus to His face, “Yeah, we can drink of that cup you speak of” while not having a clue we are going to always deny Him over and over when push comes to shove.

Here is the real sacrifice God wants from you and me:

Psa 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
Psa 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

Can you not admit when the Lord says you will pay your VOWS to Him with SACRIFICING LIPS, because your thanksgiving comes the STRONGEST when you know it was, is and will always be Him  controlling whatever happens, and it is He who will always be able to bring you into THAT remembrance.

Yet, we are His, and His judgment is simply to continuously right the direction of His ship with us on the ride in it. We could be without UNDERSTANDING like we used to be. See verses to follow:

Psa 50:16 But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that  thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?
Psa 50:17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Psa 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.
Psa 50:19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.
Psa 50:20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
Psa 50:21 These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was  altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine  eyes.
Psa 50:22 Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be  none to deliver.
Psa 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

So, it is important that we forget not God and in so doing become the wicked all over again. We need to always remember the glass/mirror and what manner of man we are ourselves; yet, the Lord rescued us from that.

Whatever it is we are going through is the fire of the Lord. We often grumble when we know the fire is getting hot in our lives, and yet another thing seems to be getting “burned away” or taken from us, our thoughts or our plans, etc., but we are really grumbling about the things the Lord had already known were happening.

Love is a consuming fire because God is Love. If we are one with Him and He is one with us, then we are ONE in MIND that whatever is happening, HIS HOUSEHOLD IS BEING LOOKED AFTER.

Can we say a general in a far-off land is NOT taking care of His household because He is in WAR somewhere else? Generals still get paid, and he could die any moment. The obvious answer is, yes, he is taking care of his household, and also he is a GENERAL.

The Lord may not tell us all the details of the war we are in. He may not engage with His wife (you and I as the bride of Christ) with everything He is planning to do, but He is always a Faithful husband who will do what needs to be done to execute His purpose given to Him by God the Father.

We may not know if the fire consumes us fully or lets us walk out of it without the smell of smoke on us, but we do know we have been told it will ALL BE OKAY!

That is a sacrifice of thanksgiving that is hard to lip when the fire continues to get hotter and hotter. It is, however, the only way sacrifice is to be given – with understanding.

September 23, 2019

Remembering the past is usually a good way to look towards the future.

While some memories allow us to remember the pleasant and good things we were blessed with in the past, there are also hard-learned lessons which are memories which we should keep just as close to our hearts.

Our study today finds us remembering the many blessings the Lord has given us while also acknowledging those blessings in the actions we take today.

Our verses of study for today are found in Deuteronomy 26, but first we will see how these verses connect us to the new testament.

James shows us in the new testament what the physical Jews shadowed for us in the old testament.

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jas 1:26  If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain.
Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

The verses found in Deuteronomy directly show us the working of the awesome hands of the Lord in our lives, if only we were able to regularly think on and remember these things:

Deu 26:1  And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and dwellest therein;
Deu 26:2  That thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.
Deu 26:3  And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the LORD thy God, that I am come unto the country which the LORD sware unto our fathers for to give us.
Deu 26:4  And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD thy God.

There are several important things being said within these four verses. These verses set us up to think about the rest of the points that follow.

First, we find ourselves having arrived in the land that the Lord has promised us, and the work needed to make the land prosperous has already taken place. We have worked the land, the Lord has blessed the labor of our hands, and the first fruit is now available for harvest.

What do we do with this harvest? We are to take the first fruits of the earth and put them in a basket and take it to the priest. The priest will then take this basket of first fruits and place it before the altar.

While placed before the altar, we are to say:

Deu 26:5  And thou shalt speak and say before the LORD thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous:
Deu 26:6  And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
Deu 26:7  And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Deu 26:8  And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:
Deu 26:9  And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 26:10  And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land, which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD thy God:
Deu 26:11  And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you.

It is easy to state when not in the heat of the moment, but even this recounting we are to give to the Lord is itself a recounting of the mighty work the Lord has done even in those that have come before us so that WE could be where WE are currently… praying and thankful before the altar of the Lord.

Jacob was a Syrian by descent because his mother Rebecca and his grandfather Abraham were Syrians. Jacob also had dwelt with Laban for like 20 years before eventually being pursued by Esau.

Indeed, there was a lot of turmoil that happened many hundreds of years before this recounting before the altar could take place. The Lord would have us remember from where it is He has called us.

We are to always rejoice for the blessings the Lord brings to us, our house and to those that are among us… yes, even the Levites in our midst as the Lord has created Levites to serve us in their lives and examples. We are even to be thankful for what the Lord does in the lives of the strangers to the Lord who are among us.

When my neighbor has a blessing given to them, I rejoice in the goodness of the Lord. When my home is blessed via the powers of the Lord, I rejoice. When someone who is unknowledgeable of the Lord and His ways and is healed from a surgery, illness or any other malady, I rejoice in the Lord.

Whatsoever good thing I see the Lord blessing others with, I rejoice because these are things that are happening in my knowledge of those around me … those that are in my house, are Levites among me or are strangers among me.

Along with the remembering and rejoicing before the Lord, we are to pay it forward to those with whom the Lord does not directly have us connected.

We are to help the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, which is the definition of pure religion.

Deu 26:12  When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled;
Deu 26:13  Then thou shalt say before the LORD thy God, I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me: I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them:
Deu 26:14  I have not eaten thereof in my mourning, neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given ought thereof for the dead: but I have hearkened to the voice of the LORD my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me.

These offerings are a holy thing to the Lord, and it was not to be offered for these other services. His particular tithing was holy to the Lord. In other words, whatever the Lord was doing elsewhere in our lives, we are not to forget to serve Him in the manner He has laid out for us.

Deu 26:15  Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, as thou swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and honey.
Deu 26:16  This day the LORD thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments: thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
Deu 26:17  Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
Deu 26:18  And the LORD hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments;
Deu 26:19  And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the LORD thy God, as he hath spoken.

Earlier I quoted James 1:21-27, so how do these two sections of scripture connect together? It is self-evident, but no matter the circumstances we find ourselves in, we are to remember the perfect law of liberty in the Lord.

We are warned to bridle our tongue because out of the treasures of the heart the mouth speaks and the tongue gives sound to that voice.

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Mat 12:35  A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
Mat 12:36  But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
Mat 12:37  For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Pro 4:23  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Pro 10:11  The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

Pro 21:2  Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.

Pro 24:12  If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?

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

When keeping pure religion, there is a process the Lord has created for us to follow today just as was laid out in type for the physical Jew.

We are to remember where it is the Lord has brought us from, knowing He first put us in the “distresses of Egypt” in order to rescue us from them with an outstretched and mighty hand.

Then, we are to remain thankful in the daily tasks of reaping and sowing from the land the Lord has given us plow, till and harvest from. The Lord never negates the original promise He gave Adam of working the land and doing so with the sweat of our brow.

Lastly, our act of tithing, of giving of the labor of our land that which is BEST … the first fruit, is an act of helping those around us that NEED the Light of the Lord in their lives.

We are not to only store up our goods for later, but we are to use what the Lord gives us to help others now. This all has a very spiritual application, but we also know that the physical things of this world teach us about the spiritual things of the heavens.

Have we ever considered that what others see as physical in nature is really a manifestation of what is happening in our heavens to be shared with others? I will leave these questions for us to ponder as we end this study.

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:15  But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Rom 1:20 (ESV) or his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Psa 115:9  O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:10  O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 
Psa 115:11  Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. 
Psa 115:12  The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 
Psa 115:13  He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great. 

Scripture states “I the LORD search^H2713 the heart, I try^H974 the reins, even to give every man according to his ways (Pro 14:12), and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jer 17:10). It is through that process of having our hearts searched and the reins of those hearts tried, that we learn to trust Christ, as He takes the hedge down in our lives and tries us, but not beyond what we can endure. This trying process brings us to see that “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it” (Mat 7:14, 1Pe 4:18).

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.

Job 2:6  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. 

Job 38:8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
Job 38:9  When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, 
Job 38:10  And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors, 
Job 38:11  And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?

God willing, we are being tried and tested today and being blessed to realize that it is not the wise, the mighty and noble (1Co 1:26) who are being saved by grace through faith (Eph 2:8), but rather “God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1Co 1:27b) and it is the “base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are” (1Co 1:28). God has created those conditions for the true overcomers who will completely fall seven complete symbolic times, and by the strength of Christ that just man will get up again, enduring that judgment process through the strength which Christ provides so “that we should not be condemned with the world”.

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

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 
Jas 1:4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 

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

Going back to my opening verse from Jeremiah 17:10, here is a closer look at those two Strong’s numbers and “his ways”:

Jer 17:10 I the LORD search^H2713 the heart, I try^H974 the reins, even to give every man according to his ways  (Pro 14:12), and according to the fruit of his doings.

searchH2713   châqar   khaw-kar’

A primitive root; properly to penetrate; hence to examine intimately: – find out, (make) search (out), seek (out), sound, try.

try^H974   bâchan   baw-khan’

A primitive root; to test (especially metals); generally and figuratively to investigate: – examine, prove, tempt, try (trial).

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Notice the context leading up to Jeremiah 17:10, how that right after describing those who are blessed to trust the Lord and whose hope is in the Lord, who will be as a tree planted by the waters, with roots that spread out by the river; all positive signs of growth, along with more imagery that says we will be spiritually healthy, being protected from too much heat, and our leaf will be green, and we will be provided for during spiritual drought, and spiritual fruit will continue to be produced…all of this is stated of God’s elect and right after all these positive statements in (Jeremiah 17:7-8, God reminds us of the ground in which all these spiritual events are taking place (Jer 17:9).

Jer 17:7  Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 
Jer 17:8  For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 
Jer 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? [Jer_17:10]
Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

We read the same thing in Proverbs 3:1-4 that culminates in verse 5:

Pro 3:1  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 
Pro 3:2  For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 
Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. 
Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

We are looking at a great blessing into which God has called his children, that results from learning to trust the author and finisher of our faith, who works in our heavens and prepares our hearts to be able to overcome in this life (“his ways” of Jeremiah 17:10). It is through Christ that we will be able to endure until the end within these marred vessels of clay which are being made anew (Jer 17:9, Mar 10:18, Luk 17:10, Jer 18:4). Knowing Christ is the author and finisher of our faith we can be greatly encouraged and confident (Php 1:6) and not be “wearied and faint in your minds” as we consider that it is Christ who has suffered for us, so that He can comfort us now and move His body, the church, to comfort each other through this life (2Co 1:4). That is the encouragement which we are promised we will find if we come out of this world and bear each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2), which burden often comes in the form of the reproach that both Christ and His Christ have to endure and learn to trust through (Heb 12:1-3, Heb 4:15, Heb 13:13). Being able to trust God is a miracle and witnesses to “the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” that He is working within His workmanship, the church (Eph 2:10).

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

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

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

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 13:13  Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach .

Just to recap:

Part one of our study on Psalm 115 focused only on the first verse of Psalms 115:1 which sets the tone for this whole study. A very similar verse found in 1Chronicles 29:11 is where the title of the study was derived, with the emphasis being on how all things are being done by God according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11). In other words, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory” of 1Chronicles 29:11 and “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake” of Psalm 115:1.

Part two of the study was focused on ‘the idols of the heart’ that will be overcome in the life of those who God is working with through Jesus Christ, who is the one who we must identify with through a life-long process of putting off our flesh (Rom 8:13, Gal 2:20), as we die daily (1Co 15:31) which will result in our decreasing as Christ increases in us (Joh 3:30). This overcoming in our flesh is the witness being provided through Christ through whom we can do all things (Php 4:13) and is the reason the man of perdition who is sitting on the throne of our hearts can and will be destroyed by the brightness of His coming (Rev 11:8, 2Th 2:8).

The promise which God has made to those who are granted to be true overcomers in their flesh in this life is stated in these verses – Rev 2:26-29, Rev 3:21, and the process of how this is accomplished is looked at more closely in the Part three section of our Psalm 115 where we will look at how the Lord causes His elect to trust Him in this overcoming process, so that the redeemed of the Lord can drink the cup that Christ promised we would be able to drink (Psa 107:2, Mat 20:23).

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star.
Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Rev 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame (1Jn 4:17), and am set down with my Father in his throne.
Rev 3:22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 

Looking further into Proverbs chapter three again, the operation of trust is described in these verses (Pro 3:5-7) and then more of the resulting fruit of trusting God is explained as we “forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments” with the next eighteen verses (Pro 3:8-26). The operation is explained as to how we should trust, in Proverbs 3:5-7, but seeing the words written down and doing them from “thine heart” are two different things entirely, as we can only learn this unwavering obedience by the things that we suffer, becoming more and more like our Lord who also learned obedience “by the things which he suffered” (Heb 5:8-9, 1Jn 4:17).

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; 
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; 

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world (1Pe 4:12).

The title of our study is “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” and this title reminds us that we have great hope in the Lord that He can bring us to this point of having a deep trust in Him through obedience that will result in the blessings we will be looking at in these following verses of our study (Psa 115:9-13).

God’s elect are learning to trust the Lord with all our hearts (Pro 3:5, Php 4:11-13), a trust that can only be caused by putting off our flesh as the scriptures declare God will cause to happen, and the reason Christ said “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup” (Mat 20:22-23). When we are received of God, who is the God of all comfort (2Co 1:3-5) who knows how to give us peace in the midst of our most severe trials (1Co 10:13, Php 4:7), we will be learning to trust Him and identify all flesh for what it clearly is (Gal 5:17, Jer 17:9). This overcoming process can only be accomplished because of the strength that God gives us through Christ, as we endure the chastening and scourging that puts of the fleshly mind, causing us to be received of God (Heb 12:6-7).

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

Php 4:11  Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. 
Php 4:12  I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 
Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

2Co 1:3  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; 
2Co 1:4  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 
2Co 1:5  For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 

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. (2Co 1:4)

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

It is through the earthquakes, the trials and tribulation that are part and parcel of our day to day walk that God will “make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” as we learn to trust the Lord who settles our heavens, so we can hear the still small voice of God, who gives us the direction (Rom_8:14-16) and the power we need to overcome Babylon within and without.

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves (Pro 3:5), but in God which raiseth the dead: 
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (2Co 1:9)

1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: 
1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 
1Ki 19:13  And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 

Christ’s righteousness is typified in the life of Elijah after the great earthquake when “he wrapped his face in his mantle“. Rending our garments (Joe 2:13), is a shadow of the self-righteous spirit that naturally manifests in our flesh when God shows us our sinful nature, which requires a “strong wind [to] rent the mountains”, the mountain representing the haughty and proud spirit of man (1Co 15:46, Heb 10:20, Pro 16:18, Pro 21:4). It takes a miracle for us to rend our hearts and not our garments, and the physical precedes the spiritual in that regard as we naturally don’t like being shown the wickedness of our own hearts that God is able through “his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering” to lead us to repentance through “a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh” (Rom 2:4, Heb 10:20, Eph 5:30).

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 

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

Heb 10:20  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 

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

Our garments, in the negative sense, are what we hold onto and put on us by our own efforts, to cover us as opposed to the linen of Christ or the righteousness of Christ which is a gift from God, typified in Joseph’s coat of many colors simply given to him of his father who loved him (Gen 44:12-13, Rev 19:8). Without God bringing us to see our own self-righteousness, typified by the silver cup put in the bag of Joseph’s brother, we would never come to that point of seeing our hearts cleansed by the miracle of God’s goodness which leads God’s elect (1Pe 4:17) unto repentance (Psa 51:2-7, Rom 2:4). So although we are to see ourselves as Joseph in God’s word, in order to become Joseph, we must see ourselves as his brothers who are being worked with and being reconciled through a process of God judging us and leading us to repentance which really exemplifies “the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” of God being revealed in our lives, and is the reason we should have the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving on our lips always (Heb 13:15, Psa 107:22). 

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 
Joe 2:14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God? 

Gen 44:12  And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 
Gen 44:13  Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city. 

Rev 19:8  And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 

Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. 

Psa 115:9 O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:10 O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
Psa 115:11 Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

Many of the archetype stories in the old covenant show us that God is Israel’s “help and their shield” in battle, against her enemies, and we understand that these events all represent “the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty” that God is showing toward the “Israel of God” today, over sin within us through Christ (Gal 6:16, Eph 6:12, Rom 8:37).

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 
Gal 6:17  From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 
Gal 6:18  Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. To the Galatians written from Rome. 

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

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

In order for God to help us, He must get us out of the way through trials that will bring us to “stand still” and “having done all, to stand” (Exo 14:13, Eph 6:13). That is the thrust of these first three verses that tell “Israel”, and the “house of Aaron”, and “you that fear the LORD”, to “trust in the LORD“.

Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Paul put it this way, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” because all these physical battles in the old covenant, and all the physical trials we endure in this life are not what is important to God but the new creature that is being formed at the end of the day through these circumstances that He has ordained for our good and all for our sakes.

Gal 6:15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

2Co 4:15  For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. 

“The house of Aaron” typifies the elect of God who are given specific ‘service of gift’ (Num 18:7) that no other ‘group’ is given. This trust that we are being encouraged and admonished to take hold of through Jesus Christ is a most holy order that first cleanses us and makes atonement for all who follow after us.

Lev 16:2  And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. 
Lev 16:3  Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 
Lev 16:4  He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. 
Lev 16:5  And he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 
Lev 16:6  And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. 
Lev 16:7  And he shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
Lev 16:8  And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 
Lev 16:9  And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 
Lev 16:10  But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 

…Lev 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 
Lev 16:22  And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 
Lev 16:23  And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 
Lev 16:24  And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself, and for the people.

Num 18:1  And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. 
Num 18:2  And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. 
Num 18:3  And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die. 
Num 18:4  And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you. 
Num 18:5  And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel (Mat 24:22).
Num 18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. 
Num 18:7  Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 
Num 18:8  And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. 
Num 18:9  This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. 
Num 18:10  In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. 
Num 18:11  And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it (2Co 4:15).
Num 18:12  All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee. 
Num 18:13  And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. 
Num 18:14  Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.

The trust that Christ calls the “house of Aaron” unto (the elect) is the blessings we just read about in type and shadow that God’s children can experience with the mind of Christ given them in this age, as seen in our next two verses:

Psa 115:12 The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
Psa 115:13 He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

The Lord has blessed us by being mindful of us, and given us to recognize that this is the day of visitation for us (Luk 19:44) which is a time of judging, and a time of showing the house to the house (Eze 43:10), and a time of tearing down the old and building something new through Christ who is the reformer who God has sent to us (Mat 24:2, Joh 1:27, Heb 9:10, Heb 7:12, Joh 6:44, Joh 20:21). That is what God means when he says “The LORD hath been mindful of us“.

Psa 111:5  He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant. 

In order for God to be “mindful of us”, we will need the mind of Christ (Joh 14:16, 1Co 2:16) and this is how the LORD “will bless the house of Israel” and how he will “bless the house of Aaron”. With this mind of Christ we show the house to the house of Aaron and also to the house of Israel, and those words “house of Aaron” and “house of Israel” remind us that all men will be saved, each man in his order. Christ first, then the kind of first fruits who are represented by Aaron’s sons, then all the world represented by the “house of Israel” (Mat 13:16-17, Col 1:27).

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. 

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.

We are blessed to be those who first “fear the LORD both “small and great” as we tremble at His word and give thanks that we can be given this tremendous honour of knowing God and Jesus Christ which is what eternal life is (Joh 17:3). We are called together as one body to labour, and strive according to His working, according to the counsel of his will, which is working mightily in each of us, and this is the reason we can say, “Thine, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty.”

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the last part of our study that will cover these very reassuring verses (Psa 115:14-18) which remind us of the increase that comes from God alone (1Co 3:6) and the tremendous blessing that God has bestowed upon those whose heavens are being worked with today, at an altar that the Lord has prepared for our sakes, so that we can overcome and be blessed to one day sanctify the rest of the world with God’s words as we are being sanctified today.

Joh 14:3  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 

Heb 13:10  We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

Psa 1:1  Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 
Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 

Psa 23:5  Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 
Psa 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever. 

Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Psa 115:14  The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. 
Psa 115:15  Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth. 
Psa 115:16  The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men. 
Psa 115:17  The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence. 
Psa 115:18  But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

Psa 113:1  Praise ye the LORD. Praise, O ye servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD. 
Psa 113:2  Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. 
Psa 113:3  From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised. 

We may not think of praising God as part of a process of coming to have a right relationship with our Father and Christ and each other while were in the midst of singing or worshipping him in spirit and truth (Joh 4:23), but if we consider that the Psalms or any other part of God’s word which talks about praise still comes under the category of “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2Ti 3:16), then it becomes clear that praising the Lord is more for our sakes “That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” as it says in 2Timothy 3:17.

However, even if we speak the truth or sing the truth, if what we do in the flesh is not accompanied with charity, “spirit and truth”, our praise of God or our gift of prophecy is then likened unto a “clanging gong” in the ears of our Father and each other as it is then not being done “to the glory of God” because it is not done charitably. Everything we do must eventually be centered around knowing that “the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (Joh 14:20). We are growing together in that love and patience as we worship our Father “in spirit and in truth“, and that worship is connected to our learning to bear each other’s burdens as God brings us to a place where we are truly glorifying Him with our actions: “the Father seeketh such to worship him.” We are blessed to be putting off childish things which we are told to put away and acknowledge that it is via the grace and faith of Christ that this is even possible. 

Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 

1Co 13:1  Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 
Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification. 

Gal 6:2  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.

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

God must show us where we come short in regard to what we are lacking in charity (1Co 13:4-8), and it is his goodness which is leading His children to repentance (Rom 2:4), for which we should give thanks and praise to Him! Our Father’s charitable mind is being formed within the body of Christ to create a “bond of perfectness” (Col 3:14-15)  within His body (temple – 1Co 3:16). That temple knows in part and understands that our prophecy is in part to the end that “when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away”  (1Co 13:9-13, Eph 4:14-16). 

What charity does in order to become “the bond of perfectness”:

Suffereth long  (1Co 13:4; Rom2:4) 
Envieth not  (1Co 13:4; Pro 14:30)
Vaunteth (boasts) not itself (1Co 13:4; Rom 3:27)
Is not puffed up  (1Co 13:4; 1Pe 5:6, Mat 23:12, Luk 14:10)
Doth not behave itself unseemly^G807 (1Co 13:5 – uncomely^G807 toward his virgin 1Co 7:34-40)
Seeketh^G2212 not her own  (1Co 13:5; Mat 6:33, Heb 11:6, Mat 7:7-8, asking, seeking and knocking all our life so we do not become conceited and rest on our laurels – Rom 11:23-25, 1Co 9:25)
Is not easily provoked^G3947  (Act 17:16 positive use – provoke unto^G3948 Heb 10:24-25)
Thinketh no evil    (1Co 13:5; Luk 23:22, Joh 18:23)
Rejoiceth not in iniquity^G93  (1Co 13:6; Joh 7:18)
Rejoiceth in the truth^G225  (1Co 13:6; Joh 1:14, Joh 4:24)
Beareth^G4722 all things  (1Co 13:7; 1Co 9:12)
Believeth all things  (1Co 13:7; Mar 9:23, Joh 3:12-16) 
Hopeth all things  (1Co 13:7; Rom 8:24-25) 
Endureth all things  (1Co 13:7; Mar 13:13)
Never faileth  (1Co 13:8; Mar 13:24-25)

1Co 13:4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 
1Co 13:5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 
1Co 13:6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 
1Co 13:7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 
1Co 13:8  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 

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

Col 3:14  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 

1Co 13:9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 
1Co 13:10  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 
1Co 13:11  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 
1Co 13:12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face[1Jn 3:2]: now I know in part [Eph 1:14]; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 
1Co 13:13  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. 

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 
Eph 4:15  But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

God’s elect pray with thanksgiving. With this prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we are given the peace of God which passes all understanding as we interact with the world around us (Mat 6:13, Mat 10:16). This prayer for the peace of Jerusalem above (Psa 122:6, Gal 4:26) “rules in your hearts” and is a necessary ingredient “in [this] one body” which is “thankful”. God’s peace can be given to us, a peace that passes all our human understanding and that makes it possible for us to overcome “thy hardness and impenitent heart” that would otherwise just naturally “treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God”. We don’t want that to be the case, so we have the solution to overcoming that spirit within us by doing what is written in the following verses of Colossians 3:16-17. 

Paul talks about the word dwelling richly within us, in the same context of “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” and that we should sing with “grace in your hearts to the Lord” thankful for the favor He has shown us. The words we sing can be convicting us and used to lift us out of darkness or spiritual bondage, which is what “grace in your hearts” will do. The shadow of that happening is with the example of how David played music to drive away evil spirits from Saul, and Saul was refreshed as it says in 1Samuel 16:23.

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Rom 12:18  If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 

Col 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 
Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 

1Sa 16:23  And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp [the harp represents the instrument that we are in God’s hands being used to send the word that will bring healing (Psa 107:20)], and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. 

There is a harmony which God is forming within the body of Christ via His spirit that is explained in great detail in Colossians 3:1-13 as well as these parallel verses of 1Corinthians 13:1-13. God’s spirit works in the lives of those who are worshipping Him in spirit and truth, and part of that worship is found in “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” which we are blessed to share with one another to the glory of God. That sharing and worshipping of God is connected to the sacrifice of praise that we want to have on our lips “continually” as it says in Hebrews 13:15. 

Heb 13:15  By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually [“do all in the name of the Lord Jesus“], that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 

As we sing to the Lord with grace in our hearts, praising the Lord will help us in all other relationships which God has given us in this life. Right after Colossians 3:16-17 tells us how we are to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord and whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him“, the very next verses speak of this harmony in all those relationships:

Harmony of the family of God explained:

Col 3:18  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 
Col 3:19  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. 
Col 3:20  Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. 
Col 3:21  Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. 
Col 3:22  Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: 

In this Psalm 113, we will look at how God’s people are called to “Worship the Father in spirit and in truth” and how that praise is very helpful in bringing us to understand and appreciate the greatness of God as we look outside of ourselves and think on those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, any virtue, and any praise. 

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

Psa 113:1  Praise^H1984 ye the LORD. Praise^H1984, O ye servants of the LORD, praise^H1984 the name of the LORD. 

To be clear, to “praise^H1984 ye the LORD” does not specifically mean to sing a song, or play an instrument before the LORD, but it does mean is to let your light shine before all men so that our Father in heaven is glorified. 

1Ch 16:10  Glory^H1984 ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD. 
1Ch 16:11  Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually. 
1Ch 16:12  Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; 
1Ch 16:13  O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye children of Jacob, his chosen ones.

Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth^H1984 glory^H1984 in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

Praise^H1984 Versus Glory^G2744

1Co 1:29  That no flesh should glory^G2744 in his presence. 
1Co 1:30  But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth^G2744, let him glory^G2744 in the Lord. 

Gal 6:14  But God forbid that I should glory^G2744, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 

Eph 2:9  Not of works, lest any man should boast^G2744. 

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 

Praise^H1984   hâlal  haw-lal’:  A primitive root; to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: – (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.

Glory^G2744 From some (obsolete) base akin to that of αὐχέω aucheō (to boast) and G2172; to vaunt (in a good or a bad sense): – (make) boast, glory, joy, rejoice.

Psa 113:2 Blessed^H1288 be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore.

H1288  bârak  baw-rak’:  A primitive root; to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration), and (vice-versa) man (as a benefit); also (by euphemism) to curse (God or the king, as treason): –  X abundantly, X altogether, X at all, blaspheme, bless, congratulate, curse, X greatly, X indeed, kneel (down), praise, salute, X still, thank.

Gen 2:3  And God blessedH1288  the seventh day [Christ is our rest typified by the seventh day (Heb 4:3-11)], and sanctified it (Joh 17:17): because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 

Heb 4:3  For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 
Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 
Heb 4:7  Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 
Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. [Luk 12:32]
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 
Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, [1Co 15:58] lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 

Gen 9:1  And God blessedH1288  Noah and his sons [types of the elect], and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

It is only when we have Christ within us as our hope of glory that we can truly say “Blessed^H1288 be the name of the LORD from this time forth and for evermore”. As our hope of glory within us (Col 1:27), we can glorify our Father as we are sanctified by His word (Joh 17:17), and Christ is giving us the ability to understand with a spirit of power, love and a sound mind how we can bless or glorify God on this earth (2Ti 1:7). The rest that we have been blessed to enter into is Christ, who is working in us both to will and to do our Father’s good pleasure (Luk 2:49, Php 2:13, 1Jn 4:17) which will have us labouring to enter into that rest, as we build the body of Christ up in love. Christ’s body is typified by “Noah and his sons”who are building that ark, or temple in troublesome times (Heb 11:7, Dan 9:25, Job 14:1, 1Pe 4:17).

Psa 113:3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD’S name is to be praised.

God’s name is glorified through the judgment which we endure our entire life: “from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same”. That judgment takes place in the firmament as we see in Psalm 19, and it is a life-long process that God is working in the lives of those who have been predestined to be those kings and priests ordained of God. 

Psa 19:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 
Psa 19:2  Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 
Psa 19:3  There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 
Psa 19:4  Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 
Psa 19:5  Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 
Psa 19:6  His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 
Psa 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. 
Psa 19:8  The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 
Psa 19:9  The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 
Psa 19:10  More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 
Psa 19:11  Moreover by them [the law and testimony of the LORD (vs 7), the statutes  and commandment of the LORD v8, the fear and judgements of the LORD (vs 9)] is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 
Psa 19:12  Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 
Psa 19:13  Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 
Psa 19:14  Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer. 

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
Rev 1:7  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. 

Christ is likened unto the groom (Psa 19:5) whose “going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof” (Psa 19:6),  to destroy the man of perdition by little and little, and by the brightness of his coming (Deu 7:22, 2Th 2:8). This destruction occurs as “thy servant” is forgiven of all our iniquities and healed of all our diseases (Psa 103:3) being made ready through this judgement (Rev 19:7) so that we can become Christ’s bride and see our husband face to face at the marriage supper (1Co 13:12, Rev 19:9).

“The LORD’S name is to be praised^H1984” and is, from start to finish, what we are being shown in this Psalm, as we learn to run this race with joy and peace in our hearts, thankful that our Father provides all that we need to make that possible by Christ.

Php 4:19  But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

3Jn 1:2  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. 

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

H1984   hâlal   haw-lal’:  A primitive root; to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: – (make) boast (self), celebrate, commend, (deal, make), fool (-ish, -ly), glory, give [light], be (make, feign self) mad (against), give in marriage, [sing, be worthy of] praise, rage, renowned, shine.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at the next few verses in our study entitled “Worship the Father in spirit and in truth” where we will see more reassuring verses that confirm God’s plan to prepare Christ’s bride to go from being a barren woman to one who will take care of the affairs of God’s house bringing in many children unto Christ with great joy “to keep house[God’s house], and to be a joyful mother of children [God’s children]. Praise ye the LORD.”

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

Psa 113:4  The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. 
Psa 113:5  Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high, 
Psa 113:6  Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth! 
Psa 113:7  He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill; 
Psa 113:8  That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people. 
Psa 113:9  He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.

Isaiah 29:1-8 "I Will Distress Ariel, and There Shall Be Heaviness and Sorrow" - Discussion

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Isaiah 29:1-8 "I Will Distress Ariel, and There Shall Be Heaviness and Sorrow"

Isa 29:1  Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Isa 29:2  Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
Isa 29:3  And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Isa 29:4  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.
Isa 29:5  Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
Isa 29:7  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
Isa 29:8  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

We continue our study of these words which have proceeded out of the mouth of God and by which we therefore must live (Mat 4:4).

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.

Christ quoted these words from:

Deu 8:1  All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers.
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 thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Matthew 4:4, quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3, cannot be overemphasized. The word that proceeds out of the mouth of God declares the rebellious sinfulness and the weakness of all flesh, and then the scriptures give us the judgments of the Lord which burn up our sinful works. It is an experience which is common to "every man" who has ever drawn breath:

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.

1Co 3:13  Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14  If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15  If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

"You are the temple of God" and "every man's work... shall [be] tried [by] fire" demonstrating "what sort it is". There are no exceptions to the judgment of our works by the fiery words of God, but there is an order in which that judgment is taking place in "every man", and this is that order:

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

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

If "judgment must begin at the house of God", then judgment must continue upon the ungodly and sinner at a later date, which 'date' we are told is "the great white throne... judgment": These verses refer to that very event:

Eze 16:53  When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
Eze 16:54  That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
Eze 16:55  When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

Christ has "His Christ" who will "reign with [Him]" during the millennium, and who are then given to judge "the rest of the dead" in the "lake of fire" which begins at "the great white throne... judgment... when the thousand years are expired":

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

Peter informs us that God has made Christ "both Lord and Christ".

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

Christ had already told us that He was sending us "as [His] Father had sent [Him]" and that He was giving us a kingdom as His Father had given Him a kingdom:

Joh 20:21  Then Jesus said to them again, Peace to you. As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.

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

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

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

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Christ's Father sent Him "that the world through [Him] might be saved":

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Christ is sending His church for the exact same purpose, that "by the church... might be known...[Joh 17:3] the manifold wisdom of God":

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

"Gog and Magog" are the symbols for "the world... the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth... and fire [comes] down from God out of heaven and devours... the nations in the four quarters of the earth." This event is telling us that all flesh comes to an end at that moment in time. Immediately after telling us clearly "the nations in the four quarters of the earth" are destroyed by "fire... from God out of heaven", this is the next event we are told will then take place:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The judgment which is even now on the house of God produces "the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God... and they live and reign with Christ a thousand years".

Ruling the kingdoms of this world during the thousand years is part of what sets "the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb" apart from all the rest of mankind. Truly "blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection..." Those who take part in that blessed and holy first resurrection are symbolized by the foundational [link here] number 12 in its multiple of 144,000:

Rev 14:3  And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

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

The second death has no power on those who were part of the first death and the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of Christ and His Christ, for the very reason that they were "the beginning of [the] judgment [which is even now upon] the house of God." God's judgments begin first with His own house, with "Ariel... the city where David dwelst" (1Pe 4:17).

Which brings us to the judgment of "the city of David" in the first verses of our study here in:

Isa 29:1  Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.
Isa 29:2  Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

"Add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel and there shall be heaviness and sorrow" is the same as saying:

2Pe 3:3  Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4  And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

The sacrifices continue to be offered and nothing seems to change. Both earthquakes and volcanoes are the result of pressure building up in the earth over many years. That great pressure is not visible to the eyes of the natural man, but the spiritual man sees that pressure building and weeps and mourns for the abominations which are causing that pressure to build up in the 'earth' as we do exactly what we were told not to do, and as we rebel against our own Maker:

Jer 12:8  Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.

Our lives "cry out against" our own Master for many years, even as we justify our sins and rebellions by the sacrifices we make to Him. "Let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel" is restated in 2 Peter in this way:

2Pe 3:7  But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

"The invisible things of God are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made" (Rom 1:20), and the day of the Lord is described in these words:

Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

Volcanoes and earthquakes are the result of tremendous pressure built up over many years until it reaches a breaking point, and that pressure is released in a most destructive manner upon the earth. That is what our rebellious hearts and minds have done for years inwardly, and that is what this world is doing at this very moment outwardly and dispensationally.

Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

It takes an earthquake on our earth, and war in our heavens to crush our rebellious old man and drag him to Christ. The words have gone out of the mouth of God and they will not be changed:

Isa 45:23  I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.

Isa 48:3  I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The name 'Ariel' means:

H740
אֲרִיאֵל
'ărı̂y'êl
ar-ee-ale'
The same as H739; Ariel, a symbolical name for Jerusalem, also the name of an Israelite: - Ariel.

H740 is "the same as 739, which means:

H739
אֲרִאֵל    אֲרִיאֵל
'ărı̂y'êl    'ări'êl
ar-ee-ale', ar-ee-ale'
From H738 and H410; lion of God, that is, heroic: - lionlike men.

Here is a verse with this word which typifies all the other entries:

2Sa 23:20  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he slew two lionlike [Hebrew: ariel] men of Moab: he went down also and slew a lion [Hebrew: ariel] in the midst of a pit in time of snow:

It is interesting and instructive that the holy spirit also translates this same word as 'altar' in:

Eze 43:15  So the altar [Hebrew: harel - mount of God] shall be four cubits; and from the altar [Hebrew: ariel] and upward shall be four horns.
Eze 43:16  And the altar [Hebrew: ariel] shall be twelve cubits long, twelve broad, square in the four squares thereof.

"Ariel" is the altar of God and as such 'Ariel' typifies us. We are "the heavenly things themselves" (Heb 9:23), including the heavenly 'altar' which must be "purified with better things than [the blood of calves and goats]" (Heb 9:23-24). The altar is where the life of the sacrifice is given to God. Therefore the altar signifies the cross where the sacrifice is given to God. The altar is the cross!

Twelve is the number of foundations. We are, in Christ, that foundation, that altar which is "twelve cubit's... foursquare". The offering is said to be "bound to the altar" so there is no escaping from our calling.

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Ezekiel 43 is a chapter about the Lord's temple, "which temple [we] are", and those who are given eyes that see know this chapter is a description of the Lord's elect, His dwelling place, because this is what we are told:

Eze 43:1  Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east:
Eze 43:2  And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
Eze 43:3  And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city [Ezekiel 9]: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face.
Eze 43:4  And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
Eze 43:5  So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
Eze 43:6  And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
Eze 43:7  And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.

The altar before this temple is twelve cubits by twelve cubits. Twelve is the foundational number of the house of God (Rev 21:16). This twelve by twelve altar is Christ and those who are "crucifed with Christ" (Gal 2:20). The true meaning of the house and altar are the Lord's firstfruit elect, who, with Christ, are the altar of God where all His sacrifices are offered. Notice closely this incredible revelation about what constitutes the true temple and house of God:

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

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.

That is the true "temple of God" of which the physical temple in Jerusalem was but a "pattern of the things in the [true] heavens":

Heb 9:23  It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
Heb 9:24  For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:

"The heaven itself", of which the physical temple was but a 'holy place made with hands... [a] figure of the true" temple in the true heavens, which 'true... temple' and which 'true... heavens' are the hearts and minds of His true followers who "do the things [He] says" (Luk 6:46).

The house and altar are both Christ and His Christ. In Him we are "bound to the altar with cords".

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

Truly our salvation is secure if He 'binds us to the altar" for "who can resist Him":

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

Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

"None is able to withstand" either God's mercy or a heart which He hardens. It is much easier to drag us to the altar if we are first tied up and dragged there by the Father Himself:

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [Greek: helkuo - drag] him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:45  It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Joh 6:46  Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father.

While we are yet in Babylon, the Lord already knows who are and who are not His elect. His elect are those who come out of Babylon. When we read:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

We are not being told that God's firstfruit elect never had the mark of the beast any more than Christ meant that those who believe on Him in this life will never physically die:

Joh 11:23  Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24  Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

"Shall never die", but when? Since Lazarus and all of Christ's apostles have died and are awaiting the resurrection at this very moment, it is manifested that "shall never die" refers to resurrected life. Christ Himself died after speaking those words, but He was resurrected never to die again. Those who will be given to judge this world during the thousand-year reign of Christ are those who "had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands" after they repent of having done so earlier while in Babylon. That is what all in Babylon do, and that includes "all men small and great, rich and poor, free and bond":

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18  Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

But after God's elect are called out of Babylon, it can then be said that all such as "endure to the end" are they: "which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

But we do not simply volunteer to come out of Babylon. It takes an earthquake in our lives, the likes of which has never before shaken us, to drag us out of a harlot system which has deceived the whole world. Those who "come out of her" do so only because the Lord drags them out and to Himself:

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

This is how Christ goes about dragging us to Himself:

Isa 29:3  And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee.
Isa 29:4  And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Jeremiah tells us the same thing about how the Lord deals with us if we are His Jerusalem, His people.

Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.
Jer 25:11  And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

These words are primarily written to the Lord's firstfruits, His elect. These words have proceeded out of the mouth of God, and as our brother Dave Rogers once told me:

"Until I see my name on every page of scripture, I am not getting the message of scripture".

Brother Dave was simply paraphrasing this verse of scripture:

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.

Symbolic 'Babylon' rules over all of us for a symbolic "seventy years", the complete time needed to let our own wickedness correct us:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

Jer 30:11  For I am with thee, saith the LORD, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

In Jeremiah 25 the Lord calls "the families of the north... Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, My servant" because that is exactly what they are, and judgment is said to come out of north:

Eze 9:1  He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
Eze 9:2  And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lieth toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer's inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brasen altar.
Eze 9:3  And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer's inkhorn by his side;
Eze 9:4  And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
Eze 9:5  And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity:
Eze 9:6  Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
Eze 9:7  And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
Eze 9:8  And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy fury upon Jerusalem?

It is as natural as breathing to put all this judgment off on someone else and to think of ourselves as those who have the mark of God. Indeed, we will have the Lord's mark, but it will be so only after we first repent of our sins and acknowledge that it is we who have been void of His mark for so many long miserable years. The Lord's modus operandi is always to first bring us to see our sins and to bring us "to our wits' end" before He will bring us "to our desired haven":

Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
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!

There is the Lord's modus operandi.  Five times in this chapter we are told to thank the Lord for our trials which He brings upon us for our good:

Psa 107:1  O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psa 107:8  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psa 107:15  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

I get the impression from how often the Lord repeats this admonition for our need of a spirit of gratitude for the fiery trials he gives us for His wonderful works of judgment upon our sins are a very important part of our experience in His service.

This is what we are to rejoice about; this is taking place within us while we are being judged in this age:

Isa 29:5  Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.
Isa 29:6  Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.
Isa 29:7  And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.
Isa 29:8  It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

We 'will be visited by the Lord with thunder and with earthquake, and a great noise, with storm, and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.' The Lord's judgment is swift and severe, but it changes us, and we "learn righteousness" just as we were told earlier in chapters twenty-six and twenty-eight:

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.

Isa 28:18  And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
Isa 28:19  From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
Isa 28:20  For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
Isa 28:21  For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

"Be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong" is just another way of saying, "Do not think these words just apply to someone else."

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.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

When we do that, and we all have thought that the Lord's judgments are for some wicked person other than ourselves, we are denying there is one event to all (Ecc 9:2), and we are denying that all mankind must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God (Mat 4:4). When we think in that way we are in effect declaring that "the sayings of the prophecy of this book" are not for us, but are rather for the rebellious and blasphemers who fail to benefit from God's judgments. When we say such things, we are denying that our flesh is just such a man, and we are saying that the sayings of the prophecy of this book are not addressed to 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.

That concludes our study of the Lord's judgments upon the house of God for today. Next week, Lord willing, we will continue to see ourselves as the Lord sees us:

Isa 29:9  Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
Isa 29:10  For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.
Isa 29:11  And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
Isa 29:12  And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Isa 29:13  Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Isa 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?
Isa 29:16  Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.
Psa 104:31 The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.
Psa 104:32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Psa 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
Psa 104:34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
Psa 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

This last section of our study entitled “I will be glad in the LORD” commences with the two verses that explain how that gladness is made possible in the lives of those with whom He is working. “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth” and “The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works“. It is God’s work, in which He delights within his creation, and he shares in that joyful process with us as we are shown in His word.

1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy.

What could be more joyous and reassuring than to know that our all-powerful Father’s purpose is to take His workmanship and bring it unto perfection on the third day so that we can enter into His joy. These following verses remind us that we are God’s joy, and when we mature and share the gospel with others, that is our joy, knowing that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

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

Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

Psa 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation [cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow]; and uphold me with thy free spirit. [Rom 8:14, 2Co 3:17-18]

Notice that it is Christ and His body, the “I shall be perfected” part of Luke 13:32, who are being perfected on the third day [all in Adam in time in other words], and that the “I do cures to day and to morrow” is speaking symbolically (Mat 13:34) of the day of the Lord for the elect and the day of the Lord for the rest of the body of Christ, a witness (2) that all of humanity will come to see their need for a physician to cure them (Luk 5:31) and bring them unto perfection on the third day, the day that symbolically represents when we go unto perfection through the process of judgment (3).

Psa 43:4 Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God [After we are healed by God’s word, then we go “unto the altar of God” (Luk 15:17-18)]

Psa 45:13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within [Joh 17:13, 1Jn 2:16]: her clothing is of wrought gold [Rev 19:7].

Psa 45:14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework [Exo 36:35, Heb 10:20, Rev 21:2]: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
Psa 45:15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.
Psa 45:16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth (Isa 2:3, Mic 4:2, Oba 1:21, Isa 60:3).
Psa 45:17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever (Rev 2:17, Rev 3:9).

Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

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

Act 20:35 I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Rev 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.

It is an amazing reality to think about, to know that you will never be tired again, that we will never lack for energy and a desire to praise and serve God and each other, together with the body of Christ worshiping Him and experiencing this great gladness that will flow from us like rivers of living waters, even as it does in earnest today. The knowledge that He has shown us in mercy is sanctifying us and making us one body through His spirit, as He brings us unto perfection on the third day. We therefore say three times “Holy, holy, holy, [thankful for the process of sanctification] Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come” knowing that it is more blessed to give, and to lay down our life today, and so we sing these praises toward God believing that our experience of being sanctified first will be used to help bring in the rest of humanity, and that these praises will continue on.

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

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

Psa 145:1 David’s Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.
Psa 145:2 Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

Chapter 17 of the book of Revelation speaks of the sealing process that the Israel of God will go through [God’s elect, are typified by Israel who is made up of Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Nepthalim, Manasses, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zabulon, Joseph and Benjamin who collectively make up the symbolic number of 144,000 which represents the foundation of God’s government (Rev 7:4)]. Ultimately all of humanity will be washed by the blood of the lamb and arrayed in white robes which typify His righteousness within us: “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? 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 7:1-17).

Gal 6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

God’s elect must endure all that is written in chapter six of Revelation through Christ (Rev 6:1-17), and have all those seals poured out upon them, and as a result of that suffering they must endure, that much tribulation, that “washing of water by the word”, which is His judgment upon us, we can then know that we have been prepared of the Lord to rule and reign under Him (Eph 5:26, 2Ti 2:12).

Having done all and standing is to be wearing the whole suit of armour God provides so (Eph 6:13, Rev 19:7), we can be used by Christ to help wash the great unwashed masses of this world (Isa 1:16). Without the seals and the trumpets and the vials being poured out upon ourselves first, we could not put on the whole armour of God and stand or be that bride “his wife hath made herself ready” and therefore the question is asked “who shall be able to stand“? The answer is: those who have gone through the day of the Lord as explained in the verses in this chapter 6 that precedes verse 17 (Rev 6:1-16).

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.

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

Being able to stand is all connected to our joy in the Lord, our gladness in the Lord, knowing that in Him and through Him, we are more than conquerors (Rom 8:37) who are now able to minister His judgments on “the four corners of the earth” within ourselves first and ultimately as kings and priests on all the nations of this world one day (Rev 7:1, Rev 1:6, Rev 5:10). The number of angels that are doing this work are said to be standing in the same verse that comes after the judgments spoken of in Revelation chapter six, and so the Lord is telling us this is our inheritance in Him to bring the rest of the world into maturity just as He has already done in us, if we are blessed to endure unto the end and be found in the blessed and holy first resurrection where it will be more blessed to give this saving knowledge of our Lord that we have already received through the church.

Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

The verses we will examine in this study point to the sovereign power of God which brings us to a place of spiritual healing where we can stand in Him and experience the joy and gladness of knowing that His purpose for us will stand, as it will for the rest of humanity.

Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

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

Psa 104:30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

God sends forth His word (Psa 107:20) which is spirit (Joh 6:63) and “they are created”. Now whether the “they” in this verse are Adam and Eve being physically created, or the “they” are the marred vessels being made anew in the Potter’s hands as the second Adam, both are created by God and for His purpose of showing us that He is the one who “renewest the face of the earth”.

When we hear the word of God, we are blessed (Mat 13:16) because we are becoming that renewed creation in him as we receive that word or seed that must die daily (Joh 12:24, 1Co 15:31). We are being given power to bring all our thoughts into subjection unto God through Christ (2Co 10:5). That is the sanctification process that we rejoice in and sing “holy holy holy” for: the Lord granting us eyes and ears in this age to come out of the “earth earth earth” or the world (Rev 18:4, Jer 22:29).

The same Strong’s number is used in Jer_22:29, Gen 1:1 and Gen 3:19:^G1093 — for earth and dust, telling us we are the marred vessel of dust and the earth that needs to have our heavens cleansed through a judgment (1Pe 1:1-8), which can only be effective if we are hearing the word of the Lord and abiding or continuing in those words (Joh 8:31-32).

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth^G1093. [and both were marred]

Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust^G1093 thou art, and unto dust^G1093 shalt thou return.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Psa 104:31 The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: the LORD shall rejoice in his works.

What God has started in us will have no ending because “The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Isa 9:7). As mentioned at the beginning of the study, part of our joy or gladness comes in knowing that we will never grow weary in the Lord in our newly resurrected bodies, and even today He brings us to a point where we can rejoice and be glad in the Lord for “his wonderful works”. He is doing those works within us both to will and to do (Php 2:13) so God’s elect can be blessed to have our eyes set on the prize of the mark of the high calling. The joy that is set before us is being able to share in the fulness of that relationship, seeing the Lord face to face in each other and no longer only in part.

Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

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

Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
1Co 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Psa 104:32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.

The imagery presented in this verse explains the need for the Lord to look upon us in our weakened state so that we know how vulnerable we are in these weak vessels of clay that He is making his strength perfect through.

2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly [“I will be glad in the LORD“] therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Heb 13:21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We tremble in our flesh at the prospect of disappointing our Father, and yet he tells us that’s exactly what we’re going to do (Isa 63:17), until we don’t (Joh 8:36), and then we have peace in knowing that he has worked the whole process both to will and to do as he brings us closer to Him through our weaknesses and trials which bring us to cry out for deliverance; a deliverance that he promises will come as these following verses tell us (we are the widow and the fatherless child in God’s eyes coming out of Babylon and being delivered.

Exo 22:22 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child.
Exo 22:23 If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry;

Jer 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.

Psa 91:14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
Psa 91:15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
Psa 91:16 With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

God created the hills within us, and He “toucheth the hills, and they smoke” which symbolically represents the living sacrifice which we are being dragged to the altar (Rom 12:1), which is the cross where Christ gives us the power to put off our flesh through the fiery trials which humble us in this age (Exo 19:18, 1Pe 4:12, 1Pe 4:17).

Psa 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.

When we are convinced that God has “set his love upon me”, when we believe that we are the redeemed of the Lord, when his spirit bears witness that we are his sons (Rom 8:16), then we will “sing praise to my God while I have my being“, a praise which He is perfecting in the saints, in the elect, which is typified in these verses below and is another reason why Christ says we must become as children to inherit the kingdom of God; children who have perfected praise.

Mat 21:15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased,
Mat 21:16 And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say? And Jesus saith unto them, Yea; have ye never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise?

Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
Heb 13:16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

It is humbling to know that God looks at us as the weak of the world, the “not many noble” brethren, but that should only make us all the more grateful for His ways which don’t depend on the arm of man, and to know that we are in His care “while I have my being”. It should give us great reason to rejoice in the Lord, and “again I say rejoice” (Php 4:4), because you are the apple of His eye and the first to know of His great love within us, which makes our hope in him real and tangible and not something of which we are ashamed.

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

Ecc 9:11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

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 (Ecc 9:11):
Eph 1:12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

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

Psa 104:34 My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.

Our meditation of God is sweetest when we think about those things that are above (Col 3:2-3, Php 4:8-9), and that is one of the most important parts of our fighting a good fight of faith, not loving the world or the things that are in this world that are not of the Father (1Jn 2:15-17).

If God will grant that we continue to work together toward that goal of losing our life so that we may find it in him (1Co 3:9, Mat 10:39) as we die daily together, we will not only find and know God and Christ (Joh 17:3), but we will find each other in that blessed and holy first resurrection together as a family ready to be about our Father’s business of saving the rest of humanity, who will be saved through Christ and His Christ (1Co 15:22). I mentioned on a study some time ago that the saving of the physical world from destruction is a type and shadow of what we will do as the body of Christ for the rest of humanity, and that is the reason we have gladness in the Lord knowing that he loves all mankind that much and is giving us a joyous part in this incredible process of salvation.

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

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

2Co 4:15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

Psa 104:35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my soul. Praise ye the LORD.

The last verse in our study explains how “I will be glad in the LORD”: it is by having sins consumed out of my earth, and the wickedness no more, so that I can bless the LORD, and praise Him. The world without can’t experience this joy just yet, and it is this process of judgement upon us (1Pe 4:17) that brings joy to God’s kind of first fruits (that judgment ripens us Jas 1:18).

We will be instrumental in delivering the world from all the sadness, all the tears, and all the sorrow that we will be blessed to wipe away, and will have experience in our own life to various degrees so that we can fulfill our role of being saviours (Psa 30:5, Psa 126:5, Joh 6:44). The world will finally cry out to God and be saved by those humbled saviours who will come up on Mount Zion, and that is a great reason to be “glad in the LORD” (Oba 1:21).

We must be consumed out of the earth, along with the wicked who cannot be anymore (Eze 24:10, 2Ti 2:12, Act 14:22). We are the weak of the earth whom God has mercifully predestinated to save in advance of all the world (Rom 11:31-32, Eph 1:4), and that knowledge brings us to say “bless thou the LORD, O my soul” and “Praise ye the LORD” because of His unfathomable love toward us. It is His love shed abroad in our hearts (Rom 5:5) which enables us to rejoice and say with all confidence “I will be glad in the LORD”.

Jos 3:17 And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.

Jos 4:11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of the LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.

Eze 22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
Eze 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Next week, Lord willing, we will start a little mini-series compiled from all the emails which God gave us through our elders regarding the second resurrection, as I mentioned in a recent email I sent to the body.

Psa 100:1 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
Psa 100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Psa 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psa 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psa 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

I want to start are study off by mentioning “The Law of Moses Versus The Law of The Spirit” found at http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/the-law-of-moses-versusthe-spirit/, that details why and how the law of spirit produces a liberty that is not able to be obtained through the Law of Moses. There is a liberty that is found in the flesh through obedience to the law, but the true spiritual liberty comes when we are given to be able to bring our entire body into subjection unto Christ [our heavens – 2Co 10:5], and that can only happen through Christ working in us both to will and to do of our Father’s good pleasure which empowers us to obey the “but I say unto you” commandments of Christ.

Rom 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
Rom 9:32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Rom 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

2Co 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Rom 11:6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Php 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
Php 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Php 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain neither labor in vain.

Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

The law of liberty which God has given us through Christ reveals that His “mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” of verse five. It is only after the Lord shows us the hardness of our own hearts and removes the scales from our own eyes through His goodness which we can start to see the true spiritual intent of the law of God, the spirit behind the letter, the law of liberty which is Christ’s spirit fulfilling the law.

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

Act 9:18 And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
Act 9:19 And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus.
Act 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.

2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven (Luk 17:21).

Paul being strengthened “when he had received meat” was symbolic of the first real spiritual meal this man had received, having only dined on the letter and being blameless in the law. Paul, at this point, was now receiving the spiritual energy needed to fulfill these words “straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God”.

Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10 And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.

Paul describes the contrast that he feels in his mind in the most succinct way after he has the mind of Christ and is subject to the law of liberty that is fulfilled in our lives when we bear each other’s burdens.

Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of 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 [the burden of the law of Moses], that I may win Christ,

We are learning to stand and to watch as God’s disciples, strengthened by the meat of His word so we can become more and more liberated through the truth that God brings to us through each other. God allows the strong contrast or delusion for those who are enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season, and this season of holidays should remind us how precious the law of liberty is that God has given us, knowing that we no longer should use that liberty as an occasion to serve our own flesh. God has called us to overcome all licentiousness as we repent and ask Him to “lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” so that not only do we keep ourselves unspotted from this world, but also witness to all men as He provides opportunity for us to visit the fatherless and the widow in their affliction (Col 1:28, Jas 1:27). Verse 14 of Hebrews 12 tells us that it is through the strengthening of the brethren, the making straight paths for our feet, that we can be healed and “see the Lord” in each other.

Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.

2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

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

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

In this week’s study, we are reminded to give thanks unto God for this great liberty which he has given to us through Christ, being able to obey His commandments and “come out of her my people”, and how that thankfulness is primarily for the mercy that He is showing to us in this age, allowing us to be judged and given a new heart so that we can fulfill the law of liberty and be our brother’s keeper in the spirit today.

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.
Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Gen 4:9 And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

Psa 100:1 A Psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Everything talked about in this psalm is connected to verse five, which says in the first section “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting”. That is the reason we bring a Psalm of praise and make joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands, every part of the body of Christ that contributes to that praise, and everything that is within me explained so beautifully in Psalm 103.

Psa 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Psa 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psa 103:3 Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Psa 103:4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with
lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Psa 100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

We’ve seen many excellent examples in the body of Christ throughout history and today of how God’s people can through Christ “serve the LORD with gladness” even in the midst of great health trials and physical ailments that limit our physical ability to be able to do more for others. God remembers our state and knows our frame and tells us to remember the widow’s mite and these words of our Lord. These verses we will look at are the fruit of being blessed to follow Christ as we’re led of His spirit into the perfect law of liberty.

Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Php 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

1Ti 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
1Ti 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
1Ti 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
1Ti 6:10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
1Ti 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
1Ti 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

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

Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Psa 100:3 Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

This next verse is a wonderful reminder of God’s sovereign hand over His workmanship which we are. We are His sheep, we are in His care, blessed to hear His voice and know that He is a loving and faithful Father Who is working all things in our heavens according to the counsel of His will. The light and the darkness, the chastening and scourging along with the breaking and binding are what God uses to bring increase to the body of Christ which is learning obedience by the things which we suffer.

Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them [under the law of liberty].
Eph 2:11 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision [not under the law of liberty] by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;

Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

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.

Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

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?

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Psa 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

We are called to “enter into his gates with thanksgiving” and “into his courts with praise” and that is what we do when we give thanks for each other’s part in the temple of God which makes up Jesus Christ’s body. We give thanks for the workmanship that is unfolding knowing that these lively stones to which Christ’s body are likened are all working together for the good for those who are called according to His purpose that will manifest His love (Rom 8:28) and desire to save all the world through the means that He has devised.

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

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

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

1Pe 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.

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

Eph 5:16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Eph 5:19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Eph 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

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

1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

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.

Psa 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

God’s goodness is now being shown toward this generation that He is working with (Mat 24:34), a generation who have no confidence in the flesh (Php 3:3) and are being bruised so that we do not lean on our own understanding but only on that which God supplies through each joint in Christ’s body (Eph 4:16).

That mercy that God enables us towards one another is the mercy that will ultimately result in everlasting life. It is when we are blessed to received the words of everlasting life and understand the spiritual law of liberty through those fiery words that we can know that the Lord is receiving us in this age and working a glorious work that proclaims His might and power, as we witness the freedom which He gives us from the law of sin and death in our members, a law which is magnified through the law for the lawless.

Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred a nd threescore days.

Rev 11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

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

Num 14:9 Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

Psa 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?
Psa 89:47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
Psa 89:48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.
Psa 89:49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?
Psa 89:50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;
Psa 89:51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.
Psa 89:52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

As we mentioned in Part 1 of this study a few weeks ago, this is one of the longer Psalms, so we took advantage of some of the natural breaks within the verses as we pieced together the hope that God intends us to receive via His Word.

“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound” can only be those of the age who have been blessed to be given the desire to read and hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein: “for the time is at hand”. The time is at hand for God’s people to be inspired, to be reproved and corrected, for instruction in righteousness, and all these other events that are at hand in the body of Christ right now!

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

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

Psa 119:159 Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness (Joh 6:63).

This is why we are blessed today to read and hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein: because we are being ‘quickened’ or ‘saved’ by our LORD’S words according to His lovingkindness by grace through faith (1Co 15:45, Eph 2:8-9) which we’ve been granted to have in those eternal words.

Psa 119:160 Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever.
Psa 119:161 Shin. Princes have persecuted me without a cause; But my heart standeth in awe of thy words. (ASV)

Rom 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

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” .

Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Luk 12:4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

God’s eternal reward for the saints, which is His good pleasure to give them, awaits them because they’ve come to acknowledge, by the grace and faith of God, that they cannot see without Christ, and they know they have been given the faith to forsake Egypt (the flesh and all that is in the world) through the endurance that God has granted us through Christ and his body which makes it possible for us to not be afraid of those who “kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do” of (Luk 12:4).

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

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

Another way we can look at how the world kills the body of Christ rather than just the obvious outward physical martyrdom that has occurred throughout the ages, is how the words of Christ, which are read, heard and kept in His body, have been attacked both within us and without as the Lord purifies those words via the many means which He uses, like the “wrath of the king” which we learn to not fear as we are spiritually healed and strengthened of our Lord to be able to drink the cup of His wrath. It is through our communion of suffering “Through faith he kept the passover” of Heb 11:28 that Satan is prevented from touching the first born, first fruits of Christ who Satan has always desired to destroy. It is through the righteous anger of Christ who is angry and sins not that the other king who we do fear, gives us dominion over our heavens so we don’t fear what man can do to our flesh (Rom 13:4, Mat 10:28, Luk 12:5).

Heb 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king (1Jn 4:18): for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
Heb 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved.
Mat 20:23 He saith unto them, My cup indeed ye shall drink: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left hand, is not mine to give; but it is for them for whom it hath been prepared of my Father.

1Co 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? [Through faith he kept the passover.]

Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. [Satan has always desired to destroy the elect (Mat 24:24, Php 3:18).]

This final part of this five-part study concludes with the subtitle “for the time is at hand” which, when we look at the cry for deliverance of which we know flesh is always in need, clearly “for the time is at hand” is a very apropos response to our fleshly weakness that must be constantly put off. It is always in our cry for deliverance that we are to be reminded “for the time is at hand”, and as we are strengthened, we are also reminded of our Lord’s faithfulness to never leave or forsake us in our time of need. Even when the world within and all the world without mocks Christ on the cross, that was all that we could do, and because our Lord did not retaliate, teaching us that through Him we can do the same thing (Mat 5:44, Mat 5:39), our confidence remains in the promises that tell us there truly is nothing that can separate us from God when He is our helper.

Psa 46:1 To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psa 46:2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Psa 46:3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Deu 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Rom 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, [nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Psa 89:46 How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire?

Whenever we see the words “How long, LORD?” the answer is always the same! The answer is ‘just long enough’. Imagine if it weren’t long enough, if God did not allow the world to be brought to the brink of destruction as we’re promised will happen (Mat 24:22). This pattern of intervention is the same over and over throughout God’s word and is there to give us hope, and through the storms and trials that bring us to our wits’ end, comes the perfection that God has always intended, the safe haven, the making straight that which is crooked, the new creation that is made beautiful in time and through time.

Ecc 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

Ecc 3:10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.
Ecc 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

That’s it – “no man can find out the work that God maketh” just like we’re not to let any man teach us, any carnal man (1Jn 2:27). But what does God say to those who are gaining dominion over that world of sin in their heart (1Jn 2:16) that blinds us to his purpose?

1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

The time is at hand for Christ’s body today to experience His wrath that burns like fire and to know that it is these fiery trials that God is using to save us through judgment and to bring clarity to our heavens so that we can know the deep things of God. This is the only way we can be established as the body of Christ (1Pe 4:12, 17).

Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Psa 89:47 Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

We beseech God to remember how short our time is “for the time is at hand” and that we don’t use this vain life to save it, but rather to lose it for each other. That is why we pray “teach me to number my days and apply my heart to wisdom”.

Mat 16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Psa 90:12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

The wisest thing we can do is to show, out of a meek and quiet spirit, works that demonstrate that we are thinking of others first. This is the increase that we are praying for in the body of Christ that only God can grant (1Co 3:6, 1Th 3:12-13).

1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

1Th 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
1Th 4:12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

1Pe 3:16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.

1Ti 1:18 This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
1Ti 1:19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
1Ti 1:20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.

Psa 89:48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

Carrying on with our theme about time, “for the time is at hand”, the psalmist asks “What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?” which question can be answered several ways, but in every instance we will see that it is only the Lord who can deliver our souls from the grave, whether we live or die.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.

Therefore our blessing and benefit is that we live and die unto the Lord even as we die daily and consider ourselves dead to sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 14:8, Joh 11:25, 1Co 15:31, Rom 6:11).

Psa 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
Psa 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

Psa 6:4 Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Psa 6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Psa 22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.

When we are alive in Christ, there will be thanks on our lips for the healing and the light which He gives our otherwise blind and deaf bodies, which can only bury the other blind and deaf bodies around us. There is no remembrance of God when we are the walking as the walking dead.

Luk 9:58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.
Luk 9:59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
Luk 9:60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.

We will all see death in the sense that we die daily, and most of humanity will die with relatively very few physically alive and resurrected when Christ returns. The point therefore is not to look at the physical question of life and death but to understand how God wants us to look at physical life and death in the spiritual realm.

When we find ourselves doing this, it gives us great reason to pause [Selah], because we start to realize, as we focus in on these questions, just how fleeting this shadow of the valley of death is in which we exist for now, and more importantly how faithful our Father is to provide for us a means to be redeemed as His banished kind of first fruits.

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.
Psa 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psa 23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life[in Christ]: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

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

1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;

Psa 89:49 Lord, where are thy former lovingkindnesses, which thou swarest unto David in thy truth?

To answer the question “where are thy former lovingkindnesses”, we can easily go to Psa 25:1-12 and read it verbatim to give us an excellent answer that ties into the reason that we must show our works out of a meek and quiet spirit that we talked about earlier (1Pe 3:4).

Psa 25:1 A Psalm of David. Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul.
Psa 25:2 O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
Psa 25:3 Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
Psa 25:4 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.
Psa 25:5 Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
Psa 25:6 Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
Psa 25:7 Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
Psa 25:8 Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Psa 25:9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.
Psa 25:10 All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

1Pe 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

God has sworn unto David ‘in thy truth’ of this lovingkindness which was a type and shadow of His love for the church, for the little flock whose good pleasure it is for Him to give the kingdom (Luk 12:32).

Psa 89:50 Remember, Lord, the reproach^H2781 of thy servants; how I do bear in my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people;

We are surrounded by the bulls of Bashan as Christ was both within and without (Psa 22:12, Luk 23:36), and so we are outnumbered, we are sore pressed on every side (2Co 4:8), but to what end? Of course it is to demonstrate that these reproaches which God allows to come upon his servant is for our growth as we are able to endure them through Christ (Php 4:13, Php 2:13).

Through Christ we bear in our bosom all the mighty people, all the world who is against us, because they cannot receive the words of life that we know are going to destroy our first man Adam little by little within, until we narrowly escape through Christ and go unto perfection on the third day.

Joh 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

Mat 10:22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Mat 10:23 But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.

1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

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

God remembers our reproaches^H2781 (Mat 10:29), and He is the one who is causing them and allowing us to be a hit target of the adversary from time to time to help us mature and learn to not lean unto our own understanding but only on Him, to eventually and over time quench all the fiery darts of the adversary.

Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

1Ti 4:10 For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Eph 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

H2781 cherpâh kher-paw
– Definition:
1. reproach, scorn
a. taunt, scorn (upon enemy)
b. reproach (resting upon condition of shame, disgrace)
c. a reproach (an object)
– Strong’s: From H2778; contumely disgrace the pudenda: – rebuke reproach (-fully) shame.
Total KJV Occurrences: 73
•rebuke, 2
Isa_25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it.
Jer_15:15 O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

•reproach, 65
Gen_30:23; Gen_34:14; Jos_5:9; 1Sa_11:2; 1Sa_17:26; 1Sa_25:39; Neh_1:3; Neh_2:17; Neh_4:4; Neh_5:9; Job_19:5; Psa_15:3; Psa_22:6; Psa_31:11; Psa_39:8; Psa_44:13; Psa_69:7; Psa_69:10; Psa_69:19; Psa_69:20; Psa_71:13; Psa_78:66; Psa_79:4; Psa_79:12; Psa_89:41; Psa_89:50; Psa_109:25; Psa_119:22; Psa_119:39; Pro_6:33; Pro_18:3; Isa_4:1; Isa_30:5; Isa_51:7; Isa_54:4; Jer_6:10; Jer_20:8; Jer_23:40; Jer_24:9; Jer_29:18; Jer_31:19; Jer_42:18; Jer_44:8; Jer_44:12; Jer_49:13; Jer_51:51; Lam_3:30; Lam_3:61; Lam_5:1; Eze_5:14; Eze_5:15; Eze_16:57; Eze_21:28; Eze_22:4; Eze_36:15; Eze_36:30; Dan_9:16; Dan_11:18(2); Hos_12:14; Joe_2:17; Joe_2:19; Mic_6:16; Zep_2:8; Zep_3:18

•reproaches, 1
Psa_69:9 For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

•reproacheth, 1
Psa_74:22 Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.

•reproachfully, 1
Job_16:10

•shame, 3
2Sa_13:13; Isa_47:3; Dan_12:2

Psa 89:51 Wherewith thine enemies have reproached, O LORD; wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed.

There’s no denying it, even as we are the apple of God’s eye (Zec 2:8), we are also continually in spiritual battle against a roaring lion which God created to be the very good adversary that he is (Eph 6:12, 1Pe 5:8).

The enemy reproaches “the footsteps^H6119 of thine anointed” to remind us that it is our walk, our conversation, our way of life in the Lord that is constantly under attack, and it reminds us why we must be watchmen and shepherds to one another who look well to the flock as overseers.

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel^H6119.

Eze 33:2 Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:
Eze 33:3 If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4 Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul.
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand.

1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

Psa 89:52 Blessed be the LORD for evermore. Amen, and Amen.

We are so blessed to have eyes and ears that see and hear and know that the the time is at hand (Mat 13:16), and so we bless the Lord and will bless Him throughout that transition period when the saints shall rule all nations under Christ and be able to share in gathering in the later harvest as God’s kind of first fruit, saviours, who will have praise and thanksgiving on their lips and say “Amen, and Amen” “for the time is at hand”.