Rev 9:3-6 – Part 4 of The Fifth Trumpet

[Study Aired August 11, 2024]

Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

We resume our study on the meaning of the sixth of the nine symbols we find here in this fifth trumpet. We will never understand what the holy spirit is telling us in the symbols of this fifth trumpet until we are given the scriptural meaning attached to each symbol. This is not guesswork and we dare not “speak above that which is written” (1Co 4:6), nor take away from the words of the prophecy of this book:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Here again is that list of holy spirit inspired symbols of what comes out of the bottomless pit:

1) Our first symbol is smoke. 2) The second is locusts. 3) The third is the earth itself. 4) The fourth symbol is the power as the scorpions of the earth. 5) the fifth is the grass, any green thing, and trees of the earth. 6) the sixth is those men who have not the seal of God. 7)  The seventh symbol is those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. 8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months. 9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it”.

We  have given the scriptural meaning assigned to each of the first five symbols describing the affect of the smoke of the pit upon the earth, the darkening of the sun and the air by reason of that smoke, and we are now seeking to know what the holy spirit proclaims to be the significance of the 6^th symbol which is “those men who have not the seal of God” being the target of the scorpions that come out of the smoke of the pit and hurt men with the sting they inflict of the those who are in the earth:

Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

6) The sixth symbol is “those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” Who these men signify is revealed to us in the ninth chapter of Ezekiel. As is always the case, our challenge is to constantly remember that these men and all these events are within us, and each of us are required to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, and keep the things written therein.”

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.

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.

What that means is that an integral part of this revelation of Jesus Christ, requires that we are all King Saul who persecutes David, before we can become King David, and we are all Saul of Tarsus who persecutes God’s church, before we can become the apostle Paul who fills up in his body what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.

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:

Our understanding of this prophecy of Rev 9 is greatly enhanced by reading the prophecy of Ezekiel 9. This is what is taking place within those who have the mark of God upon their foreheads. This is what happens to those ‘men’ within us who are not yet “sighing and crying for all the abominations that be done in the midst of Jerusalem” which is above, and is also within us.

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?
Eze 9:9  Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [ is] exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
Eze 9:10  And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, [ but] I will recompense their way upon their head.
Eze 9:11  And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which [ had] the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

Those who are destroyed by the destroying weapon are each and every one of us who have at our own appointed time accepted all the doctrines of all the men who have twisted and distorted the word of God down throughout the years of our time spent living our lives according to all of those false, lying Babylonian doctrines, signified by “the abominations that be done therein” in this verse:

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.

This prophecy here in Ezekiel and the prophecy of the book of Revelation are both addressed to the Lord’s own people. Ancient Israel was but the type of the Lord’s elect. This prophecy of the book of Revelation is addressed to the seven churches of Asia, signifying the complete Christian Church. In both cases, typical Israel, and the true spiritual “Israel of God” are both being judged for forsaking their own Lord.

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.
Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

It is each of us as the Lord’s own apostate people who are “those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads.”

7) What is meant by “their foreheads.”

7) The seventh symbol is “those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” That “destroying weapon” of Ezekiel 9 is both “the fire” of “the sword of the spirit” which will “try every man’s works of what sort they are” and as “a flaming sword” it will burn up all that will burn, and it will purify all that is in need of being purified.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Jer 23:29  Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?

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

This seal which is not in the foreheads is that same Words of God which are in the hearts and minds, and mouths of those who do have the seal of God. Those who have that seal at first did not have that seal  or ‘mark’. It is when we do not have the mark of the Lord in our foreheads that the Lord’s words are burning us up, with all the false doctrines of  apostate men and the apostate kingdoms and principalities that are all within us. That word is Christ, and Christ is in our forehead because our forehead is the symbol of the heavens of our hearts and minds.

Eph 6:12 Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but, against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world- holders, of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies. (REV)

“The spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavens” is also where we find the mark of the beast under which we all labor before we receive the mark of God in our foreheads. The great whore’s forehead is what keeps her from being ashamed:

Jer 3:3  Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

We have covered the symbol of the forehead in Rev 7:3 where the 144,000 are said to be “sealed in their foreheads.”

Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

The spiritual significance of ‘the forehead’ is the heavens of our hearts and minds which is either being purified or is defiled with the false doctrines of Babylon and all the fruits of those lies and false doctrines:

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:

8) What is the significance of five months of torment?

8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months… as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.”

Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

These are words which we are to read, hear and keep (Rev 1:3). It is each of us who symbolically are “tormented five months… as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.”  Why are we said to be “tormented five months.” Why are we not tormented four months? Or why are we not tormented six months? Why are we told that we are tormented five months? As is usually the case, the number itself is never the point, just as the words themselves are never the point. The point of being tormented five months is that we are brought to our wits’ end in the faith of Jesus Christ, and in faith of Jesus Christ we are brought through God’s chastening grace and we learn to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts:

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

Chastening “grace through faith” is the significance of the number five.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [3811, ‘paideuo’], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

We have a series on the web site about The Spiritual Significance of Numbers in Scripture which deals, in depth, with the spiritual significance of most of the major numbers mentioned in scripture. Read that series of studies for an in depth study of this number 5, as well as all the other numbers mentioned in scripture. We will give but a few verses in this study but there are many more in this study on the number 5:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/numbers_five/

For the sake of this study, and to understand why we are tormented for five months instead of 6 months or 4 months or any other number, let’s take note of these verses which give us an idea of the spiritual significance of this number five.

Notice how Joseph, an Old Testament type of Christ, favored and showed great grace to his full brother, Benjamin.

Gen 43:34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

Benjamin is not guilty of selling his brother into slavery, and while we are all Joseph’s ten brothers before we become Benjamin, nevertheless Benjamin here is a type of God’s elect who, like Joseph did in type, partake of the Lord’s chastening grace in this present age:

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

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth [G3811, ‘paideuo’, to chasten], and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Another verse revealing the spiritual significance of this number five is:

Gen 45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

“Raiment” in scripture, in its positive application, signifies “the righteousness of saints” (Rev 19:8). Raiment is our spiritual clothing. In its negative application ‘raiment’ also signifies the unrighteousness of saints:

Zec 3:3  Now Joshua [the Lord’s high priest, vrs 1] was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
Zec 3:4  And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
Zec 3:5  And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with [clean white linen, Rev 19:8] garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

The priests were to be clothed only with linen which does not cause sweat:

Eze 44:15  But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord GOD:
Eze 44:16  They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
Eze 44:17  And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
Eze 44:18  They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.

Our ‘raiment’ is what covers us. As priests of Christ clean white linen clothes covers our sins. Clean white linen raiment is a type of “Christ in [us] the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). What clothes are covering each of us? White linen robes are said to be the righteousness of the saints.

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

Rev 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.

Benjamin was given five changes of raiment. In type, Benjamin was given five times as much of Christ as any of his brothers. Both the food and the raiment joseph bestowed on his brother, Benjamin, are types of Christ and His Word. Benjamin was given five times more food than his brothers were given even though they were also Abraham’s seed. Joseph had not been stingy toward his ten brothers who had sold him into Egyptian slavery. Like the workers in the vineyard who had been hired first, Joseph’s ten elder brothers, who had been born first, were shown loving grace, but it was not given to them first, nor was it given in the abundance which was shown to Benjamin. Like the workers who came in at the 11^th hour, Benjamin was singled out for special attention. The number five has everything to do with God’s people. There were five wise and five foolish virgins, and they are all God’s people. But like Benjamin, the five wise virgins typify those who are given grace through faith first and most abundantly. In Mat 25 we are given the parable of the talents. The most favored servant was given “five talents.”

Mat 25:15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

It is in God’s great grace and through Christ’s own faith that we are all brought through the chastening torment, of ‘fiery scorpions’ to Christ. Five months has nothing at all to do with five literal  months any more than five messes had anything to do with Benjamin’s appetite, or five changes of raiment had to do with Benjamin’s need for clothing. ‘Five months’ signifies the fact that God is “in this present time” (Rom 8:18) bringing His elect to their wits’ end through the symbolic torment of the symbolic “sting of a scorpion”. It takes a symbolic five months of being stung by scorpions to bring us “to [our] wits end”, before the Lord can then “bring [us] to our desired haven”:

9) Why cannot those who are tormented die as they wish?

9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it.” What does that mean? Once again we can turn to Joseph’s brothers to show us the meaning of wanting to die but not being granted that wish. While we are not told Joseph’s brothers wanted to die we are told they feared dying all the years they were in Egypt while their father, Jacob, renamed Israel was still alive. Jacob signifies our own old man who has to die before we are delivered from the fear of death:

Gen 50:15  And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
Gen 50:16  And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
Gen 50:17  So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
Gen 50:18  And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.
Gen 50:19  And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
Gen 50:20  But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
Gen 50:21  Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.

It is not until after we want to die that we are granted the privilege of dying daily with Christ and being crucified with Him and being buried with Him in baptism. Only after we are tormented and “brought to our wits’ end,” through “the stinging of scorpions” are we found worthy to die with Christ and live in newness of a resurrected life.

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!

We are one and all “brought to our wits’ end” at some point. That is the point at which the holy spirit takes over the throne of our heart and the man of sin begins to be destroyed with the brightness of His coming (2Th 2:8). But even then “judgment must begin at the house of God” (1Pe 4:17). Each storm we endure prepares us for the next trial as we “endure to the end… are being crucified with Christ… and dying daily.” (Mat 10:22; Gal 2:20; 1Co 15:31)

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

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

The stings of these scorpions are what bring us to despair of life and desire to die. It is in God’s mercy that we are granted that ability in spirit and we are able finally, only after five months of torment, to be baptized into Christ’s death and be raised with Him from among the spiritually dead, to walk in newness of life. A dead man is not tormented by scorpions, and those who “are [ being] crucified with Christ, are dying daily” with Him on His cross and no longer experience the hopelessness of being brought to their wits’ end. A person who is dying with Christ we now see a purpose in suffering and we rejoice in our trials:

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.

But it is a peaceful dying in which we rejoice in our trials, and rejoice that we have been counted worthy to suffer with Him because we know that we will also reign with Him.

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint- heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The inability to die begins to subside after the symbolic five months when we are granted a new mind which rejoices in being crucified with Christ, and can now begin to fill up what is behind of His afflictions in our own flesh for the sake of the church, which has rejected this straight and narrow way for the ‘smooth things’ like a rapture and never knowing God’s wrath upon our own sins and blasphemies.

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:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what [ is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Summary

1) Our first symbol was smoke, and we were reminded that smoke symbolizes that which darkens our sun and air, as do the desires of our flesh, and all the false doctrines which are so appealing to our flesh.

2) The second symbol was locusts, which come out of the smoke, and we saw that these locusts were used to destroy all that Egypt has produced within us. We saw that these locusts devour our substance and bring us into spiritual poverty and despair.

3) The third symbol is the earth. As we have seen so many times before, the ‘earth’ is God’s people who are living in rebellion against the ever present truths of God’s Word.
4) The fourth symbol is the power of these locusts to hurt those who dwell on the earth, with power as the scorpions of the earth have power. It is our own rebellious ways which chasten us, and it is our own sins and false doctrines which bring spiritual torments and spiritual bitterness and despair upon 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.

5) The fifth symbol of this fifth trumpet is the grass, any green thing and trees which these locusts with the power of scorpions cannot hurt.  What we saw was that obedience to God’s doctrines and to His words removes the wrath of God upon us. The overcomers are this “grass, trees and any green thing” which cannot be hurt by these scorpion- like locusts which darken our sun and air and torment us as scorpions of the earth have power to “sting and torment”. Overcomers are not innately overcomers. Overcomers are those who were innately rebellious but were, by the grace of God, given to repent and do the things the Lord tells us to do. (Luk 6:46; Rom 9:15-16; Rev 15:2)

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

6) The sixth symbol is those men who do not have the seal of God in their foreheads. As unpopular as it is to have to say, we are all “the children of wrath” before we begin to “believe the Son.” So we are all hurt of these stinging locusts before we are granted  immunity from their power to sting and to hurt us.

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

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6  For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7  In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

7)  The seventh symbol is their foreheads. We saw that both the mark of God, in the foreheads of those that sigh and cry for the abominations in Jerusalem of Ezekiel 9 and in the foreheads of the 144.00 of Rev 7, is the same mark. We also saw that the mark of the beast is also in the forehead, and that we all have ‘the mark of the beast… a whore’s forehead’ in our hearts and minds before we are given the thoughts and mind of  God “in our foreheads.”

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

Deu 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;
Deu 11:17  And then the LORD’S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.
Deu 11:18  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

It is the words and thoughts of our Lord which are His mark “as frontlets between our eyes” and as a “mark in our foreheads.”

8) The eighth symbol is “they shall be tormented five months.” We saw in this symbol that this torment lasts five months simply because it is connected with God’s chastening and scourging grace that is the stings of these locusts which drive us to our wits’ end and make us want to die to the things of this world.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

9) Our final symbol is “they shall seek death and shall not find it.” We saw that this really is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and that Christ Himself was “weary even unto death,” and that according to Psa 107, we too, will be made “weary unto death.” But we will have to wait a symbolic five months before we are brought to the point that we are granted to be crucified with Him and in that way be relieved of that five months of torment:

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

We saw that once we relinquish this life and all of its false values, our own crucifixion with Christ (Gal2:20), and our “dying daily” with Christ (1Co 15:31) can actually come to be one of rejoicing in the certainty of our glorification with Him.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial [dying daily] 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 mind of Christ can discern the things of the spirit which the natural mind cannot discern:

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.

Dying daily “by little and by little” (Deu 7:22) cannot be accepted by the natural mind as anything to “rejoice [in] inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings”. Neither is the natural man given the faith of Christ to “have respect unto the recompence of the reward as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt and better than the pleasures of sin for a season”.

Next week, Lord willing, we will learn more about the identity, the power, and the king of these locusts which come out of the bottomless pit and darken the sun and air.

Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [ was] to hurt men five months.
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.

Exo 32:1-35  The Making of the Golden Calf

[Study Aired January 9, 2023]

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 
Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. 
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 
Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 
Exo 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 
Exo 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Exo 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 
Exo 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. 
Exo 32:16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. 
Exo 32:17  And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. 
Exo 32:18  And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exo 32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. 
Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.
Exo 32:21  And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. 
Exo 32:23  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. 
Exo 32:24  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. 
Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 
Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour. 
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. 
Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. 
Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. 
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. 
Exo 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. 
Exo 32:35  And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

Today’s study shows us that many of the Israelites were uncomfortable with the idea of an invisible god. They rather preferred a god that could be represented in some solid, tangible, and visible form. Aaron building the golden calf was therefore not meant to displace God, but to make Him more tangible to the Israelites. Flesh always begets flesh. In our carnal state, we always want something that is tangible or fleshy. However, a sign of maturity is believing even though we have not seen. This was what the Lord told Thomas when he doubted that the Lord had risen. 

Joh 20:26  And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 
Joh 20:27  Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing. 
Joh 20:28  And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 
Joh 20:29  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Our life in Babylon is characterized by worshiping what we see as tangible. That is why Babylon is dependent on evidential proofs of the spiritual reality portrayed in signs and wonders and gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, tongues, etc. As we are aware, it is children who are always looking for gifts from parents. As we mature, we become less dependent on gifts. The fact that many come with signs and wonders must alert us to be wary since these signs and wonders are all rudimentary as our brother Paul warned us. In his letter to the Corinthians, he told them that it is only love (obedience to the Lord’s words) that will endure. In other words, a mature person is the one who obeys or trembles at the Lord’s words. Other gifts of the spirit such as word of knowledge, prophecies, signs and wonders, are all elementary, and as we mature, they become less and less significant. 

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. 
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.

What we must understand as we mature in the things of God is that we serve a living God who is hiding Himself in this dispensation, and it is only as we worship Him in spirit that we come to appreciate the spiritual reality of His existence, love, care and His wonderful plan of salvation for us. 

Isa 45:15  Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. 
Isa 45:16  They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols. 
Isa 45:17  But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.

In today’s study, we shall learn about what the golden calf signifies during our walk in Babylon, why Aaron was not punished for his role in building the golden calf and the significance of the death of three thousand men who played the harlot.

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

One of the qualities that the Lord desires to instill in His people is patience! Moses’ delay in meeting the Lord in Mount Sinai resulted in the people of Israel wanting a tangible presence to go with them to the promised land. As the story unfolds, we can see that their lack of patience in waiting for Moses costs them their lives. If we are to receive the promise as we carry on the Lord’s will here on earth, then we must learn to be patient.

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
Heb 10:38  Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 
Heb 10:39  But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Patience has great reward, and as we go through our experience of evil in this world, we gradually learn to be patient. By the things that are made, we learn more about the spiritual reality. As we are aware, children are never patient. If they want something, they want it now!! As we grow, then we learn to be patient. A measure of our spiritual maturity is our level of patience.

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

In verse 1, Aaron negatively represents our leaders in Babylon who put a stumbling block of iniquity – idols of the heart – before us and cause us to become worse than when we started our walk with the Lord.

Eze 14:1  Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.
Eze 14:2  And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 14:3  Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

Exo 32:2  And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.
Exo 32:3  And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 
Exo 32:4  And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

The idols of the heart, which are represented here as the molten calf, come at a cost. In other words, we exchange the gold we have received from the Lord’s words with false doctrines of man’s wisdom and tradition. This gold of the Lord’s words we have received is accompanied by our fiery trials which cause us to learn righteousness. Thus, exchanging the gold we have received for a molten calf or idols of the heart also means our rejection of the fiery trials we must go through in favor of the smooth words in Babylon which exclude our fiery trials. We all at a certain point in our walk with Christ worshiped or bowed down to the molten calf (idols of the heart) instead of Christ’s words.

Eze 16:17  Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 

Isa 30:9  That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 
Isa 30:12  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Isa 30:13  Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.

Exo 32:5  And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD.
Exo 32:6  And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

As we indicated in the introduction part of this study, the Israelites wanted something tangible to worship. The fact that Aaron told the people to hold a feast to the Lord is to attest that the people thought they were worshiping the true God through the molten calf. In Babylon, we turn aside from worshiping the true God to serving our idols of the heart. Yes, we did eat and drink while in Babylon, but it resulted in the entrenchment of our idols of the heart. The consequence of this is that we ended up becoming harlots, which is the meaning of “the people…rose up to play”. The verses below summarize our time in Babylon.

Mic 6:14  Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
Mic 6:15  Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. 

If we are called and chosen, then our Lord will cause us to leave Babylon.

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.

Exo 32:7  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves:
Exo 32:8  They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

In these verses, the Lord brought to the attention of Moses the true state of the people whom he was leading – that they have turned aside and are worshiping other gods. As we grow in Christ, we must pay attention to the state of the Lord’s flock. It is when we know the state of our brothers and sisters that we can be of help. Our brother Paul gave us the following example to follow:

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Gal 3:1  O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 
Gal 3:2  This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 
Gal 3:3  Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4  Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

We have all in our own time deserted the true gospel preached to us and have followed after fleshly means of worship in terms of our focus on prolonged music sessions, signs and wonders, etc. just like the Israelites.

Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 
Exo 32:11  And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 
Exo 32:12  Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Exo 32:13  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.

We are all stiff-necked people whom the Lord by His grace is transforming us to become His bride. In verse 10, the Lord was testing Moses to see what was in his heart as He mentioned that He wants to destroy the people and raise a new nation through Moses. As the Lord’s people, we must love the church by laying down our lives for her, just as our Lord Jesus did. Moses, a type of the elect, interceded on behalf of the Lord’s people when the Lord offered to make out of him a nation. He was prepared to die for His people’s sake. We are not here to serve ourselves and our interests. We are here to serve the body of Christ.

Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. 

Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Our brother Paul was also prepared to lay down his life for his fellow Israelites.

Rom 9:1  I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, 
Rom 9:2  That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. 
Rom 9:3  For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

All that happened to Moses, Paul, the disciples, etc. are for our sake. Their inability to be faithful to Christ and the church in this wilderness of life is all for our sake – so that the Lord will show mercy to us. The blindness which has engulfed our brothers and sisters in Babylon is all for our sake. It is not because we are wise. It is all because the Lord has shown mercy to us and that through this mercy, they also will be shown mercy.

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.

Exo 32:14  And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. 

To understand what this statement means, we need to look at the sum of the Lord’s words.

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

From the following verses, which run contrary to verse 14, the Lord is not a man to repent or change. If the Lord had changed His plan, then the children of Israel would have been consumed. 

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie, Neither the son of man, that he should repent: Hath he said, and will he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

The statement in verse 14 is therefore written for those with eyes to see and ears to hear. However, there are many that are unlearned and would wrest verse 14 unto their own destruction.

2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Exo 32:15  And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
Exo 32:16  And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.
Exo 32:17  And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp.
Exo 32:18  And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear.
Exo 32:19  And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.

The question is “why did Moses cast the tables of the ten commandments out of his hands to break them after spending forty days and forty nights in Mount Sinai to receive them?” This was a foreshadow of the fact that the law of Moses was our schoolmaster until faith came. In other words, being our schoolmaster means that the Law of Moses makes us realize that we are sinful. Once Moses came to that realization, there was no need for the law again. The casting of the tables out of his hand therefore signifies that we are no longer under the law when we come to realize that we are sinful. It is at this point that faith comes.

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

It is also instructive to know that when Joshua heard the noise of the people, he thought that it was the noise of war in the camp. Moses corrected him by telling him that it was the noise of them that were singing. We are all prone to make mistakes, but we should be humble enough to accept correction from the body of Christ.

Pro 15:31  The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.
Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Exo 32:20  And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

This verse means that it is as our eyes are opened and our ears are hearing the word of the Lord that all our idols of the heart, represented by the molten calf, are destroyed, that is, ground to powder. As we are aware, the word of the Lord is the fire that burns out completely all our idols of the heart. The drinking of the water by the children of Israel means that it is not only hearing of the word of the Lord, it is the application of the word of the Lord in our lives that takes away our idols of the hearts.

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Exo 32:21  And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?
Exo 32:22  And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord wax hot: thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief.
Exo 32:23  For they said unto me, Make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Exo 32:24  And I said unto them, Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf.

In verse 21, Moses was questioning Aaron on why he had brought so great a sin upon the people of Israel. From Aaron’s explanation, we can see that he was most guilty and did not repent for this outrageous sin. He was rather blaming the people for their stiff-necked nature. As we can see in the subsequent verses, Aaron was not punished for his sins.  As explained earlier, Aaron in this context represents the leaders in Babylon. Belonging to the Babylonian system means that Aaron is a symbol here of those who are not being judged in this life as they haven’t admitted that they are sinful. It is only the Lord’s elect who are being judged in this age.

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

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?

Exo 32:25  And when Moses saw that the people were naked; (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies:) 

The effect of the idols of the heart is that we are deceived. Therefore, we play the harlot thinking we are serving the Lord. This is all part of the Lord’s plan for us as His elect so He will have the occasion to judge us. 

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

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Exo 32:26  Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the LORD’S side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
Exo 32:27  And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
Exo 32:28  And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Our Lord has several tools He uses to judge us and to cause us to learn righteousness. The whole of His tools for judgment are classified as His four sore judgments as follows:

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

The consequence of our action of playing the harlot just like the people of Israel did by worshiping the golden calf, that is, worshiping another Jesus is that we are judged by the Lord, if we are called and chosen before the foundation of the world. In this case, our judgment comes in the form of the sword which negatively represents the lying words and false doctrines of the adversary. It also includes bitter words spoken against the Lord’s elect by those close to us.

Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.

Psa 64:2  Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity:
Psa 64:3  Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:

Eze 38:21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.

The essence of this judgment of the sword against the Lord’s people is to put to death the old man. As we can see in Exodus 32:28, three thousand men were killed by the Levites on the orders of Moses, who in this case represents the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to judge us. The number three thousand consists of three and multiples of ten (3,000 = 3x10x10x10). What this means is that we obtain spiritual maturity through the judgment of our old man after our fleshly deeds have reached their fullness. The death of our old man means the birth of our new man who is after the image of Christ. It is significant to know that on the day of Pentecost, three thousand men came to receive Christ. The death of the three thousand men of the people of Israel playing the harlot is therefore a foreshadow of the birth of the church of Christ.

Act 2:40  And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.
Act 2:41  Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.

Exo 32:29  For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.

Here in verse 29, we are told that Moses commanded the people to consecrate themselves even as they fall on one another with the sword. This is to let us know that the end result of the Lord’s judgment of our old man is consecration, which means being set apart as holy to the Lord. It is through righteousness that we are set apart.

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.

Exo 32:30  And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the LORD; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin.
Exo 32:31  And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.
Exo 32:32  Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.
Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.

All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord and as a result have had our names deleted from the Lord’s book of life. However, if we are called and chosen, then our names will surely be restored in the lamb’s book of life.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 

Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Exo 32:34  Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
Exo 32:35  And the LORD plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

What the Lord starts, He is able to finish. The reason He is able to finish is that He is the one (mine angel in verse 34) leading us through this wilderness of life. Even though at certain times in our journey, He may plague or judge us as a result of our sins, He will surely bring us to our safe haven. 

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 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!

May the Lord continue to lead us as He brings us to our safe haven!! Amen!!

Jdg 2:1-23 The Lord Raised The up Judges…and Delivered Them

[Study Aired January 31, 2021]

Jdg 2:1  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. 
Jdg 2:2  And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? 
Jdg 2:3  Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. 
Jdg 2:4  And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 
Jdg 2:5  And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. 
Jdg 2:6  And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. 
Jdg 2:7  And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. 
Jdg 2:8  And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 
Jdg 2:9  And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash
Jdg 2:10  And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. 
Jdg 2:11  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: 
Jdg 2:12  And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. 
Jdg 2:13  And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 
Jdg 2:14  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 
Jdg 2:15  Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. 
Jdg 2:16  Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 
Jdg 2:17  And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. 
Jdg 2:18  And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 
Jdg 2:19  And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. 
Jdg 2:20  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; 
Jdg 2:21  I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 
Jdg 2:22  That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 
Jdg 2:23  Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. 

The end of Chapter 1 of Judges focused on the disobedience of Israel for not driving out the Canaanites from the land but rather choosing to live among them and benefit from them by the tribute they paid. It is always God who takes the initiative to dislodge us from our comfortable situation with the old man as He came on the scene to help Israel out as follows:

Jdg 2:1  And an angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. 
Jdg 2:2  And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? 
Jdg 2:3  Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. 

If we are called and chosen, then God will not leave us alone to wallow in sin.  He will come to our aid by making us realize our transgression as the first step toward His salvation. He brings us to this awareness of sin through the agency of His angels (His elect), as was the case with the Israelites. The angel of the Lord in verse 1 is the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Father sent Jesus, even so Jesus is now sending His Christs (His elect) to show His people their sins. One of the key functions of God’s elect is to show God’s people their sins.

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

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

In this journey of life, we should be ruthless in our dealing with the enemies within. There is no room for compromise (make league with the inhabitants of the land). Any little inclination toward error has the capacity of destroying our whole Christian walk.

Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

Deu 7:2  And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
Deu 7:3  Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
Deu 7:4  For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.

We make room for the flesh when we think that it is not possible to defeat the flesh just as Israel thought they could not overcome the enemies of the land. We make excuses such as, “As long as we are flesh, it is impossible NOT to sin.” That is the same as saying, “Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?” God has assured us over and over that He will give us the land!! In other words, we shall surely overcome the flesh.

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

Gen 3:16  Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to [against] thy husband [Jesus], and he [Jesus and us] shall rule over thee.

Gen 4:6  And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him [sin].

Our inability to obey God’s command to completely destroy the enemies of the land (the flesh) will cause God’s anger to be kindled against us resulting in our judgment. We then become powerless before our enemies, and this brings us under oppression to a point that we reach our wits’ end. That is when God brings us an angel of the Lord (His elect) to come and speak the word to us to lift us out of our situation!!

Psa 107:17  Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18  Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.

It is significant to know that the angel of the Lord went from Gilgal to Bochim. Gilgal means ‘rolling’ or ‘circle’ and Bochim means ‘weepers’. So what we need to understand is that even at this stage of our lives when we go through circles of defeats which brings us to our wits’ end (weeping), God is with us. This is what God is trying to tell us by the creation story when the earth (us) was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep (In darkness under the control of the flesh), but the spirit of the Lord was hovering over the face of the waters (God was with us).

Gen 1:2  And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Jdg 2:4  And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. 
Jdg 2:5  And they called the name of that place Bochim: and they sacrificed there unto the LORD. 

As a result of the spiritual words we hear from God’s elect (the angel of the Lord), we regret our actions and cry to the Lord. As indicated, the name Bochim means ‘weepers’. We weep, repent for what we have done and begin to seek the Lord again, but unfortunately, this is temporal as we will see in later verses. This is because when we are dominated by the flesh, symbolized by the Israelites being in league with their enemies, the sorrow we experience is of the world, and therefore it worketh death!! It is not like the godly sorrow that brings repentance leading to salvation. That is why we go through cycles of defeat and oppression.

2Co 7:9  Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
2Co 7:10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.

Jdg 2:6  And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. 
Jdg 2:7  And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. 

The Book of Judges was not written in a chronological order, and so this chapter is talking about the time of Joshua and the elders after him. Under the leadership of Joshua and the elders after Joshua, the people served the Lord!!  Joshua and the elders here represent God’s elect. What these verses are saying is that true fellowship of God’s elect grants us victory over the flesh because of the fiery word coming from His elect. We should also note that our fellowship is with the Father and His son, and when Jesus comes to us, He begins to drive out the oxen, the sheep, the doves and the changers of money from our temple which is our body!!

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

1Jn 1:3  That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Joh 2:13  And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
Joh 2:14  And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
Joh 2:15  And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
Joh 2:16  And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father’s house an house of merchandise.

One key characteristic of the elect as depicted in Judges 2:7 is the fact that Joshua and all the elders after him had seen the great works of the Lord!! In other words, they have experienced God’s great work in their lives. The great works of the Lord is also the good works of the Lord as explained in Psalm 107. The end product of the good works of the Lord is to bring forth our righteousness as shown in Jeremiah 51:10.

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!

Jer 51:10  The LORD hath brought forth our righteousness: come, and let us declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God.

So the wonderful or good works of the Lord is how He brings forth our righteousness through His judgment!! This is a long process with God bringing us into darkness where He seeks for an occasion to judge us to bring us to our safe haven!!

Jdg 2:8  And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 
Jdg 2:9  And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. 

Finally, Joshua died at the age of 110. Here Joshua is represented in a negative sense – the flesh as portrayed by his age (110 = 11×10). Ten represents the completeness of the flesh, and eleven represents the ruin and disintegration of the flesh. The end product of God’s elect is the ruin and disintegration of the flesh to bring forth the new man to live for Christ!! Joshua was buried at his inheritance at Timnathheres which means portion of the sun!! Unless we die to our old man, we do not have a portion of the sun as our inheritance. The sun represents Christ, and so our portion is in Christ!! Gaash means ‘quaking’. So we possess Christ as our inheritance through quaking (tribulations) resulting in the death of the old man as signified by the death of Joshua!!

The Generation Which Knew not God

Jdg 2:10  And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. 
Jdg 2:11  And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: 
Jdg 2:12  And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. 
Jdg 2:13  And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. 

The verses here remind us of the apostasy of the people of Israel. The question is why did the Israelites follow after other gods?  Verse 10 explained the reason for following after other gods. It was because they did not know the Lord and His works towards them. We are aware that to have a good relationship with someone, you must know the person. If a marriage is to work, it means that the husband and wife know themselves well. So it is with our relationship with Christ our husband. As the bride of Christ, if we do not know our Husband Christ, then we will definitely end up following after other “men” just as the Israelites did here. As Paul puts it in Galatians 4:3-11, if we do not know God, we will do service unto them which by nature are no gods. As a result, we will turn again to weak and beggarly elements and end up in bondage as it happened to the Israelites.

Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

What we need to understand is that knowing God is a gift from God, and that gift is eternal life. If we are destined to be part of the elect, then at a certain stage of our walk, we will be given to know Christ. Looking back, we have all at certain stages of our lives played the harlot and resorted to weak and beggarly elements as we see the Israelites did after the death of the generation that knew God. Ironically, knowing the Lord entails going through all that the Israelites went through – that is, returning to our vomit of weak and beggarly elements. This experience is all to humble us and for us to realize that we are the worst of sinners to whom God has shown tremendous mercy.

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

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

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

This experience of going after other gods is actually orchestrated by God who is looking for an occasion to judge the Israelites (us) as shown in the following verses:

Jdg 2:14  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. 
Jdg 2:15  Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed. 

These verses of scriptures talk about God’s judgments. It is through these judgments that we learn righteousness, and as a result we avoid being condemned with the world. We are all going through God’s judgment at certain periods of our lives. There are times in our lives that it seems everything we do does not work as if we are cursed!!! We endure pains in our bodies, and sometimes we are living but mentally dead – as if a death sentence had been passed on us. We are greatly distressed at certain stages of our walk. There are times that it is as if the beast within is raging uncontrollably within us, taking us captives and causing us to do things we do not want to do. Our cry then was just like Paul saying, “Oh wretched man that I man, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

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.

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

2Co 1:8  For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of 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:

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

Verses 14 and 15 clearly demonstrate that it is God who raises the storm and brings us to our wits’ end.

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!

The end result of our judgment is that He brings us to our safe haven, which in the case for the Israelites. It means raising up judges to deliver His people from their enemies as shown in the verse below:

Jdg 2:16  Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them. 

The judges are God’s elect whom He raises up in every generation to bring His people out of bondage. The judges are those who go against the status quo. The status quo here is our acceptance that nobody born of flesh and blood can win this war against the beast within. Therefore we are dominated by the beast within, as we saw the Israelites being under bondage from their enemies. It is the judges (the elect) who are raised by God to defy the oppression of Israel (God’s people) by their enemies to bring liberty to God’s people. Just like Jeremiah, God has set the elect or the judges over the nations and over the kingdoms within, to root out and to pull down and to destroy and throw down. In the fullness of time, this dominion will be extended outwardly to the whole world when the kingdoms of this world will belong to Christ and His Christ. This should give us assurance that we will surely win this war against the enemies within.

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

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

Jdg 2:17  And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so. 

The Israelites did not listen to the words of the judges but rather chose to worship another Jesus. God’s sheep will definitely hear God’s voice through the elect. As indicated by Apostle John, our failure to hearken to the elect shows that we are dominated by the world in us, and we only understand things of the world at this stage of our walk. However, at the right time we will be caused to hear our judges and therefore get to know God.

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Jdg 2:18  And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. 

The judges in our time are the elect whom God raises up to speak the fiery word of God to us and as we pay attention to these words, the enemies within are gradually destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives. Thus, in the days of the judges, God delivers His people from the hands of the enemies. The days of the judges here represent the period in our lives that God opens our eyes to see and our ears to hear what God’s elect (His Christ) are saying. As explained in an earlier review, the word ‘judges’ according to Strong’s definition means to pronounce sentence for or against. So in the days of the judges, Christ, through His elect, pronounces sentence against the enemies within, and therefore bring us out of bondage or domination by our flesh or the old man (representing the enemies within).

Judge
shâphaṭ
shaw-fat’
A primitive root; to judge, that is, pronounce sentence (for or against); by implication to vindicate or punish; by extension to govern; passively to litigate (literally or figuratively): –  + avenge, X that condemn, contend, defend, execute (judgment), (be a) judge (-ment), X needs, plead, reason, rule.
Total KJV occurrences: 203

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

At the latter part of verse 18, it says that God repented for what the Israelites were going through. This is what makes people say that the bible contradicts itself. We know that we need to know the sum of God’s words in order to know what God is actually saying.

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

Num 23:19  God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

From Numbers 23:19, we can see that God is not a man that He should repent. So what is verse 18 trying to imply? What we are being told here is that when we go through suffering, Christ also feels our pain. My brothers and sisters, whatever we are going through now, let’s be assured that Jesus is also going through this pain with us and is interceding on our behalf.  We can see that when Jesus was going to raise Lazarus from the grave and he saw the way the people were grieving, he wept. This is to let us know that he shares our pain. We are therefore not alone in this walk!!

Joh 11:32  Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Joh 11:33  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
Joh 11:34  And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
Joh 11:35  Jesus wept.
Joh 11:36  So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
Joh 11:37  But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

2Co 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
2Co 1:4  who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

In spite of the law of liberty that God’s elect (Judges) bring to us, we refuse to hear them at the early part of our walk with Christ, as indicated in verse 17 where the Israelites refused to hear the judges.

Jdg 2:19  And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way. 

Not listening to the judges (the elect) is the same as considering them dead to us. We consider God’s elect as dead on the streets of Jerusalem (where we were walking in time past) which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt. When we were in Babylon (Christendom), we refused to hear the Lord’s song, and so we could not sing the Lord’s song in that land when we had been carried away as captives by our old man inspired by the great swelling words of man’s wisdom which are propagated by the leaders of Christendom.  In Babylon, we are tormented by our old man. When we go wrong, the old man comes to us telling us, “As far as you are concerned, this holy living is not for you. Look at your weaknesses!! Those that God is making them sons and daughters do not have weaknesses like you. You must as well give it up. You are full of sin!!” That is what the Israelites went through when they were carried away captives and their captors tormented them and required of them a song, and that is what we all are or have gone through in our walk with Christ.

The fact that your eyes are being opened and your ears are hearing God’s elect means that the old man has started his journey of death.

Rev 11:8  and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

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

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.

Our refusal to hear the elect (the judges) is because we are captivated by the teachings of our Babylonian leaders who speak man’s wisdom with which we can easily identify. As a result we end up in worse state in our walk with Christ than when we started. This is what Apostle Peter was talking about in 2 Peter 2. That was what happened to the Israelites after the death of the judges. They went back to their vomit as we also had gone back to our vomit in the past.

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

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

Jdg 2:20  And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; 
Jdg 2:21  I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: 
Jdg 2:22  That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not. 
Jdg 2:23  Therefore the LORD left those nations, without driving them out hastily; neither delivered he them into the hand of Joshua. 

Verses 16 to 23 summarize the whole book of Judges. It shows how Israel did not drive the Canaanites from the land and therefore came into bondage; how God brought deliverance to Israel and how Israel got into bondage again. The steps are as follows:

1. Israel did not drive the Canaanites from the land when they had the opportunity to do so.
2. Israel is enticed into serving other gods of the Canaanites.
3. God reacts to Israel’s disobedience by not driving the enemies from the land. As a result, they become powerless and the enemies oppress them.
4. Israel cries to the Lord for help.
5. God in His mercy sends judges to deliver them.
6. Israel obeys the Lord during the period of the Judges until the judges die.
7. Israel goes into sin again and the cycle continues.

The rest of the Book of the Judges is a detailed account of this cycle of defeat. The detailed accounts are extremely important because they give us the tools we need to possess the land (our body) by driving out the enemies from within.

This cycle of defeat is because there are certain aspects of our lives we have not yielded to the Lord, and therefore they become a snare to us. We can see from the latter part of Chapter 1 of Judges that the Israelites went through this cycle of defeat because they were not thorough in driving the Canaanites from the land. We all have experienced this cycle of defeat in our lives when we look back. If you are at this stage of your walk with Christ, do not give up because everything that is going on in your life is according to the counsel of God’s will. It is the Lord himself who decided to leave some of the nations in our land (verse 23). At the right time, God will devise a means so that His banished is not expelled from Him. The fact that your eyes are seeing and your ears are hearing means that salvation is on the way!! Let us therefore not grow weary in our walk, for in our struggle against sin, we have not resisted to the point of shedding our blood!!

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.

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.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [His elect], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us [this cycle of defeat], 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.

[Next study in this series is here.]

[Study Posted July 27, 2020]

Est 4:1  When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 
Est 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 
Est 4:3  And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 
Est 4:4  So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. 
Est 4:5  Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. 
Est 4:6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 
Est 4:7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 
Est 4:8  Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. 
Est 4:9  And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 
Est 4:10  Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 
Est 4:11  All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. 
Est 4:12  And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 
Est 4:13  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 
Est 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 
Est 4:15  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 
Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 
Est 4:17  So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. 

Chapter 3 of Esther focused on the plot by Haman to exterminate the Jews. That is the raising of the storm by the Lord to bring us to our wits’ end with the ultimate goal of getting us to our safe haven. As discussed, Haman represents the beast within who is used by God as His left hand to become the agency for our fiery trials with the view of destroying the old man within us (Haman). The trials that Job endured (seven plagues) are the same that Esther had started enduring in this chapter. However, this is not news that the flesh wants to hear because we love our lives. The passages of scriptures we are dealing with today have to do with our fiery trials.  That is what every elect goes through. Let’s go into the details of these trials marked out for us as exemplified in the life of Mordecai and Esther.

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.

Job 1:9  Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10  Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11  But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

Est 4:1  When Mordecai perceived all that was done, Mordecai rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry; 
Est 4:2  And came even before the king’s gate: for none might enter into the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 
Est 4:3  And in every province, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. 

Putting on sackcloth as seen in the scriptures is generally a sign of mourning due to the death of someone dear to us. In the spiritual context, the one dear to us is our flesh. The rending of Mordecai’s clothes and his putting on sackcloth signify the fact that he is dissatisfied with his own righteousness (his own clothes) and is ready to put on Christ’s righteousness, which is obtained through the death of our flesh, which causes us to mourn. Remember that the two witnesses in the Book of Revelation are clothed in sackcloth during their days of prophesying. Our lives as God’s elect are a long journey clothed in sackcloth as we mourn the daily dying of our flesh through various fiery trials. Coming to understand his words as Mordecai understood all the plans for the extermination of the Jews, we as God’s elect (Spiritual Jews) mourn. We all mourn because of what is written in the word of God concerning us as shown to Ezekiel. What is written is all about lamentations, mourning and woe because of our fiery trials.  This is not what our carnal man wants to hear.

These verses also tell us where we should express our mourning.  Mordecai expressed his mourning in the midst of the city of the King and also at the King’s gate. What do these locations tell us? The city is our Lord’s dwelling place, and so that is us (the new Jerusalem). We should be able to express what we are going through that makes us mourn in the midst of our brethren. As indicated in an earlier study, the King’s gate is where the porters of God’s elect are to help us with our load and to give us direction as to how we can get to our destination. Since we are all mourning, we can comfort one another in our trials.

Gen 37:34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son [Joseph] many days.

2Sa 3:31  And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David himself followed the bier.

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.

Eze 2:9  And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein;
Eze 2:10  And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.

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

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

Est 4:4  So Esther’s maids and her chamberlains came and told it her. Then was the queen exceedingly grieved; and she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take away his sackcloth from him: but he received it not. 

Our mourning in the city and at the King’s gate will surely receive response from our brothers and sisters as we try to bear each other’s burden. In the case of Mordecai, Esther came to his aid by providing a change of clothes for Mordecai. However, Mordecai refused the offer. Again in our earlier study, we pointed out that Esther, though she represents an elect, was not matured. Her solution to Mordecai’s problem was that he should not mourn. She thought that perhaps, God will take him out of all these afflictions even as our brothers and sisters on the other side believe that God will take them out of suffering through rapture (a bogus doctrine from the carnal mind). The fact is, whether we like it or not, we will drink this cup of suffering!! This situation is the same as when Jesus told his disciples of His impending death, and Peter took him aside to convince him not to accept the cross. Jesus refused to listen to Peter, and his response to his disciple was that Peter had a carnal mind.

Mat 16:21: From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
Mat 16:22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!”
Mat 16:23 But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (Berean Study Bible)

Est 4:5  Then called Esther for Hatach, one of the king’s chamberlains, whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and gave him a commandment to Mordecai, to know what it was, and why it was. 
Est 4:6  So Hatach went forth to Mordecai unto the street of the city, which was before the king’s gate. 
Est 4:7  And Mordecai told him of all that had happened unto him, and of the sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king’s treasuries for the Jews, to destroy them. 
Est 4:8  Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given at Shushan to destroy them, to shew it unto Esther, and to declare it unto her, and to charge her that she should go in unto the king, to make supplication unto him, and to make request before him for her people. 

Through our brothers and sisters, we are able to understand these fiery trials which are marked out for us. That was exactly what Esther tried to do by sending Hatach to Mordecai. Mordecai took his time to explain the trials facing the Jews (the elect). During our trials, we are enjoined to ask our Lord to come to our aid. That was exactly what Mordecai told Esther; that is, to make supplications to the King. The Psalmist said in Psalm 107:28 – they cried unto him in their trouble and he bringeth them out of their distress. As we make our request to Him, he is able to make a way of escape so that we may be able to bear the trials.

As you can see, we are not making our request to the Lord to escape our trials, but rather to bear the trials. Sometimes in our trials we get so discouraged, and to make matters worse, we hear voices within telling us that we are finished. David felt the same way when he fled from Absalom. Then, he cried unto the Lord with his voice and the Lord heard him out of his holy hill. His holy hill is His tabernacle, His dwelling place within us. His holy hill is also Zion, His elect. So we hear our Lord from both within (Because he lives within) and from our brethren, the elect!! Hearing him is what gives us the strength to bear what we are going through.

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.

Psa 3:1  A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me.
Psa 3:2  Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah.
Psa 3:3  But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
Psa 3:4  I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.

Psa 2:6  Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

Psa 15:1  A Psalm of David. LORD, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill?

Psa 43:3  O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.

Est 4:9  And Hatach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. 
Est 4:10  Again Esther spake unto Hatach, and gave him commandment unto Mordecai; 
Est 4:11  All the king’s servants, and the people of the king’s provinces, do know, that whosoever, whether man or woman, shall come unto the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law of his to put him to death, except such to whom the king shall hold out the golden sceptre, that he may live: but I have not been called to come in unto the king these thirty days. 

Our election is not by our will or effort. We have to be called and shown mercy before we can enter the King’s inner court, the temple, to see the King. For he showeth mercy on whom he wills and hardens the heart of those he wills.  Our God showing mercy to us is the same as the king holding out the golden scepter to whomsoever he wills even though nobody deserves to come to his presence. While we are going through this process of judgment of the flesh, signified by the number 30 (30 = 3 x 10), we cannot enter the temple to worship or see the king. Another rendition of this is in Revelation 15:8 where no man can enter the temple until the seven plagues were fulfilled. That is the significance of Esther not seeing the King for 30 days.

Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

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

Est 4:12  And they told to Mordecai Esther’s words. 
Est 4:13  Then Mordecai commanded to answer Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shalt escape in the king’s house, more than all the Jews. 
Est 4:14  For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father’s house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this? 

Sometimes we think that somehow judgment will pass over us and we will be able to escape from these fiery trials. That may have been the thought of Esther. That was why Mordecai told her that she should not think that she will escape just because she is the bride of the King (verse 13). The unveiling of Christ in the Book of Revelation makes us aware that we will only be blessed if we read and keep those things (the fiery trials) which are written in the Book. In other words, we must go through hardships in order to enter the kingdom of God. Remember that the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) went through the burning furnace, but they were not harmed.

If we do not want to go through suffering (i.e. if we hold our peace), we will not be part of the Lord’s deliverance but will be destroyed (we will face the white throne judgment) and others will be saved at our expense (verse 14). The fact is, we have been brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. Our deliverance is now!! As long as we are seeing Christ through the lens of our sufferings, we should be assured that our salvation is near, even at the door and we shall not pass until all the seven plagues are fulfilled in our lives!!

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.

Act 14:22 Strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. (NIV)

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Est 4:15  Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, 
Est 4:16  Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish. 
Est 4:17  So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him. 

Now that Esther had come to understand Mordecai’s message, which is about suffering with her fellow Jews, she braced herself for the inevitable. In this case, she was just like Jesus who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross despising its shame. We should pay heed to the things she requested Mordecai to do and her resolve during this time of trial.

The first thing she requested Mordecai to do was to go gather the Jews. Our gathering together equips us for the fiery trials we are going through. We get strengthened to go through our trials when we gather. There are several Old and New Testament examples of this strengthening.  Remember Jesus himself was strengthened by an angel. When Jacob was on his death bed, he got strengthened when Joseph and his children came to see him. We therefore also need to be strengthened by our brothers and sisters (who are angels), when we are going through fiery trials.

Gen 48:1  And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gen 48:2  And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

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.

The second thing mentioned is that during this period of our trials, we should fast for three days – the three days being the process of our judgment, which is a lifetime. This fasting is not about afflicting our souls as we did when we were in the clutches of Babylon. This fasting is about stopping the feeding of our old man (so as to speed up its death) by not willfully engaging in sinful acts or not imbibing in false doctrines and lies from the harlot woman.  That is the fast that breaks every yoke. Isaiah suggested during this period of fast that we are to feed the sheep and not hide from our own flesh.  Not hiding from our own flesh is when we see ourselves as we really are – our self-righteousness, weaknesses, etc. – and it is only through the Lord’s chastening grace that we come to see who we really are.

Isa 58:5  Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7  Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

The third point about this period of trial is that we have to go and see the King to make our request known. All the preparation by Esther was that she wanted to see the king to make a request. She had a firm belief that the king would attend to her request. That is to say that we must have faith and come to God in prayer during this period of our trial knowing that God will attend to our prayers.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

2Sa 22:7  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

Psa 120:1  A Song of degrees. In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

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.

The final point to note is that our fiery trials should bring us to a point where we are ready to lose our lives. This is where Esther came when she said that if she perish, then so be it. As the scriptures say, if we love our life, we will lose it, and if we lose our life we will gain it!! There are three examples in the word of God where individuals came to the point of being ready to lose their lives but in the end, they gained it. Esther is one example.  The other two examples are Daniel and the three Hebrew boys (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego). Our ultimate example is our Lord Jesus who lost his life and has gained it as he sits at the right hand of God.

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Dan 3:16  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17  If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18  But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

The question is what does it mean to lose our lives? The statement in Matthew leading to the losing of our lives tells us what Christ had in mind.

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

From the passage above, loving our lives has to do with the way we treasure our relationships and what they offer more than our Lord Jesus. It is also about not being prepared to suffer (take up our cross). Loving our lives has to do with our natural affinity to enjoy pleasures of sin. As God’s elect, we need to give up all these for the reward just as Jesus and Moses did.

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 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

May the Lord grant us the grace to lose our lives so that we will gain them at God’s appointed time!!

Our next discussion will be based on Esther Chapter 5.

[Study Aired January 16, 2020]

Psa 142:1  Maschil of David; A Prayer when he was in the cave. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. 
Psa 142:2  I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. 
Psa 142:3  When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. 
Psa 142:4  I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. 
Psa 142:5  I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. 
Psa 142:6  Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. 
Psa 142:7  Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. 

The  “living” of the “land of the living” in verse 5, where we find our refuge in the Lord, are those who have God’s holy spirit within them, also likened to “living waters” by our Lord, waters that are given to very few in this life to water our lands that represent our souls and specifically our inward man who is renewed daily (2Co 4:16) and belongs to God (Rom 8:9, Joh 7:38, Mat 22:14, Eze 18:4). 

2Co 4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me [Joh 6:44], and drink. [each in his appointed time]
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

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

Eze 18:4  Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 

The Lord has another fold, the rest of the world (Joh 10:16) whom He is directing to fulfill His overall purpose for humanity, but it is judgment now that blesses us to be called the land of the living as opposed to the dead who are burying the dead and are not at this time being buried into Christ’s death (Joh 10:16, Mat 8:22, Rom 6:4). We cannot die to self in the manner Christ described in Matthew 10:28 and become a new creation except through Christ (Joh 8:36, 1Co 15:22). This is what God has ordained from the foundation of the world to His glory that all men would be saved, but each man in his order (1Co 15:20) starting with His kind of first fruits, who are called the weak of the world through whom He makes his strength perfect first (Jas 1:18, 1Co 1:26, 2Co 12:9).

Joh 10:16  And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 

Mat 10:28  And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 

David’s experience was written for the sake of the elect (2Co 4:15, 1Pe 1:12) and this particular Psalm tonight shows us how God uses our isolation, among other divers trials and temptations (Jas 1:2-4), to bring us to learn that “Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living”.

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. 

Psa 142:1  Maschil of David; A Prayer^H8605 when he was in the cave. I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. 
Psa 142:2  I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble. 

The imagery in this Psalm shows us that David was being sore-pressed and brought to his wits’ end in this cave according to the counsel of our Lord (Eph 1:11) so he would cry “unto the LORD with my voice” and “with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication“.

This was “A Prayer^H8605 “that David was making that is a type of the fervent and effectual prayers (Jas 5:16) that God’s elect offer up as His “David“^H1732=beloved whose lives are likened unto a song or poem, “Maschil^H4905“, that the world hears but cannot receive.

Eze 33:32  And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not. 

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

Christ is being represented in the life of David who identifies with our struggles in the flesh and cries out to God, as Christ does for us today as He works in us both to will and to do. This pouring out of our “complaint before him” who brings us to our wits’ end is so that we learn to show “before him my trouble” just as David did in this “cave“. 

There is a difference between making a “complaint^H7879” before God, a crying out to him, versus “murmurings and disputings”, and the Lord has to prepare us through our trials so we overcome the spirit that caused much of the Israel of old to perish in the wilderness, being destroyed of the destroyer, always for our admonition. 

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: 

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. 

1Co 10:10  Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

If we are not brought to our wits’ end, we won’t cry out to God, but if God is working with us in this age, He will bring us to and through (1Co 10:13) these difficult places for our flesh (Joh 21:18) that will cause us to cry out because of the faith He grants us. This is the hunger and thirst we need in our time of need, just as Christ himself demonstrated in His own life, as we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Jas 4:2-3, Luk 22:32, Heb 5:7, Heb 4:16). When God gets our flesh out of the way, our prayer takes on the mind of Christ that prevails and perseveres in prayer, which is a gift of God so “that thy faith fail not“.

Jas 4:2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 
Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. 

Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. 

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 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 

The word “prayer”^H8605 is often used in the context of God’s elect or “remnant” in the old covenant, where we’re shown types and shadows of how God had always intended to build up the body of Christ, the spiritual temple that we are (1Co 3:16, Eph 2:21, 1Pe 2:5) through Christ who inspires us to offer up those fervent prayers to God in spirit and truth. These “prayers” that are typified in several verses in the old covenant witness to this truth of  (Joh 4:24). They are prayers that typify the acceptable prayers God gives his elect through Christ (Eph 1:6, Jas 4:3).

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

Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 

2Sa 7:27  For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayerH8605  unto thee. 

1Ki 8:28  Yet have thou respect unto the prayer^H8605 of thy servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth^H8605 before thee to day:
1Ki 8:29  That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer^H8605 which thy servant shall make toward this place.

1Ki 8:38  What prayer^H8605 and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: 

2Ki 19:4  It may be the LORD thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master hath sent to reproach the living God; and will reprove the words which the LORD thy God hath heard: wherefore lift up thy prayer^H8605 for the remnant that are left. 

2Ki 20:5  Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer^H8605, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 

2Ch 6:20  That thine eyes may be open upon this house day and night, upon the place whereof thou hast said that thou wouldest put thy name there; to hearken unto the prayer^H8605 which thy servant prayeth toward this place. 

Psa 142:3  When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. 

It takes our spirit being “overwhelmed within me” to bring us to cry out to God because of how “they privily laid a snare for me…in the way wherein I walked“. It is the Lord who directs our steps (Pro 16:9), “the way wherein I walked”, to bring us to the point where we cry out, and it is the Lord who allows our enemies to privily lay “a snare for me” (Amo 3:6). Our hope and belief is that God is in all the details, the light and the darkness He forms and works in each of our lives (Isa 45:7), so that we never lose sight of His sovereignty with every jot and tittle He is working in each of our lives “till all be fulfilled” (Mat 5:18, Mat 6:10).

Pro 16:9  A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps. 

Amo 3:6  Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 

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 6:10  Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

The “then thou knewest my path” part of this Psalm does not mean that God did not always know our path, but rather that when we are at our wits’ end, He remains sovereign and completely in control of our every step according to His purpose that brings us to our wits’ end so we learn to trust God (Eph 1:11, 2Co 1:9, 1Pe 4:1-2). Many translations add the word “then”, but it is not in the Hebrew. Also, the verb “knewest” is in the Qal tense (a caused action). The Good News Bible translation says this verse in this way:

Psa 142:3  When I am ready to give up, he knows what I should do. In the path where I walk, my enemies have hidden a trap for me. (GNB)

Psa 142:3  When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou^H859 knewest^H3045 [H8804 = Qal] my path^H5410. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me. (KJV)

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: 

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

These prayers that avail much are being made “in the land of the living” and most assuredly do avail much and fill us with hope by which we are saved (Rom 8:24, Php 1:19).

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? 

Php 1:19  For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 

Psa 142:4  I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. 
Psa 142:5  I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living. 

The power man looks to for deliverance is in the flesh that will always ultimately fail, and knowing Christ after the flesh is as great an example of “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me” because we don’t know Christ after the flesh in each other but rather in the spirit (2Co 5:16-18, Rom 8:16). That is where our “refuge” lies, and why we can with our hope of glory within (Col 1:27) cry out “in the land of the living“. The body of Christ provides that refuge through each joint that supplies in love (Eph 4:16), a love that is being shown and will witness to all the world who it is God has determined from the foundation of the world to be those disciples who would show that love to one another; His love which is shed abroad in our hearts (Joh 13:35, Rom 5:5).

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. 

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 
2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 

One day the very workmanship of God He formed to His glory to demonstrate how true discipleship can only be formed in the land of the living, will be revealed in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye.

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.

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

1Co 15:51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 
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.

Psa 142:6  Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I. 
Psa 142:7  Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.

When we have been truly humbled under God’s mighty hand by His bringing us “very low” (1Pe 5:6),  then He delivers us “from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I“. Those persecutors are within and are overcome by Christ who is stronger than all the powers and principalities against which we are wrestling (Eph 6:12, Eph 1:21). Those “persecutors” that are primarily within and are represented by the “strong man” in this verse in Luke 11:22, remind us of the heritage that the saints will receive as overcomers through Christ (Rev 21:7) spoken of as “his spoils“. 

Luk 11:22  But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. 

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

The “strong man armed” of the verse right before this in Luke 11:21 typifies Satan and his influence in our heavens, who offered Christ the world because it was his to offer (Mat 4:9), but when Christ overtakes that strong man within us, the man of perdition who is being destroyed by the brightness of His coming, He prepares us through to be the bride of Christ who will inherit eternal life (Rom 6:23). 

Luk 11:21  When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: 

Rom 6:22  But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. 
Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our whole life being given to God as a living sacrifice in the land of the living is also typified by the story of Abraham who meets the king Melchizedek who is a type of Christ that Abraham gives a “tithes of all” that represents all of our life, all of our heart, mind and strength that belong to him “his spoils” (Luk 11:22, Isa 53:12, Zec 14:1, Gen 14:18-20, Mat 22:37-39).

Isa 53:12  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. 

[Christ is numbered with us the transgressors who are blessed to have this spoil of spiritual warfare given to us because His strength made us the weak of the world “the strong.“]

Zec 14:1  Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee.

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 
Gen 14:19  And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 
Gen 14:20  And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. 

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment. 
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

If God delivers us from those spirits which hold us back from worshipping Him fervently and effectively in spirit and in truth, it will happen because the son of God has set us free (Joh 8:36) because he is able to “bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name“. He did just this with Joseph who was miraculously delivered by being given the ability to interpret the dreams brought to him that symbolize for God’s elect today our being able to rightly divide the word of God and understand that the dream is one. It is through rightly dividing the word of God that we will be made free from the bondage of sin as God’s word heals us from all doubt, fear and desolation which are so commonly associated with prisons, or in this Psalm we could say the confined space being talked about “was in the cave” (Gen 41:14, Gen 41:26).  The lean and the fat calves, the blighted and healthy wheat in this story of deliverance from famine reveal the process of light and darkness within us and how we should move with fear just as Noah did to the saving of our house while we live and move and have our being in Christ, not forgetting to lay up store for the days are evil (1Ti 6:19, Mat 6:19).

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

1Ti 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. 

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 
Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 
Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

The next question to answer is where exactly is this liberty taking place where we are being delivered from our “persecutors” and our souls that are being brought “out of prison“? The answer is in the land of the living where our refuge is and where “the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me“.

We are blessed to deal bountifully with each other as we bring the words of truth God gives us to bring healing to each other so that we can move forward in faith and overcome in this age (Psa 107:20-21, Joh 20:21, Eph 3:10, 1Co 14:26). It’s because of those words of eternal life (Joh 6:68) that we can say “Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living”.

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!

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

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, 

1Co 14:26  How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

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

Isa 25:1-12 Death is Swallowed up in Victory - Discussion

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Isa 25:1-12 Death Is Swallowed Up In Victory

Isa 25:1  O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
Isa 25:2  For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
Isa 25:3  Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.
Isa 25:4  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Isa 25:5  Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
Isa 25:6  And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
Isa 25:7  And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.
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.
Isa 25:9  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
Isa 25:10  For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
Isa 25:11  And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
Isa 25:12  And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

Verse 8 of our study today says, "He will swallow up death in victory", and this verse is quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:

1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

Testifying to the certainty of this Truth, we begin with this statement:

Isa 25:1  O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

"[The Lord's] counsels of old are faithfulness and Truth." If the holy spirit tells us, both here in Isaiah 25 and again in I Corinthians 15, that "death is swallowed up in victory", then that is what "of old" has been proven to be true, and that is what will happen. His counsels have never yet failed to be "faithful and true". How, then, is it that the great harlot and her daughters almost all claim either that death will instead send most people to an eternal lake of literal fire to be tormented for all eternity, or else they will be annihilated in that "lake of fire". Annihilation IS death, and eternal torment can hardly be called "death [being] swallowed up in victory". That blasphemous doctrine of eternal torment at the hands of a loving heavenly Father is rather more like telling us that 'peaceful rest in death is swallowed up of a monstrous hate-filled father who enjoys the spectacle of unending torment for the sake of torment, with no lesson to be learned and with no hope and no end in sight.'

We all know that the scriptures actually teach what we see here in this chapter and in 1 Corinthians 15. Death really will be swallowed up in victory, and death will not have so much as one victim over whom it can claim victory because we are told by the same holy spirit that "AS in Adam all [men] die, EVEN SO in Christ shall [that same] all [men] be made alive" and given victory over death.

1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Here, and in many dozens of other scriptures, we are assured that in the end, Christ does not will that anyone should perish in death, but that instead it is His will that all should come to a knowledge of the Truth and be saved:

1Ti 2:3  For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour;
1Ti 2:4  Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (KJV)

Most translations use the words 'wants all men to be saved... wishes... or desires all men to be saved'. The Bible In Basic English (BBE) is typical of most translations:

1Ti 2:4  Whose desire is that all men may have salvation and come to the knowledge of what is true. (BBE)

The Greek word translated here variously as 'will, desire, want, and wishes' is the Greek word 'G2309 theleo', and all of those English words are worthy and acceptable translations of that Greek word. However, what you and I need to realize is that the sum of the Truth is revealed to us in this verse of scripture and many others like it, which declare very plainly to us:

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

What we are being told is that our Creator is not quite like you and me. His wishes and desires are not in question of being fulfilled. "What His soul desires, even that [very thing] He does [because] He performs the thing that [He has] appointed for me." Also, we just happen to know that "[His] desire is that all men may be saved and come to the knowledge of what is true" (BBE).

Now here are these same two verses in Job 23 from the BBE translation:

Job 23:13  But his purpose is fixed and there is no changing it; and he gives effect to the desire of his soul.
Job 23:14  For what has been ordered for me by him will be gone through to the end: and his mind is full of such designs. (BBE)

"By Him will be... He performs the thing that is appointed for me... what has been ordered for me by Him..." These words all sound very much like that doctrine which the Lord's word really does teach us from Genesis 1:1 to Rev 22:21, which is:

Psa 139:16  Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all [my] days were written in Your book and planned before a single one of them began. (NWT)

Just out of curiosity I checked to see what Greek word the ABP+ had chosen to translate the Hebrew into the Greek here in Job 23:13, and low and behold:

Job 23:13  But if even^G1499.1 he^G1473 judged^G2919 thus,^G3779 who^G5100 is^G1510.2.3 the one^G3588 contradicting^G471 him;^{G1473 G3739} for^G1063 he^G1473 wanted^G2309 and^G2532 did.^G4160

Yes, that's right, there it is! They chose the Greek word 'theleo^G2309'. So while they may be blinded to what they have revealed to themselves, the Truth remains, "What His soul desires, that He does [in] all things!"

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:

Isaiah 25 is a brief summary of 1 Corinthians 15 and Revelation 17-22, as we will demonstrate as we proceed through the twelve verses of this chapter, beginning with:

Isa 25:1  O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

This is just one more verse which verifies that:

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

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:

As proof of His sovereignty over "all things" we are told:

Isa 25:2  For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

The city under consideration has not changed. It is the same as the one just mentioned in this same narrative:

Isa 24:10  The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isa 24:11  There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Isa 24:12  In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

"The city of confusion" isn't even aware of the fact it is so confused and conflicted. This is our prized and most valued 'city' within us. Our old man defends this 'city' to the death. Yet "confusion" is the very definition of Babylon. Babel was so named because that was where the Lord confused the languages of mankind and from whence the Lord scattered men around the globe:

Gen 11:5  And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
Gen 11:6  And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Gen 11:7  Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
Gen 11:8  So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
Gen 11:9  Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

The book which gives us the Revelation of Jesus Christ within ourselves tells us this about ourselves as we are made to partake of the doctrines of "the city of confusion":

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
Rev 17:7  And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

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

Rev 17:18  And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

So this 'woman' is not a literal 'woman' at all. The 'waters' are not literal, and the 'great city' is not a literal city. This 'woman' is called "that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth". We know from the scriptures the 'earth' symbolizes those to whom the Lord is speaking through His words:

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

The words "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord" are addressed to the great city of the capital of our 'earth' which is "Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children" within us. When Christ comes into our hearts and delivers us from this 'woman', we are no longer under her dominion, and we come to see just how confused we were while we were under the influence of "the bondwoman":

Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

Not one minister in a million, much less all those who are led by their ministers, has been given eyes that see that "Mount Sinai in Arabia... answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children". Neither can they see the plain and simple Truth, which is "the son of the bondwoman shall NOT be heir with the son of the free woman". For that reason Paul, under the inspiration of the holy spirit, concludes, "So then, brothers, we are not the children of the bondwoman, but of the free." It is these 'children of the freewoman' who are here in Isaiah 25 called "the strong people", and the son of the bondwoman are here called the "city of the terrible nations":

Isa 25:3  Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

"The city of the terrible nations" is "the city of confusion", which is being destroyed within us, and we are told that city, too, will come to "fear [the Lord]". However, that blessed state of mind comes only through fiery judgment upon "the city of confusion", which simply cannot receive the things of the spirit because they are foolishness to us at that time in our walk.

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.

"The things of the spirit" are understood only by those who are "poor in spirit" but are "rich in faith":

Jas 2:5  Listen, my beloved brothers, did not God choose the poor of the world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him?

We are the "heirs of the kingdom", and as such we are hated of "the son of the bondwoman", also called "the terrible ones":

Isa 25:4  For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.

This is "the fiery trials" which are the "judgment [which is now on] the house of God" (1Pe 4:12 and 17). It comes to us through the 'great harlot, the terrible ones, the son of the bondwoman'. "The dream is one" (Gen 41:25-26). These are all symbols of the very religious, very self-righteous children of the bondwoman, who are the religions of this world. Only by coming to see ourselves as first being "the terrible ones" do we ever overcome that cursed spiritual affliction of hating those who are "born after the spirit".

Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

But we are assured that the Lord's loving, chastening and scourging will come to "all in Adam", and we are told that it will come to them "by the church", through those who have been given to triumph over the beast and his image and the number of his name and over "the terrible ones" who we all are in our original marred condition:

Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

"The beast" is the "terrible ones" of our next verse.

Isa 25:5  Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

Satan does not usher in his own imprisonment. That task is given to "an angel... from heaven" who has the key to the bottomless pit. It will be those of us in Christ who will place Satan in that abyss for "a thousand years":

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

"Judgment was given... to them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus." It is given to "them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus" to judge both this world and angels like Satan:

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

When we "try the spirits to see whether they are of God", we are already "judg[ing] angels" in preparation for placing Satan and all of his angels under the house arrest of the abyss of the flesh of mankind for a symbolic thousand years, before he is to be released to again deceive this world. All of this must first take place within us as Satan was restrained within us by the law of Moses, only to be released again to give the Lord the "occasion" He is seeking to destroy forever the kingdom of our rebellious old man. When we are given to "try the spirits to see whether they are of God" and to  be able to say with our Lord:

Joh 8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

And with the apostle John:

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

Then, and only then, will we be positioned and qualified to spread out a feast for all those whom the Lord will drag to that feast:

Isa 25:6  And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
Isa 25:7  And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

"Wine on the lees" is the saving of the 'best until last' (Joh 2:10), and we know that "wine" is "my blood" of the New Testament.

Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Mat 26:29 But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

That kingdom is within us, and we are drinking that wine with Christ at this very moment (Luk 17:20-21).

This feast is given and presented only by those whose faces have had "the vail that is spread over all the nations... destroyed, [and] the face of the covering cast over all people" will then be destroyed, and we can then feast upon the "fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined... [of] the things of the spirit" (1Co 2:13-15).

But this will only be accomplished "in this mountain". We will see this phrase again in verse 10, and there we will learn when and where "this mountain" must appear, and when He "will destroy... the face of the covering cast over all people and spread over all nations".

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.

These words are repeated in the revelation of Jesus Christ, for us to keep and observe (Rev 1:3), before we can be qualified to feed others:

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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.
Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

No more tears and no more death! "He shall swallow up death in victory, and the Lord will wipe away tears from all faces", and the rebuke of His people he will take away from off all the earth, not because of anything we do, but simply because: "the Lord has spoken it."

We all, like Simon the Pharisee (Luk 7:36-40), invite Christ into our home, and we want to feed Him and curry His favor and claim His name. Nevertheless we are still the son of the bondwoman with the name of Jerusalem, which now is and is in bondage with her children written on our forehead. When Christ puts the name of His city, the New Jerusalem, on our forehead, then we can minister to Him as His true bride, as symbolized for all generations by Mary the sister of Lazarus whom Christ raised from the dead when she did for Christ what Simon the Pharisee simply could not yet do:

Luk 7:44  And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

At that very moment Mary was spreading a feast for Simon and for you and for me, if we are granted in this age to partake of that feast:

Isa 25:9  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

It is not natural to wait on the Lord, but those who are given to do so are greatly rewarded:

Psa 37:9  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

Isa 40:28  Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
Isa 40:29  He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Isa 40:30  Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Waiting on the Lord is the same as "the trial of [our] faith". It is a fiery trial, and none of us can avoid the pain of that 'fiery' trial because our "fiery trials" are the "chastening [and] scourging" of the Lord, of which we are told:

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

"Chastening and scourging" are included in the "fiery trials" we are admonished to expect as we become more and more attuned to the mind of Christ and less and less attuned to the mind of our old man. This is the process of the daily dying of our flesh and the loss of the kingdom of our old man with all of his fear of men and all the idols of his heart:

Psa 107:17  Fools [you and I] because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18  Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Psa 107:19  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20  He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
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!

Do the words "because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities" in any way contradict the scriptures which declare the Lord's sovereignty over our sins? Absolutely not! The two are not mutually exclusive; rather they are both true, because the Lord has ordained that light would come out of darkness, good would come out of evil, and obedience would only follow disobedience. "Then [we] cry unto the Lord... then are [we] glad" can come to us only after our iniquities and transgressions have been fulfilled (Gen 15:16), and after we "are at [our] wits' end", as Job so graphically illustrates:

Job 34:5  For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.

We take it upon ourselves to critique the Lord's ways, and we must be judged for that before we can see our own self-righteousness. We question the Lord's judgments as we are being judged by the Lord. It is this part of "sin in our members" which precipitates the Lord's fiery judgments upon our own self-righteousness:

Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

It is revealed to us that the whole process, from beginning to the end, "is of the Lord":

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

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

Pro 20:24  Man's goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

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

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

We, as the Lord's clay vessels, are "marred in [His] hand", and He never makes a mistake. He made us with "sin in [our] members", and He made us subject to "the law of sin... in [our] members". This is the simple truth of why the Lord has ordained His judgments upon His own Creation:

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
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 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

James tells us:

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

The devil does not uphold the law of sin in our members. That law was placed there and is sustained by the Lord Himself to give Himself the occasion He is seeking to judge us and to teach us through that judgment by His righteousness.

I repeat what is the most ignored part of the gospel and of confessing  who is Jesus Christ:

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 hand of the Lord" is His judgment upon the kingdom of our old man, variously defined by the names of all the peoples round about His people, "the Israel of God". In these verses, our old man is called 'Moab':

Isa 25:10  For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
Isa 25:11  And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
Isa 25:12  And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

Here in verse ten we again for the third time see the phase "in this mountain", and now we are being told that not only will "the vail... upon all nations [be] destroyed", but we are now also being informed that "Moab shall be trodden down under Him... and He shall bring down their pride... to the ground, even to the dust".

"This mountain" which is referenced three times in these few verses is:

Mic 4:1  But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

You and I are that mountain because a 'mountain' in scripture symbolizes a kingdom, and we all already know this doctrine of our Lord:

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

This mountain, "the kingdom of God is within you" and you will "trod down... Moab [your old man] under [you]... and bring down [his] pride [within you], because "the vail that is cast over all nations [is being] taken away" from your heart, and you and I are being given liberty and "are changed into the same image [of Christ] from glory to glory".

Now let's put verse seven together with 2 Corinthians 3:14-18, and see what, when, and where this mountain is and all that takes place within it:

Isa 25:7  And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
2Co 3:15  But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
2Co 3:16  Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:17  Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

You will say to me: 'It said this vail will be removed from "all people and all nations", and I will say to you, Amen!, but just like the judgment that will come upon all men, the removing of this vail must "begin at the house of God", and "the manifold wisdom of God" will be made known to all men "by the church", which is "the body of Christ":

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?

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,

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:

So "this mountain" comes to be within us "in that day", and that day is "the time [which] is come that judgment must begin at the house of God... this generation will not pass away till all these things shall be fulfilled" within the lives of those who read and understand (Mat 24:15 and 34-35).

Knowing of the Lord's judgments upon the kingdom of our old man, what are we to do? This is what we are admonished to do:

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.

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.

Our next study will include the verses about the fruit of the Lord's judgments in our lives which I have already quoted so  many times:

Isa 26:1  In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Isa 26:2  Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Isa 26:3  Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isa 26:4  Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
Isa 26:5  For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
Isa 26:6  The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
Isa 26:7  The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
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 26:10  Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
Isa 26:11  LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

Num 20:13, Exo 15:23-24

The emphasis of last week’s study was about how obedience to God’s word keeps us spiritually healthy by keeping us of the same mind, which is what fulfills God’s joy.

Php 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

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. [right now in earnest Eph 1:14, 1Co 13:12].

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

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

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words[Rev 1:3]: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

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

The shadowy character in the back of Rembrandt’s painting of the prodigal son returning reminds me of how at some point in our life we cannot see how this son of God who is being received is covered by the love of the father. Neither can this character see that God has given this prodigal son a contrite and broken heart which has brought him into the light of a right relationship where he is being washed by the light of Christ. When we don’t have this mind of Christ to bear each other’s burden, we are blinded to what is really happening around us, and just as the brother whose heart had no compassion or desire to do what the father was doing to the prodigal son, so Christ’s disciples at first could not see the need to tend to Christ’s body, which is where we all start.

1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

Isa 66:2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Luk 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
Luk 15:8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?
Luk 15:9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.
Luk 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Luk 7:44 And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Joh 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

This may have not been the intention of Rembrandt when he painted this masterpiece, but if you look closely, you see that the father’s left hand is stronger looking with a more delicate right hand, which I expect should symbolize the church is on the right hand, and both hands are gently placed on the prodigal son’s back which can serve to remind us that we are part of the reconciliation process with God the Father and Christ. [Example of the picture by Rembrandt is here]

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

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

2Ti 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

The other brother is looking on from the left side of the father in the painting and is turned sideways. His hands are clasped, and he looks unreceiving, in contrast to the father’s hands that are open and embracing. There are many other symbols in this painting which are centered around the story of the prodigal son. It is, after all, an interpretation of something that was never seen accept for those who were there at the time. Regardless, there is powerful imagery that can be connected to the word of God (Luk 15:11-32). The mature Christ, who we want to be, is represented by the father who is washing the feet of his son in receiving his once lost son, and he is sheltering him from the evil glares and darkness of the world around them all.

Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Joh 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Darkness represents many things, but in this particular painting and story in God’s word, the emphasis is on the ignorance of those who can’t understand the depth of the father’s love and the singleness of mind that is being formed through forgiveness and compassion, which we have all been blessed to recieve and are receiving through Christ and his body. What we know to be true is that we are every character in this story of the prodigal son, and the most important Being in the picture, who is invisible, is God the Father who is working all the details of all of His creation according to the counsel of His own will.

1Co 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

Mat 18:27 Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

Mat 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Mat 18:33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

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

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:

This second part of our two-part study looks at the miracle of our being called and chosen by God and how God delivers us from the worshiping of strange gods in Egypt, which symbolizes the world we are in both within and without.

In order for us to have the singleness of mind which we need to be one healthy body, we must be blessed to be loved of God in this age as He calls his sons and daughters out of Egypt.

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.

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Hos 11:1 When Israel was a child^H5288, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Hos 1:11 Then shall the children^H1121 of Judah and the children^H1121 of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head [1Co 11:3], and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel^H3157.

H5288The word child of Hos 11:1
נער
na‛ar
nah’-ar

From H5287; (concretely) a boy (as active), from the age of infancy to adolescence; by implication a servant; also (by interchange of sex), a girl (of similar latitude in age): – babe, boy, child, damsel [from the margin], lad, servant, young (man).

H1121 The word children of Hos 1:11
בּן
bên
bane

From H1129; a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like H1, H251, etc.): – + afflicted, age, [Ahoh-] [Ammon-] [Hachmon-] [Lev-]ite, [anoint-]ed one, appointed to, (+) arrow, [Assyr-] [Babylon-] [Egypt-] [Grec-]ian, one born, bough, branch, breed, + (young) bullock, + (young) calf, X came up in, child, colt, X common, X corn, daughter, X of first, + firstborn, foal, + very fruitful, + postage, X in, + kid, + lamb, (+) man, meet, + mighty, + nephew, old, (+) people, + rebel, + robber, X servant born, X soldier, son, + spark, + steward, + stranger, X surely, them of, + tumultuous one, + valiant[-est], whelp, worthy, young (one), youth.

H3157 The word Jezreel in Hos 1:11 spoken of as “the day of Jezreel”
יזרעאל
yizre‛ê’l
yiz-reh-ale’

From H2232 and H410; God will sow; Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two Israelites: – Jezreel.

God shows us the progression of Israel from a child^H5288 called out of Egypt in the life of Moses which typifies the life of Christ and His body (1Co 10:11, 1Jn 4:17). Those who are called and chosen in this age are the spiritual Israel of God (Gal 6:16), and so we see that it is what “God will sow” Jezreel (Gal 6:7, Isa 55:11) that makes it possible for us to come out of the world that we first have to go into.

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

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.

What God sows, He will reap (Joh 3:16, Gal 3:16), and “the children^H1121 of Judah and the children^H1121 of Israel” of Hoseah 1:11 represent Christ the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev 5:5) and the Israel of God which is His body (Gal 6:16). This is the only way that twain can become one with Christ as our head, typified in our earthly marriages and will manifest to the world one day as the bride of Christ who has been given to make herself ready.

Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Eph 2:14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;

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.

In tonight’s study we will look at the tremendous blessing of knowing God and Jesus Christ in this age (Joh 17:3, Joh 6:68), and how, like the prodigal son, we must come to our wits’ end and be brought there by God if we are to be His children who are being received through the chastening and scourging which is what the prodigal sons experience of evil represents.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

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

That prodigal son who represents the elect must now live out the rest of his life as we do, learning obedience by the things which we suffer (Heb 5:8) in order to fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake today (Col 1:24), and for those who will be part of his body one day (1Co 15:52, 1Co 15:58).

This Psalm 81 truly shows how God separates His people from the world today through judgment and reminds us deeply of how it is on the backs of their unbelief that we believe today (Rom 11:7-8). Of all people on this earth and throughout all generations, we are most blessed to receive “the finest of wheat” and “honey out of the rock” that satisfies us.

Luk 10:24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings 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.

Psa 81:8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto thee: O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto me;
Psa 81:9 There shall no strange god be in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.

If we are granted to hear the testimony of Jesus Christ and then continue in the truth, then “there shall no strange god be in thee”, and if there is no strange god on the throne of our heart, it will be because God has given us dominion over the flesh so that “neither shalt thou worship any strange god” because Christ has dethroned those strange gods and displaced Satan and made him to fall from our heavens like lightning.

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.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Luk 10:18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

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

Psa 81:10 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt: open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.

I think of a baby bird when I read this, eating a worm that is about the same size as its head. Our mouth, which is Christ’s mouth, has to be wide open. We need to understand that it is the sum of God’s word that will help us understand the narrow way (Psa 119:160), and that the safety we need comes in a multitude of counsellors (Pro 15:22) who can help us compare spirit with spirit (1Co 2:13) and help keep us from using our own reasoning minds which need another sword to sharpen them.

Pro 27:17 Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

The mind is deceitful and desperately wicked and will often cheat itself out of the blessing that can come from opening our mouths wide by learning from others in our midst.

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked^H605 [Hebrew: ‘ânash – incurable]: who can know it?

God will fill our mouths when he brings us to realize through repentance that we continue to need every part of the body to keep us healthy (Luk 15:23). His word reveals that with the body of Christ and our Father as our helper nothing can prevent us from overcoming (Rom 8:31, Heb 13:6). We can endure all things through Christ, and bear all things, and believe all things, and the “all” in each of these verses tells us that it is by opening wide our mouth (Christ’s mouth in each of us) that we will receive the love and faith that each joint can supply and that we will need to endure unto the end.

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.

It is when we are being brought “out of the land of Egypt”, out of the world or the worldly reasoning of our hearts, that we truly begin to be fed by “the LORD”.

Psa 81:11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
Psa 81:12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.

Here is the end result of not hearkening to the voice of God and not having any “of me” as the Israel of God, which is what we all must do at first. We are then given “up unto [our] own hearts’ lust” because we “walked in [our] own counsels” and not within the safety that comes from the multitude of counsellors, and by not forsaking ourselves in assembly where we can speak often together.

Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Psa 81:13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
Psa 81:14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.

Conversely, the day comes when we will, through the trial of our faith which is precious unto God, come to have a contrite and broken heart and be a people who “hearkened unto” him and “walked” in his ways. When we are blessed by God’s goodness to repent (Rom 2:4), the effect is immediate, and we feel relief knowing that the Lord is building the new temple at the expense of the old, and come what may, we will be able to withstand all the storms that are promised to come our way with this new temple. These verses in Matthew are just another way of saying “I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.” because of the stronghold that Christ has become in our life.

Joh 2:19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Mat 7:25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
Mat 7:26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
Mat 7:27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Psa 81:15 The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever.
Psa 81:16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.

We are all haters until we no longer are by the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8), and yes, we “should have submitted [ourselves] unto him”, but we could not unless the Lord builds the house as we just read (Psa 127:1), and then we “should have endured for ever“^H5769.

H5769
עלם   עולם
‛ôlâm ‛ôlâm
o-lawm’, o-lawm’

From H5956; properly concealed, that is, the vanishing point; generally time out of mind (past or future), that is, (practically) eternity; frequentative adverbially (especially with prepositional prefix) always: – always(-s), ancient (time), any more, continuance, eternal, (for, [n-]) ever(-lasting, -more, of old), lasting, long (time), (of) old (time), perpetual, at any time, (beginning of the) world (+ without end). Compare H5331, H5703.

The promise of God is that He will feed His lambs and sheep “with the finest of the wheat” and “with honey out of the rock” because it is only when we serve the word of God through Christ the rock that we will truly be “satisified”. If we receive another gospel or spirit, it will not benefit us (2Co 11:4), but if we are being blessed to hear the voice of the true Shepherd in this age at the waters of Meribah^H4809 which represents a dry place, a desert, where initially the whole stay of bread and water are taken away (Isa 3:1), then those waters of God’s word wrapped around the idols of our hearts will see those bands of deception and lies broken and the water made sweet.

H4809
מריבה
merı̂ybâh
mer-ee-baw’

The same as H4808; Meribah, the name of two places in the Desert: – Meribah.

Exo 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water (Isa 3:1).
Exo 15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.
Exo 15:24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Exo 15:25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree [type of Christ and his Christ], which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,
Exo 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Gen 30:36 And he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
Gen 30:37 And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of the hazel and chesnut tree; and pilled white strakes in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.
Gen 30:38 And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.
Gen 30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.
Gen 30:40 And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstraked, and all the brown in the flock of Laban; and he put his own flocks by themselves, and put them not unto Laban’s cattle.
Gen 30:41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
Gen 30:42 But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s.
Gen 30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.

Psa 77:1 To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
Psa 77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
Psa 77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
Psa 77:4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
Psa 77:5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
Psa 77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
Psa 77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Psa 77:8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
Psa 77:9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

As God’s elect we continue to praise Him (Jeduthun^H3038 – Definition: Jeduthun = praising) throughout this life for and through the process (Asaph^H623 – the name of three Israelites) that is unfolding as He drags us unto perfection which comes on the symbolic third day (Joh 6:44, Luk 13:32).

That process is accompanied with judgment and much tribulation (1Pe 4:17, Act 14:22), and yet with Christ as our head we can learn to rejoice in our trials as we become comfortable in the much needed fire that purifies our walk in the Lord through grace and faith by which all men will be saved (Isa 33:14-15).

In tonight’s first part of our two-part study for this 77th Psalm, we will look at how our flesh will naturally cry out during this process that is filled with growing pains or birth pangs (Joh 16:21, Joh 3:3), and how it is through the troublesome times that the mind of Christ is being formed within His body. We have been called and chosen to witness of His great power today, a power that makes it possible to love not our own life even unto death as we die daily in these troublesome times (Dan 9:25, Rev 11:3, Rev 12:11).

Being still, as we discussed in last week’s study, is akin to lying dead in the street of that great city (Rev 11:8, Rom 6:11) and knowing that our power to edify, exhort and comfort one another through the fire (1Co 14:3, Dan 3:25) is a gift given to those who are given to lie still and know they bring nothing to the altar, which is the cross (Joh 15:5).

God likens the elect unto a ‘candle stick’ and an ‘olive tree’ (Rev 11:4) both of which are completely dependent on fuel to survive (Zec 4:12-14, 1Co 3:6). We are glorifying God when we with ‘Christ in us’ bear each other’s burdens and strengthen each other in this life with that fuel which is His word, which is spirit that is able to quicken us (Php 4:13, Joh 6:63).

Our flesh must be mortified in order for the will of God to be accomplished within us (Rom 8:13). That will is being accomplished through this process ‘which’ is glorifying God ‘is, was and will be’ (Php 2:13, 1Jn 2:15-17, 1Pe 4:16, Php 4:13, Php 2:14 ).

[NOTE: We feel quickened by Christ’s body, both by word and deed, thank you Father.]

Do not grow weary in well doing, brethren, because in due season we will reap if we faint not (Gal 6:9). If we grow weary in the positive sense of the word, we will, as we read in Rev 3:8, not deny Christ by keeping his word, but if we forsake His word that quickens us in the midst of our weariness (stop loving in word and deed) and do not keep under ourselves (1Co 9:27) by remaining sober and vigilant at the end of this age (1Pe 5:8), we will stop being ‘still’ [“Selah”], and we will start to actively beat the manservant with our own dead branches and idols of our hearts instead of prophesying unto one another in a spirit of love which we pray God will continue to increase within each of us (Mat 24:49, 1Co 14:1, 1Co 13:2, Rom 1:16, 1Co 2:5).

God brings us into remembrance after we are brought to our wits’ end that He is faithful, and He has purposed to wash our conscience by pruning those dead branches (Rom 6:2). He is merciful to us in this age in advance of the rest of humanity for dealing with us as sons being received (Psa 107:30, Rom 11:28-30, Heb 12:6).

Our heavenly Father never lets us forget that it is the son of God who has been setting us free all along (Joh 8:36), and that Christ is the author and finisher of our faith who God promises through the vine (Christ) that none will be taken out of His hand (Joh 5:30, Joh 18:9).

Without Christ working within us by the holy spirit as our hope of glory (Col 1:27), we would despise the first part of this Psalm (his chastening grace), and the iniquity that He is allowing to grow worse and worse at the end of this age would cause His love to wax cold. This is all part of God’s predestined purpose to show the world that only ‘Christ can be Christ’ and that our discipleship of love toward one another is only possible because of His love being deepened within us (Mat 24:12).

It is therefore with great rejoicing (Php 4:4) that we should see our high calling as we come to appreciate more deeply every day how blessed we are to have His peace that passes all understanding in this evil age in which we live (Php 4:7).

We can get there and are getting there through Christ and His Christ, and next week God willing we will look at the fruit of going through the suffering in this age that is not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us over and over, both in earnest today and ultimately in putting off this corruptible flesh once and for all (Rom 8:18, 2Co 3:18, 1Co 15:53). But first, let’s look at tonight’s verses and the first half of the Psalm!

Psa 77:1 To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
Psa 77:2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

We cry unto the Lord with “my voice” even unto God with “my voice” twice mentioned to witness that God is witnessing through us that He can and does bring us to cry out with strong tears in our flesh (Heb 5:7, Joh 5:30), and then he will “give ear unto me”.

The “day of my trouble” in the second verse is a type of ‘the day of the Lord’. We are seeking the Lord even while our hand^H3027 is outstretched^H5064 (literal translations of “sore^H3027 ran^H5064“– see Rotherham, YLT, CLV or LITV) in the night, and our own souls[^H5315 = nephesh] refuse to be comforted. This happens to demonstrate that it is only God who can soften or harden the heart of Pharaoh within us.

Exo 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the LORD had spoken by Moses.

Rom 9:18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Only when the Lord grants that growth will our soul take comfort. To take comfort is to not just know that God is greater than our conscience, and that He loves us while we are yet sinners, and is sovereign over this whole growth process, but to actually experience deliverance which can only come after our flesh is out of the way and He has brought us to our wits’ end. We are quiet or ‘still’ only after the tormenting experiences He allows us to go through.

Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.

Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Psa 77:3 I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.

Remembering God in our trouble, complaining and being overwhelmed in our spirit is something that we all live, less and less as God gives us victory over our spirits that are so easily overwhelmed except the Lord delivers us (Mat 26:39-44). Christ is not complaining in the garden because He never sinned and has the spirit without measure to hold him up to never fall at any given time through any given trial. He is troubled however, and crying out, and his flesh is feeling overwhelmed^H5848 as it is being put off.

This is the greatest act and demonstration of both our Father’s love for us and Christ’s love being shed abroad in His heart to demonstrate God’s love for all His creation (Joh 3:16). For Jesus in his flesh, that time of prayer concludes after a process typified by three fervent prayers that he made, which leads to Christ being strengthened by the angel and being able to “be comforted” through the most profound mental anguish and physical pain that is soon to follow.

Mat 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
Mat 26:40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour?
Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Mat 26:42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.
Mat 26:43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy.
Mat 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.

2Co 1:3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

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.

Psa 77:4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

We can take comfort knowing that God has heard our prayers for our family in Christ. He holds our “eyes^H5869 waking^H8109“.

Even in the midst of severe troubles where we can’t even speak being so heavily burdened, God can and will hold us up (Php 4:13). The use of the word “eyes” and ‘eyelid’ [“waking”], brings to mind what it takes to hold us up in this tender and blessed area of Christ’s body.

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

2Co 11:3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds[your heart] should be corrupted from the simplicity [singleness]^G572 that is in Christ. [having one mind; being in agreement Php 2:2-5].

Php 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Psa 77:5 I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
Psa 77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with mine own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.

When we go through severe trials, God brings us to meditate on “ancient times”^H5769 where we remember “my song in the night”, and there we are blessed to “commune with mine own heart” which is blessed to find hope in the Lord which comes after this “diligent search“.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him!
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

We are left saying ‘it is well with my soul’ (Act 16:22-26, Psa 42:8).

Psa 77:7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
Psa 77:8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore?
Psa 77:9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.

Easiest verse ever to speak on? The answer is NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! So let’s “Selah” or pause and be blessed by the scriptures that confirm that all these “NO’s” are true:

Will the Lord cast off for ever?

Lam 3:31 For the Lord will not cast off for ever:
Lam 3:32 But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies.

Will he be favourable no more?

2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)

Is his mercy clean gone for ever?

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

Do his promise fail for evermore?

Jos 21:45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.

Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Psa 136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his gracious love is everlasting.(ISV)

Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies?

Psa 145:9 The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

Next week, Lord willing, we will see how the much tribulation of our life, which is purposed by God, leads us to remember and think and meditate on the works of the Lord, ultimately leading to our great comfort as we’re brought in remembrance of how he makes a way to take us through every trial for which He prepares us.

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

Joh 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
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.

Isa 43:16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;

Sometime ago we talked about how God is flushing Adam in us out of the garden as stated in Genesis 3:9.

[see Part 1 of Psalm 51].

He calls both Adam and Eve (because they are one in purpose and corrupt spirit) out of the garden. Adam represents ‘another Jesus’ leading Eve who represents the church in the wilderness, which must come out of this garden where we hide from our Lord, and is brought into giving an accounting of our actions unto the Lord (Rom 14:11, Php 2:11).

This cleansing process of being dragged to Christ to give an accounting is God’s goodness to Israel (of verse 1) and is the way in which He creates a new heart within His people in this age (Eze 36:26). Everything prior to pentecost that looks like this accounting is only a type and shadow of the true dragging to our Lord that leads to deep repentance and fruit being borne (Mat 3:8).

We will now look at how the process of being dragged to Christ is one that has the aim of completely humbling the first man Adam within us, bringing us to understand that we are the workmanship of His hands being formed for His purpose, which is to make us fishers of men who will be able to apply this same merciful process that we are so blessed to be enduring today (Joh 6:44, Mat 4:19).

The elect will narrowly escape (1Co 3:15), as scripture declares, and that escape from a physical perspective will feel very narrow; but from God’s perspective, who has declared the end from the beginning, this escape is certain (Heb 12:2, Php 4:13) and accomplishes exactly what God deems needful and necessary for us to become compassionate and merciful kings and priests of God, who come to learn, deeply and personally, of His working within our hearts. It is an exercise for both personal deliverance and collective deliverance that can only unfold because of the grace and faith being given to God’s elect today in advance of all the rest of the world.

These following verses speak very powerfully of where God brings us all so that we know that it is Him alone who can create within us a “clean heart” which is formed through fiery trials that bring us to cry out unto our deliverer:

Mat 8:24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
Mat 8:25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.
Mat 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Mat 8:27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

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!

Psa 73:13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
Psa 73:14 For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
Psa 73:15 If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
Psa 73:16 When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;

Here is the great conflict which we all face at first when we come into the knowledge of the true God. We look at our families and friends and former church members who we know and love and want with all our hearts to receive the word grafted into their hearts as the Lord is doing with us (Rom 11:19, Jas 1:21). After witnessing and being rejected, we struggle with the fact that we know something so great and profound and have suffered for being plagued and chastened “every morning” and yet this generation of “thy children” doesn’t care what we have to say.

Eventually God brings a balance into our hearts where we realize that this is “the day of small things” (Zec 4:10) and that we are not to despise their blindness or their inability to receive the witness that God brings to them through us (2Co 4:4, Joh 9:3). They are serving us in their unbelief, and we are recognizing the incredible privilege that has been given to us: to be grafted in as ‘the generation of thy children’ in the positive sense of the word, and not as the generation of children that we used to be part of when we walked after our former conversation (Eph 4:22). God is dealing with our conceit (Rom 11:25) and making us see that the dragging and converting are His alone to do, and yet when He deems that we have tried fishing long enough by our own power, then we hear our Master tell us where and when and how to cast the net as true fishers of men, which is what He has always been working toward in each of our lives (Joh 21:6, Mat 4:19).

With all this mind it truly is “too painful^H5999 for me” at the start. A look at how this H5999 is translated elsewhere tells us clearly why that is: H5999 = grievance, grievousness, iniquity, labor, mischief, miserable, misery, pain, painful, perverseness, sorrow, toil, travail, trouble, wearisome, wickedness.

So we do understand that it is by tried faith that these trials exercise in us that we will come to a place where we “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Php 4:4) for the wondrous works that the Lord is working in each of our lives to prepare us to be saviours or fishers of men of this world.

Psa 73:17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
Psa 73:18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
Psa 73:19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
Psa 73:20 As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.

This is the turning point for ‘Asaph’ [see last week’s study and reflection on verse 1 at Psalm 73:1-13] as we recognize that there is an end to all flesh and that God has set the ungodly in “slippery places” (H2513: flattery, smooth things: Psa 12:3) that casts them down from their ‘high places’ to destruction (the ‘day of the Lord’: Zep 1:15, 2Ti 3:1, Luk 21:20).

When our old man is destroyed, we are “brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors” like Saul of Tarsus that we are (Act 9:6).

The waking from the dream spoken of in verse 20 is a dream that is one, and one that we must live and experience. So we have the parable of the wise and foolish virgins of whom we are both in our appointed time (Mat 25:2). All idols, the lusts and pride and greed and violence and highmindedness and so on – the first heaven and the first earth (Rev 21:1) – will pass away like dreams do once we awaken (Rev 20:5), and all shall be judged that is “despised” (Num 15:31, Rev 20:13-14).

Psa 73:21 Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
Psa 73:22 So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.

When we are being brought to our wits’ end, we need to be mindful that such a brother or sister is going to have a heart that is “grieved” just as ours has been and will be. We will feel “pricked in my reins” because of the foolish and ignorant way that the Lord has allowed us to carry on before Him, even as a brute beast [for more insight on the “Behemoth” of Job 40 – see http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/job_40_15_24/ ].

We truly do need to anoint each other through our walk and reassure each other when we do fall and come back with a repentant and contrite heart. If we don’t afford this mercy to others, God will not afford it to us (Mat 5:7, Jas 2:13).

Psa 73:23 Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Psa 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Psa 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

After God brings us back to our senses through judgment, we feel held up by God – or as the Psalmist says, “thou hast holden me by my right hand”. God’s right hand produces the fruits brought out in this verse.

2Co 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

We are reminded again of the importance of seeking wise counsel through the church, the body of Christ, as we go from glory to glory, being received to that glory which God gives to those in whom He is making a clean heart in this generation.

“Where will we go then” the Psalmist says – “you have the words of eternal life” – or “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee?”

Psa 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psa 73:27 For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
Psa 73:28 But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.

My heart fails, and that is exactly the point of this whole study. Our hearts fail “but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever“, and He is going to show the world how He can cleanse the bride of Christ and make her ready as He demonstrates to all of Israel [the world] how truly good He is to those who are of a clean heart.

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.

Psa 73:1 A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

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

God has blessed us to see that He is destroying that part of us that “go a whoring from thee”, and that when we draw near to Him and put our trust in “the Lord God”, we will not only overcome and be able to resist the adversary but also be more than conquerors through him [kings and priests in the making] because He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1Jn 4:4).

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

1Jn 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

In time we will “declare all thy works”, and the world will discern and understand “Truly God is good to Israel [the Israel of God], even to such as are of a clean heart”.

Mal 3:18 Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

Hello Mike,

I know there is always someone else in a worse situation than me, but I can see why some people put a bullet in their head when life becomes overwhelming. I am so stressed out. I just cannot seem to get even a little ahead. What I do get is immediately taken from me. My stress is financial. I feel like a complete failure. I know what it is like to have much, and now I’m on my way to having nothing. I am sick and tired of the constant bombardment of trials. I am down and out mentally, probably on the verge of depression. One thing I see for sure is the part in the ‘Our Father’ prayer…Give us our daily bread. I guess that must mean just enough to make it through the day; not knowing where your next meal will come from?

I sell insurance and am on a commission base only. Take joy when experiencing trials? – I think not. I have NO joy, NO peace, NO rest. If this is what one must go through to be an elect, I’d rather not be one. I feel angry at God. It seems like at times there is a light at the end, and right when you think you will reach it, God snuffs it out.

Giving false hope to a person who is down and out is a TERRIBLE thing to do! I know what I’m saying certainly does not match up with scripture. I’m just saying that I’m sick and tired of this, and I don’t want to do it anymore. What makes it worse is that, as you and I both know, it doesn’t matter what I’m sick of because God is in control of everything down to the millisecond, which means he is causing me to send you this email.

Thanks for listening,

D____

Hi D____,

I am very sorry to hear all of this, and I only wish I could make it all go away. However, I cannot, and I can’t even give you the strength to endure these trials. I can honestly tell you that I identify with what you are going through, and I can let you know that I do care and that I am praying for you.

As you already know, we are not to expect to avoid trials, but are rather to endure them with patience. I know you have plainly stated that your patience is exhausted, and I understand that completely. Nevertheless, exhausted patience does not exhaust the trial, and the best thing we can say is, “Though God slay me, I will trust him.”

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

It is the last part of that verse that must be burned out of us all. Once we come to the point that we can say with Job, “I am vile, I will speak no further”, only then will our trials begin to subside. They cannot do so until that time, or they will not have accomplished a thing.

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

Our trials are God’s judgment.

I hope you have been able to read the Job series. The book of Job is the practical application of the book of Revelation. We learn to be righteous only through God’s judgments upon us and upon our haughty spirits. I know because I have been and am being judged by God.

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 26:10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

So I know what you are enduring, and it is my prayer to our Lord that He will simply grant you to give up on this life, so that He can come and live His life within you. The “old man… first man Adam” within us all “will not behold the majesty of the Lord” and will be destroyed. It is a painful experience which cannot be avoided, but when it has completed its work, there is joy that comes with the peace of mind that knows that all we now want is whatever God wants for us. This is not a bad thing. It is a “great and marvelous” work which brings us to repentance.

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

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?

You are speaking to me of “His goodness”, and this is a very great blessing. Our trials are “His goodness”, and it is “His goodness” which leads us to repentance.

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!

God brought me to my wits’ end, and He brought me through that ‘end’. He will do the same for you.

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.

You are in my fervent prayers.

God bless you,

Mike