Audio Download – Part 1

Audio Download – Part 2

 

The Book of Amos – Chapter 1:2-15, 2:1-3

“Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions and for four,
I will not turn away the punishment thereof”

[Aired November 9 and 16, 2024]

In the Introductory Study of Amos 1:1, we come to understand that our symbolic Richter Scale earthquake, rated at a symbolic 10 and multiplied by 10 for each digital increment, releases a 31-fold increase in incremental energy and correspondingly represents a catastrophic emotional event impacting our Old Man of flesh spiritually. This earthquake will shake us with such spiritual violence that it will symbolically liquefy the Old Man, rendering it impossible to piece back together. (The phenomenon of liquefication happens when the ground’s foundation has subterranean saturation, yet with a honeycomb-like relatively solid structure, and when it is shaken violently in an earthquake, all layers combine and literally turn to slop, as happened in Mexico City in 1985. For us, the focus is on it not being possible for us to be reformed in our original evil shape ever again, whether crushed, dashed, liquified or shaken).

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.

Psa 22:14  I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels [That is Christ’s prophesied experience of being ‘spilt on the ground’ that resulted in him never to be re-formed in the flesh, yet never ‘expelled from the Father’].
Psa 22:15  My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

There is tremendous spiritual significance in the way the holy spirit inspired Amos to identify our sins,  aligning us with Egypt, Sodom, Old Jerusalem, Syria and finally, all represented as Babylon. They all cryptically represent Amos’s first six cities and countries he uses, neighbouring Israel symbolically as one replicated in the seventh and eighth, Judah and Israel, where our Lord was crucified (Rev 11:8). They represent the land of our flesh and all that is in the world who cannot inherit the Kingdom and will, in their own time and order, bow down and serve the Christ, the first and last new man.

The Book of Amos is a parallel to John’s astonishment and bitter tribulation of not understanding his ‘little book’ in Revelations that translates to our even greater astonishment for being given the Keys to the Kingdom to understand those tribulations of John’s and keep those revelations given to us, the Seven Churches of Asia (Rev 1:9-20).

The first six nations and cities Amos identified represent our basest of natures in our Old Man of flesh. They are broadly distinguished as Ammonites or Moabites, which Deuteronomy 23:3 covers as “any of their descendants“, meaning Egypt, Sodom, Esau, and Old Jerusalem. They are all exposed as Babylon the Great.

Deu 23:3  No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
Deu 23:4  For they did not meet you with food and water on your way out of Egypt, and they hired Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim to curse you.
Deu 23:5  Yet the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loves you [through chastisements].
Deu 23:6 Thou shalt not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever.
Deu 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother: thou shalt not abhor an Egyptian; because thou wast a stranger in his land.
Deu 23:8 The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of the LORD in their third generation.

These verses powerfully express that we are Christ’s spiritual works in progress, ‘we are begotten of them‘, evolving into the New Adam, becoming the embodiment of Christ. We must reflect on our history from Egypt to understand our present and drive future transformation toward becoming precisely Christ under his headship. Consequently…

There are a total of 8 occurrences only appearing in scripture in Amos saying, “For three transgressions… and for four“. The first concerns 6 symbolic Gentile Christian nations within and, finally, her 2 treacherous sisters, supposedly the Lord’s righteous priestly tribes, particularly Judah, yet in collaboration with Israel. They all point to our physical journey to becoming Christ with its accompanying final and violent spiritual earthquake of spiritual understanding.

In this study, all eight of Amos’s listed ethnicities, cities, and nations can symbolise the Seven Churches of Asia since they all, by their precise number, with Judah and Israel as one added to the Gentile six, parallel our transition from the Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Without the holy spirit, they all epitomise itemised aspects of our thorn of unconquered flesh. Geographically, none of them parallels the Seven Churches of Asia in Revelations, particularly since Edom, Ammon, and Moab were nowhere near them; in fact, their origins directly depict Esau and Ishmael and thus more poignantly emphasise our Old Man of the flesh in Esau despising his birthright and dwelling in dry places of spiritual desolation. Nonetheless, Amos’s eight nations directly correspond to the Seven Churches of Asia in Rev 1:4.

Amos’ listed nations:

GENTILES:

DAMASCUS—Southern Syrian Empire. Very prosperous on the crossroads between Mesopotamia-Syria. Not bordering, yet East of the Sea of Galilee. 

GAZA—The land of the Philistines on the Mediterranean Sea coast West of Judah. 

TYRUS—On the Mediterranean Sea coast, relatively close to Jerusalem. Tyrus is another name for the strongly fortified city of Tyre noted for trade and luxurious excess.

EDOM—Edom, Ammon, and Moab were East-Southeast of the Dead Sea and all strongly connected to Esau. 

AMMON   

MOAB  

JEWS:

JUDAH—The treacherous Priests and incipient Elect of God.

ISRAEL—The chosen but not the Elect of God.

Provocatively, the “Seven Churches of Asia“, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, are all north of old Israel and Amos’s list of Gentile nations, indicating that judgment will come from the north upon our old man Israel and Judah in the south. (Isa 41:25. Jer 1:14. 4:6. 6:1. 6:22. 13:20. 46:20. Eze 1:4. Dan 11:24).

Intriguingly, Amos’s eight ethnic groups fit into God’s plan for the salvation of humanity. The first six represent the man of flesh, and the last two, Judah and Israel, illustrate Gentile Flesh by portraying in spiritual order Judah, the Temple and Priests on the Sabbath Day and the number seven, and Israel characterising the Court, the last man of perdition of the Seven but is the Eighth. Through the Seventh and Eighth Old Man, Christ is making the two, being the house of Israel, ONE New Man in him.

Eze 3:7  But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
Eze 3:8  Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads.
Eze 3:9  As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

The Lord’s Elect have been given to likewise have flinty faces against our formally impudent ways within and to not be dismayed at the inevitable hatred of our fleshy households who are yet blind (Mat 10:34-39).

Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [Nations within and depicted by Amos’s Seven Nations], on which the woman [The Great Whore – you and I] sitteth.

Where the Whore sits is you and I, who is of the Eighth nation, the self-righteous man with the spirit of a different Jesus first physically represented as one in Judah (Jew) and Israel (Gentile). 

Rev 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
Rev 17:11  And the beast [You and I] that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition [meaning to be destroyed].

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

Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, [Jew and Gentile made on spiritual man in Christ] so making peace;
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

Following is a close quote from Mike Vinson. And since we are all, as “one” in Christ, heartily agree and speak the same thing:

“The positive application of the number ‘8’ is the new man who is resurrected on the 8th day, which happens to be the first day of the week when Christ was resurrected. If our names are written in the Book of Life, we will understand how it is possible for us to “ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition, and through that experience of evil (Ecc 1:13), go on to become “the eighth… the new man”, made into the very image of Christ. All things are ours, including being that man of perdition who goes ahead of our Gentile Brothers and is raised on our eighth day. The rest of humanity gets raised on their eighth day at the end of the GWTJ. The word ‘eighth’ has both a positive and a negative application.”[He] who knew no sin [said] why to call ye me good, there is none good but God” (2Co 5:21 and Mat 19:17).

The scriptures tell us:

2 Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [Greek, will let], until he be taken out of the way. 
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:

That wicked be[ing] revealed” is “the man of sin be[ing] revealed [as] the son of perdition,” as verse three makes very clear:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

“That man of sin” is “the eight [which] is of the seven and goes into perdition” in the negative application of this word, ‘eighth’. The Elect do not escape being the man of perdition; we ARE OF THE EIGHT. We are part of the 7, the whole of mankind who goes into perdition and results in coming out the other end as the eighth. The negative application of the word ‘eighth’ is that we are decaying flesh, and thus we have this treasure in earthen vessels, in earnest, and our Lord Himself, “who knew no sin”, said, “Why call ye me good, there is none good but one, that is God” makes that point. Rev 17:11  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Christ was in human form as a beast. In that form, He was the negative application of “the eighth”. His flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of God any more than our’s can, and while His flesh did not see corruption, it was “changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from flesh to spirit, with the ability to pass from one realm to the other at will. That is the positive application of “the eighth… the new man” who will not go into perdition while “the eight [which] is of the seven… goes into perdition” because “there is none good but one, that is God”. 

Remember that even around the throne of God, we are still called ‘seraphim’, serpents (Isa 6:2), and ‘beasts’ in the positive application of those words. The negative ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ goes into perdition, while the positive ‘eighth’ ‘beast’ becomes the new man in “the redemption of the purchased possession”. (Eph 1:14) The ‘dark as night “to them”, and “light by night day to these” nature of the Word of God:

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

The Elect of God is first granted a profound spiritual awakening, that can be referred to as their “earthquake,” that dramatically causes them to realise that they are given to go ahead of their brothers to learn righteousness, just as Christ did for them. Consequently, the Elect are first to perceive themselves as the man of perdition, who escapes from Babylon and is presented to Christ as His Bride immediately before the Seventh Day, which is represented as the One Thousand-Year reign with the rod of iron. This divine understanding is part of their magnificent and powerful “earthquake” of glorious truth.

Eph 1:9  And He has made known to us [in order of his very Elect] the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
Eph 1:10  as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.
Eph 1:11  In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
Eph 1:12  in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. 
Eph 1:13  And in Him, having heard and believed the word of truth—the gospel of your salvation—you were sealed with the promised holy spirit, 
Eph 1:14  who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

Significations

Judgment on Israel’s Neighbors

Amo 1:2  And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 

For the Israelites, through unbelief their initially unseen ‘earthquake’ comes in the form and outward reality of Amos and his compatriot prophets prophesying Israel and Judah’s sequential exile into slavery; unwittingly, their slave masters are already enslaved to their heathen ways. Interestingly, the first six prophecies of Amos identify with her neighbours, deemed Gentiles outside of the Camp of Israel, whose heathen ways spiritually align with ours in our journey to becoming the New Adam in Christ.

In scriptural terms, there are only two groups of people, and those two groups are Jews and Gentiles. In their own order of utter demolition, and later spiritually beginning at the Temple of God, symbolised by Judah, the Lord spiritually roars from Zion with his voice from the heavenly Jerusalem in the form of a vessel-shattering ‘earthquake’ of spiritual understanding. The “shepherds’ of Judah represent the Priests of God, his Bride, today. Descending in the order of ruination is Israel, represented by the Court. Because of Israel’s God-given harlot ways, she is included with the Gentiles. Hence, there are only two groups of people. Physical Judah is last to be exiled and the new spiritual Jews, the Elect become the first.

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Rev 11:2  But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city [The Priests; the Two Witnesses: the Bride’s ministery] shall they tread under foot forty and two months [or 3.5 years; “forty and two months” – Rev 22:3]

The phrase “For three transgressions of…, and for four” in Amos 2 refers to the judgment that extends on the six nations from Damascus to Moab and into the seventh of Judah and Israel. The six nations highlight the sins of neighbouring Gentile nations outside the Camp of Israel, yet our Lord sees them as being equal with Israel, inwardly reflecting the Elect’s failings. The Lord will not withhold His punishment from us due to these unique yet relatable sins manifested by these six ethnic groups. Both groups of Jews and Gentiles experience one event for the same symbolised timeframe of “forty and two months” chastisement since every man is but a “beast” (Ecc 3:18. Joh 8:44. Rev 13:14. 2Pe 2:12-15) who speaks great swelling doctrines of blasphemies. It all mirrors Joseph identifying Pharoah’s dreams as ‘one event to all’ (Gen 41:25-26).

Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him [The Beast, sitting on God’s throne] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

Regarding Amos’s “For three transgressions of…, and for four” statements:

The number 3 represents the process of spiritual progression for the completion of judgment regarding that thing. 

The number 4 represents the whole of a thing and tribulation. It doesn’t matter if it is 4 or 4,000.

Adding up to 7 represents the completion of that process through judgment and is the primary message of Amos judging the Seven, the Priests of God, with all things being theirs (1Co3:21-23).

Jer 29:7  And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
Jer 29:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed.
Jer 29:9  For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Therefore, the first six characteristics of Israel’s neighbours are inherently worldly and will remain so, reflecting their fate in the Lake of Fire along with Gentile Israel and Christians who say that they are spiritual Jews and are not. In that place, they will mourn bitterly for a designated time culminating in their earthquake of understanding most gloriously and ecstatic peace for the love of the Father.

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares [All not in the first holy resurrection, Christ’s Bride] are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world [ultimately in the Lake of Fire. However, the Elect are first to go through the fire, but it is not THE Lake of Fire]. 
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his Kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

It is deemed that everyone ever conceived will become righteous and shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. It is just that the very Elect of God is first to experience God’s earthquake of his fiery word and live by his every commandment.

Let us begin to study our disappearing sinful nature as we learn from our timely experiences; we were and sometimes still are equal to our neighbour’s earthy sensualities, stubbornly resisting Christ and thus quenching his spirit.

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18  In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you [for  the evil experiences that teach us to juxtapose with Christ’s spirit].
1Th 5:19  Quench not the spirit.
1Th 5:20  Despise not prophesyings.
1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
1Th 5:22  Abstain from all appearance of evil.
1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amo 1:3  Thus saith the LORD; [ONE] For three transgressions of DAMASCUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 
Amo 1:4  But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. 
Amo 1:5  I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 

Remembering that ‘all things are ours’ and beginning with the nature of the people of Damascus, inclusive of the characteristics of the other five to be studied, is the progression and completion of physical judgment flowing into total tribulation perfectly parallels our spiritual earthquake and the journey, which is hopefully soon coming to a close for our redemption.

Damascus is a city in Syria, and it has historically instilled a deep sense of iron-like fear in Israel. It is represented as Gilead’s threshing because Israel never conquered that nation as the Lord required. Nevertheless, in 2 Samuel 8:6, the Syrians within the spiritual Elect are depicted as vanquished, leading to the Syrian’s servitude for our spiritual growth.

2Sa 8:5  And when the Syrians of Damascus came to succour Hadadezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men.
2Sa 8:6  Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus: and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought gifts. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

Mic 7:12  In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
Mic 7:13  Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate [mirroring our former spiritual deslolation] because of them that [we previously!]  dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 
Mic 7:14  Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

What a profound insight this is! It is first understood by the budding Elect through the ‘rod’ of Christ’s teachings and then by those whom Christ has designated to shepherd his people with the guidance of his word. This is especially true for the Gentiles during the One Thousand Year reign when they experience this bewildering frustration without the holy spirit. Later, in the Lake of Fire, they will increasingly receive this chastising guidance with the increasing holy spirit.

The key names and their meaning in verses three to five:

Gilead H1567 means  – ‘a witness heap’, and our sins likewise witness against us.

Hazael H2371 means  – ‘one who sees’.

Benhadad H1130 means  – ‘son of [the false god] Hadad.’

Aven H206 means – ‘vanity’.

Eden H5731 means – ‘pleasure. Luxury, dainty, delight, finery’.

Kir H7024 means – ‘wall. To dig’.

Thereupon, Amos’s prophesy is a ‘witness heap’ against two groups of people: the Gentile neighbours and the Priests of God, parallelling Israel and Judah and, spiritually, the entire Gentile world inclusive of Gentile Christianity and the Elect. The times of Gentile rulership are nearing the end, at which point Christ and his Christs will begin to rule in the One Thousand Year reign with the rod of iron (Luke 21:20-24).

The narrative derived from those names spiritually means that our former ways, aligned with Egypt, Syria, Sodom Old Jerusalem, and collectively represented by Babylon, are a ‘witness heap’ between us and ‘God who sees’ our every thought and action ‘vainly’ worshipping a ‘another Jesus’ while ‘luxuriating in our epicurean ways’,’ living high on the hog behind impenetrable ‘walls’ of self-righteousness, thinking no force can assail us. We dig our own wells to drink our doctrines that sensually delight us more than our new beginnings of small things of understanding symbolised as our Lord’s light bread (Zec 4:10. Num 21:5).

It is the Priests of God who hold his sceptre from ruling righteously in the house of Eden in that they do not swiftly bring justice first to themselves for Israel to mirror. When the foundation, the core of the nation represented by the corrupt Priests, is irretrievable, there is nothing left for the Lord to do but to chastise them in captivity.

Jer 2:18  And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
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 a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

Joh 9:39  And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

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?

1Co 5:12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
1Co 5:13  But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person [who is you and I, and not some other poor, blind, hapless sinner].

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? [first within?].

Amo 1:6  Thus saith the LORD; [TWO] For three transgressions of GAZA, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: 
Amo 1:7  But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof: 
Amo 1:8  And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord GOD. 

It is noteworthy that the holy spirit inspired Amos to say “the whole captivity” only twice and nowhere else in the Bible: once for Gaza and once for Tyrus.

Remember that Gaza was the land of the Philistines. During the reign of wicked King Jehoram, the son of King Jehoshaphat, who reigned following his father’s death (2Ch 21), the Edomites (Esau) who were under the dominion of Judah in those days. Because the Edomites revolted against Judah, Jehoram went and slew many of them. Additionally, Jehoram caused Israel to typically go a whoring and commit fornication and compelled Judah to do likewise. In retribution, the Lord caused the Edomites to collaborate with the Arabians to strike against Judah. Scripture recounts…

2Ch 21:17  And they [Edomites] came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

That act of carrying away “all the substance of the substance of the King’s house” to Edom is the very act of taking them all captive, as expressed in Amos 1:6. On that account, the Lord sends a “fire of infamy” upon the wall and strength of those wicked nations within us and devours our high places and tears up the roots of evil worship and take ‘the whole into captivity’. The outcome is the complete destruction of our self-proclaimed leadership for the ‘remnant’ of Philistinean doctrinal intellectualism within. That glorious annihilation of our old man is a gift of chastising grace from God.

Eph 4:7  But to every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Eph 4:8  Therefore He says, “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”

As with Gaza, similarly is the exact same destruction of Tyrus within for delivering up the whole captivity to Edom, and additionally for a broken covenant.

Amo 1:9  Thus saith the LORD; [THREE] For three transgressions of TYRUS, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant: 
Amo 1:10  But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof. 

What is that “brotherly covenant” that we deem an easy dismissal and of little consequence?

Remember that all six neighbouring heathen-gentile nations of Damascus, Gaza, Tyrus, Edom, Ammon and Moab are one and the same, yet pointedly reflecting upon Edom, who directly represents Jacob’s brother, Esau and Mt Seir. Consequently, it is Jacob’s typically scheming, supplanting ways represented by Israel and Judah who attracted Esau’s hatred and forgetfulness of the peace treaty between him and Jacob for Jacob’s past deceptions over Esau’s birthright and blessings. Consequently, those six nations were always antagonistic towards Israel, representing Esau’s forgetfulness of their ‘brotherly covenant’ of peace (Gen 33).

The following scriptures in Ezekiel 35 portray that saga of our Lord’s wrath against our old Esau within.

Eze 35:1  And the Word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
Eze 35:2  Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir [Esau] and prophesy against it.
Eze 35:3  And say to it, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a ruin and a waste. 
Eze 35:4  I will raze your cities, and you shall be ruined, and you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:5  Because you have had a never-ending hatred, and have shed the blood of the sons of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that iniquity had an end,

In other words, Jacob, who represents Israel, had received forgiveness from God. However, Esau continued to hold onto resentment and vengeance against him. This situation mirrors how we often struggle to let go of our past sins or harbour bitterness towards our Babylonian wives, preventing us from moving forward in Christ’s loving correction. We must remember that we, too, are often guilty of sin against Christ, just as our Babylonian wives may be seen as intimately indifferent offenders towards us.

Eze 35:6  Therefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: sith thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue thee.

That verse is similar to the sword never departing from David’s house and ours, spiritually, until all remnants of our heathen neighbours within are made desolate.

Eze 35:7  So I will make Mount Seir [Esau] a ruin, and cut off from it the one passing through, and the one returning.
Eze 35:8  And I will fill his mountains with his dead. In your hills, and your valleys, and all your rivers, those slain with the sword shall fall in them.
Eze 35:9  I will make you ruins forever, and thy cities shall not return. And you shall know that I am Jehovah.
Eze 35:10  Because you have said, These two nations and these two lands shall be mine, we will possess it [the Heavenly Jerusalem above and within]; 
Eze 35:11  therefore, as I live, says the Lord Jehovah, I will act by your anger and by your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you.
Eze 35:12  And you shall know that I am Jehovah. I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, Desolation! They are given to us [The Elect] for food.
Eze 35:13  So with your mouth you have boasted against Me, and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them.
Eze 35:14  So says the Lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a ruin.
Eze 35:15  As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because of desolation, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir and all Idumea, even all of it. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

Consequently, we forget our ‘brotherly covenant’ Christ has made with us and despise our birthright when we don’t desolate those six nations within. If we don’t forgive for the duration of our unforgiveness, our Lord likewise holds back from forgiving us.

Col 3:13  forbearing one another and forgiving yourselves, if anyone has a complaint against any. As Christ forgave you, so also you do.

Jas 2:13  For he who has shown no mercy shall have judgment without mercy, and mercy exults over judgment.

Amo 1:11  Thus saith the LORD; [FOUR] For three transgressions of EDOM and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother [Esau] with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever: 
Amo 1:12  But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 

The fourth transgression against Edom has been covered, but its second mention is a second witness for the Lord’s assurance of not turning away his punishment. Teman represents the grandson of Esau and directly corresponds to the Lord’s curse against the third and fourth generations of sinners. Bozrah means “sheepfold or fortress” and conforms with our Esau-like stubbornness in sustaining our righteousness of self-proclaimed false doctrines when in Babylonian churches.

Exo 34:6  And the LORD passed by before him [Moses], and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
Exo 34:7  Keeping [Chastising] mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 

That revisiting of chastising punishment is carried forward in all eight listed nations to pointedly indict the seventh, Judah, the priests of God, the Elect first for judgment before her sister, Israel, who is subsequently judged in the Lake of Fire on the eighth day.

The next nation for judgment is Ammon, kin to Edom and Moab, yet with a variation of sin that transcribes to us spiritually. Amos says,

Amo 1:13  Thus saith the LORD; [FIVE] For three transgressions of the children of AMMON, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border: 
Amo 1:14  But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind: 
Amo 1:15  And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD. 

We are somewhat dismayed as to why our Lord designed Satan to incite mankind to treat his fellow man with such unspeakable violence. Of course, such barbarism without the holy spirit reflects our true nature of being a beast in our unfinished transition to being recreated as God. Our innate way of endless war, treachery and brutality is designed to etch our minds appallingly to contrast God’s nature. Of course, those beastly ways are to mirror how we, with Christ’s power and might, are to war against the Beast we are and recoil from our image.

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

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

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? 

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: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;

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Ammon’s ripping up Israel’s pregnant women is an image too horrible to contemplate. Nonetheless, and for our benefit, all the natural and spiritual belong to us as food for transitional growth (Num 14:9, negatively and positively). We save nothing alive in cleansing our land within, and particularly the cuteness of pet sins symbolised as unborn false doctrines growing in pretty pregnant women as churches, ready for Satan to devour and sustain his nature in us, all seemingly paradoxical to non-spiritual eyes. The city of Rabbah means ‘great’, and was the capital city of the Ammonites. and reflects our self-styled headship as the Beast sitting on God’s throne. And of course, as with the other eight nations and cities, we go into captivity for sins unacknowledged (Jer 2:13).

Jer 3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
Jer 3:14  Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
Jer 3:15  And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Amo 2:1  Thus saith the LORD; [SIX] For three transgressions of MOAB, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: 
Amo 2:2  But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth: and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet: 
Amo 2:3  And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the LORD. 

Again, Moab is in lockstep with Esau and typifies the Christian churches of this world who all cannot agree on doctrine and thus fight disputes of doctrine within their very own kin, only this time they burned the bones of the King of Edom, their near kin, into lime. That exaggerated expression of utterly burning the King into lime, being a vital product for hardening mortar in the construction of a city’s walls and palaces, characterises our hardened hearts against Christ’s word as we build our temple inwardly where we sit as the Beast on our Lord’s throne profoundly, yet mostly unconsciously presenting ourselves as king! That astonishing measure is represented in 2 Thessalonians,

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [who is You and I upon the earthquake realisation];
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The city of Kerioth is a town in the southern district of Judah, and its location potently points to our Esau-like nature residing in the heart of us and our supposed priesthood represented as treacherous Judah, ruling the laity and fleecing the wealth of Israel into their captivity and destruction. Kerioth and Moab within die with much noisome anguish turned into joy for its chastisement in the hope of the last trumpet for our resurrection to life in and with our husband, Christ. Consequently, and as Amos concludes in 2 verse 3, our order of judgment in this age is cut short in our midst, having had our “princes” of rulership destroyed within.

With our judgment cut short, our sisters in Babylon are immediately ruled by the Lord’s Elect with Christ’s rod of iron in the One Thousand Year Rule. They are utterly frustrated that they cannot consistently keep Christ’s commands since the holy spirit is quenched thus confounding the whole measure and stay of His word.

Isa 3:1  For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water,
Isa 3:2  the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
Isa 3:3  the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the adviser, and the skilled worker, and the expert charmer.

Until that time and in the interim, it is all happening daily before our eyes with juvenile leadership by men claiming to be leaders but injured in their privy members and stones, effectively making them women. To add insult to our Lord’s headship, women literally are our leaders in high courts and government, and worse, as priests in the Babylonian churches of the world.

Deu 23:1  He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD [Spiritually, such a man and priest, cannot lead the Lord’s flock. Being neutered, he gains female qualities of gentleness and makes judgments based mostly on emotions rather than the seemingly harshness of God’s word].
Deu 23:2  A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
Deu 23:3  An Ammonite or Moabite [like nature, just studied] shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to their tenth generation shall they not enter into the congregation of the LORD for ever:
Deu 23:4  Because they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt; and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee.

Isa 3:4  And I will give young boys to be their rulers, and caprices shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the boy shall act proudly against the old man, and the low against the honorable.
Isa 3:6  When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand; [Ironically, at least some in Babylon can see that their disarray of 40,000+ churches preaching another Jesus disquiets their consciences and seeing it all as a “ruin”].
Isa 3:7  in that day [and most pointedly soon in the rule with the rod of iron] he shall swear, saying, I will not be a healer; there is no bread nor a cloak in my house. You shall not make me a ruler of the people.
Isa 3:8  For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah has fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory.
Isa 3:9  The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves.
Isa 3:10  Say to the righteous that it is well; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 3:11  Woe to the wicked! For the evil doing of his hand will be done to him.
Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their taskmasters, and women rule over them. Oh my people, your rulers cause you to go astray and destroy the way of your paths.
Isa 3:13  Jehovah stands up to plead His case, and stands up to judge the people.
Isa 3:14  Jehovah will enter into judgment with [upon] the elders of His people, and their kings; for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Isa 3:15  What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts [vividly happening today in the churches of the world and government].
Isa 3:16  And Jehovah says, Because the daughters [churches] of Zion are proud, and have walked with stretched out necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
Isa 3:17  therefore Jehovah will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will make their secret parts naked.
Isa 3:18  In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of ankle-bracelets, and the headbands, and the crescents,
Isa 3:19  the pendants, and the bracelets, and the veils;
Isa 3:20  the headdresses, and the leg ornaments, and the sashes, and the houses of the soul, and the amulets;
Isa 3:21  the rings and nose jewels;
Isa 3:22  the festal apparel and the outer garments; and the mantles, and the purses;
Isa 3:23  the mirrors and the fine linen; and the turbans and the veils.
Isa 3:24  And it shall be, instead of sweet smell, there shall be an odor of decay; and instead of a sash, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a wrapping of sackcloth; burning instead of beauty.
Isa 3:25  Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war.
Isa 3:26  And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall sit deserted on the ground.

Those verses graphically depict the destruction of the first six nations of our neighbours studied, with whom we have been in lockstep, in preference repudiating Christ’s commands.

In our upcoming study, with the Lord’s guidance, Christ amplifies the alarm and unrest among His people, Judah. Judah symbolises the Elect of God, moving ahead of her elder sister, Israel, to face a greater judgment. This is because Judah was expected to lead with righteousness but instead abused her esteemed position out of lust for power thus establishing pride.

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Accordingly, for those chastisements, the Elect of God is learning to receive them most heartily since we know that they bring forth a ravishing connection with our husband, Christ, and he for us.