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Isa 3:11-15 As For My People, Children Are Their Oppresssors, and Women Rule Over Them

Isa 3:11  Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 
Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 
Isa 3:13  The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 
Isa 3:14  The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 
Isa 3:15  What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

If we want to develop the mind of Christ and His Father, then we need to notice how they think and how they present what they are doing to us. For example, see how the Lord presents Christ Himself to us. Our heavenly Father has given the law of the offerings to us to bring us to see His Son, the sacrifice for our sins, as He sees Him, and in bringing His Son before us He does so by beginning at the end result and then step by step taking us back to our sinful state and the transgressions we commit because of our sinful state into which we are all born.

So without getting into all that is revealed in the law of the offerings, Christ is first presented to us as three sweet savor offerings, beginning with the burnt offering, the spotless, sinless Son of God, dying for us (Leviticus 1). Then we see Christ in us as the meat offering, crushed into "fine flour", being offered up with all the offerings as each of us, offering our own lives as a living sacrifice, being "crucified with Christ... for His body's sake, which is the church" (Gal 2:20 and Col 1:24; Leviticus 2). Next, we see Christ as the peace offering, which is the only offering which satisfies the claims of Christ's Father upon Him, the claims of Christ and His Father upon us, and we upon Christ and His Father. Through Christ all three partake of the peace offering (Leviticus 3). After showing us the good which is produced by our Lord's sacrifice, then we are shown why we need the last two offerings, which are the only offerings which are not sweet savor offerings to our heavenly Father. The fact is that these last two offerings are the ones we first see. We just naturally see ourselves as being what we first are as "the first man Adam" (1Co 15:45-49). The sin offering is offered in recognition of what we first are as marred earthen vessels of clay coming in that composition from the hand of the Potter (Leviticus 4-5). Last of all we are shown Christ in us in recognition of our transgressions and trepasses against our brothers and our own Creator (Leviticus 6-7).

The point is that our heavenly Father sees the finished product first, whereas we see everything in the reverse of how He views things:

Rom 4:17  (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. 

So it is also here in this prophecy of Isaiah. First we are told:

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Then, after telling us the end will be "well" and that we "shall eat the fruit of [our obedience]", we are then warned about the judgment which lies immediately ahead and about the reward we will receive for our wickedness:

Isa 3:11  Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 

As always, we all think, in our spiritually immature hearts at the first part  of our experience with Christ, that these words are being addressed to all those wicked people out there in the world, living very self-centered, Godless lives of lasciviousness, greed and perversion. We all think when we first come to Christ, while we are yet in Babylon, and we are persuaded of ourselves and of our leaders, that our good works prove that this admonition against "the wicked" has nothing to do with us, because we think we are righteous. And that is the very spirit within us which, in the end, cries out "crucify Him", when we learn that He is dead serious about this "love your enemies" doctrine. Our righteousness is self-righteousness, and that is the most insidious and most wicked spirit of all. It is the sin of self-righteousness with which the entire book of Job deals, and Job typifies each of us.

Just look at what glorious thoughts Job had of himself while God was dealing with and burning out this spirit of self-righteousness in Job, as He also does in us:

Job 29:1  Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
Job 29:2  Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me;
Job 29:3  When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
Job 29:4  As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; 
Job 29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; 
Job 29:6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: 
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. 
Job 29:13  The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
Job 29:14  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. 
Job 29:15  I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. 
Job 29:16  I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
Job 29:17  And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. 
Job 29:18  Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
Job 29:19  My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
Job 29:20  My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
Job 29:21  Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
Job 29:22  After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
Job 29:23  And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
Job 29:24  If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
Job 29:25  I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

Look at how Job thought of Himself in these verses:

Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.

The great self-righteous Job, "sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (2th 2:4), is about to pronounce judgment, and all the earth is silent before Him as in:

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.

The message from Job to God here is, 'open your eyes God, can't you see how righteous I am? Can't you see that you have the wrong person to be crushing to powder?' And that self-righteous spirit is the very same spirit that looks down upon us when God is crushing us to powder and we appear as a spectacle before the whole world, before men and angels:

1Co 4:9  For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

Job did not realize it, but the loss of all his possessions, and being stricken with boils from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet, was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was really much closer to God when this was all done, and Job was given a "poor and contrite spirit [which] trembled at [God's] Word". Job, an Old Testament type of you and me, was far better off by enduring his trial, than when his mind was so full of himself, while the Lord was still answering him according to the Babylonian idols of his heart, which was expressed in his own prosperity gospel message:

Job 29:4  As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; 
Job 29:5  When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; 
Job 29:6  When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
Job 29:7  When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Job 29:8  The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
Job 29:9  The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.
Job 29:10  The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
Job 29:11  When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: 
Job 29:12  Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

There it is. Self-righteous Job has entered the room to pronounce his judgment, "and there is silence in heaven for the space of half and hour" (Rev 8:1-2). 

Here is the first Job, our "first man Adam", as he is described for us in the New Testament:

Luk 12:16  And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
Luk 12:17  And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
Luk 12:18  And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods.
Luk 12:19  And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 
Luk 12:20  But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
Luk 12:21  So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.

In this parable we have a foolish rich man, whose riches are in this world and who is well spoken of in this world. But this is the same spirit which is in a very well known woman who is featured throughout scripture:

Pro 30:20  Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

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

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

But God loved Job, and that is why self-righteous Job was being crushed while his self-righteous comforters were not being crushed at that time.

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

The only reason Job was so respected in this world was that he, in that self-righteous state, was very much a part of this world, and he was steeped in the all-inclusive sin of "the pride of life".

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

Job 29 describes to a 'T' who we all are while we are within the harlot daughters of the great harlot. That "great harlot is the 'woman' who rules over us in this verse:

Isa 3:12  As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. 

"They which lead [us] and cause [us] to err [are the] women [which] rule over [us]". This is what we are told about those women:

Rev 17:1  And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 
Rev 17:2  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5  And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6  And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
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 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
Rev 17:9  And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 
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 that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
Rev 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
Rev 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
Rev 17:14  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
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. 

This great harlot and her daughters, the religions of this world, are both the "women" who rule over us, and they are also her children whom Isaiah tells us are to oppress each of us at our own appointed time.

As always when we first read of these judgments, we read them from the perspective of the first Job; the Job who contended with, reproved and condemned his own Creator and his own God for the purpose of making Himself righteous. That first Job is our own self-righteous "first man Adam" (1Co 15:45-49).

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 40:6  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? 

It was while Job (we), was being judged that he (and we) was contending with God and telling God that He had taken away Job's judgment:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;

Elihu, speaking for God (Job 33:6), confirms that Job said God had taken away Job's judgment.

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

It is very foolish for the pot to be telling the Potter that He has made a big mistake by making our first man a brute beast, to be taken and destroyed (2Pe 2:12). It is extremely foolish to tell God, while He is in the very process of judging our old man, that He has made a big mistake and has "taken away [our] judgment".

Nothing could ever be further from the Truth simply because:

Isa 3:13  The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people. 

That is, was and always will be the case. The Lord is not a man who tires of being who He is. He is always standing up to plead with and to judge His people - all the people within us and all the people of this world, each and every one at their own predestined time.

We have all been caught with chocolate all over our faces, looking around to see if anyone is watching before we reach into the cookie jar and take that we have been told to wait for until it is given to us: 

Isa 3:14  The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. 

We will 'spoil Egypt' and 'all things are ours' only if we are willing to give up all these things in this life (Exo 12:36 and 1Co 3:21). This is what we have all done whether we know it or not:

Luk 20:9  Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time.
Luk 20:10  And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. 
Luk 20:11  And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 
Luk 20:12  And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. 
Luk 20:13  Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. 
Luk 20:14  But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 
Luk 20:15  So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? 

When we are living with and believing the doctrines of eternal torment, receiving tithes of the Lord's flock, keeping all the traditions of men which have been adopted by the women who rule over us, and when we keep the doctrines and traditions of the children who oppress us, we are rejecting every servant whom the Lord sends to us to receive good fruit from His own vineyard. Our shameful rejection of Him and His servants is our killing of the Son of our own Creator, and by staying in those false, lying doctrines and rejecting the Lord's true servants, we are killing our Lord and taking His inheritance, His saints, unto ourselves for our own benefit. It is happening every day, and only by the grace of our God will we be granted to appreciate the trials which are so necessary to drag us out of Babylon, just as God dragged Job to himself in type and shadow (Heb 10:1).

The verses we have just read in Luke 20 fulfill to a 'T' this prophecy:

Isa 3:15  What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Who is it that does such heinous, selfish and vicious things? It is us, who by believing in and teaching the doctrines of the great harlot, "beat [the Lord's] people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor". It is when we appropriate the works of Christ as our own, that we are guilty of rejecting the servants who are sent to us by the Lord with His doctrines. But we simply are not given to see who we are without first thinking we are good and righteous of ourselves. We simply cannot see our own self-righteousness until after we have proclaimed it, and have condemned God for the very purpose of proclaiming our own righteousness.

Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. 

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

As long as our old man is alive and kicking against the pricks, we will maintain our own righteousness. But if and when we are made to acknowledge that these prophecies are not for someone else, but they are all for our own admonition, then our heavenly Father is quick to forgive us of all of our abuses of, and our rejecting of, His servants and for the murder of His only Son. Then, and only then, we are given houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, wife, children and lands "an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life".

So we are informed of what will be the last, first:

Isa 3:10  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. 

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.