Who Are the Poor?

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Hi G____,

Thank you for these great questions about the word poor G4434.
The poor is all mankind. All flesh including Christ’s is poor, sinful, Adamic flesh which has a law of sin working in it (Rom 8:3, Rom 7:23). What resides in all flesh is all the sin that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1Jn 2:16).

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.

So Christ goes on to say the poor you always have with you (Mat 26:11), and yes that is true as long as we are in corruptible flesh. We’re poor simply because we are all at the complete mercy of God continually for everything we have both physically and spiritually, and when we don’t see this, then Christ describes our condition as being in a deluded spiritual state (Rev 3:17-19). The end result of God’s chastening grace is that we go from not seeing our wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked condition to being clothed with His righteousness.

Mat 26:11 For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.
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 (G4434), 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.

The spirit world must be purified as well in the same fire as we see in these verses (Rev 19:20, 20:10), telling us that they are poor in spirit as well as in need of being brought to that same place where they give an account of their condition to God. Satan is an unwillingly spirit being thrown into the fire (sounds familiar as we all must be thrown into the fire oft times as this scripture shows (Mar 9:22; Mat 4:4). This is the same fire that we must go through in order to be purged, cleansed and purified, and this happens to every son and daughter that He receives (Heb 12:6).

Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
Mar 9:22 And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
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.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

We know that God gave not Christ the spirit by measure (Joh 3:34), and yet He was not perfected in His flesh but went on to perfection on the third day (Luk 13:32). The spirit of any man (including Christ) always wars against the spirit of God (Gal 5:17), the outcome of that dying daily (1Co 15:31) war is dependent upon what God has written in each of our books which are in His hands. In Christ’s case, it was determined from the foundation of the world that He would be a spotless savior who knew no sin yet was in sinful flesh, again in (Rom 8:3). God determined that Christ would fulfill all His perfect will, to be a perfect sacrifice and savior for the sins of all of the world. Christ of course was just that valuable.

Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
Luk 13:32 And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.
Psa 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
Psa 40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
Heb 10:7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

We learned tonight from Steve Crook’s study that the word ‘beggar’ in Luk 16:20 and 22 as referring to Lazarus is the same word translated ‘poor’ G4434. It is the same word used in Gal 4:9 for the ‘beggarly’ elements as well.

Luk 16:20 And there was a certain beggar (G4434) named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
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 (4434) elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

The (poor G4434) are those who have need (all of us). Some see that need and others don’t, depending on whether our Father has given us the ability to see our true condition at any given point. When we are in the flesh, we are constantly in need for every breath that we take in, and this flesh is a death realm which is never going to be satisfied, and not able to enter to the Kingdom of God, as we know. Sometimes my asthma creeps up on me, and I’m reminded very intimately that the very breath I breath is a gift of God just as all things are.
I think in both questions you’ve asked we can establish who the poor (G4434) in scripture represent by looking at the sum of His word.
In the book of James we read; Jas 2:5 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor (G4434) of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
So to answer your first question, Christ is telling this rich young ruler to give His possessions to the poor (G4434). Christ tells us that a man’s life does not consist of the abundance of his riches (Luk 12:15), so the riches that Christ is speaking about that this man possesses are the many years of gathering gold and silver in Babylon which, if God will grant Him, can be purified by trials and given and shared with the body of Christ. God’s gold and silver that we gather in the churches of this world are always initially interpreted incorrectly as we wrap them around the idols of our unknowingly poor/ beggarly/ elements (G4434) hearts.

Luk 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

When God counsels the church to go and buy gold tried in fire (Rev 3:18), He is saying the exact same thing to this rich young ruler. Whether we are granted to be dragged to the only fire that can purify the idols of our hearts is entirely up to God (Joh 6:44), and when we don’t see ourselves as the poor (G4434) of the world, then we will not be crying out to God because we will think that we have sufficiency, which again is the condition which gets the Laodicean within us in trouble (Rev 3:17, Joh 9:41).

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.
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
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 (G4434), and blind, and naked:
Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Judas was not faithful, and yet he proclaims what sounds like a very noble suggestion that this ointment should have been given to the poor. That was a great idea, seeing we know that the poor represents all mankind. Judas however does not see the need to do good unto all men, and especially unto them of the household of faith (Gal 6:10), and Christ is of course the Head of this household. Judas is being a corrupt politician with the things of the earth, and scripture goes on to expose him by saying that he really didn’t care about the poor and was just saying this to sound like he cared.

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

We are not Judas by the grace of God, or Lot’s wife for that matter, but Christ still tells us to remember her, so that we never forget that our willingness to anoint the feet of Christ and do anything that is considered treasure laid up in heaven is Christ doing this within us. We have to be convinced that we are Judas before we are sacrificial as this woman became, and we are Lot’s wife before we become Lot, and we are both Lazarus and the rich man.
I believe the Lord’s timing is perfect in all that He does, in your question, and in the study that I happened to listen in on tonight which gave me some additional insight on how
The study is posted in writing at
http:// www. iswasandwillbe. com/ StudyNotes/ Awesome_ Hands/ Awesome_ Hands_ P3. php
We love you. I hope this answers your questions. Please let me know if any of this does not make sense.
Your brother in the Christ,
Tony
[ Comments or questions can be directed to Tony at anthocul (at) gmail. com]

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