Continuing with the topic of judgment beginning at the house of the LORD, and this being correction that brings us back to a pure state. To begin we must understand the house isn’t the building or the establishment. Both the Hebrew and Greek words translated house are words meaning family, and the contextual connection is they are something built from a common foundation. The correction of the house, the family, is to bring it back to its original form (foundation/Father).
As we have been exploring, this pure state tends to degrade to where it is without any original form, and void of understanding what was intended by the builders/fathers. In past studies we have seen this as the state we’re told of in Genesis 1 where it says the earth became (hayah) without form, and void. This is followed by the correcting Light coming as light into this darkness, and the spirit of God moving upon the waters (baptism by His counsel).
We have seen how the Hebrew phrase tohuw bohuw, translated in Genesis 1:2 as “without form, and void,” only appears three times, with the other two describing the confused and chaotic state brought about by Godless counsel. In Jeremiah 4:23 it is the phrase translated exactly as in Genesis. Here are the two verses followed by the fuller context from Jeremiah 4. ” Genesis 1:2 And the earth was [hayah – became] 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.” “Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.”
Jeremiah 4 begins telling of the effects of this falling away into decay. In verse 9 we are told of the resulting loss of heart (the foundation of right reason) among the princes and kings (those ruling over us), and that the priest shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. It is telling of total decay.
The Hebrew word translated “astonished” is shamem, meaning devastate or stupefy. This is total devolution of state, as in the mind fully unable to reason. The word translated as “wonder” is tamahh, meaning to be in consternation: surprised and disappointed, and this causing confusion.
These are what causes the earth to become void and without form.
Jeremiah 4
1 If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return unto me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove.
2 And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defensed cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, LORD God! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from mount Ephraim.
16 Make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.
18 Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are ignorant children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
30 And when you art spoiled, what will you do? Though you cloth yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make thyself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.
The chapter ends with telling of knowing the condition, but the corrupted leaders look to the same origin of the troubles as if they are capable of bringing forth anything but death. There is a child needs to be born, but it isn’t the way these same liars have to told it would be, or from where they say it would come.
All of the above is what has been here many times stated and restated. It has also many times been defined as the great paradox of our time: the world and the house looking to the same people causing the problem expecting them to be capable and competent enough to produce and implement the solution. The world they have created doesn’t make it through this. There is a new day dawning and therein is the light that makes all things new.
The other place tohuw bohuw are written together is in Isaiah 34:11, where instead of “without form, and void,” it is translated “the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.” The “line” here is for measuring (the confusion), and the “stones” are building stones (void of value). The passage then goes on to define the nobles and princes (those in positions as rulers) being as if not even there. It also tells of the place of the rulers (palaces) being inhabited by the dragon (death in the waters), and beasts that feed either in the dark, on the dead, or lurk waiting for the prey.
This chapter very plainly tells of the earth in need of a Creator and His light.
Isaiah 34
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [those having sold their birthright for meager morsels], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of repayments for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for My mouth it has commanded, and His Spirit it has gathered them.
17 And He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
The Good News of the new creation/age is then told in the following chapter. We read and understand it beginning with the uncorrupted counsel of the LORD, here in verse 6 described as the [pure] waters breaking out in the wilderness, and as streams in the desert. The verses prior tell us this is the vengeance of the God, and the repayment from Him, that comes as salvation. These are then further defined as opening the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf.
Isaiah 35
1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
3 Strengthen you the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense [repayment]; he will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The best evidence of this referring to the LORD correcting errors is found when verse 3 above is quoted in Hebrews 12:12. We know there it is in the midst of a passage that is very plainly explaining the LORD as a Father correcting us. We also know it is telling of this as our having arrived in New Jerusalem, and of the shaking the removes the old things created by men, so that the things of God can remain as our right foundation.
This cannot be spoken of without reminding all, New Jerusalem and Zion are telling of rule as God intended it over the earth as it is in heaven. It is built on the foundation of equality, and justice, where all men are secure in their life, liberty and property. The corrupted form is to use government/law and manipulation to victimize one group in the name of the salvation of some other, this having now corrupted to its lowest form of none feeling secure or having hope it can ever be achieved. This world under man has failed.
Hebrews 12
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau [Idumea], who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
The correction that begins the new age is what the LORD tells us as he washes the feet of the disciples. The passage begins with telling of His knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand. The LORD then rose up from the supper, gird himself and washed their feet. This is telling us of ALL of our need to have the filth we’ve picked up along the way removed.
This is the baptism Peter tell us of in 1 Peter 3:21, “21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: 22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” In previous posts we have seen the word “conscience” meaning a co-perspective, and therefore the context as our seeing things the same way the LORD sees them (all else is blindness).
Ironically (intentionally) we get the clearest example of this through Peter who here is the one most vehemently resisting it. John 13:8 tells of his objection saying, “Peter said unto him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I wash you not, you have no part with me.'” The translators of the text ignored and left out the most important part of his answer, because they didn’t understand it. Here is how Young’s Literal Translation renders the same verse, ” Peter said to him, `You may not wash my feet — to the age.’ Jesus answered him, `If I may not wash you, you have no part with me;'”
The words translated “to the age” are the Greek words, eis ton aion, meaning, into the age. The words used are telling of this being what brings us into the new (renewed) age. This is what the LORD girded Himself for and then passed on to his friends in the upper room. The word translated in John 13 as “gird” and “girded” is the word daizonnumi. It is from the words dai, meaning the channel which something comes through, and zonnumi, literally meaning to bind about, with the deeper root meaning as being yoked or bound together in an agreement, or the means of what does so.
The word zonnumi is only used twice, as “girded” and “gird,” in John 21:18. In John 13 we see the word used in telling of the channel through which comes the girding, and here it is the girding itself. The verse follows in a passage where the LORD has just asked Peter several times if he will feed his sheep. We see verse 18 telling of one that will take Peter where he wouldn’t go himself. This again is referring to his not wanting to go there, and his not thinking it was the way (yoked together with the LORD in his suffering). It is also referring to the discussion from the upper room recorded in John 13.
John 21:18 Truly, Truly, I say unto you, “When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked wherever you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not.”
Think about these in the context of our recent posts.
