Continuing: today, further discussion of the number 22 and its meaning as part of the divine engineering, which makes apparent the confused condition, the fallen state of humanity, and in this revelation (apocalypse) comes recognition of the need to alter and order its foundational principles. Isaiah 22 begins speaking of this vision, the God given experience with His annunciation of it before it being seen and while it occurs, again, so we will understand it isn’t some random act we are left to figure out on our own, but rather so we will understand He is with us to shepherd us through this valley of death’s shadow and again into green pastures and still waters (recreation into New Jerusalem’s peace).
Isaiah 22
1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops?
2 You that are full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in you are bound together, which have fled from far.
The above first portion of the chapter tells of the agitation, of what should be a city filled with joy. In recent posts, we’ve discussed this type agitation being what is alluded to when the word “tempest” appears in Matthew 8:24 rendered from the Greek word seismos in the original text. Seismos means agitation, and there in context it is defining the underlying cause of the agitation (the confused and thereby shaken mind – as in kosmos seisms (translated as, world or adorn, and earthquake or tempest) shaking the culture, or shaking the things that presently adorn the surface of the earth; earth-quake or world-quake).
The wind and the waves are the result of a mind confused and then unwilling to think differently, and without the faith that should come from knowing the LORD is with us; knowing nothing is going to happen to us as long as we calm ourselves and think rationally (allow our thoughts to be properly ordered apart from the moment). These are also the arrows of the enemy, meant to bind man in his chaotic thoughts and into inaction.
These arrows are those that have caused our rulers to flee, and which bind them in place unable to move. They are paralyzed with fear of what will be said about them, or losing their positions (a fear of no longer being able to live from “selling” what they have been), and are therefore usable (more unwilling) to move when the Spirit moves.
4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labor not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
5 For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity by the LORD God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
6 And Elam bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 And it shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate.
8 And he discovered the covering of Judah, and you did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest.
9 You have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10 And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall.
11 You made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but you have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.
12 And in that day did the LORD God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
14 And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, says the LORD God of hosts.
15 Thus says the LORD God of hosts, Go, get you unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna, which is over the house, and say,
16 What have you here? and whom have you here, that you have hewed you out a sepulcher here, as he that hews him out a sepulcher on high, and that graves an habitation for himself in a rock?
17 Behold, the LORD will carry you away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover you.
18 He will surely violently turn and toss you like a ball into a large country: there shall you die, and there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of your LORD’s house.
19 And I will drive you from your station, and from your state shall he pull you down.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah:
21 And I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.
These later verses first tell of the hopelessness that arises out of confusion, thinking there is no way out, having exhausted all mental resources and remaining in the same state of mental agitation (without peace in mind). This is what we read in verse 13 when it says, “let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.” It tells of those in just such a confused and agitated state, declined into the final stage of self-destructive behavior.
This is the place where we must rebuild rather than allow this corrupted thinking to have its ways. It is the point we must by choice, and using our intellect, which by design had been warring in our mind against the corrupted ideas that have invade. This is the time to die to the old and let the new ideas (old re-cognized) revive to life. This is what is being explained by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, when he quotes this part of Isaiah 22:13, and I now repeat. He is speaking of corrupted thinking, and of mind polluted with ideas that cause the mind to war against itself and to degenerate into a constant state of agitation. Dying to this corruption, defeating mortality and the death it produces, are the victory spoken of in these chapters. I die daily.
1 Corinthians 15
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit [bringing the dead to this new uncorrupted state of mind and life].
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.
Isaiah 22 ends telling of this as if we have (humanity has) hung all our existence, our interaction with others directed by our now degenerate thinking, on a nail in the wall of our time. The sure nail then replacing it is said to be under the leadership of David; this speaking of the idea of unification under the better ideas God has chosen, not with man’s thinking or eyes, but rather knowing it is life and health to those who find it.
The idea of what you “eat” and “drink” being what either destroys or creates is agains seen in the product, the fruit. The would ridicules and demonizes those who have renewed their mind and strive to become more like Christ, while those of us who have actually committed to it and live it show to the same world the peace we have, that exceeds all their ability to comprehend it. We know the world is the kosmos, meaning the thing that adorn it, meaning the degenerate culture permeating our time. This again is what the LORD speaks through Isaiah in chapter 8 when He tell of, “I and the children who God has given me, are for signs and wonders,” in this world. And it asks, shouldn’t a people who only know the ideas that constantly agitate the mind and produce as death spiral, look to the living God for the answer to their disease? The passage then tells of those being told the way choosing to instead remain in darkness, and curse God and their king (as David, trying to unit them again with the LORD’s mind, and away from this former confederacy with death and its corrupted ideas).
Isaiah 8
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits [the corrupted ideas of the culture], and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? [Does it make any sense to look] for the living [and life] to the dead?
20 [Shouldn’t we be looking] To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light [or life] in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
Daniel 1 tell of Daniel and His three friend (they as the signs in their time, which the culture wonders at, unable to comprehend what made them different), and these men asking to be fed with what is called “pulse.” Pulse if from the Hebrew word zeroa’, meaning something sown. The context is speaking of an experiment wherein these men would consume the good seed, which had been sow into them as children of God, and after ten days their condition would be compared to that of the population feeding on corruption. The Children of God are the good seed. (Inevitably in our time there will be those who reject the evidence seen when comparing their degenerate thinking to that of those of truly sound minds. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall drive themselves to darkness, because their deeds are evil).
Isaiah 9
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
Daniel 1
12 Prove your servants, I beseech you, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
13 Then let our countenances be looked upon before you, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as you see, deal with your servants.
14 So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days.
15 And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king’s meat.
16 Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave them pulse.
17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.
1 John 3
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.
4 Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
5 And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
6 Whosoever abides in him sins not: whosoever sins has not seen him, neither known him.
7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death.
15 Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso has this world’s good [these living waters], and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
24 And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.
