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Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
 
Friends, today a discussion of the reality of the resurrection we are told of above: when Christ has put down the thoughts and ideas that rule over blind minds, and has in their place raised up His truth, which in our minds rule as God’s kingdom. This is what happened when the disciples remembered what the LORD told them, that after three days He would rise in them, and at Pentecost send His same Spirit to the masses. What they remembered is God is Spirit who dwells in man, Whom the LORD said after His death would be in us as He is in Him. In order and by course, we come to understand this and see it by the experience in us. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
 
He spoke of the same Spirit of God, one and only one God, who was in Moses as Christ, in Him (Jesus) as Christ, who is in us in the same way, leading us into and in His kingdom. But, we can only enter when all the corrupted ideas and teaching that have led us (God’s people at large) away into now standing away from Him (apostasy) and with the dead, have been shown to be misleadings and abandoned. These other kingdoms are “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” These are who we war against, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 2:2 and 6:12)
 
When we are baptized, it is into this same one body; when living in this physical body it is Christ; in death, it is rest until we are raised again into the body God (the one Spirit we are part of as one) has prepared. This is who we were, are, and will forever be. The true body of Christ, the one body, is many made one, on earth as it is in heaven (the other times and places, when we were, are, and will be awakened by the rightly divided word of God quickening us to life by His Spirit: which never sleeps, nor can He/They die.)
 
1 Corinthians 12
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now has God set the members every one of them in the body, as it has pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God has tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked.
25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
 
Friends, all God’s written word and all the righteous work of all those who have come before us have come by those who saw our day, when the Spirit of God would perfect us and raise us all together, AS ONE. These men saw the promise, and by this faith saw the evidence of what was to come, and worked toward it, “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39 & 40)
 
1 Corinthians 10
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [this age] are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands [with God] take heed lest he fall.
13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
 
This “report” (Hebrews 11:39) is the LORD’s commendation of the men approved by God, who through faith please Him as they brought their thoughts and Acts into accord with His promises.
 
Friends, the age of darkness we were once in is ending, and coming is the new age (heaven and earth), into which the quickened have already entered. This is the judgment that comes as a last call (trump) when and where all are awakened by Christ in us preaching to the spirits in prison. These are those who have in the past been disobedient, many of whom will not repent, even now when one has been raised and sent from the dead preaching life.
 
Do you understand this is the reality, and God has put all things under my feet?
 
1 Peter 3
8 Finally, be you all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are thereunto called, that you should inherit a blessing.
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 For the eyes of the LORD are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the LORD is against them that do evil.
13 And who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good?
14 But and if you suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are you: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
15 But sanctify the LORD God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
18 For Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [brought back to life] by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism does 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.
 
Friends, I am, we are as one, the Ark of the testimony the Father has sent to save as many as will hear and get on board with us, as one. This unity is the word and work, plan and purpose, of the Holy Spirit, and the will of the Father in heaven.
 
Matthew 12
23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David [the king who will come and repair the breach in the house]?
 
Amos 9
8 Behold, the eyes of the LORD God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, says the LORD that does this.
 
Matthew 12
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub [the god of the trash heap – gathered there as flies to dung] the prince of the devils.
25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
26 And if Satan cast out Satan [if those resisting God resist themselves], he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad.
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy [vilification of His word and work] against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32 And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. [it’s logic – resisting His plan and purpose there cannot be repentance or deliverance from self-destruction]
33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.
34 O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s [ketos – from chasma and telling the gaping mouth that consumes the prey – again see Jonah 2] belly [where those consumed are held, until they come to repentance at the preaching of Christ]; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jona is here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
43 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
44 Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he finds it empty, swept, and garnished.
45 Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits [preached by the corrupted kingdoms and powers in church and state] more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation [as it is this day].
46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand without, desiring to speak with you.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.
 
The good report and the commendation of God are meant to show His approval of those He has sent for this purpose, to preach Good Tidings to men of good will.
 
Isaiah 30
1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down into Egypt [who go into captivity under the corrupted worldly powers], and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh [these men who have made themselves kings in the earth] be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion [the shadow which blocks the LORD’s light and understanding].
4 For his princes were at Zoan [in the place of the departed], and his ambassadors came to Hanes [where grace was absent].
5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still [to not be led out of captivity].
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.
16 But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.
20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.
22 You shall defile also the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth; you shall say unto it, Get you hence.
23 Then shall he give the rain of your seed, that you shall sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young donkeys that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall [these high places of wicked powers].
26 Moreover the light of the moon [civil government] shall be as the light of the sun [the one body of light], and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck [these are the LORD’s word spoken through me], to sift the nations with the sieve of their [own] vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people [the manipulative words controlling the dead], causing them to err.
29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity [qadash – sanctification: cleansed and purified; separated from these powers and errors to the LORD’s plan and purpose] is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian [these foreign ways and ideas] be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33 For Tophet [the place of fire] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.
 
2 Peter 1
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our LORD,
3 According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity [giving this word freely as you have received it].
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be [is now] ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our LORD Jesus Christ has shewed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased [the commendation].
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
 
Friends, we are the good trees God has created on the third day, upon whom He has looked and shown His approval. As we know from our studies, the light is understanding given from God by His Holy Spirit moving upon the darkened deep meaning of all things. The firmament is the expanse, the exposition of ideas, which divide the word of God from the vain words of men, in a world that by them has become without form and void of understanding. The exposition is heaven, occurring by and in the presence of God moving and working on earth, by His word. It is what brings forth life on earth, initially men as trees, but later after His Spirit has done His full work, man is produced in the image and likeness of God. This is the process, of which we have been and are in the mist.
 
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was [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.
3 And God said, Let there be [become] light: and there was [became] light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were [became] the first day.
6 And God said, Let there be [become] a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let [become] it divide the waters from the waters.
7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was [became] so.
8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were [became] the second day.
9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was [became] so.
10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
13 And the evening and the morning were [became] the third day.
 
Mark 8
18 Having eyes, see you not? and having ears, hear you not? and do you not remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took you up? And they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that you do not understand [these are when I expanded the word of life? Because man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God does man live.]
22 And he came to Bethsaida [the house of fish – the house where, as the ketos, the man was held captive in blindness]; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him.
23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit [ptou – the idea of (ptusso) spreading or expanding as it comes from the mouth] his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that he put his hands [works added to the spit, which are words expanded upon] again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
 
Hebrews 12
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
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But he that glories, let him glory in the LORD. For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the LORD commends.

But he that glories, let him glory in the LORD. For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the LORD commends.
 
Continuing: as we have discussed, the word “approved” above is the word dokimos, a word which is equal to the Hebrew word tsaraph, meaning metal fused together (refined and tried). The Strong’s Greek Dictionary says the definition of dokimos is acceptable (current after assayal); assayal meaning to examine (test the quality and purity – and remaining after) as in the refiner’s fire spoken of in Malachi 3.
 
Malachi 3
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed [In My fire. Only the trash is consumed].
7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings [the offering in righteousness – verse 3 above].
9 You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?
14 You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.
18 Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.
 
So, I heard this preacher preaching about how God is calling to those living in sin (error), whispering in their ear, to come out from that which they are entangled. Of course, he was talking about the outside of the cup, because if he was talking about what is inside [the corrupted mind] he would need to be preaching to preachers and teachers about the more significant error in which they are engulfed, (as if swallowed by the whale).
 
Jonah 2
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly [from the midst of the underlying cause agitating of the sea: the people],
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of Sheol [the habitation of the dead] cried I, and you heard my voice.
3 For you have cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all your billows and your waves passed over me [the ways and idols (ideas) of the proud men of the earth].
4 Then I said, I am cast out of your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto you, into your holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay [tithes] that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land [purged out from among the errors].
 
This refining is spoken of in 1 Corinthians 11:19 as we are told why these errors, the leading of false teachers among us, are allowed.
 
1 Corinthians 11
17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that you come together not for the better, but for the worse.
18 For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved [dokimos – by this trial, teachers of truth and error are revealed] may be made manifest among you.
20 When you come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the LORD’s supper.
21 For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken.
22 What? have you not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise you the church of God, and shame them that have not? what shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.
23 For I have received of the LORD that which also I delivered unto you, that the LORD Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, this cup is the new testament in my blood: this do you, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as you eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do shew the LORD’s death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the LORD, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the LORD.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
 
This bread and the cup spoke of above is telling of our receiving manna directly from the LORD, flowing directly from Him, and by this manifesting, in the approval, we are commended by the LORD. Paul is saying we do not come together to hear what men say, but rather what God says. This is the error in almost all modern preaching, they tell their own stories and say God says, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the LORD, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the LORD.”
 
The word above “unworthy” is from the compound word anaxios; from an, which reverses the word axios, meaning worthy. Axios is a word John only uses one time in his gospel, in John 1:27 as John the Baptist tells of himself as not “worthy” to even loosen the straps of the LORD’s sandals. John does use the word seven more times, in Revelation, to describe who is and isn’t “worthy.”
 
Revelation 3
1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things say he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and are dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found your works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come upon you.
4 You have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments [by the false doctrines of men – see Revelation 14:4]; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy [axios].
5 He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
 
The above speaks to the elect remnant, those who are worthy because they were no defiled by false teaching, who went forward with the LORD into Philadelphia.
 
Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
 
The next use of axios is in Revelation 4:11, the chapter beginning with heaven opening (see Malachi 3:10 above) and hearing the first voice as a trumpet, saying, “Come up hither, and I will shew you things which must be hereafter.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.)
 
As chapter 4 ends it says the LORD is “worthy;” and then following the word is used four times in chapter 5, which describes the one who is found worthy to open the book, which no man to that point had been able to open (because the LORD closed it.) See Revelation 3:7 & 8 above, and Daniel 12:9 & 10, and Ezekiel 44:1 thru 3.
 
Daniel 12
9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
 
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
 
Acts 1
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
 
Revelation 4
1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew you things which must be hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.
3 And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceeded lightning and thundering and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.
6 And before the throne there was a sea of glass [the waters calmed by Shiloh] like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.
8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, LORD God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
9 And when those beasts give glory and honor and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,
10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that lives for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 You are worthy [axios], O LORD, to receive glory and honor and power: for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created.
 
Revelation 5
1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy [axios] to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy [axios] to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
9 And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy [axios] to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy [axios] is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever.
 
The essential element here is that true teaching comes directly from the LORD, and should be freely passed on as received. These are the blessings we receive, to then bless others with the same. True teaching is given to be given, so the LORD will receive His tithes, as fruit: children of God produced in His image and likeness.
 
2 Corinthians 9
5 Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty [blessing], whereof you had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty [blessing others], and not as of covetousness [not lusting for things to be receive].
6 But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully [he that sows His gift/blessing shall be blessed by God – shown to be approves as he is commended by Him].
7 Every man according as he purposes in his heart [blessed according to the motives in his mind], so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
9 (As it is written, He has dispersed abroad; he has given to the poor: his righteousness remains for ever.
10 Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution [the gift/blessing of God – His word/gospel] unto them, and unto all men;
14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace [the free gift given freely as received] of God in you.
15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
 
Verse 22 above quotes from Proverbs 22:9, verse 9 above quotes Psalms 112:9, and the title (2 Corinthians 10:16) quotes Jeremiah 9:24.
 
Proverbs 22
1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
3 A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.
4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.
5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the forward [twisted and perverted truth]: he that does keep his soul shall be far from them.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
8 He that sows iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.
9 He that has a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he gives of his bread to the poor.
10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
11 He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthrows the words of the transgressor.
13 The slothful man says, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
16 He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to want.
17 Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart unto my knowledge.
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall withal be fitted in your lips.
19 That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to you this day, even to you.
20 Have not I written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
21 That I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth; that you might answer the words of truth to them that send unto you?
22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:
23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man you shall not go:
25 Lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to your soul.
26 Be not you one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts.
27 If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?
28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which your fathers have set [don’t change what has been received].
29 See you a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
 
Psalms 112
1 Praise you the LORD. Blessed is the man that fears the LORD, that delights greatly in his commandments.
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
5 A good man shews favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; his horn [power] shall be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.
 
Jeremiah 9
1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
3 And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, says the LORD.
4 Take you heed every one of his neighbor, and trust you not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders.
5 And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.
6 Your habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says the LORD.
7 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how shall I do for the daughter of my people?
8 Their tongue is as an arrow shot out; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in heart he lays his wait.
9 Shall I not visit them for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing, and for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none can pass through them; neither can men hear the voice of the cattle; both the fowl of the heavens and the beast are fled; they are gone.
11 And I will make Jerusalem heaps, and a den of dragons; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.
12 Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perishes and is burned up like a wilderness, that none passes through?
13 And the LORD says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein;
14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim [the idols/ideas of the world], which their fathers taught them:
15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
17 Thus says the LORD of hosts, Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send for cunning women, that they may come:
18 And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.
19 For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because our dwellings have cast us out.
20 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one her neighbor lamentation.
21 For death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces, to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the streets.
22 Speak, Thus says the LORD, Even the carcasses of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather them.
23 Thus says the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
24 But let him that glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, says the LORD.
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And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts therein shall be CUT OFF and die; but the third shall be left therein.

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts therein shall be CUT OFF and die; but the third shall be left therein.
 
Continuing: The above tells of the result of purification and deliverance that has come to God’s people who hear and receive Him. They are the third who are left; all others will perish in the fires their ideas and ways have kindles. These are the dead who refused to hear and see, and who reject the hand reaching to pull them out.
 
Zechariah 13
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts therein shall be CUT OFF and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
 
This is accomplished by what is declared in verses 1 & 2 of the same chapter:
 
Zechariah 13
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will CUT OFF the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
 
As we’ve seen, David, is the son of Jesse that Ephrathite (1 Samuel 17:12), the family name we have seen in our studies as a mispronunciation of Ephraimite (seen in the Hebrew text of Judges 12:5). By this we understand the house of David is speaking Ephraim as a descendant son of Joseph, the son of Jacob (as is Christ, Matthew 1:16), who were all at one point separated from their brothers. We know this is now culminated in God’s people in this latter time exhibiting patterns of Ephraim as the one revealed as God’s people in this latter time, those who are thought not to be His people.
 
These are the Ephraim spoken of in Zechariah 9:10 & 13, and 10:7; chapter 9 speaking first of the LORD’s lowly entry, riding those we saw are the “babes and suckling” described as humble donkeys. As we saw, these are those in the following chapter describes as Judah (leaders) who He has transformed into His goodly horse in the battle. We know this transposition (Ephraim becomes Judah) is foretold in Genesis 49 as Jacob gathers His sons and tell them what shall befall them in the latter days.
 
When we read the Genesis passage we see Judah is told his scepter (ruling position) shall be with him until Shiloh comes, to who the people shall be gathered. The next verse tells of the time of it (the septer – rule) remaining with him, and then when the foal, the colt of the donkey, shall be tied to the vine of Shiloh.
 
Genesis 49
8 Judah, you are he whom your brethren shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [tranquility – the one who calms and heals the waters] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 [Shiloh] Binding his foal unto the vine, and his donkey’s colt unto the choice vine [binding the babes and suckling to Himself – the vine, as in John 15:1 thru 6]; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
 
The above is the meaning Matthew 21:2 thru 5, as The LORD tells His disciples to untie and bring the donkey and its foal, which He rides into Jerusalem. We are then told in verse 5 this is done to fulfill Zechariah 9:9, which Matthew then quotes.
 
Matthew 21
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage [the house of unripe figs], unto the mount of Olives [the source of anointing and healing oil], then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway you shall find an donkey tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, you shall say, The LORD has need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell you the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon an donkey, and a colt the foal of an donkey.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the donkey, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
 
What we see in the events above described in Matthew 21 are the things we are told, in Zechariah 9, 11, 13 and 14, are “cut off” from among those the LORD has come to deliver. The word there rendered “cut off” is karath, which tells of the branches that are cut off and cast into the fires, which the LORD speaks of in John 15 as He tells of Himself as the true vine to which we must be tied.
 
John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same bring forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.
 
Zechariah 9
1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach [speaking of a renewed dwelling place – referring us to 2 Chronicles 15:8 – see below], and Damascus [in silence and calm] shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.
2 And Hamath [the fortress] also shall border thereby; Tyrus [the false rock – from which flows death in her waters], and Zidon [to hunt souls], though it be very wise.
3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite [nakah] her power in the sea; and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon [the place of the trail in her fires] shall see it, and fear; Gaza [her means of strength – the treasurers] also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron [perish – as a tree pulled up by its roots]; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.
6 And a mamzer [illegitimate son – only used one other time, Deuteronomy 23:2 – and see Hebrews 12:8 – those who refuse to be corrected] shall dwell in Ashdod [in positions of power], and I will cut off [karath] the pride of the Philistines [those who have brought in foreign ways and ideas, by which they rule].
7 And I will take away his blood [what is draining their life] out of his mouth [words], and his abominations [their idols] from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron [those that were perishing] as a Jebusite [as the founders of New Jerusalem].
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passes by, and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an donkey, and upon a colt the foal of an donkey.
10 And I will cut off [karath] the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto you;
13 When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and made you as the sword of a mighty man.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.
 
When Zechariah 9 begins speaking of the renewed dwelling place as Hadrach, a name only used this one time, it does so to refer us to 2 Chronicles 15, where in verse 8 the Hebrew word chadash, the origin of the name, is used. There we are told of the pattern of this purification of Ephraim (purified so the LORD could again enter).
 
2 Chronicles 15
1 And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah [Jehovah has helped – see Hebrews 13:6 and Psalms 118:6] the son of Oded [reiteration – to restore]:
2 And he went out to meet Asa [anointed and healed], and said unto him, Hear you me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while you be with him; and if you seek him, he will be found of you; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.
3 Now for a long season Israel has been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
5 And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations [to understand the report/teaching of rest and restoration, into peace and security] were upon all the inhabitants of the countries.
6 And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.
7 Be you strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded.
8 And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.
 
The “porch” is that spoken of in Ezekiel 44:3, where the LORD will enter, which was shut and which He has now opened and has entered.
 
Ezekiel 43
1 Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east:
2 And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east [as a sun rising]: and his voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
3 And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar [far off in the future]; and I fell upon my face.
4 And the glory of the LORD came into the house by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.
5 So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court; and, behold, the glory of the LORD filled the house.
6 And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.
7 And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places.
8 In their setting of their threshold by my thresholds, and their post by my posts, and the wall between me and them, they have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger.
9 Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcasses of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever.
10 You son of man, shew the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the pattern.
11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and do them.
12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
 
Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
 
The word karath, telling of those and the things that are “cut off,” is used its final time in Malachi 2:12 telling of cutting off the source of the abomination. There it is telling of Judah being cut off, because he acted treacherously after the priesthood failed. The LORD says for this He will cut off the master (teacher) and the scholar from among His people, as it is this day.
 
1 Corinthians 1
19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
 
1 Corinthians 3
18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
20 And again, The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
 
Malachi 2
1 And now, O you priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.
3 Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with it.
4 And you shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant might be with Levi, says the LORD of hosts.
5 My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.
7 For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
8 But you are departed out of the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts.
9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as you have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.
10 Have we not all one father? has not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
11 Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loved, and has married the daughter of a strange god.
12 The LORD will cut off the man that does this, the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that offers an offering unto the LORD of hosts.
13 And this have you done again, covering the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with crying out, insomuch that he regards not the offering any more, or receives it with good will at your hand.
14 Yet you say, Wherefore? Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously: yet is she your companion, and the wife of your covenant.
15 And did not he make one? Yet had he the residue of the spirit. And wherefore one? That he might seek a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates putting away: for one covers violence with his garment, says the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that you deal not treacherously.
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, Wherein have we wearied him? When you say, “Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them;” or, “Where is the God of judgment?”
 
I know whenever I ask the Father what I should know or say at a specific point/moment in time, He faithfully answers. Hear this word of the Father, to those who cover His work and refuse to give Him the glory He is due:
 
“2 O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many that say, ‘Who will shew us any good?’ LORD, lift you up the light of your countenance upon us.
7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for you, LORD, only make me dwell in safety.” Psalms 4
 
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
 
Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon [in] me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.
7 For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth bring forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
 
Genesis 49
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from there is [has come] the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors [harah – all those who shall be conceived] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
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Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might still [stop] the enemy and the avenger.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have you ordained strength because of your enemies, that you might still [stop] the enemy and the avenger.
 
Continuing: today’s title is Psalms 8:2, its point is the strength that comes from being nourished by the word of God, which then become the words of the receivers. “Babes” refers to those who are as David (the youngest of his house), raised in the strength (power of God’s word) of the LORD to feed and defend His sheep, who are themselves babes and sucklings. The most significant point is the strength that returns to God’s people by His word, which they then speak and confess.
 
As we know, the first part of the verse is quoted by the LORD as He enters Jerusalem, and as we see in the latter part, it is also what humbles the enemies and those acting on grudges against God and His people. This humbling is so they might themselves become as little children, sitting at the feet of the LORD and learning of Him.
 
Matthew 11
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Deuteronomy 8
1 All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers.
2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord does man live.
4 Your raiment waxed not old upon you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years.
5 You shall also consider in your heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.
6 Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
 
Matthew 18
1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Truly I say unto you, Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receives me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence comes!
 
Matthew 21
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage [the house of unripe figs – the babes and sucklings], unto the mount of Olives [from where the anointing oil comes], then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway you shall find an donkey tied, and a colt with her [the babes and sucklings He lowly rides into New Jerusalem]: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, you shall say, The Lord has need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell you the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King comes unto you, meek, and sitting upon an donkey, and a colt the foal of an donkey.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the donkey, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna [Salvation Now] to the son of David: Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna [Salvation Now] in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna [Salvation Now] to the son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto him, Hear you what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea; have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise [strength]?
17 And he left them, and went out of the city [Jerusalem] into Bethany [the house of misery]; and he lodged there.
18 Now in the morning [at the sun rising] as he returned into the city [Jerusalem], he hungered.
19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away [no more fruit from the fig tree – from where the unripe figs (the babes and suckling) have come].
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree [the old religious orders – all denominations and sects, other than those following Him] withered away!
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Truly I say unto you, If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain [unjust civil governments], Be you removed, and be you cast into the sea [power to self govern returned to the people]; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you these things? and who gave you this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John [baptism in the word, which we have just undergone, preparing the way before the LORD: purifying us so He can enter], whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did you not then believe him?
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went [the publicans and harlots – those who left the religious sects].
30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not [the religious sects].
31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus said unto them, Truly I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness [preaching repentance and the return to God’s truth], and you believed him not [because of your pride and self-righteousness]: but the publicans and the harlots [humbled themselves as little children and learned] believed him: and you, when you had seen it, repented not afterward, that you might believe him.
33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen [who turned it into religious sects], and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits [His people] of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the LORD therefore of the vineyard comes, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably [Bethany – as he cast out the thieves and robbers above in verse 112 & 13] destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus said unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.
 
Psalms 118
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord:
20 This gate of the Lord, into which the righteous shall enter [as He enters us].
21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation [Hosanna].
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner [the turning and return].
23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day [light] which the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now [Hosanna], I beseech you, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech you, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.
 
Matthew 23
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,
30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31 Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourselves, that you are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32 Fill you up then the measure of your fathers.
33 You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?
34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zechariah son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.
36 Truly I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kills the prophets, and stones them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not!
38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39 For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
 
As we’ve discussed, the LORD’s lowly entry is described in Zechariah 9:9, the same prophet mentioned in verse 35 above, who these wicked types killed as they kill or destroy all who the LORD sends them. The trait of meekness is the sign we know what manner of person we are, having the power to destroy men’s lives but restraining self, instead choosing to long-suffer, only destroying the lies and manipulations that ARE destroying them. In this is humanity raised as the LORD rises in those who have received Him and now come in His name in like manner [see Acts 1:11].
 
This is what Zachariah then reveals as the LORD entering into us, lowly as if riding donkey; then teaching our hand to war, we become His goodly horse in the battle. The latter is first recorded in Zechariah 10:3, and is followed by verse 4 saying, out of the same (teaching) comes the corner, which is referring to the Psalms 118:22 above. Verse 4 also says from there comes the nail, and the battle bow, and every oppressor (ruler) together. Verse 5 says all of these shall be mighty men, meaning it is when strength has returned – with the chief cornerstone.
 
Zechariah 10
1 Ask you of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the Lord of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and will hear them.
7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.
 
The “nail” is referring to Isaiah 22:23 and the “oppressor” to Isaiah 60:17. These are describing replacing the old established ways (corrupted ideas governing) with the New, restoring them in the spirit and truth as God intended.
 
Isaiah 22
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 [what it has grown into – a house of thieves and robbers, who dishonor God], 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 [a place for the dead], as he that hews him out a sepulcher on high, and that grave an habitation for himself in a rock [the false rock on high]?
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 [the strength that carries you – the money you rely upon – mammon] of your glory shall be the shame of your lord’s house [the prince of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the children of disobedience].
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 [who God sets up] the son of Hilkiah [whose portion is Jehovah – in Him]:
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.
 
Revelation 3
6 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
 
Isaiah 60
11 Therefore your gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto you the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come unto you, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14 The sons also of them that afflicted you shall come bending unto you; and all they that despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet; and they shall call you; The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
16 You shall also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shall suck the breast of kings: and you shall know that I the Lord am your Saviour and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
17 For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make your officers peace, and your exactors righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto you: but the Lord shall be unto you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down; neither shall your moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.
21 Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time.
 
Revelation 21
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
 
Revelation 22
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
 
Zechariah 12
1 The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, says the Lord, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem [the people taught and founded on My ways of peace and security] a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah [My rulers] and against Jerusalem [the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect].
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, says the Lord, I will smite [nakah] every horse [the strength they ride] with astonishment, and his rider with madness [strong delusion]: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah [My government], and will smite [nakah] every horse [the strength of the corrupted shepherds] of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel [messenger] of the Lord before them.
 
Malachi 3
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the Lord of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s [tsaraph] fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner [tsaraph] and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi [God’s priests], and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah [God’s kings] and Jerusalem [God’s people] be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the Lord of hosts.
6 For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
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Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
 
Continuing: In the prior post, we discussed David saying the word of the LORD is tried (tsaraph) and becomes a shield (megan) to those who receive it as the power of the LORD in us, and the means of our warfare. The title, from Daniel 12:10, is speaking of the same word, and by it we are “tried” (tsaraph) and purified. This trial is the “vexation” spoken of in Isaiah 28:19, as the LORD tells of His teaching men into a state of rest and refreshing, which they rejected, instead choosing to remain in the covenant they made with death. In verse 19 the LORD says he will send His teaching word, morning after morning, and the only vexation is the understand the report.
 
We have seen over and over again, precept by precept, line by line, God’s word saying it is the wickedness of the lost, meaning they not only rejecting His teaching but also slander the work of the Holy Spirit, that keeps this gospel hidden from their understanding.
 
2 Corinthians 4
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not [that Chris is in our flesh speaking to them], lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.)
 
1 John 4
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
 
The wise of this world are failing the test miserably, because they roam in the theoretical world of their own creation, which is itself an experiment verifying their ideas have failed. These wicked men need to understand they are in a war they will never win, and they should fear the One they have by choice made their enemy. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments.”
 
2 Corinthians 10
4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
7 Do you look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.
8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the LORD has given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
 
Isaiah 28
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol [this world: the habitation of the dead] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol [this world: the habitation of the dead] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
 
Daniel 12 tells of this time as the time when God’s people are delivered, as Michael stands (his name meaning, he who is like God: has the mind of Christ). He says this is the time of the resurrection of the dead, when God again creates man from the dust of the earth, as He did Adam. Daniel is also told there will be serpents raised into God’s new creation, but these are those raised into everlasting contempt.
 
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
 
1 Corinthians 15
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 [a man with the Spirit of God in Him, reproducing after His own kind and bringing others to life by the same Spirit born in them].
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.
 
The Hebrew word malat is used by Daniel to tell of this deliverance: when a man frees himself from the snare of the devil: escaping by acquiring knowledge, understanding, and using wisdom. Proverbs 28: 26 He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered [malat].
 
2 Timothy 2
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit you to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 You therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier.
5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
6 The husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits [2 Thessalonians 3:10, “this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat].
7 Consider what I say; and the LORD give you understanding in all things [without labor there is no fruit, no understanding].
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself.
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the LORD that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as does a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus [joined with idols and encouraging others to join with them in their errors] and Philetus [counterfeit love, the feminized snowflakes who stand for nothing];
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The LORD knows them that are his. And, let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor [those defined above].
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these [these men and their ways dishonoring God], he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the LORD out of a pure heart.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes [are not seeking to understand, but only to start and continue the never ending argument (the fall into the bottomless pit)].
24 And the servant of the LORD must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness [strong and powerful, but not toward destruction of anything but ignorance and lies] instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
 
Proverbs 28
1 The wicked flee when no man pursues: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
2 For the transgression of a land many are the princes thereof: but by a man of understanding and knowledge the state thereof shall be prolonged.
3 A poor man that oppresses the poor is like a sweeping rain which leaves no food.
4 They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.
5 Evil men understand not judgment: but they that seek the LORD understand all things.
6 Better is the poor that walks in his uprightness, than he that is perverse in his ways, though he be rich.
7 Whoso keeps the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shames his father.
8 He that by usury and unjust gain increases his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor.
9 He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination.
10 Whoso causes the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession.
11 The rich man is wise in his own conceit; but the poor that has understanding searches him out.
12 When righteous men do rejoice, there is great glory: but when the wicked rise, a man is hidden.
13 He that covers his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.
14 Happy is the man that fears always: but he that hardens his heart shall fall into mischief.
15 As a roaring lion, and a ranging bear; so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.
16 The prince that wants understanding is also a great oppressor: but he that hateth covetousness shall prolong his days.
17 A man that does violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.
18 Whoso walks uprightly shall be saved: but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.
19 He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that follows after vain persons shall have poverty enough.
20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that makes haste to be rich shall not be innocent.
21 To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
22 He that hastes to be rich has an evil eye, and considers not that poverty shall come upon him.
23 He that rebukes a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flatters with the tongue.
24 Whoso robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression; the same is the companion of a destroyer.
25 He that is of a proud heart stirs up strife: but he that puts his trust in the LORD shall be made fat.
26 He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered [malat].
27 He that giveth unto the poor shall not lack: but he that hides his eyes shall have many a curse.
28 When the wicked rise, men hide themselves: but when they perish, the righteous increase.
 
The trial we are in, the tsaraph, is described in Zechariah 13:9 where it is twice rendered “refiner.” This is the same purification Daniel 12 speaks of, and the same purge spoken of in 2 Timothy 2, of those who walk wisely and not as fools.
 
Ephesians 5
7 Be not you therefore partakers with them.
8 For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the LORD: walk as children of light:
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the LORD.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever does make manifest is light.
14 Wherefore he says, Awake you that sleeps, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the LORD is.
 
Zechariah 13
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land [the purge and purification].
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, You shall not live; for you speak lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesies [ending the false prophets].
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine [tsaraph] them as silver is refined [tsaraph], and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
 
The shepherd spoken of above isn’t the LORD, as is taught by the shepherds of our day, of whom it speaks. When the LORD quotes this passage He is speaking to and of His apostles (His fellows) who He says will all be offended because of Him.
 
In the above passage the “wound” in the hand of false prophets and the word in the following verse, “smite,” telling of what happened to the shepherd, are the same Hebrew word nakah. The word is used four other times in Zechariah, once in 9:4, once in 10:11, and twice in 12:4; all translated “smite.” In chapter 9 it is speaking of Tyrus, the false rock, who built herself a stronghold and heaped up silver as dust and gold as the mire. Verse 4 then says, “4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and He will smite [nakah] her power in the sea [over the people]; and she shall be devoured with fire.”
 
Zechariah 10
1Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite [nakah] the waves [the pride of men, which is the agitation of sea, the people] in the sea, and all the deeps of the river [their words] shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria [foreign ideas and ways] shall be brought down, and the scepter [rule] of Egypt [captivity] shall depart away.
12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the LORD.
 
Zechariah 12
4 In that day, says the LORD, I will smite [nakah] every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite [nakah] every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah [the new rulers of God’s people] shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
 
This is the deliverance (malat) spoken of in Daniel 12:1 and is spoken of in Zechariah 2:7 where it is rendered “deliver yourself.”
 
Zechariah 2
5 For I, says the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, says the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, says the LORD.
7 Deliver yourself [malat], O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon [confusion].
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts; After the glory has he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.
 
Smiting the shepherd and scattering the sheep is the pattern spoken of in Isaiah 28:25 as the same word puwts, rendered “scatter” in Zechariah 13:7 is used to tell of “casting abroad” the seed [fitches]. It is telling of when the plowman has prepared the earth and God scatters His people so they will grow and cover it.
 
This scattering (puwts) is described in Ezekiel 34 as coming because there is no real shepherd, and shepherds there now are feeding only themselves from the remains of the flock.
 
Ezekiel 34
5 And they were scattered [puwts], because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered [puwts].
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered [puwts]upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8 As I live, says the LORD God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9 Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10 Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11 For thus says the LORD God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered [puwts] in the cloudy and dark day.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the LORD God.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus says the LORD God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18 Seem it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?
19 And as for my flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.
20 Therefore thus says the LORD God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21 Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered [puwts] them abroad;
22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
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As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.

As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in Him.
 
Continuing: The passage above appears identically is both 2 Samuel 22:31 and in Psalms 18:30, each spoken by David as he describes the LORD delivering Him and in doing teaching his hand to war. We see both of these are by His word which is “tried,” and then trusting Him He becomes our shield in the battle. The word above rendered “buckler” is magen, meaning a shield, and figuratively a defense. David later uses the same word to tell of the LORD giving him the “shield” of salvation.
 
Psalms 18
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me [pulled me] out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay [He confirmed me].
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore has the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful you will shew yourself merciful; with an upright man you will shew yourself upright;
26 With the pure you will shew yourself pure; and with the forward [those who twist truth – lie] you will shew yourself forward [The LORD will send them into strong delusion].
27 For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.
28 For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried [tsaraph]: he is a buckler [magen] to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girds [prepares me for the battle] me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 You have also given me the shield [magen] of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.
48 He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lifts me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto your name.
50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shews mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.
 
The Hebrew word tsaraph, meaning to fuse, (as in fusing metal together into a shield), therefore used of a refiner, is above in Psalms 18:30 rendered “tried.” As we saw in the prior post, the false prophets attempt to mimic (as they mock) God’s work; they reject Him and seek to supplant and improve upon the authentic. In this case these are those spoken of by Jeremiah as he first describes the genuine work of the LORD and contrasts it against the darkness of the founders’ imitations.
 
Jeremiah 10
1 Hear you the word which the LORD speaks unto you, O house of Israel:
2 Thus says the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen [these men who don’t know God], and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven [in this rightly divided word of God]; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.
5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must need [to] be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.
6 Forasmuch as there is none like unto you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations? for to you does it appertain [it is meant for – it befits]: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto you.
8 But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
9 Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder [tsaraph]: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
10 But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.
11 Thus shall you say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.
12 He has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion.
13 When he utters his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning with rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasures.
14 Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder [tsaraph] is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath [life] in them.
15 They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
16 The portion of Jacob [those still wrestling with God, deficient in knowledge and thereby unaware it is Him, even though seeing Him face to face] is not like them: for he is the former of all things; and Israel [those who will rule and with/by God in them] is the rod [the scepter of Numbers 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel] of his inheritance: The LORD of hosts is his name.
17 Gather up your wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress.
18 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so.
19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains.
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
22 Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons [and so it is this day].
23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps.
24 O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
25 Pour out your fury upon the heathen that know you not, and upon the families that call not on your name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate [as it is this day].
Isaiah 48 begins by speaking to those calling themselves Israel, who came out of the waters of Judah. It is speaking of Israel leaving the place from where flowed the word of God directly from Him. It is speaking of when their king set up idols in God’s place, telling God’s people these are their gods, to keep them from going to Jerusalem. This is spoken of by Joel in Joel 3 as he first speaks of church and civil governments (the sun and the moon) and all God’s people (the stars) withdrawing their shining [no light in them because they no longer spoke according to this word – Isaiah 8:20]. These are darkness that is the effect of the same cause, no longer going to hear God where He is found. Joel tells of the return to (New) Jerusalem, when the rivers of Judah again flow with waters, and the fountain shall come from the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
 
The word name Shittim means sticks of wood, and here it is referring to the Hebrew word shatach and its rendering as “spread” in Jeremiah 8:2. There it tells of the dead bones (as sticks) “spread” before the same sun, moon and stars, as the LORD questions if they will return to Him. The event is what we later know is spoken of in Ezekiel 37, when the son of man is commanded to prophesy to the dead bones that fill the same valley. All of these are speaking of now, the same return and rising.
 
He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says.
 
Joel 3
1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
4 Yea, and what have you to do with me, O Tyre [false rock], and Zidon [those who hunt souls], and all the coasts of Palestine [you who wallow in the dust and mire, as dogs returning to your vomit]? will you render me a recompense? and if you recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head;
5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have you sold unto the Grecians, that you might remove them far from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither you have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:
8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans [those who are made perfect], to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it.
9 Proclaim you this among the Gentiles [those who don’t know God]; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim [the valley of shatach, where bones are spread as sticks covering the ground].
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion.
 
Isaiah 48
1 Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I shewed it you: lest you should say, Mine idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.
6 You have heard, see all this; and will not you declare it? I have shewed you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, you heard not; yea, you knew not; yea, from that time that your ear was not opened: for I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I cut you not off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All you, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come you near unto me, hear you this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the LORD God, and his Spirit, has sent me.
17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go.
18 O that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 Your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Go you forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say you, The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22 There is no peace, says the LORD, unto the wicked.
 
Jeremiah 8
1 At that time, says the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one deal falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.
13 I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
 
Ezekiel 37
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O LORD God, you know.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the LORD God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the LORD God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, you son of man, take you one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand.
18 And when the children of your people shall speak unto you, saying, Will you not shew us what you meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon you writes shall be in your hand before their eyes.
21 And say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
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He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasur

He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure.
 
Continuing: The above is telling of the LORD’s voice in me (us) as His wrath and coming to His people who have become unable to understand His words. As we know from Isaiah 28, the only vexation is to understand the report, which is the LORD teaching His people morning by morning, precept upon precept, line upon line. In the prior post, we saw this in 1 Corinthians 14:21 as it quotes Isaiah 28:19 and then goes on to give the context that this inability to understand God’s word is a sign of unbelief. In 2 Corinthians 4, we saw Paul describe those who were unable to understand the word of God (spoken through his gospel) as the lost, whose eyes were blinded by the god of this world (confusion), which hid understanding from them.
 
Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol [the habitation of the dead – this world] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol [the habitation of the dead – this world] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
 
The word “derision” in the title, which is from Psalms 2:4 & 5, is the Hebrew word la’ag, meaning unintelligible. It is God’s people becoming as drunken men who have lost all ability to understand, and His word became unintelligible. Psalms 2:5 tells us “then” will the LORD speak to them “in” His wrath, and the vexation, to His sore displeasure, shall be to “understand” the report.
 
The word describing these “stammering” lips is the Hebrew word la’eg, a word only used two times and is derived from la’ag, which is translated “derision” in Psalms 2:5. La’ag is used twice by Isaiah, first appearing in Isaiah 33:19 as “stammering,” in describing these words the enemies of God’s people, those who have spoiled and dealt treacherously, are unable to understand because they have made Him their enemy. These are the “hypocritical mockers” spoken of in Psalms 35:16, the only other time la’eg (mockers) is used; the same “hypocrites” (chaneph) spoken of in Isaiah 33:14. It is describing these enemies the LORD comes against, speaking His word as His wrath, destroying the lies they tell in His name and refuse to repent of, which words they are unable to understand. (Isaiah 42:25 Therefore He has poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.)
 
Psalm 35
1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am your salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he has hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto you, which delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoiled him?
11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourns for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects [the slanderers and defamers] gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical [chaneph] mockers [la’eg] in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 LORD, how long will you look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great congregation: I will praise you among much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me [as whales to swallow up the prey], and said, Aha, aha, our eye has seen it.
22 This you have seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me.
23 Stir up yourself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my LORD.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.
 
Isaiah 33
1 Woe to you that spoiled, and you were not spoiled; and dealt treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with you! when you shall cease to spoil, you shall be spoiled; and when you shall make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.
2 O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for you: be you their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble.
3 At the noise of the tumult the people fled; at the lifting up of yourself the nations were scattered.
4 And your spoil shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them.
5 The LORD is exalted; for he dwells on high: he has filled Zion with judgment and righteousness.
6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
7 Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.
8 The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceases: he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he regards no man.
9 The earth mourns and languishes: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.
10 Now will I rise, says the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself.
11 You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.
12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.
13 Hear, you that are far off, what I have done; and, you that are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites [chaneph]. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
15 He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure [this word of God flowing as it did from the Rock].
17 Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
18 Your heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 You shall not see a fierce people [just mentioned in the prior verse – the hirelings who have fled as locust at the sun rise], a people of a deeper speech than you can perceive; of a stammering [la’ag] tongue, that you can not understand.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
23 Your tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame [those who had been deficient in understanding] take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.
 
The “fierce people,” are those who came upon God’s people and spoiled them, whose language and ways were foreign, who like them God’s people then became. This unfaithfulness (apostasy) is the condition of God’s people who have become unable to understand their original language, God’s TRUTH. They instead now speak with the tongue of the enemies of God, lies; damnable heresies, even denying the LORD who bought them.
 
The “fierce people” spoken of in verse 19 above are those the LORD speaks of in Deuteronomy 28:50, who are the curse that comes upon God’s people when they refuse to listen any longer to His voice.
 
Deuteronomy 28
45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon you, and shall pursue you, and overtake you, till you be destroyed; because you hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded you:
46 And they shall be upon you for a sign and for a wonder, and upon your seed for ever.
47 Because you served not the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shall you serve your enemies which the LORD shall send against you, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon your neck, until he [the enemy] has destroyed you.
49 The LORD shall bring a nation against you from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies; a nation whose tongue you shall not understand;
50 A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favor to the young:
51 And he shall eat the fruit of your cattle, and the fruit of your land, until you be destroyed: which also shall not leave you either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of your kine, or flocks of your sheep, until he have destroyed you.
52 And he shall besiege you in all your gates, until your high and fenced walls come down, wherein you trusted, throughout all your land: and he shall besiege you in all your gates throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you.
 
The wall coming down is what is spoken of in Ezekiel 13, which the false prophets have built, wherein all God’s people now trust. What they don’t see is the wall was to keep God out and them captive within with His enemies.
 
Ezekiel 13
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say you unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear you the word of the LORD;
3 Thus says the LORD God; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
4 O Israel, your prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
5 You have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.
6 They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD says: and the LORD has not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.
7 Have you not seen a vain vision, and have you not spoken a lying divination, whereas you say, The LORD says it; albeit I have not spoken?
8 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you have spoken vanity, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the LORD God.
9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the LORD God.
10 Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:
11 Say unto them which daub it with untempered morter, that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing shower; and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy wind shall rend it.
12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith you have daubed it?
13 Therefore thus says the LORD God; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in my fury to consume it.
14 So will I break down the wall that you have daubed with untempered morter, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered, and it shall fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst thereof: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
15 Thus will I accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon them that have daubed it with untempered morter, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it;
16 To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the LORD God.
17 Likewise, you son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy you against them,
18 And say, Thus says the LORD God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of my people, and will you save the souls alive that come unto you?
19 And will you pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
20 Wherefore thus says the LORD God; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith you there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that you hunt to make them fly.
21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
22 Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life:
23 Therefore you shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
 
Because we have listened, followed and patiently waited for the LORD to reveal the meaning, we understand the word of God. When the above speaks of the false prophets as women who sew pillows to all armholes we know He is speaking of them covering His arm to hide His work. We likewise understand when He says they make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls, they are covering His head for the same reason, to hid his face (presence) from His people. The reason is, these men are hunting souls to make them fly, meaning to make men believe and remain in denial of His presence, waiting for the lie of a rapture off the planet, to “strengthened the hands of the wicked.”
 
This wall is the same as we are told in Ezekiel 38:20 falls at the destruction of Gog and Magog, which we’ve discussed in detail in the post on July 1st of this year, titled: “For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.” Therein we saw these false prophets are Gog, and the land they have created is Magog. (That post, which I recommend reading again, is most easily found at www.wordxp.com )
 
Ezekiel 38
14 Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say unto Gog, Thus says the LORD God; In that day when my people of Israel dwell safely, shall you not know it?
15 And you shall come from your place out of the north parts, you, and many people with you, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army:
16 And you shall come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring you against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in you, O Gog, before their eyes.
17 Thus says the LORD God; Are you he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring you against them?
18 And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the LORD God, that my fury shall come up in my face.
19 For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel;
20 So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.
21 And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the LORD God: every man’s sword shall be against his brother.
22 And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.
 
When the LORD says in verse 17 above these men are those He has spoken of in old time by the prophets, He is referring to Deuteronomy 28:49 & 50 and Isaiah 33:19. The word used in Deuteronomy 28:50, rendered “fierce” is ‘az, the same word used in Isaiah 56:11 to describe these shepherds who cannot understand, as blind watchmen and “greedy” dogs who never have enough, who drink themselves into drunkenness.
 
Isaiah 56
1 Thus says the LORD, Keep you judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch [those who have kept themselves from joining with the unfaithful women, who are these false prophets who have left God for idols, ideas they have created] say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
4 For thus says the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;
5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;
7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.
8 The LORD God, which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.
9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all you beasts in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12 Come you, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
 
Isaiah 57
1 The righteous perish [are un-joined from these wicked men], and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.
3 But draw near hither, you sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.
4 Against whom do you sport yourselves? against whom make you a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood.
5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion; they, they are your lot: even to them have you poured a drink offering, you have offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these?
7 Upon a lofty and high mountain have you set your bed: even there went you up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the doors also and the posts have you set up your remembrance: for you have discovered yourself to another than me, and are gone up; you have enlarged your bed, and made you a covenant with them; you loved their bed where you saw it.
9 And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and did debase yourself even unto Sheol.
10 You are wearied in the greatness of your way; yet said you not, There is no hope: you have found the life of your hand; therefore you were not grieved.
11 And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that you have lied, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and you feared me not?
12 I will declare your righteousness, and your works; for they shall not profit you.
13 When you cry, let your companies deliver you; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but he that puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
14 And shall say, Cast you up, cast you up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.
15 For thus says the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on forwardly [twisting and perverting truth] in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, says the LORD; and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.
 
Psalms 18
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightning, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me [pulled me] out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy [‘az], and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay [confirmed me].
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
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The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His anointed

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed
 
Continuing: to man it may seem God changes, when in reality it is His charter and plan to create man in His image and likeness that are unchangeable. The things that have changed are mere stones built upon a foundation, bringing man to the point of understanding and realization, experiences that produce a record, evidence which can be examined and validated in consistent repetition.
 
These are the idea we see in Psalms 102, a description of the creation, from the dust and ashes the world has become, man is enlightened by God’s presence and changed, born again in His image and likeness.
 
Psalms 102
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto you.
2 Hide not your face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline your ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth [and we have become ashes].
4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
10 Because of your indignation and your wrath: for you have lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like a shadow that declines; and I am withered like grass.
12 But you, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and your remembrance unto all generations.
13 You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones [you will build us again upon your firm foundation, as your dwelling place], and favor the dust thereof.
15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory [as the light of the new day].
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD [then shall their strength return and they shall rise].
23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: your years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old have you laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But you are the same, and your years shall have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before you.

 
Verses 25 thru 27 above are quoted in Hebrews 1:10 thru 12, a chapter that begins by telling of the LORD speaking in this last instance, through His son, to those who will become His new creation, His children, and heirs of salvation. Hebrews 2:2 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
 
Hebrews 1
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Has in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
7 And of the angels he says, Who make his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8 But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
10 And, You, LORD, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands:
11 They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment;
12 And as a vesture shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.
13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
 
Friends, as we know, these angels are people among us speaking God’s word, doing His will and ensuring the plan materializes. They are spoken of in Hebrews 13 after Hebrews 12 ends telling of the Son speaking, and shaking heaven and earth (as he is sitting on right hand of God until His enemies are made his footstool). 

 
Hebrews 12
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
 
Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage [joining in the body] is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers [the unfaithful who have sold themselves, as did Esau – see Hebrews 12:16 & 17] and adulterers [those who have left God and joined with idols] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness [without lust for what isn’t yours]; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you [therefore, we already have all we need].
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day [to light], and for ever.

 
Most believe the resurrection in this life isn’t spoken of very often in the old testament. It is, but is only seen once we understand the resurrection is Christ in us; then and only then, we see clearly what we formerly saw as if through a glass, darkly (as if looking into the night, but not clearly until the sunrise).
 
1 Corinthians 13
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part [speak God’s word without fully understand the message’s depth].
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity [freely giving what has been given – delivering the word of God freely, as received].
 
The word above translated “perfect” is teleios, from the word telos, meaning the goal, as the point aimed for, the limit. Paul only uses teleios two other times in 1 Corinthians; first in 1 Corinthians 2:6 where he is telling of his speaking the hidden wisdom of God, (which we speak,) among the “perfect.” These are those who have been raised into understanding, who have the mind of Christ.
 
1 Corinthians 2
4 And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect [teleios]: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the LORD of glory.
9 But as it is written, Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
10 But God has revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God.
11 For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knows no man, but the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
16 For who has known the mind of the LORD, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.
 
The other use is in 1 Corinthians 14:20, rendered “man,” as he is describing these hidden things (spoken) as tongues, of which he tells us in verse 22, [not understand the words] is a sign the person is an unbeliever. This rendering is the Spirit revealing that reaching this point of understanding is proof the new man has been created and has reached the mark at which he aimed.
 
The passage also tells of this lack of understanding revealing these unbeliever’s hearts (their reprobate minds, without proof God is in them), because they think we are mad – until we prophesy. Paul is speaking of showing we are inspirited by God, the proof in our full understanding of His word.

 
1 Corinthians 14
19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be you children, but in understanding be men [teleios – perfect].
21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, says the LORD.
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believes not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
 
We understand this is what Paul is speaking of in 2 Corinthians 4:3, as he again describes these truths being hidden as a sign of being lost. He then speaks of their blindness coming from the wisdom of men inspirited by the god of this world. These are the same points he makes in 1 Corinthians 2 above.
 
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
 
Friends, this full understand reveals God’s presence in us, speaking His revelation. As we have often discussed, these men realizing it is God in us, receiving the word of God as His word, is the power that then works in them producing the mind of Christ and children of God, created in His (Our) image and likeness. Rejecting this word is the choice that condemns men to separation from God and everlasting darkness.


Again, we know this event is entering the presence of God, which is spoken of in Hebrews 6:20 as we are told to follow the forerunner who has entered before us. Understanding is the “confirmation” of the oath, which proof is (should be) the end of all stife.
 
Hebrews 6
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
 
Hebrews 7
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abides a priest continually.
 
The word “confirmation” is bebaiosis, meaning to sure up, to make it firm. The following verse tells us of God willing to show His unchangeable (immutable) counsel, “confirmed” it with an oath. The word “confirmed” is the Greek word mesiteuo, a word only used this one time, meaning God sent an arbiter. 

 
The only other time bebaiosis is used is in Philippians 1:7 as Paul speaks of his defense and “confirmation” of the gospel. The following verse then tells of God bearing record (witness) of how greatly he longed for them in the bowels of Christ Jesus (Christ, Jehovah’s Salvation speaking in him).

 
Philippians 1
3 I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
4 Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
5 For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ [until He is raised in you]:
7 Even as it is meet [right] for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds, and in the defence and confirmation [bebaiosis] of the gospel, you all are partakers of my grace.
8 For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love [charity] may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10 That you may approve things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.
11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
12 But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the LORD, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
 
As we have discussed, the two immutable promises are the LORD telling David He would raise from his seed one to sit on His thrown, and that He would raise up a priest in the order of Melchisedec. The oath is of the resurrection spoken of in Hebrews 11, for all those who have pleased God and believed He is God. “Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [believing it is Him] it is impossible to please [agree with] him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
 
Hebrews 11
32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions.
34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
36 And others had trial of cruel mocking and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise [Christ rising in them as our king and priest]:
40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect [perfected by revelation and understanding, through Christ in us, risen and raising us as kings and priests].

 
Isaiah 55
1 Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you.
6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near:
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
 
Psalm 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
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Democracy is only sustainable in a Republican Government populated by men with a stable moral foundation based on God’s unchanging laws.

Democracy is only sustainable in a Republican Government populated by men with a stable moral foundation based on God’s unchanging laws.
 
Continuing: God’s word to all his children: “VOTE REPUBLICAN.”
 
Here is the Merriam-Webster definition of a republic: (1) a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. (2) a political unit (such as a nation) having such a form of government.
 
When our nation’s current government formed in 1787, the meeting (the Constitutional Convention in what is now called Independence Hall, formerly the Pennsylvania State House) was held in strict secrecy. Knowing what was taking place inside and hearing the proceeding had ended, many people gathered outside and waited to hear the result. History records that as Ben Franklin exited the building a woman identified as Mrs. Powel asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
 
It is unquestionable that Reverend John Wise’s ideas about decentralized government were the foundational standard adopted by those of the time whose interest was in how we would live. His book, A Vindication of the Government of New-England Churches, is said to be what inspired the Declaration of Independence. In the book, he argued that the church in New England shouldn’t be governed by a distant power (the church in England), which was thereby disinterested and unaware of local sentiments, and equally as unqualified to determine solutions to their problems. This idea of local governing, where the power (to choose local representative) is vested in the people, became what was known as “democracy.”
 
In fact, the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, in 1792 formed the Democratic-Republican Party to oppose the Federalist Party headed by President George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. The argument between them was about how much power should be vested in the federal government (extremely little or very little), the Democratic-Republicans believing almost all should be vested as close as possible to the people governed.
 
It must be remembered – Madison is one of the writers of the Federalist Papers, in which he vigorously argued for the ratification of the Constitution. In Federalist #10, titled: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection, he writes of the ideas (later embodied in Democratic-Republicanism) that would reduce the effect of the inevitable rise of factions (people banding together based on different ideas) which if not “safeguarded against” could cause insurrection. He describes the mischief of factions, dangerous (to the national interest) ideas, and said there are two ways to deal with them: removing the cause or controlling the effects. He then wrote, “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire, an aliment without which it instantly expires. But it could not be less folly to abolish liberty, which is essential to political life, because it nourishes faction, than it would be to wish the annihilation of air, which is essential to animal life, because it imparts to fire its destructive agency.”
 
Saying we cannot limit liberty in ideas without destroying our government itself, he then speaks of a republic as what justly allows for the other option for dealing with their mischief, controlling their effects. He says this remedy is found at the ballot box, where we as Republicans elect those who represent us, not as we now see with organized efforts underway to overturn what the people remedied by their vote. These men’s new ways are more destructive than any ideas, because they limit the liberty of those espousing the ideas that have won the day, by the vote showing the will of the people. We are seeing a minority whose ideas have been rejected, now resorting to any means, not bridled by a good conscience, knowingly and willfully acting to overthrow the system that by design defeated them.
 
Madison continued, “If a faction [self-destructive ideas] consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republican principle, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution.” [The republican system and our Constitution have worked as designed.]
 
And, “The influence of factious leaders may kindle a flame within their particular States, but will be unable to spread a general conflagration through the other States. A religious sect may degenerate into a political faction in a part of the Confederacy; but the variety of sects dispersed over the entire face of it must secure the national councils against any danger from that source. A rage for paper money, for an abolition of debts, for an equal division of property, or for any other improper or wicked project, will be less apt to pervade the whole body of the Union than a particular member of it; in the same proportion as such a malady is more likely to taint a particular county or district, than an entire State. [Have to love the foresight of the founders.]
 
“In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government. And according to the degree of pleasure and pride we feel in being republicans, ought to be our zeal in cherishing the spirit and supporting the character of Federalists.”
 
Again, “Vote Republican” and for democracy. The modern Democrat Party is anti-liberty because liberty to critically think and vote have caused their ideas to lose at the ballot box; just as the “wicked” ideas (communism) described above by Madison fail by the same sword. The Communists, calling themselves Progressives, secretly (but known by us) lurking in the Democrat Party, are the enemies of liberty, peace, and civilization. They seek to suppress the truth because it is an existential threat to their primitive ideas and the lies that hide them, which consistently destroy nations (the latest example is Venezuela – which evidence and truth they also censor).
 
These men, thinking they have better ideas, having removed God from their knowledge, become fools. “Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of government (pure democracies), have erroneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions.” James Madison, Federalist #10
 
He precedes the above, speaking of pure democracy (doing as does communism), saying: “Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
 
These men advocating the ideas of pure democracy, knowing its historically proven inevitable violent death, do so now as an “any means” to their true desired end: a communist utopia. We know their delusion is they will not be effected by the inevitable mass mystery that results for all but the very few at the top (the cultural elites).
 
These men’s ideas always victimize those they first demonize. There can be no peace without security for all, in life, liberty, and to pursue happiness. These are the law of nature (which exist in a void – where no formal government exists, and are the essence of self-governing) and the unchanging law of God: His commandments.
 
Matthew 22
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
41 While the Pharisees [Phares – those in charge of maintaining the breach] were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
42 Saying, What think you of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The son of David.
43 He said unto them, How then does David in spirit call him LORD, saying,
44 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you on my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool?
45 If David then call him LORD, how is he his son?
46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither did any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
 
2 Peter 2
17 These [wicked men] are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world [these men’s more primitive ideas, creations which have corrupted God’s intended peace] through the knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire [returning to the pollution of their primitive ideas].
 
Another of the obvious answers to the question, how is Christ David’s son, is that Christ seeks to unite God’s people, redeeming them from under those benefiting from the separation.
 
Amos 9
8 Behold, the eyes of the LORD God are upon the sinful kingdom [Edom – the evil brother among us doing God’s peoples wrong in the day of their self-inflicted calamity], and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob [those who have been and still are deficient in understanding God’s word, and have wrestled with it/Him to their impairment], says the LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, says the LORD that does this.
13 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and he that treads grapes him that sows seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says the LORD your God.
 
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
 
Hebrews 5
4 And no man taketh this honor [“lifting up the head”] unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, You are my Son, to day have I begotten you.
6 As he says also in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.
12 For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
 
Hebrews 6
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God:
8 But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which you have shewed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
12 That you be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
 
Psalms 2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
 
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The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and He will shew them his covenant.

The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and He will shew them his covenant.
 
Continuing: The above is Psalms 25:14, and its reverse is found in Proverbs 25:14; “Whoso boasts himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain.” As we know, forms this analogy are used in 2 Peter 2:7 and Jude 1:12; both describing false teachers bosting of the gifts from God, which are figments of their imaginations. They use their creations: deceptions and delusions, to elevate themselves and extort, control, and consume men with their great gaping (ketos – whale’s) mouths. (2 Peter 2: 17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever. 18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.)
 
Friends, these men want people ignorant, as do their counterparts in the fake news media, (who are a weapon of the communists.) These men are only able to fool the oblivious who BLINDLY follow their every commandment, unable to tell the truth from a lie. Others know the lies are meant to hide true intentions, to deceive and manipulate, but in their delusion, imagine it will flesh out into their enrichment (thinking themselves the lords of the coming utopia, which is in fact Gehennah – in the fires of the trash pit).
 
Ezekiel 22
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Now, you son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? yea, you shall shew her all her abominations.
3 Then say you, Thus says the LORD God, The city sheds blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and makes idols against herself to defile herself.
4 You are become guilty in your blood that you have shed; and have defiled yourself in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even unto your years: therefore have I made you a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5 Those that be near, and those that be far from you, shall mock you, which are infamous and much vexed.
6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in you to their power to shed blood.
7 In you have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of you have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in you have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8 You have despised mine holy things, and have profaned my Sabbaths.
9 In you are men that carry tales to shed blood [the fake news media and the whispers of the false prophets]: and in you they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of you they commit lewdness.
10 In you have they discovered their fathers’ nakedness: in you have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
11 And one has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife; and another has lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in you has humbled his sister, his father’s daughter.
12 In you have they taken gifts to shed blood; you have taken usury and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the LORD God.
13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of you.
14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and disperse you in the countries, and will consume your filthiness out of you.
16 And you shall take your inheritance in yourself in the sight of the heathen, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
19 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall you be melted in the midst thereof; and you shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.
23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, say unto her, You are the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus says the LORD God, when the LORD has not spoken.
29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, says the LORD God.
 
Friends these men weave webs of deception, justifying them by condemning those God sends, while doing it (again) blindly indicting themselves. They scramble to sure up with more lies the lie that has been exposed, while only fooling the ignorant and oblivious, and in the eyes of those enlightened by the LORD their cover is removed revealing the wolf. These are the wicked sitting in God’s seats opposing Him, exalting themselves against His truth, refusing to be pulled from the fires.
 
Jude
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only LORD God, and our LORD Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the LORD, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The LORD rebuke you.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out [harpazo – the word the same false apostles have turned into the rapture lie – so they as Satan’s transformed angels of light can deny the LORD at His coming – in His word in us manifesting His salvation to those who will receive Him.] of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
 
Verse 23 above tells of the LORD’s salvation (Jesus in the flesh) that comes to those who fear Him, which is the same point made in the title verse. As we know the fear of the LORD is reverence to those who receive Him; but to those who make Him their enemy, it should be fear: because our God is a consuming fire. He will not acquit the wicked who have made themselves lords and teachers over His people; men who refuse to let go of their idols. “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”
 
The word of God tells us multiple time, “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.” It is not wisdom, but speaks of all beginning in a place (without form, and void) separated from the light: His wisdom and knowledge, which are the secrets spoken of in the title. The quote first appears in Psalms 111:10, then in Proverbs 1:7 & 9:10.
 
Psalms 111
1 Praise you the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
2 The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
3 His work is honorable and glorious: and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 He has made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
5 He has given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
6 He has shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
7 The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
8 They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
9 He sent redemption unto his people: he has commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endures for ever.
 
Why are these men unable to see or hear the LORD speaking to them? It is because of the veil: they are unable to accept or receive the LORD talking to them from within flesh. They will accept the flesh if it agrees with them, but as a rule reject corrections. This is what John is speaking of in 1 John 2 when he tells of them not keeping the commandments. They despise the LORD’s interruptions (Sabbaths), interventions to correct, and say of their known errors “that doesn’t really matter,” as they bear false witness and take God’s name in vain: saying He said when He hasn’t lied. Their refusal to acknowledge His intervention and be corrected prove they are reprobate, without the proof that God is in them. They show their priority is to maintain their positions (to keep their jobs and the ill-gotten gain). They seek to be lords and teachers over God’s heritage when they should pick up a broom and sweep the house, and invite Him to fill the void.
 
1 John 4
1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God: he that knows God hears us [because they hear Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s Salvation speaking from our flesh]; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
 
1 John 2
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keeps his word, in him truly is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard from the beginning.
8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines.
9 He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now.
10 He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
11 But he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because that darkness has blinded his eyes.
12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
13 I write unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because you have known the Father.
14 I have written unto you, fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
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.
17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever.
18 Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
20 But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
22 Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son.
23 Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also.
24 Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
25 And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life.
26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you.
27 But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that every one that does righteousness is born of him.
 
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.
 
Friends, these men keep going on their own crooked ways, in their own power (of disobedience and revolt) apart from God, speaking their own words and further scattering His people. The LORD, in Matthew 7, tells us why He keeps secrets, as it is also written in Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith [believing it is Him] it is impossible to please [be in agreement with] Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
 
Matthew 7
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast you your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
12 Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
13 Enter you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it.
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
21 Not every one that says unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
 
Proverbs 1:4 used the word ‘ormah to tell of God giving the simple the ability to understand the invention and trickery of the wicked, and thereby giving us the discernment to know His counsel. The word is only used four other times, two of those in Proverbs 8: rendered in verse 5 as “wisdom,” and in verse 12 as “prudence.”
 
Proverbs 8
1 Does not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O you simple, understand wisdom [‘ormah – the methods of the wiked]: and, you fools, be you of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward [twisted] or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence [‘ormah – understanding of the methods of the wicked], and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the froward mouth [twisting truth], do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
Proverbs 1
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty [‘ormah – understanding of the methods of the wicked] to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother:
9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto your head, and chains about your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not.
11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily [secretly (but we know)] for the innocent without cause:
12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14 Cast in your lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15 My son, walk not you in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path:
16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily [secretly (but we know)] for their own lives.
19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20 Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets:
21 She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying,
22 How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and you refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But you have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;
27 When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
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