Continuing: Today a deeper examination of the premise discussed in the prior post, that the fires burning in the earth melt away the corrupted ideas upon which the degenerate world bases all its decisions and policy. As we’ve read in recent days, this is what is referred to in 2 Peter 3 when Peter speaks of these fires melting the “element.” As we’ve discussed these “elements” are described using the Greek word stoichieon, meaning an orderly arrangement, and is also translated as principles and rudiments. It is used to describe the first principles of the oracles of God, and rudiments when defining the ideas of the world, corrupting it and keeping God’s people in bondage.
We saw these fires also described from John’s perspective in Revelation 18 & 19 as what destroys those deceiving the earth, and these being the great merchants of the earth and the false prophet[s]. We also saw the fire is what proceeds from the mouth of the LORD as He wields the Word of God as His sword [rightly dividing the Word.] We saw this analogy traced back to Isaiah 49 where it is used in beginning the chapter, a chapter we saw is also quoted in Revelation 7:16 & 17 to tell of the many who come out of the great tribulation. We saw both chapter calling us to come out from among these people and not be unequally yoked with their unbelief. In Isaiah 49 we are told this is the LORD having heard us in an acceptable time and of this being His come to our rescue. This is the report being given from the mouth of the one speaking in the name of the LORD and not believed by men destroying the earth via their corrupted understanding, the same men further described by John in Revelation 18 & 19.
We saw our being told of the LORD hearing us and come to succor us, appearing in Isaiah 49, also being quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6 as he gives us the further definition of this being coming out from being unequally yoked, the righteous from the unrighteous, light from darkness and believers from unbelief. Paul then quotes from Isaiah 52 where is the origin of this call to come out of this unbelief, and the chapter ending by telling of those who will see what they had not seen, and what they had not heard they shall consider.
It is for this point Isaiah 53 begins by asking the question, “Who has believed our report, unto whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?”
We know this first as a question that answers itself. The arm of the LORD is revealed to those who have believed the report. Then we know what follows is a description of what has been seen and not understood, and considering what had not been expected because of listening to the corrupted ideas of those we had been among. It is from there in the midst of this man-caused darkness we are called to come out.
This is the perspective from where Peter writes 2 Peter. Chapter one ends with his telling of our not having followed cunningly devised fables, followed by his describing the intricacies of prophesy, and how it is the Spirit of God who released understanding to men God chooses. His description tells of it in terms referring to Genesis 1 when the Spirit of God “moved” on the waters of the deep. We know there the Hebrew word translated “moved” is a word meaning to brood over, as in a bird sitting on eggs until they hatch. Peter tells of the Holy Spirit carrying (moving) the understanding until God is ready for it to brought forth. This is the same meaning we are being told of in these earlier descriptions of the acceptable time when the LORD comes to free us.
Chapter 2 then begins with telling us of the false prophets that will (absolutely) be among us, and will bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them. This is the point, as it was the point 2000 years ago. Men cause darkness and confusion by adding their fictions, then in pride reject correction, cumulatively resulting in all being unable to see, hear and believe the report. This is the gross darkness we are called out of into the light. This command to come out is the call we first hear in the cloud of darkness, once in the light we see what we couldn’t, and there understanding it is the arm of the LORD revealed.
Before again pasting all three chapters of 2 Peter we need to understand what it means when Peter tells of these corrupted ideas melting away. We know melting tells of the outer layer first liquefying and flowing away, and each successive layer doing the same until all is gone, and this happening in one seamless process. Line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little there a little, so they may be astonished, be snared and taken away. Just because you’re not on fire doesn’t mean the heat isn’t having its effect.
Isaiah 28
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 hell 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 hell 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.
When Peter speaks of these false prophets denying the LORD that “bought” them and later mentions their melting away he is referring to Exodus 15, where in verse 15 & 16 both are mentioned. There we also read of the arm of the LORD revealed as the waters (the word) the LORD had divided crash back upon these enemies refusing to allow us our freedom.
Exodus 15
… I will sing unto the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider has he thrown into the sea.
2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his host has he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
5 The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
6 Your right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.
7 And in the greatness of thine excellency you have overthrown them that rose up against you: you sent forth your wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
8 And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10 You did blow with your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like unto you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13 You in your mercy have led forth the people which you have redeemed: you have guided them in your strength unto your holy habitation.
14 The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.
15 Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.
16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till your people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which you have purchased.
17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O LORD, which you have made for you to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands have established.
18 The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.
19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
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 Savior 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.
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 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.
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 shine 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.
2 Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily [from their own imaginations] shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the LORD.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceptions while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: [By] the voiceless donkey speaking with man’s voice forbidding the madness of the [false] prophet.
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.
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 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.
2 Peter 3
1This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Psalms 58
1 Do you indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do you judge uprightly, O you sons of men?
2 Yea, in heart [your own corrupted reasoning] you work wickedness; you weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stops her ear [rejecting correction;]
5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.
6 Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bends his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.
8 As a snail which melts, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the [the boil of the] thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.
10 The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 So that a man shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous: truly He is a God that judges in the earth.
