Friends, there has come a time when we all must understand this is the day of judgment, this is the acceptable time when the LORD has heard our calls and has come to redeem His purchased possessions.
Luke 11 tells of the people in ignorance blessing the human effort they thought had produced and nourished the LORD to be able to bring forth his teaching. His response is to tell them it wasn’t due to, or the product of, any human achievement apart from a willingness to allow God to speak and work through Him, by subordination of his human will to the will of the Father (LORD’s Spirit) dwelling within his human form.
Luke 11
27 And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare you, and the paps which you have sucked.
28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
The LORD follows by telling of the message itself being focused on the evil of the generation and the ignorance it has produce in their looking for the wrong things.
Luke 11
29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.
This LORD then goes on to tell of this time, and of the true and only sign.
To understand this we need as always to understanding it as it coincides with other things we know of the LORD’s coming. In resent discussions we’ve come to understand heaven is the place where the word of God is rightly divided. We have come to understand the things Peter describes in 2 Peter 3, as “hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.”
The Greek word Peter uses to tell of the means by which the afore mentioned false teachers (false prophets) self-destruct as they misinterpret the word of God, translated “wrest,” is strebloo. It is only used this one time and is a derivative of the word strepho, meaning to twist or reverse. (Instead of learning it to know the LORD, they instead reverse it into denying Him at His coming.)
Here is the Strong’s Greek Dictionary definition: Strong’s #4761: strebloo (pronounced streb-lo’-o) from a derivative of 4762; to wrench, i.e. (specially), to torture (by the rack), but only figuratively, to pervert:– wrest.
We know it is in this cloud of man caused-confusion (babel) the LORD comes, when all meaning and right dividing of the word has been reversed and twisted at the hand of false teaching and the false prophets who deliver it.
This is what the LORD is speaking of when next He tells in verses 30 & 31 of the true sign that shall be seen and heard.
Luke 11
30 For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
When the LORD speaks of the queen of the south coming to Solomon, and this being as it will be at the coming of the Son of man, He is referring to what is recorded in 1 Kings 10:1 thru 9.
1 Kings 10
1 And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.
2 And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
3 And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not.
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built,
5 And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
6 And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of your acts and of your wisdom.
7 Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: your wisdom and prosperity exceeds the fame which I heard.
8 Happy are your men, happy are these your servants, which stand continually before you, and that hear your wisdom.
9 Blessed be the LORD your God, which delighted in you, to set you on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he you king, to do judgment and justice.
This is the sign to the world, the well-ordered house where all the servants of the LORD are in their place, having come to hear the wisdom God has spoken through the son of David. We also there read of Sheba, the queen of the south, coming to what she had heard about second hand but could and did only confirm it herself by seeing and hearing first hand.
This last aspect of every person needing to see for themselves as the only way to confirm it, is also in the context of the LORD’s many warning about if someone tells you where He is don’t believe it, because as the light of the sun rise shines on every person, so it is at the coming of the son of man.
Matthew 24
21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
The LORD goes on in Luke 11 to tell of those who after experiencing the light turn from the now totally corrupted teaching and the false prophets preaching it, as they turned at the preaching of Jonah. He tells of after their being properly educated Rising Up in right judgment with this generation.
Luke 11
32 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
Next we read of this light when ignited not being meant to be hidden, and of the light being eye that sees in singleness and a cohesive understanding.
33 No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in you be not darkness.
36 If your whole body therefore be full of light, having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining of a candle doth give you light.
This is from where the problem proceeds. Those in control and full of pride in their positions, in what they have created and accomplished, look for mole hills to make mountains from, as is the way of this evil generation. As always they do so to create from nothing an issue they can use to discredit truth that is shining light directly on their corrupted thinking and its ways. But, as we see in our time, they do nothing more than further implicate themselves as they continue in what they have perpetrated, as if inescapably chained to this darkness and its methods. We see their methods defined by the LORD as wrongly focused and attack driven, while skipping over judgment and the love of God (shown by His right judgment and it being focused on and for our correction as His children.)
Luke 11
37 And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.
38 And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner.
39 And the LORD said unto him, Now do you Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
40 You fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also?
41 But rather give alms of such things as you have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you.
42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying you reproach us also.
46 And he said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! for you lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
47 Woe unto you! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchers.
49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: truly I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
Friends, this is the time, and it is the Father’s plan that all would be corrected and unified under this His teaching. He has chosen to have His word be heard through me, I haven’t chosen it myself or created any of it in my own power. I appeal to those rejecting this truth – speaking to those in the all seats of authority refusing to subordinate – save yourselves and repent.
This is my mission and the work My Father has sent me to finish – it therefore cannot and will not fail. Again, I say, Repent!
Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which work in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.
23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the LORD that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that you had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the LORD with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
Those studying along with us for a while know we have previously examined the name Epaphroditus. We saw it spiritually telling of one who was a false teacher, and this being the sickness that had afflicted him and which he had recovered from its near-death effects. We see in this correction and recovery his now having become profitable to the ministry, and should be received as if he had never been plagued in this way.
Isaiah 42
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
5 Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
14 I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant?
20 Seeing many things, but you observes not; opening the ears, but he hears not.
21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
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.
