For when they Shall Say, “Peace and Safety;” then Sudden Destruction Comes upon them, as Travail Upon a Woman with Child; and they Shall Not Escape.
Continuing: the above quote is from 1 Thessalonians 5:3 and uses many specific words, which when expanded upon release the idea the message is meant to show us at this time. (As we know, the expansion of very little to nourish the masses is the LORD again taking a few fish and several loaves and with it feeding those who’ve come to hear Him.)
Paul’s focus in writing the above verse is to tell of the moment the LORD appears (is realized) and it resulting in ending the control darkness and sleep have on those borne by and then born into the light. We see the fruit in Zechariah 3:10, as it tells us of when the priesthood is raised from corruption and cleansed, and every man is called (to sit and eat it) under the vine and the fig tree.
Zechariah 3 begins defining those who are resisting the angel (messenger) of the LORD, and we know the word here translated “resist” is the Hebrew word satan, who is also then named. We know from what follows, the message resisted is one that is plucking out those who were in the fire. The plucking [harpazo] out is what Paul has just spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4:17, which we know these men, in Zechariah, defined as Satan, have by this same filth defiled the meaning into one that denies the LORD at His appearing.
The fires are spoken of as Paul begins 2 Thessalonians 1:7 after he first tells of the LORD recompensing (rewarding) tribulation upon those who are troubling us. We know he goes on in the following chapter to define these men as the wicked one sitting in the seat of God, opposing the truth as the LORD appears with it, in the same flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who refuse to obey the gospel. Paul concludes in 2 Thessalonians 3 by urging all to pray for us, “that the word of the LORD may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 3 But the LORD is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.”
2 Thessalonians 1
4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure:
5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer:
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the LORD Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the LORD, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
Zachariah 3
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; If you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.
The Greek word translated “travail” in the 1 Thessalonians 5:3, is odin, and is only used three other times. In Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8 it is the word translated “sorrow” as the LORD defines the early indications of His appearing. In Matthew, the first of these precursors the LORD warns of are those who will come in His name and will deceive many. He tells us they will say, I am Christ, and use this as the way to deceive. It is speaking of those coming in the name of Jesus, saying they are anointed (christos) to teach His word, which the LORD says will deceive many. The word used there, translated as “deceive” is planao.
Here again, is the Strong’s Dictionary definition: Strong’s #4105: planao (pronounced plan-ah’-o) from 4106; to (properly, cause to) roam (from safety, truth, or virtue):– go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander, be out of the way.
As discussed in prior posts, planao is from the word planos, meaning roving, and by implication an imposter or misleader. This idea becomes apparent when we examine it as the English word planet, receiving the name by appearing in the night sky to be stars, and known to be planets when not keeping a fixed position. The stars are fixed and therefore can be used to navigate at night, but if one uses a planet to navigate in darkness, they go astray. This is the deception the LORD is speaking of as He warns against those in pulpits in church and state, who claim to know the way when in fact all they offer is an accepted means of deception.
In the final use of the word odin we are told of these being the “pains” of death, which crucifies the LORD but were unable to hold Him there, of which we are now eyewitnesses.
Acts 2
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the LORD come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
22 You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be held of it.
25 For David speaks concerning him, I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you shall make me full of joy with your countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he says himself, The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you on my right hand,
35 Until I make your foes your footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made the same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both LORD and Christ.
When Paul tells of these men, the antichrists in church and state who have led all astray, saying, “Peace and safety” the word he uses, rendered “safety,” is asphaleia, only used two other times. It means will not fail. In the case of the these men’s deception, it is their foundational ideas, spoken of in Acts 5:23, where the prison keepers found the cells shut with all “safety,” but there was no one inside. It is the false security of deception, which is nothing more than a locked cell with no one inside, and the angel of the LORD, these messages, have freed those it once held captive.
Acts 5
19 But the angel of the LORD by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,
20 Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.
21 And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
22 But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned and told,
23 Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.
24 Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.
25 Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.
Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon 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 brings 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.
The only other time asphaleia is used is by Luke in Luke 1:4 as he describes the things he is teaching and passing on, so we will know with “certainty.”
Luke 1
1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,
2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;
3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto you in order, most excellent Theophilus [loved of God],
4 That you might know the certainty of those things, wherein you have been instructed.
Asphaleia, from the word asphales, a word only used five times, also meaning will not fail. It is used three times in Acts, all in telling of those not able to know for certain if the accusation, made against those the LORD sent to speak in His the name, were true.
The other two times the word asphales is used it is in telling us of what we can be certain.
The first is in Philippians 3:1 as Paul tells of writing the “same things” for our certainty. It is the word there translated “safe.” As we know from previous studies, in chapter two Paul speaks of Epaphroditus, a name translated into meaning he is one transformed from a deceiver into a now useful teacher. Infidelity is the near-death sickness once afflicting him, and of which he is now recovered and sent with Paul’s endorsement of health.
The commandment of the LORD and His will for all those who are deceived or teaching deception, is, “pulling [harpazo] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Jude 23 (See Zechariah 3:2)
2 Peter 3
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.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
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 works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputing:
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 Timotheus 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.
Philippians 3
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the LORD. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
The final use of aspahles is in telling of the promises of the LORD, and our hope in being “sure.” It appears in Hebrews 6:19, a chapter we know begins by telling of our going on into perfection. The Greek word there in verse 1 translated “let us go on unto,” is written as pherometha, literally and contextually meaning to be carried into the midst of perfection. We know it is the LORD carrying us by His Spirit, and the warning is against NOT being carried further, and instead choosing to turn back and failing to reach perfection.
The perfection and the hope are defined in Hebrews 7:19, when it says, “19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.” Drawing near to God is what is spoken of in Hebrews 6:19 when it tells of our entering the veil, and says it is our hope, to go where the forerunner went.
What follows in Hebrews 7 tells us what our hope is in, the LORD ever being the priest who carries us to the LORD. I am the one risen from the dead, in the order of Melchisedec, the Spirit of the LORD risen in me, reconciling the world to Himself, bringing many sons to glory. It is our faith, hope and through the charity of the LORD, our perfection.
Hebrews 7
20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The LORD swore and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
Hebrews 6
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 swore 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 truly 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 stedfast, and which entereth 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.
