Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
The above is Zechariah 14:3 and the “then” it is speaking of is described in the first two verses, which tell of the division and desolation of Jerusalem. As we saw in the previous post, it is at the end of this desolation, when preaching has had its effect on the few who received it (the elect remnant), that the LORD accelerates and amplifies His glory and makes His presence undeniably obvious. Zechariah 14 goes onto describe the same such Advent, which we’ve many times discussed as when those who’ve caused the desolation are consumed by their own words and ways.
The LORD began this discussion, in 1 Corinthians 11, revealing the above is speaking of the division among God’s people, and how and why they come. “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 may be made manifest among you.”
Friends, this is speaking of the LORD appearing in His Righteous Judgment, revealing those in whom is His light, as His apparent presence, by which He elevates them by showing they are those He has approved to end the argument by right judgment (rightly dividing the word of truth).
(If you haven’t read along you’re not going to see the fullness of this message – therefore it only lacks in what you lack by neglecting the word of God, which this is.)
The word “approved” in 1 Corinthians 11:19 above is the seven times used Greek word dokimos, a word literally meaning what remains after being assayed. It is speaking of the result of a full examination, and the thereby refined thinking. It is the word used in 2 Timothy 2:15, also rendered approved, describing showing one’s self as such by study, and by purging self from “profane and vain babblings” and those teaching them. Paul also urges Timothy to avoid “foolish and unlearned questions” because they are meant to produce and continue endless arguments. These are the ways of the dividers of men, dividers of the body of Christ, who have brought in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD when He appears to end the division.
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.
7 Consider what I say; and the LORD give you understanding in all things.
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 [dokimos] unto God, a workman that needs 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 and Philetus [as we know, these names contain the meaning saying they are those who forbid joining with Christ, and do so as they hide behind the false mask, the sheep’s clothing, of love and caring];
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past [ginomai – come into being] already [they are saying the incorruptible state has been reached, which their own denial of the LORD, and their pride, contradict]; 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.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, 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 strife [they aren’t looking for truth, rather they merely want to continue an argument they will never let end – “ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”]
24 And the servant of the LORD must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness 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 [which is misleading advice, which causes men to stray away from God], who are taken captive by him at his will.
2 Peter 1
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 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 spake 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.
This approval process also manifests itself in the approval of men, when we wait for the LORD’s judgment, which is education that removes all errors. This appears as Zechariah 14 tells us, when these men’s tongues consume away, meaning their words, which have set the fire of hell, are seen as worthless and divisive (or vain and profane babblings).
1 Corinthians 4
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the LORD.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the LORD come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
The above is speaking of the approval, understood as what Peter tells of hearing as the Father’s voice from heaven, with which men of sound minds must agree. (see Romans 14:18 and 2 Corinthians 10:18 below)
Romans 14 begins by speaking of receiving those who are weak in the faith, and because of their weakness, they are judging one and other. The passage goes on to say that those who are strong in the faith should bear with the weak, who are the unlearned, long-suffering until they are educated into acknowledging the truth (see 2 Timothy 2:25 & 26 above).
Romans 14
10 But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at naught your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
14 I know, and am persuaded by the LORD Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteems any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
15 But if your brother be grieved with your meat, now walk you not charitably. Destroy not him with your meat, for whom Christ died.
16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
18 For he that in these things serves Christ is acceptable to God, and approved [dokimos] of men.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify [educate] another.
In the above, we understand the strong as those who have studied to show themselves approved, able to rightly divide the word of truth, and the weak those judging while a beam (an imbalance) is clouding their vision. “2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged: and with what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest you the mote that is in your brother’s eye, but consider not the beam that is in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, Let me pull out the mote out of your eye; and, behold, a beam is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of your own eye; and then shall you see clearly to cast out the mote out of your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7)
2 Corinthians 10
1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
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.
13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.
14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men’s labors; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s line of things made ready to our hand.
17 But he that glories, let him glory in the LORD.
18 For not he that commends himself is approved [dokimos], but whom the LORD commends.
These last verses are actually a reiteration of verses above, which speak of Christ in us as He who has prepared what will show us as approved. The word rendered “commends” is the word suniemi, meaning to be set together, here as joined with the LORD. In the prior post, we saw the last verse of Haggai saying this of Zerubbabel, the LORD saying He would put His signature upon him, to show He has chosen Him. We also saw this comes as the seal of the LORD shaking the wicked from the earth (Job 38:13 & 14), which we also saw from Hebrews 12 comes by His spoken word.
The pattern of Zerubbabel, the one who is born by coming out of confusion, who represents the LORD’s Righteous Judgment returned to civil government, is also represented in the one Isaiah calls Cyrus. Cyrus is described in Isaiah 45, which Paul also quotes in Romans 14:11 above. The name Cyrus is from Hebrew words telling of being measured in the furnace – or tried in the fires, as in dokimos, what remains after assayal.
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 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.
This is the context of James’ use of dokimos, in James 1:12, saying, “Blessed is the man that endures temptation: for when he is tried [dokimos], he shall receive the crown of life, which the LORD has promised to them that love him.”
This is the same crown Paul speaks of in 1 Thessalonians 2:19 & 20, which is those who have received the word he has preached and taught, as it is in spirit and truth, the word of God. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our LORD Jesus Christ at his coming? For you are our glory and joy.”
Friends, you who’ve believed this word I preach and teach is the word of God, you are my crown, and my joy. “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.” (Zechariah 9:16) “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.” (Malachi 3)
Isaiah 45
1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9 Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, What make you? or your work, He has no hands?
10 Woe unto him that says unto his father, What beget you? or to the woman, What have you brought forth?
11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command you me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, says the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus says the LORD, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto you, and they shall be yours: they shall come after you; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto you, they shall make supplication unto you, saying, Surely God is in you; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Truly you are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell you, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.
Zechariah 14
1 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with you.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.
Psalms 83
1 Keep not you silence, O God: hold not your peace, and be not still, O God.
2 For, lo, your enemies make a tumult: and they that hate you have lifted up the head.
3 They have taken crafty counsel against your people, and consulted against your hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against you:
6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre;
8 Assur also is joined with them: they have helped the children of Lot. Selah.
9 Do unto them as unto the Midianites; as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the brook of Kison:
10 Which perished at Endor: they became as dung for the earth.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb, and like Zeeb: yea, all their princes as Zebah, and as Zalmunna:
12 Who said, Let us take to ourselves the houses of God in possession.
13 O my God, make them like a wheel [as in these times past]; as the stubble before the wind.
14 As the fire burns a wood, and as the flame sets the mountains on fire;
15 So persecute them with your tempest, and make them afraid with your storm.
16 Fill their faces with shame; that they may seek your name, O LORD.
17 Let them be confounded and troubled for ever; yea, let them be put to shame, and perish:
18 That men may know that you, whose name alone is Jehovah, are the most high over all the earth.
And he [Isaiah] said, “Hear you now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?”
And he [Isaiah] said, “Hear you now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?”
The word “weary,” appearing twice above in Isaiah 7:13, is the Hebrew word la’ah, meaning to tire to the point of disgust. It is speaking of when the LORD has, over a long period, corrected those leading and teaching His people, with no effect, and therefore starts over with a new creation outside these corrupt orders. It is speaking of the extent of man’s preaching, even when through the very elect remnant, therefore the LORD more fully manifest Himself, openly showing his presence in the world among us. Isaiah 7:14 then describes His presence and glory personified as one born from a virgin: speaking of the elect remnant who haven’t been defile by the corrupt ideas of these unfaithful orders leading in church and state. “14 Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. 16 For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that you abhor shall be forsaken of both her kings [in church and state, sun and moon].”
Prior to the above verses, the LORD tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, “either in the depth, or in the height above.” Ahaz refuses, therefore the LORD responds with what is described in the above verses. These are telling of the LORD more fully manifesting His presence in Isaiah, his name (Ysha’Yah) meaning the Salvation of Jehovah, as one raised from among the elect remnant (the virgin) who have remained faithful and uncorrupted by the culture and time.
Friends, this is the veil covering the eyes of God’s people until this day, that the LORD has manifested Himself as Christ in man, and these men throughout history recorded it from this perspective. This is the context of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3 (as we saw in the previous post) when he speaks of the veil that was over Moses’ face, which wouldn’t be removed until each individual turns to the LORD, meaning seeing Him in the one the LORD comes to them in and through, and realizing it is Him, His actual presence and words, hearing and recognizing His voice, the veil is removes and the same glory seen is then the glory reproduced in the receiver. This is Advent.
2 Corinthians 3
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious [what remains is Christ – The LORD’s salvation manifested in and through those He anoints with His spirit and truth].
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face [we remove the veil and tell you it is Christ, One God, in us, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” Hebrews 13:8], that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty [“Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty” Hebrews 13:23].
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
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.
These are the sign the LORD told Ahaz to ask for, and even though he refused, it didn’t “weary my God,” who then proceeded to send the sign anyway, the same sign He would have sent if Ahaz had asked.
Isaiah 8
O Immanuel.
9 Associate yourselves, O you people, and you shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you of far countries: gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.
10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
11 For the LORD spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 Say you not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid.
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? [Should they be looking] for the living to the dead?
20 [Or] To the law and to the testimony[?]: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
The name Ahaz is from the Hebrew word ‘achaz, meaning to seize, and is the word rendered “take hold of” in Job 38:13 as the LORD speaks of when He has taken hold of the ends of earth, to shake it so the wicked will be shaken out of it.
Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light [understanding] is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwells? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That you should take it to the bound thereof, and that you should know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Know you it, because you were then born? or because the number of your days is great?
22 Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scatters the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who has gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Know you the ordinances of heaven? can you set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send lightning, that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Will you hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provides for the raven [those covered in darkness] his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat [they wander because the empty words and corrupt ideas of men can never satisfy, because there is no life in their words].
The “seal” the LORD speaks of in Job 38:14 above is the Hebrew word chowtham, meaning a signature rings, as in a seal that can only be opened by the intended receiver. Above it is speaking of the when the LORD takes hold of the end of the earth, to shake the wicked from it, as only being understood by those the LORD intends to receive – because they have received Him. We see the LORD goes on to say this light is withheld from wicked, to break their high arm, their pride in their own works, which itself is what blinds them and from them keeps the LORD’s presence veiled.
Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition of the primitive root word chatham, from where comes chowtham: #2856: chatham (pronounced khaw-tham’) a primitive root; to close up; especially to seal:–make an end, mark, seal (up), stop.
Friends, chatham is the word used twice in Daniel 9:24 where it tells of the time “to make an end” of sins, and to “seal up” the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. It is then used in Daniel 12:4 & 9, both as Daniel is told to “seal up” the book until the time of the end. This is the vision and the prophecy received from the LORD at His coming and opening the book that has been sealed to all other.
Friends, again I tell you, Daniel 9 speaks of the years now ending in total desolation, which were caused by men’s abominations, corrupted and defiled ideas. They are those these men brought into the holy place and with them replaced God. Their prayer should be the same as Daniels prayer, but instead, they proclaim their own righteousness and trust in their same old corrupted ideas. Upon us, God’s elect, has the light lighted; the seal is broken by receiving His understanding, and by Him we have been given the vision and the prophecy.
Isaiah 9
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
Daniel 9
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2 In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3 And I set my face unto the LORD God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4 And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O LORD, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5 We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from your precepts and from your judgments:
6 Neither have we hearkened unto your servants the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7 O LORD, righteousness belongs unto you, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
8 O LORD, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9 To the LORD our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed your law, even by departing, that they might not obey your voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12 And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand your truth.
14 Therefore has the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does: for we obeyed not his voice.
15 And now, O LORD our God, that have brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten you renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16 O LORD, according to all your righteousness, I beseech you, let your anger and your fury be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of your servant, and his supplications, and cause your face to shine upon your sanctuary that is desolate, for the LORD’s sake.
18 O my God, incline your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our supplications before you for our righteousnesses, but for your great mercies.
19 O LORD, hear; O LORD, forgive; O LORD, hearken and do; defer not, for your own sake, O my God: for your city and your people are called by your name.
20 And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21 Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding.
23 At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end [chatham] of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal [chatham] up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
The last of the fourteen times the word chowtham (God’s signature) appears is in the last verse of Haggai. There the LORD speaks of Zerubbabel as the one He makes His “signet,” to show He has chosen him. Zerubbabel, his name meaning he is born by coming out of the confusion that is ruling over the world, is the same as the one speaking in Hebrews 12, a book we know is a letter of introduction, introducing and validating the bishopric of Timothy.
These are the words of the LORD spoken to those who have become the Children of God by receiving His corrective salvation and deliverance, who have now come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, which is heavenly Jerusalem. This is the voice, this word now shaking heaven and earth, as we are also told of in Haggai 2.
Hebrews 12
6 For whom the LORD loves he chastens [corrects], and scourges [disciplines] every son whom he receives.
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?
8 But if you be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they truly for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18 For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To 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,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
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 [philadelphia] 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 with Christ as one body] is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers [those who buy and sell the souls of men] and adulterers [the unfaithful] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness [not trying to extort money in exchange for preaching]; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
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, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Haggai 2
3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel [God’s righteousness returned to civil government], says the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua [God’s righteousness returned to church government], son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work: for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you: fear you not.
6 For thus says the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of hosts.
10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:
16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you turned not to me, says the LORD.
18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it.
19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, has not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and will make you as a signet [chowtham]: for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The word above rendered “dragon” is from the Greek word drakon, said to probably be from the Greek word derkomai, meaning to see or look, in the sense of becoming fascinated. The word (drakon) only appears in book of Revelation (thirteen times), all as John reveals to us that the dragon is the serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan (from the Hebrew word satan, telling us he is opposing and resisting the word and work of the LORD God Almighty). Drakon appears to more likely be derived from the Hebrew word dakar, meaning to walk, an origin by which we understand the dragon as a serpent rising up and walking like a man (and men are fascinated by it).
We are told in Revelation 13 that a beast (Babylon – confusion) rises up from among the people (the sea), which has seven heads (ruling over all the church: God’s people) and ten horns (all civil governments of the world), and the dragon gave him his power (to ill advise and mislead into hell). Just before this he is described as like a leopard (camouflage to lurk and sneak up on prey), and having feet like a bear (to trample down, tear apart, and destroy), and a mouth like a lion (a mouth devouring the prey – by words).
Friends, earlier in Revelation 12 we are told this is the same dragon who led a third of God’s people in their fall from heaven, meaning from their fixed positions, steadfast by their understanding, into no longer depending on and trusting God’s sound advice, and thereby into confusion. These are the firsts, the leaders who joined in an open rebellion against God and opposing His truth; instead, they relied on, and teach others to rely on, their false doctrines and follow them into hell.
Later, in Revelation 16, John describes the coming of understanding, as first the waters of the river Euphrates are dried up, which represent the means through which have flowed the waters of confusion (bad advice, and death lurking below the surface unseen) to all the world, that by this the way of the kings of the east might be prepared – understood. We know these kings are the Magi, the Chaldeans: wise men who degenerated into using their words to manipulate and control people, and now, by this means, rule over all the world. John then tells us of the unfolding picture (uncovering – revealing) as these men are first seen as serpents (the dragons), then as the beast (confusion – Babylon), and are those who, ultimately, are clearly understood as false prophets.
Revelation 16
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth [as words opposing God and leading the rebellion against Him] of the dragon, and out of the mouth [as words of confusion] of the beast, and out of the mouth [telling of what never will never come] of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils [FOR THEY ARE SPIRITS in men, in kings – misleaders leading into hell], working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon [the mount of this rendezvous – appointed time and place of God’s Righteous Judgment on the earth].
When we remove the words, the misleading bad advice, that has clouded the minds of all God’s people, leading a third to actively oppose and resist God, and then put the others into a state of sleep and death, we then in spirit and truth clearly see, understand, this is the culmination of the fall that started in the garden, by listening to those then only seen as a serpent.
John tell us these are spirits of devils, demons drawing and leading men into hell, the result of the words coming from their mouths, now becoming seen as defiling spirits (degenerate minds denying reality/truth and creating confusion), seen as frog are seen when the waters of the muddied rivers are stopped/dried up.
Friends, it is the nature of man to not understand the magnitude of the moment they are living in and through, which in most cases hasn’t and can’t be comprehended until the fullness appears later in the effect. I tell you now we are living through these days. Now is when evil has taken full control of all the world’s information, denying absolute realities, even the distinction that men are men and women are women, and denying human conception creates a human. The only ways these demons confuse the world is by hate-filled demonization and ridicule, creating prejudice against all who refuse to agree and join. They silence truth and disregard any reality that contradicts their delusions and their effect of the society at large. They have become so blinded by the darkness, into which their own progressive extremism has led them, that within it they feel their evil and hate have won. In this self-confirming echo chamber, they now openly and pridefully flaunt their primitive (tribal) hatred and their ignorant ideas, feeling none will dare stand against their power to destroy men’s lives. It is the culmination, the end, when death is so swelled with pride, as the swelling of Jordan, and people act as if there is nothing wrong or abnormal about killing and consuming their infant children.
LORD, I pray that You open the eyes of Your people, so they will understand.
2 Kings 6
17 And Elisha [Salvation of God] prayed, and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray you, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
19 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek. But he led them to Samaria [the place where the people had set up idols in God’s place, among those whose eyes need to be opened].
20 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.
21 And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, “My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?”
22 And he [Elisha – Salvation of God] answered, You shall not smite them: would you smite those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.
23 And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria [those who have exalted themselves above God] came no more into the land of Israel.
24 And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad [son of the false gods, idols/ideas, that ruled over them] king of Syria gathered all his host, and went up, and besieged Samaria.
25 And there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until an donkey’s head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a cab of dove’s dung for five pieces of silver. [Because they had turned completely to idols, there was a famine for hearing the true word of God, by which man lives.]
26 And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, there cried a woman unto him, saying, Help, my LORD, O king.
27 And he said, If the LORD do not help you, whence shall I help you? out of the barn-floor, or out of the winepress?
28 And the king said unto her, What ails you? And she answered, [she didn’t want food, rather she wanted help to find and eat another women’s child, because they had already eaten hers] This woman [who is a pattern of an abortionist] said unto me, Give your son, that we may eat him to day, and we will eat my son to morrow.
29 So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto her on the next day, Give your son, that we may eat him: and she has hid her son.
30 And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he rent his clothes; and he passed by upon the wall, and the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth within upon his flesh.
31 Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat [the son of Him whose Righteous Judgment has come upon us] shall stand on him this day.
32 But Elisha sat in his house, and the elders sat with him; and the king sent a man from before him: but ere the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, See you how this son of a murderer has sent to take away mine head? look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold him fast at the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?
33 And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
2 Kings 7
1 Then Elisha said, Hear you the word of the LORD; Thus says the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria.
2 Then a lord on whose hand [the false prophets in whose advice they trusted] the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof.
3 And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die?
4 If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
5 And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there.
6 For the LORD had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. [They heard the same army God showed in 2 Kings 6:17, but had no idea who or what it was.]
7 Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.
8 And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did eat and drink, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it. [see 2 Corinthians 3 & 4 below – only hid from those whose mind have been blinded by the gods of the world, the defiled spirits now at working in the children of disobedience. We who see, see the unseen/what is hidden.]
9 Then they said one to another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.
10 So they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and donkeys tied, and the tents as they were.
11 And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within.
12 And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city.
13 And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray you, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see.
14 They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.
15 And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king.
16 And the people went out, and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.
17 And the king appointed the lord [the false prophets] on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him.
18 And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be to morrow about this time in the gate of Samaria:
19 And that LORD answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the LORD should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, you shall see it with your eyes, but shall not eat thereof.
20 And so it fell out unto him: for the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died.
2 Corinthians 3
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory [showed God’s presence], much more does the ministration of righteousness exceeds in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which [NOW, after condemnation has been done away with] remains is glorious. [John 3: 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation [the choice], that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that does evil hates the light {understanding}, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that does truth comes to the light [to understanding], that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.]
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face [so the glory of God, His presence in him, couldn’t be seen], that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD [when the understanding comes, that God is in man, as Christ, in this way reconciling the world to Himself by preaching this word of truth and teaching that leads into understanding – the light], the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image [Christ formed in us] from [His presence seen and heard] glory to [receiving it and the same] glory [is formed in us], even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
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.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death works in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the LORD Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Psalms 72
1 Give the king your judgments, O God, and your righteousness unto the king’s son.
2 He shall judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with judgment.
3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
4 He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.
5 They shall fear you as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.
6 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
7 In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endures.
8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.
9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
11 Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
12 For he shall deliver the needy when he cries; the poor also, and him that has no helper.
13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.
14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.
15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.
16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
17 His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.
18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only does wondrous things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.