Truly, truly, I say unto you, When you were young, you girded yourself, and walked wherever you would: but when you shall be old, you shall stretch forth your hands, and another shall gird you, and carry you where you would not.
In many previous posts, we’ve discussed the time and the LORD anointing and sending me/us to lead His people out of their bondage. We understand the captives are held by church and state institutions that became completely corrupt after they were carried away from God by the winds of their own false doctrines. The title, John 21:18, is the LORD speaking to Peter of this time, when they are carried back from where, when left to walk wherever they would, they walked away.
The word “carry” is the Greek word phero, which is telling of the LORD moving in men of His choosing, to give His words of instruction and guidance, which is the point of John 21, to carry them again into life. The chapter begins with the LORD appearing on the shore (at the destination) and calling to the disciples who are in a boat fishing. He asks them if they have any meat, referring to fish, both speaking of the deeper meaning that lies beneath the surface. They say they have none, and He directs them where to cast their net. They follow His instruction and their net is filled, and they realize, by the revelation, it is Him. Peter, as per his being the son of Jonah, realizing it is the LORD who is speaking to him, dives into the sea and swims to the shore. We are told that he, before His swim, gird his fishing garment, which is later referred to by the LORD in verse 18. The word “gird” is from the Greek word zonnumi, only appearing these two times, meaning to prepare, hear as in to bind clothing that is in the way of the work ahead: restricting and limiting the wearer.
The reference in verse 21 above is to Deuteronomy 18:15 thru 18, where the LORD tells of the one he will raise up, who the people will hear and follow. He says that this person will be like Moses, meaning he will, in the name of the LORD, lead God’s people from their captivity and to again receive and transmit His instructions (commandments).
The word phero (carry), next appear in Acts 2:2 where it is rendered “rushing” in telling of the sound, the great noise from heaven, of a mighty rushing (quickening) wind, which is the Holy Spirit moving. This is the great noise Peter speaks of in 2 Peter 3:10, saying, “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.” It is the same “great noise” Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 13:4 and 29:6, when the LORD gathers all His people to the battle. “The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.” “You shall be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.”
It is the same noise we have recently seen spoken of in Micah 2:12, saying, “I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah [as One flock], as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.”
Peter, earlier in 1 Peter 1:13, speaks of this grace, the free gift given, which is able to gird (prepare by raising) up our minds, and is brought to us at the revelation of the Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought [phero – will carry you into life] unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15 But as he which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation;
16 Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy.
17 And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
18 Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation [worthless words – ideas and ways you were taught] received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times FOR YOU,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away:
25 But the word of the LORD endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Verses 24 & 25 are quoting from Isaiah 40 where the word of God is instructing us what we should say, which is as a great noise that is heard, that prepared the way of the LORD.
Isaiah 40
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
This instruction is the LORD moving His people to accomplish these things: joining into unity, which brings order that results from obedience and carries us into life. Peter further explains as he used the word phero four more times, in 2 Peter 1:17, 18 & 21.
2 Peter 1
11 For so an entrance [into unity] shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet [fitting], as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our LORD Jesus Christ has shown me.
15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came [phero – sound of the Holy Spirit moving which carries into life] 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 [phero] 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 [understanding] that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star [phosphoros – light bearer, carrying understanding] arise in your hearts [is seen by the analysis of your reasoning mind]:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came [phero] not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved [phero] by the Holy Ghost.
This same moving is what leads us into a deeper understanding, a more complete description stored away for this moment, so we would know and respond to the LORD’s instructions, led from captivity and carried into life.
This captivity is spoken of Isaiah 19 by using the name Egypt, as the LORD appears riding on a swift cloud. The Hebrew word rendered Egypt is Mitsrayim, which is plural (im) of the Hebrew word matsowr, meaning to limit. The idea is of compounding limitation, as in hemming in, which is what the girding relieves – per the above discussion.
Isaiah 19
1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rides upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart [their rationale – the idea upon which the lean, their elements] of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
3 And the spirit [of disobedience] of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel LORD; and a fierce king shall rule over them [the spirit of Satan, the prince of the air, the power that now works in the children of disobedience], says the LORD, the LORD of hosts.
5 And the waters [the lying words and ideas] shall fail from the sea [shall lose, have lost, their power over the masses], and the river [the ways their deceptions flow to the people] shall be wasted and dried up.
6 And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defense shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
7 The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
8 The fishers also shall mourn [because they can’t any longer catch fish], and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish [because they have no meat].
9 Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
10 And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish [to hem in their catch].
11 Surely the princes of Zoan [those who have departed from the LORD] are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh [the house of the kings who have ruled as lords over God people] is become brutish: how say you unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
12 Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed upon Egypt.
13 The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph [marked by exalting themselves] are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
14 The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.
16 In that day shall Egypt be like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shakes over it.
17 And the land of Judah [the people the LORD has freed from their captivity – the elect remnant] shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that makes mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he has determined against it.
18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan [the language of shame, speaking promises they are unable to produce], and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction.
19 In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
20 And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them. [Amen!]
21 And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians [the captives] shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria [a way to rise out of captivity], and the Assyrian [steps] shall come into Egypt [captives], and the Egyptian [captives] into Assyria [the steps that lead them out of where they’ve degenerated], and the Egyptians [captives] shall serve with the Assyrians [those who had descended by degrees].
24 In that day shall Israel [those who reign with God, as He reigns in them] be the third with Egypt [those who have come out of captivity] and with Assyria [and those who have come out of their degeneration], even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.
This revelation of the LORD bringing His people back, from the captivity and degeneration by following corrupt leaders, princes and kings, is spoken on in Job 38. There we are given the full picture in the names used for the star, who the LORD brings to light as He speaks of the sound from heaven and the waters (words). This same story is then told again in Joel 3 when all are brought into the valley of decision where they must to decide who will rule over them. Will you choose those who’ve led the world into darkness or the One who has led it into the light of this new day?
Joel 3
9 Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat [where Jehovah has Judged]: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. [all understand shall, has been, removed from church, state, and God’s people at large.]
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion.
Amos speaks of the day of the LORD being darkness, which we know is the night the LORD comes into, as a thief. Amos is speaking of this time when there is no understanding and tells of it caused by the people turning away from God to idols. He tells of the condition and of the ignorance of those who rule over God’s people.
Amos 5
1 Hear you this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus says the LORD God; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus says the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek you me, and you shall live:
5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. [The places where the idols were set in God’s place, and the devil priests call the idols God. There the waters swirled in confusion constantly.]
6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that makes the seven stars [same word as Pleiades] and Orion [telling of the word stored away {waters frozen as if turned to stone} and the foolishness that follows, which when released turns confusion into understanding], and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause [Have I Caused] you to go into captivity beyond Damascus [where all the workman are drunken, in tear, and silenced], says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
Amos 6
1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria [where they have set their idols in God’s place], which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!
2 Pass you unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go you to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?
3 You that put far away the evil day [the darkness that in now upon them, of which they are ignorant], and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; [who consume God’s people]
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph [their brother they’ve sold into captivity in Egypt].
7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
8 The LORD God has sworn by himself, says the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency [those who exalt themselves] of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.
9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.
Job 38
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 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 dwell? 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, [the word of God frozen in heaven and sent to the earth to melt into understanding]
23 Which I have reserved [kept for My own use] against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light [understanding] parted, which scatters the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who has [rightly] divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters [this word of God], or a way for the lightning of thunder [understanding and the voice of its great noise];
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; [as in the creation from the ruins – before God’s air was breathed in and man came to life]
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? [by the man there now to till the ground]
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 [who carried forth the understanding of the word of God that had been frozen]?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep [the deeper understanding that is present, but] is frozen.
31 Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? [Pleiades is from the Hebrew word kuwmaz, meaning stored away, and is rendered tablet. The LORD is asking – can you bind what has bound and stored away. Or can you loose these bands to those who have become fools {Orion – keciyl} without them?]
32 Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons? [Mazzaroth is from the same word as Egypt, telling of the captives – who the carries to the new birth by loosing the bands of the foolish. Arctrurus is from ‘uwsh, the same word rendered assemble in Joel 3:11 above, which it telling of the releasing the captives, awakening them from their foolishness and gathering them to assemble for the battle ahead.]
33 Know you the ordinances of heaven [do you know the order hidden here]? can you set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters [so this word of God] may cover you?
35 Can you send lightnings [understanding], 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 [because there is no man to till it], 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 his food [those covered in darkness – who have become fools without understanding]? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat [without a deeper understanding they wander away – and when they cry to God He guides them back to it].
Psalms 48
1 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.
2 Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.
3 God is known in her palaces for a refuge.
4 For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together.
5 They saw it, and so they marveled; they were troubled, and hasted away.
6 Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.
7 You breaks the ships of Tarshish [of those who are fleeing from their oath] with an east wind.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it for ever. Selah.
9 We have thought of your lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of your temple.
10 According to your name, O God, so is your praise unto the ends of the earth: your right hand is full of righteousness.
11 Let mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of your judgments.
12 Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof.
13 Mark you well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following.
14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death [should read – he will guide us even out of death].
