Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The above is Matthew 26:41 and is the LORD speaking to Peter and the two sons of Zebedee (James and John), who were unable to stay awake for one hour. The passage is speaking of death as described in the prior post, which is the product of men, here even the disciples, forgetting and thereby unable to recognize the LORD. This is the hour of temptation that comes upon all the world, spoken of by the LORD in Revelation 3 as He speaks to the church at Philadelphia.
This temptation comes upon the church of Laodicea subduing it into blindness: lukewarm, without sight, and unable to see their true condition: without heavenly wealth or cover. As we’ve previously discussed, the temptation is the trial that comes when men doubt the LORD is among them (manifested by Him speaking through a man), and refers to Exodus 17:1 thru 7.
Exodus 17
1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin [thorns – speaking of the leaders who chided with Moses], after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim [the place where they slept – were unaware of the LORD with them and speaking in Moses]: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? wherefore do you tempt the LORD [doubt He is among you, to provide what {the word of God} is needed for life]?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that you have brought us up out of Egypt [out of captivity, but still blinded by the ways they learned therein], to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, wherewith you smote the river [turning their waters to blood, showing they {their words and ways} were what had drained the life and sight from God’s people], take in your hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before you there upon the Rock in Horeb [Christ in Moses, giving His word in this time of drought and desolation]; and you shall smite the Rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah [temptation], and Meribah [contention – strife], because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that open, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan [the churches that resist and deny the LORD’s presence, in our flesh], which say they are Jews [Judah – say they are the elect remnant], and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience [the way the LORD said, in John 14:23, He would manifest Himself to us and not to the world, after a time when we didn’t see Him and see Him again], I also will keep you from the hour of temptation [show us He is among us, as in Exodus 17 above, which Paul also described in 1 Corinthians 10], which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you wert cold or hot.
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve [kollorion – giving sight that joins us with the LORD], that you may see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
Do you understand this is the LORD speaking to you in these words? Do you see Him yet, in the son of man? Do you understand He has prepared us/you to see Him, by removing the leaven, the corrupting creations of men, which blinded all the world to Him?
John 14
1 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4 And whither I go you know, and the way you know.
5 Thomas said unto him, LORD, we know not whither you go; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.
7 If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip said unto him, LORD, show us the Father, and it suffices us [perfect us – seeing the Father in the son perfects us, brings us to the expected end].
9 Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father?
10 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.
30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in me.
31 But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
1 Corinthians 10
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry [the creations men have put in place of God].
15 I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? [speaking of His preaching and teaching, in me/us and through me/us]
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
18 Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
19 What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing?
20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the LORD, and the cup of devils: you cannot be partakers of the LORD’s table, and of the table of devils.
Ephesians 5
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things comes the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
7 Be not you therefore partakers with them.
8 For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the LORD: walk as children of light:
9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
10 Proving what is acceptable unto the LORD.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.
13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever does make manifest is light.
14 Wherefore he says, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the LORD is.
As we know, verse 14 above, speaking of when the sleeping awakens and sees the LORD again, is quoted from Isaiah 60:1 & 2, after chapter 59 tells of what has hidden the LORD’s face from us and kept us from joining with Him.
Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 None call for justice, nor any plead for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eat of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breakout into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither does justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
Isaiah 60
1 Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon you.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon you, and his glory shall be seen upon you.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
5 Then you shall see, and flow together, and your heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea [the masses] shall be converted unto you, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto you.
This moment is when the gates of hell no longer hold God’s people in darkness; when they awaken to see the LORD, and the masses see His glory upon us and are converted. As we’ve seen, the name Moab speaks of the gates of hell (see the post of 16 September 2019), which Isaiah earlier describes in chapter 16, in a message that continues into Isaiah 17 and verse 7 telling of when the LORD is again seen.
Isaiah 16
1 Send you the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela [the rock, petra, see post of 20 August 2019] to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion. [See Revelation 14:1]
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab [the men whose ideas are the gates of hell] shall be [cast out] at the fords of Arnon [the brawling stream – at the waters of strife, which flowed from the rock and showed God’s presence].
3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wanders.
4 Let mine outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 And in mercy shall the throne be established [the king line reestablished]: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab [swelling {of Jordan} pride that carries all into death, at the gates of hell]; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kirhareseth [wall of broken {earthen} vessels] shall you mourn; surely they are stricken.
8 For the fields of Heshbon [their strongholds – in which they put their trust] languish, and the vine of Sibmah [smell rotten]: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer [where they need help], they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
9 Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water you with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh [where God is rising]: for the shouting for your summer fruits and for your harvest is fallen.
10 And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.
11 Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab [the gates of hell], and mine inward parts for Kirharesh [for their brokenness].
12 And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.
13 This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning Moab [the gates of hell] since that time.
14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned [galah – understood to be without value], with all that great multitude [the agitated masses]; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble [without power/strength until they receive the report and see the LORD].
Isaiah 17
1 The burden of Damascus [tears and silence]. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
2 The cities of Aroer [naked, in ignorance] are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.
3 The fortress also shall cease from Ephraim [what God’s people have before mistakenly put their trust in], and the kingdom from Damascus [tears and silence], and the remnant of Syria [exalted {by the LORD}]: they shall be as the glory of the children of Israel, says the LORD of hosts.
4 And in that day it shall come to pass, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall wax lean.
5 And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the corn, and reaps the ears with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathers ears in the valley of Rephaim [where God’s people have fallen asleep].
6 Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost fruitful branches thereof, says the LORD God of Israel.
7 At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. [the few, the elect remnant, shall see the LORD and follow Him – again, see Revelation 14]
8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images. [They aren’t defiled by the creations of men {by women, the corrupted churches}.]
9 In that day shall his strong cities be as a forsaken bough, and an uppermost branch, which they left because of the children of Israel: and there shall be desolation.
10 Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of your strength, therefore shall you plant pleasant plants, and shall set it with strange slips:
11 In the day shall you make your plant to grow, and in the morning shall you make your seed to flourish: but the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at evening-tide trouble; and before the morning he is not. This is the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us.
Revelation 14
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon [confusion] is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast [Babylon – confusion] and his image [the creations of confusion], and receive his mark in his forehead [the ideas of confusion], or in his hand [the works of confusion],
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God [this word, which exposes them], which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name [Babylon – confusion].
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love [Philadelphia] continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels [sons of man, the messengers of the LORD, giving understanding to the ignorant] 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 the LORD] is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers [those who treat men as merchandise] and adulterers [those who’ve left God for idols] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; 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.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Psalms 47
1 O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5 God is gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing you praises with understanding.
8 God reigns over the heathen: God sits upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
