Part 2: Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
The above, Isaiah 44:6, comes in a passage where the LORD is telling of now when again He causes to shoot forth new life, by His own hand setting us again in proper order. It’s telling of Jehovah (the LORD) as the King of Israel, which is referring us to the last of the rightful kings of Israel, whose name is Mattaniah, meaning the gift of Jehovah. We’ve seen the Hebrew word mattan also in Arimathaea, a name fully meaning the mountain of the gift of Jehovah (har-mattan-Yah]. We’ve seen these two names connected to the body of the LORD and rightful King, and where it has been separated from us by our sins, which blinded us to His presence and deafened us from hearing His voice.
The LORD (Jehovah) is the redeemer, the next of kin who has the right to claim the body, to redeem it from those who’ve killed it, as did Joseph of Arimathaea. We’ve seen the name Joseph is referring us to this separation, when his brothers sold him into captivity. As we know, this was ultimately the plan, when his grace would save (redeem) them, all Israel (the body), from the famine (without the word of God) that came upon the world.
The patterns, the many parts gathered from the many writers the LORD inspirited, are gathered into one message by Him in one son and messenger, who is the rightful kinsman and redeemer.
Isaiah 44 tells of the understanding of God’s people taken away when they made and followed graven images they called their god, idols men created and worship. This is more fully explained when we look at Mattaniah and why his name was changed to Zedekiah. The name falsely claims he is the righteousness of Jehovah, meaning he is the correct understanding, interpretation, embodiment, of “Jehovah the King of Israel.”
His name was changed by Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:17), names we know describe the lies of the false prophets (nebo) that caused the desolation of God’s people, and their teaching became the confusion (Babylon) that rules over the world. The name Zedekiah is meant to refer us to two false prophets of the same name.
The first of these is Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah, meaning he is trading on God’s name, as do all the modern self-described prophets and teachers. He is the leader of the prophets who advised Ahab to go to war with Syria, against the advice of the one true prophet named Micaiah, his name meaning he is like Jehovah. As we have seen, Micaiah is the unnamed son of 1 King’s 17, who was filled (fed) by the teaching of Elijah during a time of the famine (for God’s word). He then died and was raised from the dead, in the pattern of the LORD’s body, through the same Elijah.
This occurs in a place called Zarephath, said to mean refining, and is meant to refer us to Malachi 3 & 4, and the words zerach and zarach we saw in the prior post (Isaiah 60:1 thru 3) telling of our rising and the LORD rising upon us (as the sunrise). In Malachi, we are told of the refiner who comes to prepare the way before the LORD, the necessary clearing away of false teaching so He can again be seen and heard. We are also there told this comes as the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. Malachi also speaks against the same false prophets, false Christs claimed they are anointed by God to trade on His Holy Name. He says they, and thereby the whole nation, has robbed him.
As we know, the “Sun” rising, from the Hebrew word shamesh, meaning sun, rising in the east, and the brilliance of its rays, is the sign the LORD speaks of in Matthew 24. There, He first warns of the false prophets who will come trading upon His name, saying they are anointed (Christos – anointed) by God to lead (teach and preach). Then He tells of His coming to us, as a sun rising, and shining his light (understanding) on all, wherever they are (not where the false teachers and false prophets are telling you to look). He also says He will be in the clouds of heaven, which we know speaks of where understanding is held, in a vapor, after it was taken from the earth. There in heaven, in the air, it waited for Him to bring the vapor together and send it back to earth as the latter rain upon all.
Matthew 24
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning [understanding] comes out of the east [as the sun rise], and shines even unto the west [upon all]; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For where-so-ever the carcass is [the dead body of Christ], there will the eagles be gathered together [with healing in their wings].
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened [now when the church is seen without this understanding], and the moon shall not give her light [civil government also without understanding], and the stars shall fall from heaven [from their fixed positon in heaven, where they were lights in the darkness that could be used to navigate the journey to life], and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken [so the untrue can be shaken from it]:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven [freely shining His understanding upon all]: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven [where understanding has been held, and from where it is now sent] with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels [his messengers] with a great sound of a trumpet [calling all to muster for the battle ahead], and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves [shoots forth new life], you know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise you, when you shall see [eido – know] all these things, know [ginosko – by the knowledge seen, understand] that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Truly I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away [because it is the LORD who keeps it {tereo and shamar}].
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.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?
14 You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
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 4
1 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun [Shemesh] of righteousness arise [zarach] with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse [destruction it has earned].
1 Kings 17
8 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
9 Arise, get you to Zarephath [the refining the brings the rising], which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
11 And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.
12 And she said, As the LORD your God lives, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
13 And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as you have said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for you and for your son.
14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD send [the latter] rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Elijah.
17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with you, O you man of God? are you come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
19 And he said unto her, Give me your son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, have you also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
21 And he stretched [madad – measured – he assessed his condition against himself, to see if he was yet Micaiah, who is like Jehovah] himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray you, let this child’s soul come into him again.
22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, your son lives.
24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth [by which, only, comes life] is truth.
As we know, in the following chapter Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal, who are destroyed when the LORD sends fire from heaven. This is the same fire Peter (2 Peter 3) speaks of as reserved in heaven for this time, to destroy the old elements (stoicheion), corrupt foundational ideas of the modern false prophets and false teacher, and to bring in the new heaven and earth, wherein dwell righteousness. After their destruction occurs, in 1 Kings 18, we are then told of the latter rain coming.
In 1 Kings 22, we see the false prophets of God’s people, who misguided Ahab the king of Israel. It ends in his demise, after going into battle against the advice of Micaiah. The below proportion of the chapter tells of Ahab putting Micaiah in prison until he returns, a return that never occurs. It not only leads to conclude he is (spiritually) still there, but also to understand these same false prophets are still among us.
1 Kings 22
6 Then the king of Israel [Ahab] gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramothgilead [the false testimony in high places of power] to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up; for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
7 And Jehoshaphat [Jehovah has judged] said, Is there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him?
8 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah [who is like God] the son of Imlah [who God has filled – by Elijah], by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
9 Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten hither Micaiah the son of Imlah.
10 And the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah sat each on his throne, having put on their robes, in a void place in the entrance of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets prophesied before them.
11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah [trading on God’s name] made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus says the LORD, With these shall you push the Syrians, until you have consumed them.
12 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the king’s hand.
13 And the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah spoke unto him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good unto the king with one mouth: let your word, I pray you, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good.
14 And Micaiah said, As the LORD lives, what the LORD says unto me, that will I speak.
15 So he came to the king. And the king said unto him, Micaiah, shall we go against Ramothgilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go, and prosper: for the LORD shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
16 And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjure you that you tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the LORD?
17 And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.
18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil?
19 And he said, Hear you therefore the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
20 And the LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramothgilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner.
21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him.
22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, You shall persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so.
23 Now therefore, behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets, and the LORD has spoken evil concerning you.
24 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to speak unto you?
25 And Micaiah said, Behold, you shall see in that day, when you shall go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.
26 And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon [the master builders] the governor of the city, and to Joash [as a gift from Jehovah] the king’s son;
27 And say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I come in peace.
28 And Micaiah said, If you return at all in peace, the LORD has not spoken by me. And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you.
29 So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead.
Jeremiah then refers to this event, saying it is when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon roasted Zedekiah and Ahad in the fire. This event never happened, but is instead Jeremiah telling of the underlying truth of the event, that it was the lies of the false prophets which caused the end of Ahab. It is the truth from heaven destroying the credibility of the false prophets and false teachers among God’s people. It is their self-created confusion that consumes them and their corrupt foundational ideas in the fire they’ve created.
Jeremiah 29
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed.
9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name: I have not sent them, says the LORD.
10 For thus says the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon [in blinding confusion] I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12 Then shall you call upon me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And you shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.
14 And I will be found of you, says the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, says the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
15 Because you have said, The LORD has raised us up prophets in Babylon;
16 Know that thus says the LORD of the king that sits upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwell in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity;
17 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
18 And I will persecute them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations whither I have driven them:
19 Because they have not hearkened to my words, says the LORD, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them; but you would not hear, says the LORD.
20 Hear you therefore the word of the LORD, all you of the captivity, whom I have sent from Jerusalem to Babylon [from peace into confusion]:
21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name; Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall slay them before your eyes;
22 And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, The LORD make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire;
23 Because they have committed villainy in Israel [as did Ahad and Zedekiah], and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, says the LORD.
The verses above that speak of Ahab and Zedekiah are Jeremiah speaking to king Zedekiah, the king who sits on David’s throne. He is using these names to define Him as a son of Ahab and his prophets in the pattern of Ahab’s false prophets.
Here is the verse where we are told of Mattaniah’s name being changed to Zedekiah, “And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.”
The name Ahab means father’s brother, and as we know, from 2 Kings 8:18 and 2 Chronicles 21:6, he is an actual descendant of Ahab by his ancestor king Jehoram marrying Ahab’s daughter. Above calling him a son of Kolaiah is telling of his falsely claiming he is the LORD’s voice (opposing Jeremiah –Jehovah rising in Him, just as Ahab opposed Elijah, and Ahab and Zedekiah opposed Micaiah). When Zedekiah is called the son of Maaseiah, the meaning is he is falsely claiming he is doing the work of Jehovah [as he does in 1 Kings 22:23, when His strikes Micaiah in the face in the name of the LORD].
When verse 21 says these sons of Ahab, the false prophets and misleaders he has produced, will be killed before Zedekiah’s eyes, it is referring to both what the LORD said of Ahab in 1 Kings 21:29, “I will not bring the evil in his days: but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.” And what happens before king Zedekiah’s eyes before they (his eyes) were put out.
Jeremiah 52
9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah [in confusion and fruitless, without sons] in the land of Hamath [where he has been kept]; where he gave judgment upon him.
10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he slew also all the princes of Judah in Riblah [in the place they are kept by confusion].
11 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Isaiah 34
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
Isaiah 44
6 Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them.
8 Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant: I have formed you; you are my servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of me.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
24 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
25 That frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 That confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; that says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
27 That says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers:
28 That says of Cyrus [the possessor of the furnace {of the refining}], He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.
Psalms 121
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence comes my help.
2 My help comes from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer your foot to be moved: he that keeps [shamar] you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keeps [shamar] Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD is your keeper [shamar]: the LORD is your shade upon your right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD shall preserve [shamar] you from all evil: he shall preserve [shamar] your soul.
8 The LORD shall preserve [shamar] your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
