15 Days to Slow the Spread (of Gas to the South) and the Holodomor (or the story of two Joes)
As we know, the title is a take-off on the first lie about the lockdown that started over a year ago and still exists in many states and cities with Democrat governors and mayors. The southern states, primarily red, whose gas was shut off a few days ago, after shunning the irrational COVID restrictions, were (up until now) experiencing somewhat of a renaissance, again flourishing and prospering in freedom.
As we know, the current communist-controlled administration (the U.S. executive and legislative branches) had already moved against the same oil and gas industry in the other, primarily red, states. These restrictions came in the form of executive orders curbing fracking, killing the Keystone Pipeline, and ending new and existing federal oil and gas leases.
As we all know, since these first restrictions were announced and started taking effect, prices at the pumps are way up, in some places as much as doubling. The current pipeline shutoff will surely drive prices up even higher.
The issues here are distribution and delivery, or if you will, “logistics.” There is no shortage of gas (oil) in the macro sense, only a lack of sources and means of getting it from point “A” to point “B.” The latter (point “B”), in all cases, is the consumers who necessarily need it to survive in the world as it exists in rural America.
Understanding (knowing and accepting) these facts as we do, brings us to the Holodomor. As discussed in previous posts, it occurred when the policies of communists in the Soviet Union first caused a famine and then diverted available food away from political enemies in Ukraine. The name Holodomor translates to “extermination [by] hunger,” and from this controlled famine came millions of deaths.
From Britannica.com:
“The origins of the famine lay in the decision by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to collectivize agriculture in 1929. Teams of Communist Partyagitators forced peasants to relinquish their land, personal property, and sometimes housing to collective farms, and they deported so-called kulaks—wealthier peasants—as well as any peasants who resisted collectivization altogether. Collectivization led to a drop in production, the disorganization of the rural economy, and food shortages. It also sparked a series of peasant rebellions, including armed uprisings, in some parts of Ukraine.
“…the elite leadership of the Soviet Communist Party, took a series of decisions that widened and deepened the famine in the Ukrainian countryside. Farms, villages, and whole towns in Ukraine were placed on blacklists and prevented from receiving food. Peasants were forbidden to leave the Ukrainian republic in search of food. Despite growing starvation, food requisitions were increased and aid was not provided in sufficient quantities. The crisis reached its peak in the winter of 1932–33, when organized groups of police and communist apparatchiks ransacked the homes of peasants and took everything edible, from crops to personal food supplies to pets. Hunger and fear drove these actions, but they were reinforced by more than a decade of hateful and conspiratorial rhetoric emanating from the highest levels of the Kremlin.
“Between 1931 and 1934 at least 5 million people perished of hunger all across the U.S.S.R. Among them, according to a study conducted by a team of Ukrainian demographers, were at least 3.9 million Ukrainians.”
Friends, this current “gas” crisis is just another foreign attack carried out by domestic enemies in control, aimed at destroying the remnant of our Christian culture and the nation as founded. It will continue as long as these men are in control, and the leadership on our side fails to understand and acknowledge the magnitude of the evil arrayed (in battle) against us.
These are the same people who just HYPED a common virus to intentionally create fear and panic they used to destroy millions of lives and livelihoods, all for political power and control. This magnitude of evil came after they failed at using other known (proven) lies trying to achieve the same destructive end.
Remember, with these evil misleaders, everything is political, to be used to destroy any standing in the way of their power and control. They are known liars and false accusers telling known lies and making false accusations, now to cover their intentional misleading into our final destruction. There will be no end to these created or hyped crises – they are their “new normal.” There is no end to their “evil” misleading, no end to their lies. Never underestimate it, and know everything coming from them is what we know it is.
A prudent man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life.
The word simple above, Proverbs 22:3 & 4, is from the Hebrew word pthiy, “or pethiy {peh’-you}; or pthaeiy {peth-aw-ee’}; from 6601; silly (i.e. seducible):–foolish, simple(-icity, one).”
The word rendered “prudent” is ‘aruwm, meaning “cunning (usually in a bad sense):–crafty, prudent, subtle.” Of the eleven times it’s used, the first three are in an evil (of misleaders) context and the final eight, all in Proverbs, are good (of Godly wisdom). In this light, we understand the words of the LORD, saying “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be you therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Matthew 10:16
The first time ‘aruwm appears, in Genesis 3:1, it’s describing the serpent as more “subtle” than all the beast of the field (those in the world without the good Spirit of God). As we know, Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11:3, speaks of the same (subtlety), as to how the serpent twists truth and misleads away from the simplicity (confusing) that is in Christ. This “simplicity” understands God in the flesh, manifesting His presence in His good corrective advice, saving those (the seducible) the wicked have through evil misled.
1 Timothy 3 14 These things write I unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly: 15 But if I tarry long, that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth [see Provers 22:28 below]. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles [preached to all who don’t know Him], believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Romans 10 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, LORD, who has believed our report? 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. 19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21 But to Israel he say, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
1 Timothy 4 1 Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6 If you put the brethren in remembrance of these things, you shall be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto you have attained. 7 But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise yourself rather unto godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. 10 For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe. 11 These things command and teach. 12 Let no man despise your youth; but be you an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. 14 Neglect not the gift that is in you, which was given you by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. 15 Meditate upon these things; give yourself wholly to them; that your profiting may appear to all. 16 Take heed unto yourself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you.
2 Corinthians 11 1 Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him. 5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chief apostles. 6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things. 7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? 8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. 9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. 10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. 11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knows. 12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we [as men in who a spirit is working and speaking: the good LORD in us, and Satan, the misleading devil, in the wicked]. 13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. 16 I say again, let no man think me a fool; if otherwise, yet as a fool receive me, that I may boast myself a little. 17 That which I speak, I speak it not after the LORD, but as it were foolishly, in this confidence of boasting. 18 Seeing that many glory after the flesh, I will glory also. 19 For you suffer fools gladly, seeing you yourselves are wise. 20 For you suffer, if a man bring you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. 21 I speak as concerning reproach, as though we had been weak. Howbeit where-in-so-ever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also.
The Greek word above rendered “subtlety,” the equivalent of ‘aruwm, is panourgia, used five times, always in an evil sense, as above, that “your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
Paul uses it (panourgia), in Ephesians 4:14. to further describe when, as he says in 1 Timothy 3:16 above, after the LORD is preached, He is “believed on in the world, [and] received up into glory.” This preaching is the vocation to which we’re called: the mission into which I Am sent, to bring the church into unity under one voice.
Matthew 12 30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathers not with me scatters abroad. 31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy [reviling and demonizing the LORD unknown working and speaking] against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost [against the work and word of the LORD unknown], it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.
Hebrews 12 22 But you [my friends] 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.
Ephesians 4 1 I therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, 2 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3 Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; 5 One LORD, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he says, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity [what part of “unity,” this simplicity, is hard to understand?] of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ [one body joined with Him, with the one God has chosen and sent into the world, as the only head]: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness [panourgia], whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying [educating] of itself in love. 17 This I say therefore, and testify in the LORD, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated [separated as strangers and aliens] from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: 19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. 20 But you have not so learned Christ; 21 If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be you angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. 28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs. 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying [educating], that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.
Proverbs 22 1 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. 2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. 3 A prudent [‘aruwm] man foresees the evil, and hides himself: but the simple [pthiy – the seducible] pass on, and are punished. 4 By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honor, and life. 5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the forward [those who, with evil intentions, twist and pervert truth]: he that does keep his soul shall be far from them. 6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 7 The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. 8 He that sows iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail. 9 He that has a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he gives of his bread to the poor. 10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease. 11 He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend. 12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthrows the words of the transgressor. 13 The slothful man says, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. 14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein. 15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. 16 He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he that gives to the rich, shall surely come to want. 17 Bow down your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; they shall withal be fitted in your lips. 19 That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to you this day, even to you. 20 Have not I written to you excellent things in counsels and knowledge, 21 That I might make you know the certainty of the words of truth; that you might answer the words of truth to them that send unto you? 22 Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: 23 For the LORD will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. 24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man you shall not go: 25 Lest you learn his ways, and get a snare to your soul. 26 Be not you one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. 27 If you have nothing to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you? 28 Remove not the ancient landmark, which your fathers have set [see verse 6 above]. 29 See you a man diligent in his business? he shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men.
Paul uses the word panourgia in 1 Corinthians 3:19, quoting Job 5:13, where it is the once used word ‘orem (“craftiness”), the only time Job is directly quoted in the New Testament. The word ‘aruwm appears in the verse before, in Job 5:12, rendered “crafty.” Paul, in verse 20, follows his quote, also quoting Psalms 94:11.
1 Corinthians 3 8 Now he that plants and he that waters are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9 For we are laborers together with God: you are God’s husbandry, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder, I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. 18 Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written [in Job 5:13], He taketh the wise in their own craftiness [panourgia]. 20 And again, The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; 23 And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.
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 [to understanding] the hidden things of darkness [the things hidden in the ignorance of the so-called wise of this world], and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
Job 5 1 Call now, if there be any that will answer you; and to which of the saints wilt you turn? 2 For wrath kill the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one. 3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. 4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them. 5 Whose harvest the hungry eats up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swallows up their substance. 6 Although affliction comes not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground; 7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. 8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: 9 Which does great things and unsearchable; marvelous [pala’ – opening the eyes of the blind] things without number: 10 Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields: 11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. 12 He disappoints the devices of the crafty [‘aruwm], so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. 13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness [‘orem]: and the counsel of the froward [those who twist and pervert truth, to intentionally mislead] is carried headlong. 14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope in the noonday as in the night. 15 But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. 16 So the poor has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth. 17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correct: therefore despise not you the chastening of the Almighty: 18 For he makes sore, and binds up: he wounds, and his hands make whole.
Psalms 94 1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show yourself. 2 Lift up yourself, you judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud. 3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? 4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? 5 They break in pieces your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage. 6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. 7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it. 8 Understand, you brutish among the people: and you fools, when will you be wise? 9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see? 10 He that chastises the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know? 11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. 12 Blessed is the man whom you chastens, O LORD, and teaches him out of your law; 13 That you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. 14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. 15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? 17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence. 18 When I said, My foot slips; your mercy, O LORD, held me up. 19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me your comforts delight my soul. 20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you, which frames mischief by a law? 21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. 22 But the LORD is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge. 23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.
Psalms 95 1 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. 3 For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. 7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if you will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. 10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: 11 Unto whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Hebrews 3 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost says, Today if you will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4 1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limits a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. 14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Psalms 19 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handy-work. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple [pthiy – the seducible]. 8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. 11 Moreover by them is your servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. 12 Who can understand his [own] errors? cleanse you me from secret faults. 13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. 14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
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.
The word above rendered “put on” is the Hebrew word labash, “or labesh {law-bashe’}; a primitive root; properly, wrap around, i.e. (by implication) to put on a garment or clothe (oneself, or another), literally or figuratively.
The title, Isaiah 59:17, comes in telling of when the LORD came and found no man defending justice or truth and wondered that there was no intercessor. Instead, He found those He came to departed from Him in revolt, and their heart (foundational ideas) were falsehood. Seeing this, “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.”
The chapter begins with the LORD speaking to the self-righteous, whose ways and ideas (falsehoods) have separated them from Him. This departure, the world in which we find ourselves, is what Paul speaks of in Romans 10:2 & 3, when these men (those leading God’s people) are ignorant. Instead of submitting to God’s correct understanding (justice and truth – righteousness), they revolt against it and try to prove their ways are correct.
As we saw in the previous post, this revolt makes all the world guilty before God, and the only way out, into salvation, is to in faith, receive His mercy. We saw this written in Roman 11, describing the mystery of which all are now ignorant, blinded by their conceit, where in verses 26 & 27, Isaiah 59:20 & 21 are quoted.
Romans 11 25 For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel [all God’s people at large], until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written [in Isaiah 59:20], “There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30 For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who has known the mind of the LORD? or who has been his counsellor? 35 Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 10 1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness [trying to establish they are right], have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes. 5 For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which does those things shall live by them. 6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8 But what says it? The word is nigh you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. 10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed. 12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same LORD over all is rich unto all that call upon him. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, LORD, who has believed our report? 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world. 19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. 20 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me. 21 But to Israel he say, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Friends, I must again remind you of the great paradox: God’s people listening to and following those who will never lead them into freedom from falsehood and self-righteousness, for which they are guilty. The above says, Christ is the end, when God the Father is present, speaking through the son these same misleaders deny and revile.
Jude 1 12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ; 18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 And others save with fear [these men and those who follow their corrupt ways and ideas, should fear the destruction that comes upon all such, who deny Christ has come in the flesh], pulling [harpazo] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
As we know, the word harpazo is the same word these same false prophets and false teachers have twisted into an off the planet rapture (“caught up”). The LORD’s stretched-out hand is to pull from the fire all who take it, of which Isaiah 59:1 speaks. The chapter describes those whose sins have separated (as in Jude 1:19 above) them from God and covered their hands in blood, the latter saying their works are draining life.
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 calls for justice, nor any pleads 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 eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out 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 [labash] righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on [labash] 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 forever.
Friends, these men will never accept Christ, because He rejects their corruption: the blood on their hands and the falsehood under which they hide. They will deny Him in the flesh, and always demand more, never saying He has done enough. I tell you the truth, I Am all there is, and the Father says there is Salvation in no other. These men think the LORD says in vain that there will be, in this day, many who will call Him LORD, and to whom He says, “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.”
Matthew 7 21 Not everyone that says unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 6 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Luke 7 31 And the LORD said, Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? 32 They are like unto children sitting in the marketplace, and calling one to another, and saying, We have piped unto you, and you have not danced; we have mourned to you, and you have not wept. 33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine; and you say, He has a devil. 34 The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and you say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! 35 But wisdom is justified of all her children.
Ezekiel 33 29 Then shall they know that I am the LORD, when I have laid the land most desolate because of all their abominations which they have committed. 30 Also, you son of man, the children of your people still are talking against you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from the LORD. 31 And they come unto you as the people comes, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their covetousness. 32 And, lo, you are unto them as a very lovely song of one that has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear your words, but they do them not. 33 And when this comes to pass, (lo, it will [has] come,) then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.
1 John 2 15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever. 18 Little children, it is the last time: and as you have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. 20 But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. 21 I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denies the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denies the Son, the same has not the Father: he that acknowledges the Son has the Father also. 24 Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, you also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 27 But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in him. 28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you know that every one that does righteousness is born of him.
1 John 4 1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. 4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God. 8 He that loves not knows not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
2 John 1 7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresses, and abides not in the doctrine of Christ, has not God. He that abides in the doctrine of Christ, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that bids him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. 12 Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.
In the context of Isaiah 59, the LORD first uses the word labash in Isaiah, in Isaiah 4:1, rendered “wear.”
Isaiah 4 1 And in that day seven women [the church in total] shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear [labash] our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach [by correction changing your garment spotted by the flesh]. 2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4 When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense. 6 And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 22 21 And I will clothe [labash] him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. 22 And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24 And they shall hang upon him [they shall put their trust in Him] all the glory of his father’s [David’s] house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons. 25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened [what they have, in vain, put their trust] in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.
Isaiah 49 13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. 14 But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my LORD has forgotten me. 15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. 16 Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. 17 Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you. 18 Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe [labash] you with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does.
Isaiah 50 2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinks, because there is no water, and die for thirst. 3 I clothe [labash] the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. 4 The LORD God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The LORD God has opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. 6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. 7 For the LORD God will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. 8 He is near that justifies me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. 9 Behold, the LORD God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. 10 Who is among you that fears the LORD, that obeys the voice of his servant, that walks in darkness, and has no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
Isaiah 51 9 Awake, awake, put on [labash] strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Are you not it that has cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? 10 Are you not it which has dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that has made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? 11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. 12 I, even I, am he that comforts you: who are you, that you should be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass; 13 And forget the LORD your maker, that has stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and have feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor? 14 The captive exile hasten that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. 15 But I am the LORD your God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name. 16 And I have put my words in your mouth, and I have covered you in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, You are my people. 17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which have drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. 18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she has brought up. 19 These two things are come unto you; who shall be sorry for you? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort you? 20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of your God. 21 Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: 22 Thus says your LORD the LORD, and your God that pleads the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; you shall no more drink it again: 23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict you; which have said to your soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and you have laid your body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
Isaiah 52 1 Awake, awake; put on [labash] your strength, O Zion; put on [labash] your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. 2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money. 4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. 5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I. 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns! 8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward. 13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed our report [shmuw’ah – this sound doctrine and rumor of the LORD’s presence]? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Isaiah 61 1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. 6 But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves. 7 For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them. 8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed. 10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed [labash] me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
Psalms 93 1 The LORD reigns, he is clothed [labash] with majesty; the LORD is clothed [labash] with strength, wherewith he has girded himself: the world also is established, that it cannot be moved. 2 Your throne is established of old: you are from everlasting. [Revelation 12: 5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.] 3 The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice [qowl]; the floods lift up their waves. 4 The LORD on high is mightier than the noise [qowl – voice] of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea [the pride of man]. [Revelation 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17 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.] 5 Your testimonies are very sure: holiness becomes your house, O LORD, forever.
I am become a stranger [zuwr] unto my brethren, and an alien [nokriy] unto my mother’s children.
The above is David speaking of when the reproach of the LORD had fallen on him: when the zeal the LORD’s house had eaten him up. The verse is Psalms 69:8, and is the LORD referring us to the title (Isaiah 28:21) of the previous post, and His performing “his strange [zuwr] work; and brings to pass his act, his strange [nokriy] act,” as in Perazim and Gibeon. It is in a time such as now, when “They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty.”
David then says “then I restored that which I took not away.” The deeper context is of the foundations destroyed, and David, in these deep waters, with zeal, finding and restoring them. For this, he suffers reproach and is hated by those he is doing the LORD’s good. The Psalm later speaks of what replaced the foundations as a table become a snare trapping the corrupters. It says their eyes become darkened, which we know tells of their ignorance, which they (blinded by pride) don’t see.
Psalms 69 A Psalm of David. 1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. 2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. 3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. 4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away. 5 O God, you know my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from you. 6 Let not them that wait on you, O LORD God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek you be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel. 7 Because for your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. 8 I am become a stranger [zuwr] unto my brethren, and an alien [nokriy] unto my mother’s children [as you through me do your strange work and bring to pass your strange act]. 9 For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me. 10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. 11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them. 12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards. 13 But as for me, my prayer is unto you, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of your mercy hear me, in the truth of your salvation. 14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. 15 Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. 16 Hear me, O LORD; for your lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of your tender mercies. 17 And hide not your face from your servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily. 18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies. 19 You have known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: mine adversaries are all before you. 20 Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none. 21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. 22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. 24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your wrathful anger take hold of them. 25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents. 26 For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded. 27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into your righteousness. 28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. 29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let your salvation, O God, set me up on high. 30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving. 31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs. 32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God. 33 For the LORD hears the poor, and despises not his prisoners. 34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas [all the people of the world], and every thing that moves therein. 35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. 36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
In the context of restoring the foundations and bearing the reproach (hatred) of those who’ve destroyed them, the LORD, in John 15:25, quotes from verse 4 above.
John 15 1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you. 15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his LORD does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. 16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 17 These things I command you, that you love one another. 18 If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his LORD. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause. 26 But when the Comforter is come [the LORD in me unknown, “as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth” “that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act” {from Isaiah 28:2 & 21}], whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me: 27 And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
Paul, in Romans 15:3, quotes Psalms 69:9 in the context of bearing the reproach for witnessing: to the LORD’s work and the acts, yet unknown to the ignorant without His strength (understanding that makes us His friends who bear His reproach).
Romans 15 1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification [educating them into understanding]. 3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on me. 4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. 5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ. 7 Wherefore receive you one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: 9 And that the Gentiles [those ignorant of God] might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and sing unto your name. 10 And again he says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people. 11 And again, Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles; and laud him, all you people [because He has manifested His presence to save the world from those destroying it]. 12 And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. 13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. 14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. 15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, 16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. 17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. 18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, 19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. 20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: 21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. 22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
His reproach we bear demands we are daring: loosed from all the orthodoxy and superstitions that hold us down, in the camp of corruption where it’s “safe.” Remember the end of our conversation.
Hebrews 13 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 today, and forever. 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 [the house of corruption, where the Father’s bed is defiled]. 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 [wherein dwells righteousness – the LORD’s truth and correct understanding, now knowing to refuse evil misleading and choose the good]. 15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly. 19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. 20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our LORD Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. 22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words. 23 Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty [has been loosed from corruption and sent on this mission]; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
Before telling of the reproach we must bear, Paul speaks of the snare that comes upon all the world, in Romans 11:9 & 10, quoting Psalms 69:22 & 23. As we know, in Hebrews 12, we’re told of the Father’s correction (for which we are hated and suffer reproach outside the corrupt camp) coming through the one speaking from heaven (the place of understanding) shaking heaven and earth, so only those things unshaken will remain.
Romans 11 25 For I would not, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. 26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. 28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father’s sakes. 29 For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. 30 For as you in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: 31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. 33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! 34 For who has known the mind of the LORD? or who has been his counsellor? 35 Or who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? 36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Friends, the above tell of all in unbelief and in need of correction, until we arrive at out destination in heavenly Jerusalem, where elect remnant (Judah first) have arrived. This is the same mystery Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 15:51, when are all are changed.
Romans 11 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 7 What then? Israel [God’s people at large] has not obtained that which he seeks for; but the election has obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. 9 And David says, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: 10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway. 11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Hebrews 12 22 But you [my friends] 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.
1 Corinthians 15 45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit [giving life to dead flesh]. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
In speaking of the end of the mystery, the end of unbelief that caused all not to know the LORD, when all our palaces have become filled with strangers (not friends who know Him), Paul, above in 1 Corinthains 15:54, quotes Isaiah 25:8.
Matthew 7 21 Not everyone that says unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 6 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Isaiah 25 1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. 2 For you have made of a city a heap; of a defensed city a ruin: a palace of strangers [zuwr] to be no city; it shall never be built. 3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify you, the city of the terrible nations shall fear you. 4 For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall. 5 You shall bring down the noise of strangers [zuwr], as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud [by understanding come from heaven]: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low. 6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined [all this word of God you’ve eaten and which has given you strength: understanding]. 7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering [uncovering the truth hidden by the lies and ignorance that have replaced it] that have cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD has spoken it. 9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab [the gates of hell, the open mouths of known liars telling known lies] shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. 11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim [rightly dividing the water and staying above]: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands. 12 And the fortress of the high fort of your walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
When David speaks of doing the work of God, as God has him do it: speaking His word, we are referred to this described in Zechariah 12.
2 Samuel 22 47 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock [upon who the house is built and the foundation is laid]; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation. 48 It is God that avenges me, and that brings down the people under me. 49 And that brings me forth from mine enemies: you also have lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man. 50 Therefore I will give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto your name. 51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and shows mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.
2 Samuel 23 1 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2 The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue. 3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he makes it not to grow. 6 But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: 7 But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.
Zechariah 12 1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, says the LORD, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4 In that day, says the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness [the mass insanity of this generation]: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first [the elect remnant first], that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon [because the mighty have exalted themselves again God’s anointed] in the valley of Megiddon [this appointed time, in the battle of Armageddon]. 12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Revelation 21 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes [quoted from Isaiah 25:8]; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
Psalms 17 1Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goes not out of feigned [deceiving] lips. 2 Let my sentence come forth from your presence [panyim]; let your eyes behold the things that are equal. 3 You have proved mine heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. 4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. 5 Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps slip not. 6 I have called upon you, for you will hear me, O God: incline your ear unto me, and hear my speech. 7 Show your marvelous lovingkindness, O you that saves by your right hand them which put their trust in you from those that rise up against them. 8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings, 9 From [paniym – by your presence from] the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about. 10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly. 11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth; 12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. 13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint [paniym – by your presence disappoint] him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword: 14 From men which are your hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly you fill with your hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. 15 As for me, I will behold your face [paniym – your presence] in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness.
For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
As we’ve seen, the above “strange” work, acts of God, likened to Perazim and Gibeon, refer to when great waters and hailstone came upon and destroyed the enemies of God’s people. We have seen the associated scriptures for Baal-Perazim, 2 Samuel 5:20 & 21, and for Gibeon, Joshua 10:10 & 11.
The name Perazim, when appearing in the title verse, Isaiah 28:21, isn’t the name, but rather the word perets, from where comes the name Baal-Perazim. The name means, possessor (lords) of the breach, as in the gods of this world that cause division among God’s people. Upon them, the LORD breaks froth with great waters, His word, destroying their divisive lies and false accusation (misleading).
Gibeon means it is the city on a hill, as per the previous post, Isaiah 30:17 & 31:9, speaking of when all else has failed and fallen, the nec (the pole upon which the son of man is lifted) shall be left standing on the hill: the LORD’s fire there in the furnace.
These two names, their affects, are alluded to in Isaiah 28:2, saying “2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.”
Matthew 5 6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness [who thirst for these water of correction, whereby the LORD leads us into His right (righteous) understanding and truth]: for they shall be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake [because you understand and know the truth, because the LORD’s taught us what those in power and control are ignorant of: the knowledge of God: the mind of Christ]: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake [because you refuse to deny me, knowing now to refuse the evil and to choose the good]. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. 13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the [falsely so-called] righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Isaiah 30 17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign [nec – the pole upon which the son of man must be lifted – so his voice is heard above all others] on a hill. 18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you. 20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers: 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. 22 You shall defile also the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth; you shall say unto it, Get you hence.
Isaiah 31 1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto [as to the brazen serpent lifted on the poll – or upon the hill of verse 17 above] the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! 2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 3 Now the Egyptians [oppressors] are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they [the blind and those they lead] all shall fail together [into the ditch]. 4 For thus has the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it. 6 Turn [shuwb – return] you unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. 8 Then shall the Assyrian [the communists] fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword [of the LORD, this word of God], and his young men shall be discomfited. 9 And he shall pass over [‘abar – His proclaiming good advice that saves all who receive it, and refusing it is self-destruction] to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign [nec – the fiery brazen serpent now seen, “Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread”], says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
The word perets, meaning “a break (literally or figuratively),” is (instead) used by Isaiah to refer us to two other times he uses it, Isaiah 30:13 & 58:12.
Isaiah 30 12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise [ma’ac] this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach [perets] ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. 15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.
The breaking “suddenly at an instant” refers to the same words used in Isaiah 29:5, where this comes upon the “strangers,” from the Hebrew word zuwr, meaning “to turn aside (especially for lodging); hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; specifically (active participle) to commit adultery.” It (zuwr) is the word used, in the title, telling of the LORD’s “strange” work, which, in 2 Samuel 5, is His word (breaking forth – perets) against the Philistines: God’s people leaving Him and becoming as invading strangers.
Isaiah 29 1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add you year to year; let them kill sacrifices. 2 Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. 3 And I will camp against you round about, and will lay siege against you with a mount, and I will raise forts against you. 4 And you shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low out of the dust, and your voice shall be, as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust. 5 Moreover the multitude of your strangers [zuwr] shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passes away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. 6 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. 7 And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. 8 It shall even be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. 9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry you out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For the LORD has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered. 11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I cannot; for it is sealed: 12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you: and he says, I am not learned. 13 Wherefore the LORD said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous [pala’] work among this people, even a marvelous [pala’] work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. 15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us? 16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter’s clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? 17 Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? 18 And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. 19 The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. 20 For the terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: 21 That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught. 22 Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. 23 But when he sees his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. 24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.
The word rendered “murmured” above is the three times used word ragan, meaning “to grumble, i.e. rebel,” which leads us into the first part of the following chapter.
Isaiah 30 1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For his princes were at Zoan [the place of departure], and his ambassadors came to Hanes [and straying they departed grace]. 5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7 For the Egyptians [the oppressors] shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. 8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise [ma’ac] this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach [perets] ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
We know these invaders are likened to Philistines by Isaiah’s using the word nokriy to tell of the LORD’s “strange” act. He only uses it one other time, in Isaiah 2:6, telling us it’s His people who’ve become like Philistines, pleasing themselves in the children of “strangers.”
Isaiah 2 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light of the LORD. 6 Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they please themselves in the children of strangers [nokiyr]. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man bows down, and the great man humbles himself: therefore forgive them not. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
Isaiah 58 4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness [to mislead]: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your reward. 9 Then shall you call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day: 11 And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach [perets], The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: 14 Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
As we’ve seen, the word “sabbath,” meaning “intermission,” is derived from the Hebrew word shabath, meaning “to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific).” In this context, the LORD speaks of honoring His calls for us to cease our works and hear Him, especially in this time of needing His correction and guidance.
Isaiah 58 begins with the LORD saying to Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”
The last trumpet is my voice lifted up with the LORD’s final corrective intermission, intervening to call His people out of the flames of hell and into a subsequent age, wherein dwells righteousness.
Isaiah only speaks of this sabbath in three other chapters. The first is in Isaiah 1:13, where the LORD rejects the sabbaths of His people who’ve become (as now) as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1 9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. 21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22 Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water: 23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them. 24 Therefore says the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25 And I will turn my hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin: 26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks [the so-called upright men – who have forsaken this word of God] which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 30 For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water [has no word of God]. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Friends, I see many hardships and sorrows ahead for the world, because the leaders of God’s people have led to a place void of rational thinking: into ineffective delusion without form. It is into this insane state of mind the LORD comes with clarity: rational thought based on self-evident truth, the corrupt deny. “This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
Isaiah 56 1 Thus says the LORD, Keep you judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the sabbath [this word, now when the LORD has interrupted to correct those who receive Him] from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil [misleading with their own ways and ideas]. 3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined [yoked] himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree [bringing this word to His people, producing good seed]. 4 For thus says the LORD unto the eunuchs [the leaders, princes, who are unable to reproduce any good leadership] that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. 8 The LORD God, which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. 9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all you beasts in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs [who never stop barking in the night: never stop speaking ignorance in a time when ignorance dominates the world] which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come you, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
Isaiah 66 1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word. 3 He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delight in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompense [a deserved repayment] to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God. 10 Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her: 11 That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the LORD. 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Psalms 82 1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6 I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.
And have you not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
As previously discussed, the “marvelous” doing is in the eyes of those receiving and seeing the one become the “head of the corner.” The title passage, Mark 12:10 & 11, comes after the LORD tells the parable of the vineyard, which ends telling of His eventual destruction of those “rejecting” Him.
The phrase’s origin is Psalms 118:22 & 23, where “marvelous” is from the Hebrew word pala’, “a primitive root; properly, perhaps to separate, i.e. distinguish (literally or figuratively); by implication, to be (causatively, make) great, difficult, wonderful.” There, the word “rejected” appears as “refused,” from the Hebrew ma’ac, “a primitive root; to spurn; also (intransitively) to disappear.”
These two original Hebrew words describe what appears in the eyes and what disappears from them: the blind seeing and the seeing blinded. Of course, the LORD begins here, continuing to open the eyes of those who’ve received Him and saying “Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD.” Those refusing Him see nothing and will blindly continue headlong into perdition.
Mark 12 12 And he began to speak unto them by parables. “A certain man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a place for the wine-fat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant [of the prophets], that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. 4 And again he sent unto them another servant [prophet]; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. 5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. 6 Having yet therefore one son, his well-beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours.’ 8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 What shall therefore the LORD [I Am] of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. 10 And have you not read this scripture; ‘The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11 This was the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?'” 12 And they [the wicked who’ve refused Him] sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way.
When the LORD quotes Psalms 118, He does so referring to those He will destroy “in the name of the LORD,” of which the Psalms speaks, before saying, in verse 26, “Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD.”
As we know, all of the Gospels record the people saying this (verse 26) as the LORD enters Jerusalem. Verses 7 & 8 above record the subsequent rejection by the wicked in the seats of power and control. By killing Him and casting Him out, they blind themselves and those following them into deeper darkness. “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” The quote is Matthew 15:14, in which, before and after it, the LORD speaks of their words as what defiles them (the blind) and those following their misleading (evil) advice.
In contrast, Matthew and Luke use Psalms 118:26 a second time, when the LORD tells of after all the world has been blinded, when we will see Him again. He says it when we realize He has come to sacrifice Himself (binding Himself to the horns of the altar), in the body He has prepared, and we say (with understanding see it is Him), “Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD.”
This process of seeing him again, after the whole world not seeing him, is what John records (in John 14) the LORD saying.
John 14 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter [Paraclete – the LORD coming, unknown, to all blinded by the prince of this dark world, to restore sight to those who receive Him: love and keep this word], that he may abide with you forever; 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 [Judah – the elect remnant, Psalms 76:1 In Judah is God known] said unto him, not Iscariot [not the betrayers], 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 [Paraclete], which is the Holy Ghost [Who is the LORD among us, unseen, unknown, speaking and working], 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 [the work of the misleaders is to instill blinding fear they use to control, as we well know is the work of the known liars and false accusers, princes of darkness all, mixed among us]. 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 come 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 blinded the world], 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 [forward into resurrection from our sleep in the blind ignorance cultivated by a corrupt and desolate world].
Matthew 23 24 You blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees [you who misinterpret My word and control My people], hypocrites! for you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 26 You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous, 30 And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore you be witnesses unto yourselves, that you are the children of them which killed the prophets. 32 Fill you up then the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? 34 Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: 35 That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets, and stone them which are sent unto you, how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39 For I say unto you, You shall not see me henceforth, till you shall say, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD.”
You will not see Me again until you realize I Am here to destroy those destroying the world: the blind leaders of the blind; “for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.” You will not see until the men in the way are taken out of it; when you say, “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD.”
2 Thessalonians 2 5 Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now you know what withholds [katecho – holds you down] that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now lets [katecho – oppresses you as a misleader sitting in God’s place] will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed [when you stop listening to those who’ve blinded you by putting themselves in God’s place], whom the LORD shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness [sending understanding] of his coming: 9 Even him [the wicked misleaders], whose coming is after the working of Satan [misleading] with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our LORD Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3 1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the LORD may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you [as the word of God, as it is]: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable [who reject this report] and wicked men: for all men have not faith. 3 But the LORD is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the LORD touching you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you. 5 And the LORD direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ [to appear in the sight of all]. 6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
The LORD speaks of these wicked leaders’ refusal in Isaiah 30:12, where ma’ac appears as the LORD pronounces the sentence against those who’ve “despised” this word and trusted in oppression. He says, “In returning [to His good advice] and rest shall you be saved; in quietness [closed mouth] and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.”
Isaiah 30 1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin: 2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt! 3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. 4 For his princes were at Zoan [the place of departure], and his ambassadors came to Hanes [and straying they departed grace]. 5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. 6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them. 7 For the Egyptians [the oppressors] shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still. 8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever: 9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: 10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: 11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. 12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise [ma’ac] this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: 13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant. 14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit. 15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not. 16 But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. 17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign [nec – the pole upon which the son of man must be lifted – so his voice is heard above all others] on a hill. 18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him. 19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you. 20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers: 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left. 22 You shall defile also the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth; you shall say unto it, Get you hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of your seed, that you shall sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures. 24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan. 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon [understanding of civil Government] shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun [the understanding of the church] shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound. 27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire: 28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err. 29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. 30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting [understanding] down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. 31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian [communists in church and state] be beaten down, which smote with a rod. 32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. 33 For Tophet [the place of fires] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.
The “ensign” in verse 17 above, the nec, is the pole, in Numbers 21:8 & 9, on which the fiery brazen serpent is raised. When the serpents mixed among them bit a person, bites (words) that were killing them, and they looked to (see) it (the fiery serpent), they didn’t die. The same reference with the same context then appears as nec is used in Isaiah 31:9, when the princes who are causing fear (with their poisonous bite) are afraid of the “ensign.”
Isaiah 31 1 Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto [as to the brazen serpent lifted on the poll – or upon the hill of verse 17 above] the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! 2 Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 3 Now the Egyptians [oppressors] are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they [the blind and those they lead] all shall fail together [into the ditch]. 4 For thus has the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof. 5 As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it. 6 Turn [shuwb – return] you unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted. 7 For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin. 8 Then shall the Assyrian [the communists] fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword [of the LORD, this word of God], and his young men shall be discomfited. 9 And he shall pass over [‘abar – His proclaiming good advice that saves all who receive it, and refusing it is self-destruction] to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign [nec – the fiery brazen serpent now seen, “Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread”], says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
Isaiah, in Isaiah 28:29, describes what is “marvelous” in our eyes, speaking of the end, when the expected result comes from His work, saying “This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful [pala’] in counsel, and excellent in working.” The work is earlier, in verse 9, describe as His teaching knowledge and making us understand doctrine (shmuw’ah). He later, in verse 19, speaks of the result, saying it’s when we understand and believe the report (shmuw’ah). In the later verses, he describes this in terms of sowing and reaping: known processes that end expectedly. Before this description, he says it’s as when His word broke forth, like in Perazim, and when His word frozen (here but not understood) in heaven, like in Gibeon, from there comes as great hailstones, both upon His enemies.
Isaiah 28 16 Therefore thus saith the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report [shmuw’ah]. 20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. 21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim [2 Samuel 5:20 & 21], he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon [Joshua 10:10 & 11], that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth. 23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech. 24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground? 25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place? 26 For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him. 27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. 28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen. 29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful [pala’ – as a marvel opening eyes] in counsel, and excellent in working.
Joel 2 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God? 18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. 19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: 20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he has done great things. 21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things. 22 Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. 24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. 26 And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that has dealt wondrously [pala’ – shall marvelously open your eyes to see Him] with you: and my people shall never be ashamed [they shall reach the expected end, as He promised]. 27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed. 28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit [the Paraclete, the LORD unknown marvelously working and speaking]. 30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. 31 The sun shall be turned into darkness [the church shall be seen as ignorant], and the moon into blood [civil government draining life from all humanity], before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. 32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
The final two times pala’ appears are in Zechariah 8:6, speaking of now, when we understand the LORD is with us, when He is marvelous in our eye and we in His eyes.
Isaiah 52 6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I. 7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns! 8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD. 12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward. 13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: 15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Isaiah 53 1 Who has believed our report [shmuw’ah]? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
Zechariah 8 1 Again the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. 3 Thus says the LORD; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the LORD of hosts the holy mountain. 4 Thus says the LORD of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. 6 Thus says the LORD of hosts; If it be marvelous [pala’] in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous [pala’] in mine eyes? says the LORD of hosts. 7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country; 8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. 9 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, you that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets, which were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. 10 For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast; neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in because of the affliction: for I set all men every one against his neighbor. 11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, says the LORD of hosts. 12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. 13 And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong. 14 For thus says the LORD of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the LORD of hosts, and I repented not: 15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear you not. 16 These are the things that you shall do; Speak you every man the truth to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates: 17 And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, says the LORD. 18 And the word of the LORD of hosts came unto me, saying, 19 Thus says the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. 20 Thus says the LORD of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: 21 And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts: I will go also. 22 Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the LORD. 23 Thus says the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.
Psalms 118 1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures forever. 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures forever. 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever. 4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures forever. 5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? 7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. 10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders refused [ma’ac] is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous [pala] in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 27 God is the LORD, which has shown us light [understanding]: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you. 29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.
And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
The above, Zechariah 6:1, comes after the final verse of chapter 5 tells of the word of God carried away into Shinar (meaning sleep), another name for Babylon (confusion). We are later, in verse 5, told these chariots “are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the LORD of all the earth.” The works they are sent to effect are described in the colors of the horses bringing them forth.
In chapter 5, we read of the curse that comes forth after the roll, the word of God, flies away. In chapter 6, it’s the black horse that goes forth into the north country, and there “quieted” the LORD’s Spirit. It’s speaking of the darkness, the ignorance of truth resulting from the lack (famine) of hearing God’s word. As we’ve seen, “north” is the word tsaphown, telling where God’s word becomes hidden in darkness and there lurks, waiting to be uncovered. It’s from tsaphan, meaning “to hide (by covering over); by implication, to hoard or reserve; figuratively to deny; specifically (favorably) to protect, (unfavorably) to lurk.”
The treasure of understanding, when revealed from the darkness of confusion and sleep, are the silver and gold of the crowns then spoken of in verse 11 as first put on the head of Joshua (Jesus), and later, in verse 14, on the head of those with him.
These two events are the two mountains of brass, of cursing and blessing, spoken of, in Deuteronomy 11:29, as Ebal and Gerizim.
From the post of 22 March 2021:
Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
The word “destroyed,” above in Jeremiah 48:4, is the Hebrew word shabar, meaning to burst. It’s used three other places in Jeremiah 48 (verses 12, 25, & 38), all rendered broken, all speaking of Moab.
As we know, Moab, from its unstated association with the word mowba’, meaning entrance, and the word mabow’, also meaning sunset, is symbolic of the gates of hell. The gates are the mouths of men, either in darkness, holding men in ignorance, or departing them, entering the kingdom of God through understanding: receiving the returning light.
Of course, the Father is leading us to explore these words and understand His deeper points.
(Friends, the gates of hell have no power other than lies, the ignorance of devils: their intentionally misleading words and ideas. Thank God He saves us from this self-inflicted curse by His blessing us with this latter rain and new life.)
In this context, the first of the twenty-three uses of mabow’ is in Deuteronomy 11:30, from there meant to be heard this day as a blessing and a curse.
Deuteronomy 11 16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; 17 And then the LORD’s wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain [no understanding], and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest you perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD gives you. 18 Therefore shall you lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 And you shall teach them your children, speaking of them when you sits in your house, and when you walk by the way, when you lay down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them upon the door posts of your house, and upon your gates: 21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22 For if you shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; 23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves. 24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be. 25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread upon, as he has said unto you. 26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; 27 A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which you have not known. 29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD your God has brought you in unto the land whither you go to possess it, that you shall put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. 30 Are they not on the other side Jordan [when you have passed over the words that have carried all in a descent into death], by the way where the sun goes down [mabow’ – exiting through the gates of hell entered when understanding left], in the land of the Canaanites [those who are zealous against God and His people], which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal [what we now plainly see as the waters of confusion], beside the plains of Moreh [which is plainly seen as their teaching ignorance]? 31 For you shall pass over Jordan [the words of death] to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you shall possess it, and dwell therein. 32 And you shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
The words above telling of the mountains of blessing and cursing are meant to refer us to specific passages that explain (make plain) their meanings.
Gerizim is from the one time used word garaz, meaning “to cut off.” It appears in Psalms 31:22, a Psalms of David, as he is blessing the LORD, realizing he wasn’t cut off from the LORD’s eyes. The Psalm tells of this blessing, now, this moment, when we see what He’s laid up for us, as He secreted us here, to be revealed with Him, in us.
Psalms 31 A Psalm of David, Maschil [giving instruction] 1 In you, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in your righteousness. 2 Bow down your ear to me; deliver me speedily: be you my strong rock, for a house of defense to save me. 3 For you are my rock and my fortress; therefore for your name’s sake lead me, and guide me. 4 Pull me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me: for you are my strength. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit: you have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. 6 I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your mercy: for you have considered my trouble; you have known my soul in adversities; 8 And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: you have set my feet in a large room. 9 Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly. 10 For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength fails because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed. 11 I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me. 12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel. 13 For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life. 14 But I trusted in you, O LORD: I said, You are my God. 15 My times are in your hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. 16 Make your face to shine upon your servant: save me for your mercies’ sake. 17 Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon you: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. 18 Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. 19 Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for them that fear you; which you have wrought for them that trust in you before the sons of men! 20 You shall hide them in the secret of your presence [paniym] from the pride of man: you shall keep them secretly in a pavilion [cukkah] from the strife of tongues. 21 Blessed be the LORD: for he has shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. 22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off [garaz] from before your eyes: nevertheless you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried unto you. 23 O love the LORD, all you his saints: for the LORD preserves the faithful, and plentifully rewards the proud doer. 24 Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD.
The speculative meaning of the name Ebal is said, “perhaps,” to be bald. It’s actually derived from the word ‘abal, meaning to bewail. In this word’s use, we find the meaning of the blessing and the cursing.
It (‘abal) first appears in Genesis 37:34 as we are told of when Jacob, for many days, “mourned” what he thought was the death of His son Joseph. We know, as in the Psalm above, Joseph was merely cut off from the sight of Israel, where God has secreted Him until he was revealed at the appointed time.
Genesis 37 28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? 31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32 And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be your son’s coat or no. 33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned [‘abal] for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.
Friends, the word ‘abal appears 39 times. Most tell of the mourning of God’s people who’ve separated themselves from Him, or of the earth (those who’ve foolishly said “there is no God”) mourning at His reappearance.
Here following is an abridged version of the post from 27 August 2020.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
As we know the waters are words, hear as venom from a snake’s mouth, meant to poison and rot the minds of those it flows to, like a polluted river into the sea. In the verses before the above, Revelation 12:15, we are told these come as endless, day and night, false accusations against God’s people. We know them as the lies and demonization of innocent people who refuse to surrender and bow to their distorted reality. As we know, the flood is the intensification of lies, the mass delusions spewed by the willfully insane, and the destruction of lives and livelihoods that are their mark (the mark in their head and hand, ideas and works).
Revelation 12 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon [the serpent] cast out of his mouth. 17 And the dragon [the serpent] 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 above is the LORD referring us to the chapters that will here follow, which describe this time and the self-destruction, the final end, of the evil now destroying the earth and attacking God’s people. He begins with the prophecy He speaks in Jeremiah 27:22, which tells of when all things in His house are carried into Babylon (confusion). He says they will remain there, serving the king of Babylon, until now, when He visits, brings them up, and restores them (understanding) to their place.
Jeremiah 27 20 Which Nebuchadnezzar [the lies of the false prophet that cause desolation] king of Babylon [confusion that rules the world] took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah [who Jehovah will establish {kuwn}] the son of Jehoiakim [who Jehovah will raise] king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21 Yea, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; 22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, says the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
This final carrying away is what Zachariah sees and records in Zechariah 5. There it’s the roll, the book, the word of God, that flies away. We’re told of the curse that enters the house of those who swear falsely in the LORD’s name. As a result, it’s then seen as an ephah, representing justice, corrupted by an unfaithful woman. She is next seen with another woman (faithful and unfaithful) flying away into Shinar, another name for Babylon, from the word shenath meaning sleep.
In Daniel 1:2, we’re told the vessels of the house of God were carried into Shinar (sleep in confusion) into the house of Nebuchadnezzar’s god.
Zechariah 5 1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll [megillah]. 2 And he said unto me, What see you? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it. 4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. 5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that goes forth. 6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. 7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sit in the midst of the ephah. 8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof [the words thereof]. 9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. 10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? 11 And he said unto me, To build it a house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
The “roll” above is the same “volume” of the book, in which the LORD’s appearing is written. This is said in Psalms 40:7 and quoted in Hebrews 10:7. It’s the same roll spoken of in Ezekiel 2 & 3, which Ezekiel, the son of man, eats and become the words he speaks.
Psalms 40 1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established [kuwn] my goings. 3 And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD. 4 Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. 5 Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; mine ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [megillah] it is written of me, 8 I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart. 9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, you know. 10 I have not hid your righteousness within my heart; I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation: I have not concealed your lovingkindness and your truth from the great congregation. 11 Withhold not you your tender mercies from me, O LORD: let your lovingkindness and your truth continually preserve me.
Hebrews 10 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God. 8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; 9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. 10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, 27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the LORD. And again, The LORD shall judge his people. 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Ezekiel 2 1 And he said unto me, Son of man, stand upon your feet, and I will speak unto you. 2 And the spirit entered into me when he spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, that I heard him that spoke unto me. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day. 4 For they are impudent children and stiff-hearted. I do send you unto them; and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD God. 5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with you, and you do dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. 8 But you, son of man, hear what I say unto you; Be not you rebellious like that rebellious house: open your mouth, and eat that I give you. 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll [megillah] of a book was therein; 10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
Ezekiel 3 1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll [megillah], and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll [mgillah]. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll [megillah] that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. 4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel; 6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you. 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. 8 Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. 10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. 11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the LORD God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. 12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
When Zechariah 5:11 tells of the word God in Shinar (place of sleep in confusion), it says there “it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” As we’ve discussed, “established” is the word kuwn, meaning it is there as a provision (providence), as preparation.
The word “set” is nuwach, meaning “to rest, i.e. settle down.” The deep meaning is in the one other time it appears in Zechariah, Zechariah 6:8, where it speaks of the Spirit of the LORD “quieted” in the north country.
Zechariah 6 8 Then cried he upon me, and spoke unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. 9 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 10 Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai [worldly], of Tobijah [to whom Jehovah is good {not a misleader}], and of Jedaiah [who Jehovah has known], which are come from Babylon, and come you the same day, and go into the house of Josiah [who Jehovah heals] the son of Zephaniah [by Jehovah’s hidden treasures {this word}]; 11 Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua [Jehovah’s Salvation personified] the son of Josedech [who is Jehovah’s righteousness], the high priest; 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. 14 And the crowns shall be to Helem [strength], and to Tobijah [to whom Jehovah is good {not a misleader}], and to Jedaiah [who Jehovah has known], and to Hen [favor and grace] the son of Zephaniah [by Jehovah’s hidden treasures {this word}], for a memorial [zikrown, meaning “a memento (or memorable thing, day or writing)” – the things of the house remembered and “restored”] in the temple of the LORD. 15 And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.
The word zikrown refers us to what is written in Malachi 3:16, where it is rendered “remembrance.”
Malachi 3 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 [zikrown] 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.
The word “base,” in Zechariah 5:11, is from the one time used word mekunah, from mekownah, from makown, and all from the word kuwn (established and prepared). The word makown describes the LORD’s habitation, His dwelling place, as in Exodus 15:17.
Exodus15 15 Then the dukes of Edom [the enemies mixed among us] shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab [whose mouths are the gates that hold the world in hell], trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16 Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they shall be as still [damam – silent – Amos 5:13 “Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.”] as a stone; till your people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which you have purchased. 17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, in the place [makown], O LORD, which you have made for you to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands have established [kuwn]. 18 The LORD shall reign forever and ever. 19 For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.
Isaiah 4 1 And in that day seven women [Zechariah 4:10 “For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”] shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach. 2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4 When the LORD shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5 And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place [makown] of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defense.
Isaiah 18 3 All you inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see you, when he lifts up an ensign on the mountains; and when he blows a trumpet, hear you. 4 For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling [mekown] place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. 5 For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away and cut down the branches. 6 They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. 7 In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.
Psalms 97 1 The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. 2 Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation [makown] of his throne. 3 A fire goes before him, and burns up his enemies round about. 4 His lightning enlightened the world: the earth saw, and trembled.
Psalms 104 1 Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with honor and majesty. 2 Who covers yourself with light [understanding] as with a garment: who stretches out the heavens like a curtain: 3 Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters: who makes the clouds his chariot: who walks upon the wings of the wind: 4 Who makes his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: 5 Who laid the foundations [makown – His dwelling place] of the earth, that it should not be removed forever. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the voice of your thunder they hasted away. 8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which you have founded for them. 9 You have set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth. 10 He sends the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
Psalms 33 10 The LORD brings the counsel of the heathen to naught: he makes the devices of the people of none effect. 11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. 13 The LORD looks from heaven; he beholds all the sons of men. 14 From the place of his habitation [makown] he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 15 He fashions their hearts alike; he considers all their works. 16 There is no king saved by the multitude of a host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
Psalms 76 [added today, 5 May 2021] 1 In Judah [among the elect remnant] is God known: his name is great in Israel. 2 In Salem [peace] also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion. 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah. 4 You are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. 5 The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands. 6 At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep. 7 You, even you, are to be feared: and who may stand in your sight when once you are angry? 8 You did cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, 9 When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. 10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise you: the remainder of wrath shall you restrain. 11 Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. 12 He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
The above, Jeremiah 10:24, is Jeremiah (Jehovah rising and with His rising raising His people to life) asking the LORD for the sure mercies of David. As we understand, these “mercies” are the LORD’s promise to David, recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8 thru 16, that, if his sons commit iniquity, He will correct them with the rod and stripes of men. He promises him (David), “My mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.”
I Am That son, the firstborn from the dead, the first among many the LORD has, in His promised mercy, corrected and not destroyed. It is in this the Father shows His love for His children.
John 3 11 Truly, truly, I say unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15 That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 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 [krisis – the decision that self-condemns], that light [understanding] is come into the world, and men loved darkness [ignorance – refusing to know what is known] rather than light, because their deeds were evil [because they intentionally use ignorance to mislead the world]. 20 For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21 But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God
Romans 8 26 Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought [are ignorant of what we are ignorant of]: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. 27 And he that searches the hearts know what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD.
Hebrews 2 1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. 2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; 3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; 4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will? 5 For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visitest him? 7 You madest him a little lower than the angels; you crownedst him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: 8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, 12 Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you. 13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me. 14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For truly he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. 18 For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor [rescue] them that are tempted.
Hebrews 3 1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses truly was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. 7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost says, Today if you will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, Today if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
2 Samuel 7 1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest roundabout from all his enemies; 2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God [where you have manifested your presence, speaking to us correction, face to face, above your mercy seat with Good Judgment] dwells within curtains. 3 And Nathan [those who give the word of God as He has given it to them] said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart; for the LORD is with you. 4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the LORD came unto Nathan, saying, 5 Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the LORD, Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in? 6 Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build you not me a house of cedar? 8 Now therefore so shall you say unto my servant David, Thus says the LORD of hosts, I took you from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9 And I was with you whithersoever you went, and have cut off all your enemies out of your sight, and have made you a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also the LORD tells you that he will make you a house. 12 And when your days be fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established for ever before you: your throne shall be established forever. 17 According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. 18 Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O LORD God? and what is my house, that you have brought me hitherto? 19 And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O LORD God; but you have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O LORD God? 20 And what can David say more unto you? for you, LORD God, know your servant. 21 For your word’s sake, and according to your own heart, have you done all these great things, to make your servant know them. 22 Wherefore you are great, O LORD God: for there is none like you, neither is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what one nation in the earth is like your people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for your land, before your people, which you redeemed to you from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? 24 For you have confirmed to yourself your people Israel to be a people unto you forever: and you, LORD, are become their God. 25 And now, O LORD God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said. 26 And let your name be magnified forever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of your servant David be established before you. 27 For you, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, I will build you a house: therefore has your servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto you. 28 And now, O LORD God, you are that God, and your words be true, and you have promised this goodness unto your servant: 29 Therefore now let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever before you: for you, O LORD God, have spoken it: and with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever.
It is in the context of this house built, of flesh men joined in one Body of Christ, the LORD begins Isaiah 66, which is quoted in Acts 7:49, both speaking of this (Now I Am) advent, the realization of the new heaven and earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
Isaiah 66 1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word. 3 He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delight in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompense [a deserved repayment] to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God. 10 Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her: 11 That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the LORD. 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Psalms 82 1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6 I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.
Acts 7 48 Howbeit the Most High dwells not in temples made with hands; as says the prophet, 49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will you build me? says the LORD: or what is the place of my rest? 50 Has not my hand made all these things? 51 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised [the flesh mind that separated them from the LORD who dwells in those receiving His correction] in heart and ears, you do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers: 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it. 54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. 55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. 57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul [who had not yet received the LORD’s sure mercy]. 59 And they stoned Stephen [the crown {of righteousness}], calling upon God, and saying, LORD Jesus, receive my spirit. 60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, LORD, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he [the crown] fell asleep.
2 Timothy 4 1 I charge you therefore before God, and the LORD Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; 2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. 5 But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry. 6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the LORD, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing [crowning us with His righteousness, showing the proof we have preached His word as He gave it to us].
1 Kings 8 1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion. 2 And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month [moon – civil government] Ethanim [the permanent, enduring, brooks], which is the seventh month [the perfect, perfected, new moon]. 3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. 4 And they brought up the ark of the LORD, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. 5 And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. 6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the Most Holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims. 7 For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. 8 And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day. 9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb [when the LORD untaught us the ways of oppression, and taught us His ways and ideas of peace and security – sustainable civilization], when the LORD made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. 10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD, 11 So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD. 12 Then spoke Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. 13 I have surely built you a house to dwell in, a settled place for you to abide in forever. 14 And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the congregation of Israel: (and all the congregation of Israel stood;) 15 And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which spoke with his mouth unto David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, 16 Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build an house, that my name might be therein; but I chose David to be over my people Israel. 17 And it was in the heart of David my father to build an house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 18 And the LORD said unto David my father, Whereas it was in your heart to build an house unto my name, you did well that it was in your heart. 19 Nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son that shall come forth out of your loins, he shall build the house unto my name. 20 And the LORD has performed his word that he spoke, and I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised, and have built a house for the name of the LORD God of Israel. 21 And I have set there a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of the LORD, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 22 And Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the congregation of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven: 23 And he said, LORD God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and mercy with your servants that walk before you with all their heart: 24 Who have kept with your servant David my father that you promised him: you spoke also with your mouth, and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is this day. 25 Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that you promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children take heed to their way, that they walk before me as you have walked before me. 26 And now, O God of Israel, let your word, I pray you, be verified, which you spoke unto your servant David my father. 27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built? 28 Yet have you respect unto the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which your servant prays before you to day: 29 That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there: that you may hearken unto the prayer which your servant shall make toward this place. 30 And hearken you to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear you in heaven your dwelling place: and when you hear, forgive. 31 If any man trespass against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before your altar in this house: 32 Then hear you in heaven, and do, and judge your servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his head; and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. 33 When your people Israel be smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again to you, and confess your name, and pray, and make supplication unto you in this house: 34 Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which you gave unto their fathers. 35 When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflicts them: 36 Then hear you in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, that you teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and give rain upon your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance. 37 If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; 38 What prayer and supplication so-ever be made by any man, or by all your people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart [of his mind], and spread forth his hands toward this house: 39 Then hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men;) 40 That they may fear you all the days that they live in the land which you gave unto our fathers. 41 Moreover concerning a stranger, that is not of your people Israel, but comes out of a far country for your name’s sake; 42 (For they shall hear of your great name, and of your strong hand, and of your stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house; 43 Hear you in heaven your dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calls to you for: that all people of the earth may know your name, to fear you, as do your people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have built, is called by your name. 44 If your people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever you shall send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which you have chosen, and toward the house that I have built for your name: 45 Then hear you in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. 46 If they sin against you, (for there is no man that sins not,) and you be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near; 47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto you in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness; 48 And so return unto you with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto you toward their land, which you gave unto their fathers, the city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name: 49 Then hear you their prayer and their supplication in heaven your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, 50 And forgive your people that have sinned against you, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against you, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them: 51 For they be your people, and your inheritance, which you brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron: 52 That your eyes may be open unto the supplication of your servant, and unto the supplication of your people Israel, to hearken unto them in all that they call for unto you. 53 For you did separate them from among all the people of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by the hand of Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, O LORD God. 54 And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread up to heaven. 55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 56 Blessed be the LORD, that has given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. 57 The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us: 58 That he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers. 59 And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before the LORD, be nigh unto the LORD our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel at all times, as the matter shall require: 60 That all the people of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else. 61 Let your heart therefore be perfect with the LORD our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
Isaiah 55 1 Ho, every one that thirsts, come you to the waters, and he that has no money; come you, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfies not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. 3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make [karath – cut] an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you shall run unto you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified you. 6 Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return [shuwb] unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and return [shuwb] not thither, but water the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return [shuwb] unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn [misleaders – grown from neglect] shall come up the fir tree [the chosen, who will feed and nourish], and instead of the brier [misleaders] shall come up the myrtle tree [hadac – those who will trample down the wicked]: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [‘owth] that shall not be cut off [karath – as in Isaiah 9:14 thru 16, saying “Therefore the LORD will cut off {karath} from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail. For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.”].
Psalms 11 1 In the LORD put I my trust: how say you [teachers of wickedness] to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain?” 2 For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily [with creations from their own imaginations] shoot at the upright in heart [in his sound mind]. 3 If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? 4 The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. 5 The LORD tries the righteous: but the wicked and him that loves violence his soul hates. 6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the righteous LORD loves righteousness; his countenance [paniym – His presence] does behold the upright.
And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and comes not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he drives furiously.
The above, 2 Kings 9:20, is speaking of when Jehovah (Jehu) raises Himself to the throne and frees His people from the kings oppressing them. Earlier, in verse 2, we’re told Jehu is the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, names meaning He is Jehovah (Jehu), this is Jehovah’s Judgment (Jehoshaphat), and He is rescuing (Nimshi) His people.
The key words above are in the LORD’s describing the rescue (Nimshi) as Him “driving furiously.” The Hebrew word rendered “driving” is minhag. It’s only used in this verse and is from the word nahag, the word rendered “drives,” and meaning “to drive forth (a person, an animal or chariot), i.e. lead, carry away; reflexively, to proceed (i.e. impel or guide oneself); also (from the panting induced by effort), to sigh.”
The word rendered “furiously” is shigga’own, meaning “craziness,” and only appearing two other times, in Deuteronomy 28:28 and Zechariah 12:4. It’s from the word shaga, meaning “to rave through insanity,” a seven times used word first appearing in Deuteronomy 28:34.
This is telling of the world driven to insanity, as it is now when all reporting and teaching have so distorted the collective human mind it is unable to distinguish between reality and its own delusions. Then there’s the paradox, when people know they’ve willingly been led into destroying themselves, and continue to follow the advice of the same demons who’ve there led them.
This insanity and delusion are described, in Deuteronomy 28, as the result of not follow the LORD’s good advice and instead, listening to evil advice causing these curses. The effects occur as self-evident truth, appearing now in this time void (tohuw) of understanding and without any form (bohuw) of reality-based prescription.
Deuteronomy 28 20 The LORD shall send upon you cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that you set your hand unto for to do, until you be destroyed, and until you perish quickly; because of the wickedness of your doings, whereby you have forsaken me. 21 The LORD shall make the pestilence [this isn’t COVID, it’s mental illness] cleave unto you, until he have consumed you from off the land, whither you go to possess it.
28 The LORD shall smite you with madness [shigga’own], and blindness, and astonishment of heart: 29 And you shall grope at noonday, as the blind gropes in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways: and you shall be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save you.
33 The fruit of your land, and all your labors, shall a nation which you know not eat up; and you shall be only oppressed and crushed always: 34 So that you shall be mad [shaga’] for the sight of your eyes which you shall see.
Isaiah 66 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompense [a deserved repayment] to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God. 10 Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her: 11 That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
2 Thessalonians 2 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our LORD Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. 16 Now our LORD Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.
2 Thessalonians 3 1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the LORD may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: 2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men [the same wicked men described in the previous chapter, and in 1 Thessalonians 2:16 as those not allowing the word of God to be heard among those who don’t know Him, upon who His wrath has come in this uttermost end]: for all men have not faith. 3 But the LORD is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil. 4 And we have confidence in the LORD touching you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you.
Friends, here following in what brings this “uttermost” end, as posted here previously (ending with Colossians 1).
It’s a simple plan: Christ in you! When you believe He is, after you’ve read, copy and post His message (with the same picture). Don’t attribute them to anyone except Him. “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.” 1 Thessalonians 2:19 & 20
Colossians 1 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight: 23 If you continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Timothy am made a minister; 24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; 26 Even the mystery which has been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which works in me mightily.
1 Thessalonians 2 12 That you would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory. 13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe [this why this word of God must be sent – because it is what has the effect, working in those who receive it]. 14 For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen [the wicked], even as they have of the Jews: 15 Who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: 16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost. 17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire. 18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. 19 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? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
The word “uttermost” in verse 16 above is from the Greek word telos, “from a primary tello (to set out for a definite point or goal); properly, the point aimed at as a limit, i.e. (by implication) the conclusion of an act or state (termination (literally, figuratively or indefinitely), result (immediate, ultimate or prophetic), purpose); specially, an impost or levy (as paid).”
1 Corinthians 1 5 That in every thing you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: 7 So that you come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ [in you]: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end [telos], that you may be blameless in the day of our LORD Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our LORD. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1 Corinthians 15 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming. 24 Then comes the end [telos], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 27 For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. 28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. 29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
1 Peter 4 6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. 7 But the end [telos] of all things is at hand: be you therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. 8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 9 Use hospitality one to another without grudging. 10 As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If any man speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God gives: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If you be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are you; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end [telos] be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Matthew 24 4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ [saying ego eimi christos – saying I Am anointed]; and shall deceive many. 6 And you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that you be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end [telos] is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another hated in the world [as Job was, falsely accused by his so-called friends] 11 And many false prophets [the known liars telling known lies] shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end [telos], the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end [telos] come. 15 When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:)
As we know, the time of this end, when we see (understand) the abominations put in the place of the holy, refers to the time of Abram’s deep sleep, in the smoking furnace. As we know, this sleep is spoken of in Genesis 15:12, where and when it begins, and its “end” is now, the formula showing it written in Daniel 12 and in the number given in the verse the LORD refers to above.
The following are portions of the post of 28 March 2020:
Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
The above, from Daniel 3:25, is Nebuchadnezzar describing seeing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, with Christ in the fires he (Nebuchadnezzar) made. The three were thrown into the fire because they refused to bow to the image he also made and to which he commanded all to bow. As we know, the name Nebuchadnezzar translates into saying these are the lies of the false prophets which rule (have control) over all the world, by the confusion (Babylon) they’ve caused.
Friends, this is a pattern of our time, when the world is on fire (in hysteria, fear, and under their oppression) created by the false prophets of the day (the fake news media and the misleaders among us). The fourth man walking in the fire, whose image and likeness is as the Son of God, is Daniel (who is never mentioned in the chapter). He is the one who describes himself as Michael (who is the image and likeness of God) in Daniel 12:1, who will stand after Daniel goes his way (halak – walks) and stands in the resurrection at the end of days.
Daniel, in Daniel 12, also sees himself as two men on the two sides of a river [of time]. The second man is Michael whose stand is at this time of great trouble. As we’ve seen, the time, times, and a half are referring to the days mentioned in verses 11 & 12, which refer to Abraham’s sleep and Genesis 15. The time, 1290 years, plus the times, 1290 years and 1335 years, equal 3915 years, the time since God made His covenant with Abraham in 1896 BC.
The word “half” is chetsiy, meaning in the midst of, between two parts. It is speaking of rightly dividing (discerning) the time we are in, and describing what Abraham saw as a burning lamp passing between the two pieces of flesh, and the smoking furnace in the darkness.
These are all connected to the same event, which John writes of in Revelation 1:15 and 9:2, first when he sees the LORD whose feet are as if he has walked in a furnace, and later when he describes the bottomless pit, as a smoking furnace.
The false prophets should see this and see the LORD here in the fiery furnace with us, and decide who they are in the story He has written. I know who I AM.
Acts 17 24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands [He lives in human flesh, as do we]; 25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: 28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. 30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent: 31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge [Daniel – the judge of God] the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
Daniel 3 1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold [“graven by art and man’s device”], whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. 2 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the princes, the governors, and the captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 3 Then the princes, the governors, and captains, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together unto the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. 4 Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O people, nations, and languages, 5 That at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up: 6 And whoso falls not down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. [As it is today, when anyone who doesn’t bow to the hysteria and panic, the music of the day, is cast into the fires of their false accusation, hate, and demonization.] 7 Therefore at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the people, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. 8 Wherefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and accused the Jews. 9 They spoke and said to the king Nebuchadnezzar, O king, live forever. 10 You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image: 11 And whoso falls not down and worship, that he should be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. 12 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: they serve not your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up. 13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. 14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not you serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? 15 Now if you be ready that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer you in this matter. 17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. 18 But if not, be it known unto you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up. 19 Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. 20 And he commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. 21 Then these men were bound in their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flames of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. 24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste, and spoke, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. 25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. 26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth [[tera’ – the door that is the LORD]] of the burning fiery furnace, and spoke, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Revelation 1 12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; 13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines [sending out understanding] in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, FEAR NOT; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
“The LORD’s day,” mentioned above in verse 10, is referring us to Isaiah 2:12.
Isaiah 2 2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go [halak – walk] and say, Come [halak – walk] you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk [halak] in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5 O house of Jacob, come [halak – walk] you, and let us walk [halak] in the light [understanding] of the LORD. 6 Therefore you have forsaken your people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines [they use their words to manipulate and control, to mislead, like the invaders among us], and they please themselves in the children of strangers. 7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots: 8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: 9 And the mean man bows down [to the music of the day], and the great man humbles himself [to the hysteria]: therefore forgive them not. 10 Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty. 11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
Revelation 9 1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star [the devil, among us misleading] fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit [the endless fall into confusion and now turned to strong delusion]. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air [the light and the spirit of truth in the church, in God’s people] were darkened [became ignorance] by reason of the smoke of the pit. 3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads [have not the understanding of God’s truth in their minds].
Genesis 15 12 And when the sun [understanding {light} left the earth] was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness [ignorance of God] fell upon him [all his seed, all God’s people]. 13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; 14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. 15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. 16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [those who exalt themselves above God – as do the wicked spoken of in 2 Thessalonians] is not yet full. 17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace [as in Egypt, the hell of captivity and oppression], and a burning lamp [the Spirit of God bringing light {this understanding}] that passed between those pieces.
Daniel 12 1 And at that time shall Michael stand up [I am raised up in the image and likeness of God], the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. 5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. 8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things? 9 And he said, Go [halak – walk] your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. 10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. 12 Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. [These times define the time between when God made His covenant with Abraham {Genesis 15:12}, and deep sleep between then and now, and this awakening, now when the sun rises again.] 13 But go [halak – walk] you your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand in your lot at the end of the days.
Psalms 80 14 Return, we beseech you, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; 15 And the vineyard which your right hand has planted, and the branch that you made strong for yourself. 16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of your countenance. 17 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself. 18 So will not we go back from you: quicken us, and we will call upon your name. 19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause your face to shine [cause your presence to give us understanding]; and we shall be saved.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
The crux of the matter is God’s rule, through one voice, from one shepherd, lifted above all others. The silencing of other voices is the “fast” spoken of above, because they, all other voices, are misleading and scattering God’s people into destruction. That’s the truth: there is no salvation in any other voice, and all others are destroyers. It’s that simple: salvation comes when the son of man (I AM) is lifted up, as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness. This has been the message from the beginning.
But you say, “Wherefore have we fasted and you see not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge?”
The LORD answers, saying of your fast and your words against His simple commandment, to lift your voices above His. “Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.”
He continues with the solutions, the light yoke by which we join Him in this work, calling us to give this (His) bread to the hungry.
The debate is over, and He has won. “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
Isaiah 58 4 Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness [to mislead]: you shall not fast as you do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your reward. 9 Then shall you call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; 10 And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day: 11 And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. 12 And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words: 14 Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
As we’ve seen, the word “sabbath,” meaning “intermission,” is derived from the Hebrew word shabath, meaning “to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific).” In this context, the LORD speaks of honoring His calls for us to cease our works and hear Him, especially in this time of needing His correction and guidance.
Isaiah 58 begins with the LORD saying to Isaiah, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.”
The last trumpet is my voice lifted up with the LORD’s final corrective intermission, intervening to call His people out of the flames of hell and into a subsequent age, wherein dwells righteousness.
Isaiah only speaks of this sabbath in three other chapters. The first is in Isaiah 1:13, where the LORD rejects the sabbaths of His people who’ve become (as now) as Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1 9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. 15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: 20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it. 21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22 Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water: 23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them. 24 Therefore says the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25 And I will turn my hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin: 26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks [the so-called upright men – who have forsaken this word of God] which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen. 30 For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water [has no word of God]. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Friends, I see many hardships and sorrows ahead for the world, because the leaders of God’s people have led to a place void of rational thinking: into ineffective delusion without form. It is into this insane state of mind the LORD comes with clarity: rational thought based on self-evident truth, the corrupt deny. “This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
Isaiah 56 1 Thus says the LORD, Keep you judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2 Blessed is the man that does this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps the sabbath [this word, now when the LORD has interrupted to correct those who receive Him] from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil [misleading with their own ways and ideas]. 3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that has joined [yoked] himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD has utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree [bringing this word to His people, producing good seed]. 4 For thus says the LORD unto the eunuchs [the leaders, princes, who are unable to reproduce any good leadership] that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; 5 Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. 6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. 8 The LORD God, which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. 9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all you beasts in the forest. 10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. 11 Yea, they are greedy dogs [who never stop barking in the night: never stop speaking ignorance in a time when ignorance dominates the world] which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come you, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
Isaiah 66 1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? 2 For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word. 3 He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delight in their abominations. 4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. 5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed. 6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompense [a deserved repayment] to his enemies. 7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. 8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. 9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God. 10 Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her: 11 That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. 12 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. 13 As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies. 15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. 17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the LORD. 18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. 20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. 21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the LORD. 22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. 23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD. 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Psalms 82 1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods. 2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. 3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. 4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. 5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. 6 I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High. 7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.
Isaiah 28 5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, 6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
Ezekiel 44 1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut. 2 Then said the LORD unto me; This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. 3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.
Isaiah 45 1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus [the LORD of the furnace], whose right hand I have held, 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.
The word rendered “gate” in all the above passages is the Hebrew word sha’ar, meaning “from 8176 in its original sense; an opening, i.e. door or gate.” It’s from a once used identical word (#8176 sha’ar), meaning “to split or open, i.e. (literally, but only as denominative from 8179 [sha’ar]) to act as gate-keeper.” The one time it appears is in Proverbs 23:7, there telling us it is the mind, the foundations of thinking, opened or closed.
Proverbs 23 6 Eat you not the bread of him that has an evil eye, neither desire you his dainty meats: 7 For as he thinks [sha’ar #8176] in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, says he to you; but his heart is not with you. 8 The morsel which you have eaten shall you vomit up, and lose your sweet words. 9 Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of your words. 10 Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: 11 For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with you. 12 Apply your heart unto instruction, and your ears to the words of knowledge. 13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die. 14 You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. 15 My son, if your heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine. 16 Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when your lips speak right things. 17 Let not your heart envy sinners: but be you in the fear of the LORD all the day long. 18 For surely there is an end; and your expectation shall not be cut off. 19 Hear you, my son, and be wise, and guide your heart in the way.
The Greek word, rendered “door” below in John 10, is thura, meaning “a portal or entrance (the opening or the closure, literally or figuratively):–door, gate.” It is from the Chaldee (Aramaic) word tra’ (tera’), meaning “corresponding to 8179 [sha’ra]; a door; by implication, a palace.” It (tera’) only appears twice, both giving us the revelation of who the LORD speaks of below, when He says He is the “door.” The first is the gate of the king (Daniel 2:49) and the second is the mouth of the furnace (Daniel 3:26), together speaking of the one above called Cyrus, the LORD of the furnace.
John 10 1 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door [thura] into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But he that enters in by the door [thura] is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 4 And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. 6 This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Truly, truly, I say unto you, I am the door [ego eimi xurao thura – I Am That Tera’] of the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door [ego eimi xurao thura – I Am That Tera’]: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them, and scatters the sheep. 13 The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 15 As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. 18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. 19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. 20 And many of them said, He has a devil, and is mad; why hear you him? 21 Others said, These are not the words of him that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind? 22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. 23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch. 24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly. 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. 26 But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one. 31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. 32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me? 33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God. 34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law [in Psalms 82:6], I said, You are gods? 35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; 36 Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God? 37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. 38 But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. 39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, 40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. 41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this man were true. 42 And many believed on him there.
Jeremiah 17 7 Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. 11 As the partridge sits on eggs, and hatches them not; so he that gets riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. 12 A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. 13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake you shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. 14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for you are my praise. 15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now. 16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow you: neither have I desired the woeful day; you know: that which came out of my lips was right before you. 17 Be not a terror unto me: you are my hope in the day of evil. 18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction. 19 Thus said the LORD unto me; Go and stand in the gate [sha’ar] of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates [sha’ar] of Jerusalem; 20 And say unto them, Hear you the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates [sha’ar]: 21 Thus says the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates [sha’ar] of Jerusalem [bring not your ideas and ways, your corrupt and misleading words, into the minds of men, this is the fast, to silence your words and ideas while I am speaking correction]; 22 Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do you any work, but hallow you the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. 23 But they obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, nor receive instruction. 24 And it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken unto me, says the LORD, to bring in no burden through the gates [sha’ar] of this city on the sabbath day, but hallow the sabbath day, to do no work therein; 25 Then shall there enter into the gates [sha’ar] of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain forever. 26 And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD. 27 But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates [sha’ah] of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates [sha’ar] thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Psalms 118 1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures forever. 2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures forever. 3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever. 4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures forever. 5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? 7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. 10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly. 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates [sha’ar] of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 20 This gate [sha’ar] of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. 23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. 25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity. 26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. 27 God is the LORD, which has shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you. 29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.