He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
The above is speaking of the LORD’s provision (providence) for those who put their trust in Him. The passage is Psalms 91:1 & 2, a Psalm where the subject is discussed, verses 8 & 9 saying because we do (make Him our refuge), we will see with our eyes the reward of the wicked.
Friends, in the name of the LORD, I decree (declare) to you the end of the wicked is upon them (of which cause and effect they remain ignorant). The LORD is unleashing (on them) the hell they’ve sought. They have sown to the wind and now reap the whirlwind!
This is the beginning, the new heaven and earth built upon the ruin the wicked have wrought.
Isaiah 26
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
19 Your dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, you that dwell in dust: for your dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
20 Come, my people, enter you into your chambers, and shut your doors about you: hide yourself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be over-past.
21 For, behold, the LORD comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Psalms 91
1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
3 Surely he shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
4 He shall cover you with his feathers, and under his wings shall you trust: his TRUTH shall be your shield and buckler.
5 You shall not be afraid for the terror by night [the terror that comes upon the ignorant]; nor for the arrow [the lies and false accusations of the wicked] that flies by day [against understanding, the LORD’s TRUTH, which is light and life];
6 Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness [the disease that only affects the ignorant]; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday [the destruction that comes when understand has fully risen upon the earth].
7 A thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you.
8 Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward [the just payment the for the evil work] of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the Most High, your habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling [because you have left them and come into the refuge – see Revelation 18 & 19 below].
11 For he shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.
12 They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.
14 Because he has set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known my name [understood My identity – in those who abide in Me and I in them].
15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble [tsarah – the tribulation of the world]; I will deliver him, and honor him.
16 With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my [Jehovah’s] salvation [in his flesh {Jesus} – in My ONE BODY].
Revelation 18
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened [given understanding] with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
7 How much she has [in her wickedness] glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LORD God who judges her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise anymore:
12 The merchandise [selling the corrupt things this world thinks are of value] of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that your soul lusted after are departed from you, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from you, and you shall find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her [giving her the reward due her evil works].
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more [spewing deception] at all in you; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in you [in confusion doing evil work]; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in you;
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries [their spells causing ignorance] were all nations deceived.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Revelation 19
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the LORD our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up forever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and you that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude [of those who’ve come out of the tribulation into the LORD’s refuge], and as the voice of [the rushing of] many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering [see Psalms 81:7 below, this is the secret place, the place of the seven thunders only known to the LORD and by those to whom He reveals them], saying, Alleluia: for the LORD God omnipotent reigns [By his power, His secrets revealing the king He has chosen].
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he said unto me [as I say unto you], Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he says unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me [as I say unto you], See you do it not: I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus [in my mouth, which is the Father’s honey and strength given]: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [speaking as the mouth of God].
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he does judge and makes war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself [because the Father reveals it to without measure, because He has called me His son, and says it my right to rule].
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God [revelation no man knows].
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword [speaking this Word of God], that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron [the strength God gives to the one He chooses to rule]: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast [Babylon, confusion spewed from those who don’t know Him] was taken, and with him the false prophet [mixed among us deceiving and misleading the world] that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast [which is their confusion, their obvious delusions they insanely claim are reality], and them that worshipped his image [the false reality these evil men have created and force all the world to worship]. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls [those who by the LORD’s strength soar in heaven: in full understanding] were filled with their flesh.
Isaiah 26
1 In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah among [the elect remnant]; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
2 Open you the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.
4 Trust you in the LORD forever: for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting strength:
5 For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he lays it low; he lay it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
6 The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
7 The way of the just is uprightness: you, most upright, do weigh the path of the just.
8 Yea, in the way of your judgments, O LORD, have we waited for you; the desire of our soul is to your name, and to the remembrance of you.
9 With my soul have I desired you in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek you early: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
10 Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.
11 LORD, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of your enemies shall devour them.
12 LORD, you will ordain peace for us: for you also have wrought all our works in us.
13 O LORD our God, other lords beside you have had dominion over us: but by you only will we make mention of your name.
14 They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.
Psalms 81
1 Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob.
2 Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
3 Blow up the trumpet in the new moon [the new just civil government to be established, by His king, under the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God, under which men are entitled to live – read your Declaration of Independence if you doubt this entitlement it true], in this time appointed, on our solemn feast day.
4 For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob.
5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not.
6 I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the pots.
7 You called in trouble [tsarah – out of tribulation], and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret [cether – the same word as in Psalms 91:1 above] place of thunder [now where the seven thunders are heard]: I proved you at the waters of Meribah [where you strived with Me, doubting it was My word flowing from the Rock: Christ in Moses speaking, when you said, “Is the LORD among us, or not?” Exodus 17:7]. Selah.
8 Hear, O my people, and I will testify unto you: O Israel, if you will hearken unto me;
9 There shall no strange god be in you; neither shall you worship any strange god.
10 I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt: open your mouth wide, and I will fill it [with honey and strength].
11 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me.
12 So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels [into the darkness of ignorance].
13 Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, and Israel had walked in my ways!
14 I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.
15 The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured forever.
16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the Rock should I have satisfied you.
The word the LORD uses, rendered “refuge” in Psalms 91:2 & 9, is the Hebrew word machaceh, meaning “a shelter (literally or figuratively):–hope, (place of) refuge, shelter, trust.” It (machaceh) is referring us to its descriptive use in Isaiah 4:6, as the secret place (of which all men are ignorant, and is only revealed by the Father to the son) is described.
Luke 10
21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank you, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in your sight.
22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see:
24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.
Isaiah 4
1 And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man [Ishi, Hosea 2:16 – the LORD in him], 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.” [They remain ignorant to the fact that the cause of their reproach is their own ways and ideas – the leaven of their bread and their garments spotted by the flesh: idol put in God’s place and called by His name.]
2 In that day shall the Branch [covered in Iron and honey that must be eaten] of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped [of the darkness – by receiving the “end” of this conversation – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever] 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 [the hiding place, from where understanding is revealed as the light of the new day], and the shining of a flaming fire by night [giving understanding, as fire against the persistent ignorance]: for upon all the glory [this presence of the LORD manifested] 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 [machaceh], and for a covert [mictorw – a hiding place] from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 5
1 Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes [who have become strangers to me].
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah [My elect remnant], judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard [my estranged and corrupt people, who worship idols they put in My place].
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes [strangers who don’t know me, because of the false teaching and false prophesies they’ve been taught by the gods they put in my place]?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns [misleaders and deceivers]: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it [understanding will not come to them from Heaven, because of the gods they put in My place and call by My name].
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house [church to church], that lay field to field, till there be no place [to escape], that they may be placed alone [not joined to Me or their parts] in the midst of the earth!
9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts [who is a man of war], Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
Friends, the problem is God’s people, misleaders and those they’ve misled, don’t believe this is His word, and, therefore, they don’t heed His warnings or repent from their corruption. Woe to those whose refuge is the lies and falsehood they think hides them from the LORD’s correction.
Isaiah 28
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge [machaceh], and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says 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 [as the liars] make haste [be ashamed when they realize they have lied in my name].
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge [machaceh] 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 goes 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 [this word of Jehovah heard].
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 to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people [You’ve strengthened] 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 [machaceh] from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall [against the protection the LORD has provided, in His hidden truth revealed].
5 You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud [covered by His understanding 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.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering 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 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: 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.
The “terrible ones,” who come as a storm against His truth revealed, whose “branch” shall be brought low, are respectively from the Hebrew words ‘ariyts and zamiyr, the first appearing twenty times and the second only this once.
From the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: #6184: `ariyts; from 6206; fearful, i.e. powerful or tyrannical:– mighty, oppressor, in great power, strong, terrible, violent; and #2159: zamiyr; from 2168; a twig (as pruned):– branch.
These men (the terrible ones) are described in Job 15:20, when Eliphaz the Temanite (meaning he, one of the enemies mixed among us, is one of the wise men of the world, whose god is his wealth) describes his demise with those of his ilk (his branches), which comes by their own ignorance (of the insurmountable wall of the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God). He (Eliphaz) is here, in a pattern, condemning me and the (what he thinks are) worthless words of God heard from me, which he believes are in vain.
Job 15
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind [understanding he says is given by God himself]?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4 Yea, you cast off fear [saying God says fear not], and restrain prayer before God [saying He has already answered through me].
5 For your mouth [saying God says] utters your iniquity, and you choose the tongue of the crafty [whose words are created by their own imaginations].
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I: yea, your own lips testify against you.
7 Are you the first man that was born [yes, because the LORD first brought me to life by His understanding He put in me]? or were you made before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret of God? and do you restrain wisdom to yourself [saying He has told what He hasn’t told any other man]?
9 What know you, that we know not? what understand you, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God small with you? is there any secret thing with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? and what do your eyes wink at,
13 That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? [The LORD has declared it, and given it.]
15 Behold [the word of the accusers’ ignorance], he put no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinks iniquity like water?
17 I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
18 Which wise men [the Temanites – the wise men of the world even know these things] have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor [‘ariyts].
21 A dreadful sound [qowl – voice] is in his ears: [telling him] in prosperity [in his wealth] the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believes not that he shall return out of darkness [from his ignorance], and he is waited for of the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread [the word from the mouth of God], saying, Where is it? he knows that the day of darkness [when understanding reveals his ignorance] is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they [his own fear of the things he has created: his own delusion] shall prevail against him, as a king [I Am] ready to the battle.
25 For he stretches out his hand against God, and strengthens himself against the Almighty.
26 He run upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers [he thinks his wealth shields him from God]:
27 Because he covers his face with his fatness, and makes collops of fat on his flanks.
28 And he dwells in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabits, which are ready to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness [he chooses to remain there, even when light has come into the world, because his deeds are evil]; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepares [to vomit out their] deceit.
The confusion in the above is that Eliphaz believes God doesn’t care that the wicked are destroying themselves as they destroy the world. They don’t know He’s come to save them, and any who repent and come to His light. These men’s delusion is that there is no God who comes to save the righteous and wicked (because they are all, without Him, incapable of saving anyone, including themselves).
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 fulness of the Gentiles [who don’t know God] be come in.
26 And so all Israel [God people, who have a zeal for Him, but without knowledge of Him, which is manifested in His judgment and MERCY] shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness [asebeia] 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 [the elect remnant] in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief [that through you He shall show His mercy in judgment]:
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 counselor?
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.
Ezekiel 3
16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days [and the beginning of the next seven, when true prosperity comes as a new day], that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
18 When I say unto the wicked, You shall surely die; and you gives him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at your hand.
19 Yet if you warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
20 Again, When a righteous man does turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die: because you have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at your hand.
21 Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also you have delivered your soul.
22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain [into plain sight and tell them I Am speaking salvation to the world unable to save itself], and I will there talk with you.
23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory [manifested presence] of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar [far off in this time]: and I fell on my face.
24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me, and said unto me, Go, shut yourself within your house.
25 But you, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon you, and shall bind you with them, and you shall not go out among them:
26 And I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your mouth, that you shall be dumb, and shall not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak with you [here and now], I will open your mouth, and you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; He that heareth, let him hear [and live]; and he that forbears, let him forbear [and he shall not live]: for they are a rebellious house.
The Greek word asebeia, rendered “ungodliness” in Romans 11:26 above, a passage quoted from Isaiah 59:20 & 21, is the equivalent of the Hebrew word pesha’, rendered “transgression.” The Greek word is used five other times, all precisely describing it and how the LORD turns it away.
Romans 1
17 For therein [the gospel – the good news that the LORD comes to save all who receive Him] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith [in the elect remnant first] to faith [of those who hear and believe it is the LORD speaking His salvation to the world]: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness [asebeia] and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth [captive] in [their words of] unrighteousness;
19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them [that He is good, even coming to save them while they are His enemies speaking against Him]; for God has shown it unto them.
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made [that now appear], even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened [the foundational ideas became ignorance].
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man [such as they are], and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things [all created things].
2 Timothy 2
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes [through whom this gospel shall be preached to the heirs of salvation], that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with [the manifestation in them of His] eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him [to the old corrupt world], we shall also live with him [forever in the new]:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself.
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the LORD that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings [of ignorance and corruption]: for they will increase unto more ungodliness [asebeia].
Titus 2
11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness [asebeia] and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you.
Jude 1
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 [asebeia – worthless words of ignorance and corruption] committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly [asebeo] sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling [proud] words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage [because of their positions of power giving honor to their words of ignorance and corruption].
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 [asebeia] lusts.
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 [of your words against Him] 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 calleth for justice, nor any pleads for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [pesha’] 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.
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 [pesha’] 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 [as honey and strength] 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.
The mercy of the LORD toward the delusional who don’t know Him, turning away their ungodliness (asebeia and persha’), is what the LORD in Elihu (meaning He is God speaking) describes in Job 35 & 36.
In the first (chapter 35), when (as in Romans 10:2 & 3) speaking to God’s people who have zeal without knowledge, who are trying to prove their own righteousness is more than God’s, He says this transgression (speaking ignorant and corrupt words against Him) does nothing to the LORD. They are trying to prove their ways and ideas are right, but they transgress more as they speak against Him.
In the second (chapter 36) He tells of His mission, coming to show man his errors and to correct him away from the inevitable death to which his ways are taking him.
Job 35
1 Elihu [the LORD God unknown in him] spoke moreover, and said,
2 Think you this to be right, that you said, My righteousness is more than God’s?
3 For you said, What advantage will it be unto you? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
4 I will answer you, and your companions with you.
5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [where He holds His understanding when it has left the earth] which are higher than you.
6 If you sin, what do you against him? or if your transgressions [pesha’ – your words of ignorance and corruption against Him] be multiplied, what do you unto him?
7 If you be righteous, what give you him? or what receives he of your hand?
8 Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are; and your righteousness may profit the son of man.
9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
10 But none says, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night;
11 Who teaches us more than the beasts [men without His Spirit] of the earth, and makes us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
12 There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
14 Although you say you shall not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust you in him.
15 But now, because it is not so [because you don’t see His judgment before you and put your trust in Him], he has visited in his anger; yet he knows it not in great extremity:
16 Therefore does Job [God’s hated people, who think their ways are more right than God’s, and refuse His right way] open his mouth in vain; he multiplies words without knowledge.
Job 36
8 And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
9 Then he shows them their work, and their transgressions [persha’ – that their word are ignorant and corrupt] that they have exceeded.
10 He opens also their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity.
11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.
13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he binds them.
14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.
15 He delivers the poor in his affliction, and opens their ears in oppression.
Job 33
13 Why do you strive against him? for he gives not account of any of his matters.
14 For God speaks once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumbering upon the bed;
16 Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction,
17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
22 Yea, his soul draws near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness:
24 Then he is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
25 His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:
26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
27 He look upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
29 Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,
30 To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light [understanding] of the living.
The delusion spoke of above: when men choose their own way and therefore don’t believe there is a God who comes to save them from the end they reach when following them (their own ways and ideas), is described in Isaiah 66:4. The word there rendered “delusion” is the twice used Hebrew word ta’aluwl, meaning “from 5953; caprice (as a fit coming on), i.e. vexation; concretely a tyrant:–babe, delusion.”
It is speaking of delusion as what is chosen and, therefore, logically, the resulting thoughts are delusions. This is recited in verse 3 in telling of those doing one thing and thinking of it “as if he” did another, in phrases which are reversed from their intended meaning.
Verse 3 should read “He that slew a man, is as if he kills an ox; he that cut off a dog’s neck, as if he sacrifices a lamb; he that offers swine’s blood, as if he offered an oblation; he that blessed an idol, as if he burnt incense. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.”
The abominations put in the place of what they should be are delusions that result in delusional thinking in all areas. The chapter begins with the LORD asking about the house men have built for Him, which they have put in the place of the one the son of David will build for Him. He says he (the son – I Am) is the one He will look to, to build it. He is the man child born, who is the voice of the LORD heard rendering the deserved payment to His enemies. This is the LORD’s judgment and mercy, but, as Jonah says before he is vomited from the belly of hell, “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.”
Isaiah 66
1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you [the proud] build unto me? and where is the place of my rest [is it among the abomination your put in My place]?
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 slew a man, is as if he kills an ox; he that cut off a dog’s neck, as if he sacrifices a lamb; he that offers swine’s blood, as if he offered an oblation; he that blessed an idol, as if he burnt incense. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
4 I also will choose their delusions [ta’aluwl], and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they [the proud] 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 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.
The replacement is spoken of in the only other time the word ta’aluwl appears, in Isaiah 3:4, there speaking of the delusional who replace the just leaders when the stay of bread and water is removed from Judah and Jerusalem. It (the stay) speaks of what supports good leadership, the underpinning, the foundation of God’s word and His way flowing to His people. Its removal and replacement lead to reproach and oppression, as when the seven women (the church) now say they “will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by your name, to take away our reproach.”
Isaiah 3
1 For, behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
3 The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes [ta’aluwl – delusional oppressors] shall rule over them.
5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
13 The LORD stands up to plead, and stands to judge the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
Psalms 7
1 O LORD my God, in you do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
2 Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.
3 O LORD my God, If I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
4 If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:)
5 Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honor in the dust. Selah.
6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger, lift up yourself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that you have commanded.
7 So shall the congregation of the people compass you about: for their sakes therefore return you on high.
8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins.
10 My defense is of God, which saves the upright in heart.
11 God judges the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.
12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he has bent his bow, and made it ready.
13 He has also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordains his arrows against the persecutors.
14 Behold, he travails with iniquity, and has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.
15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate.
17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.
