Let my cry come near before you, O LORD: give me understanding according to your word.
The above, Psalms 119:169, begins the last of its twenty-two segments and describes the way into salvation. The Hebrew words in the first portion of the verse should read, “When I joy in approaching your presence, O Jehovah,” which is speaking of the “hastening” discussed in the previous post, to which we hurry. We saw the word saying this is “chuwsh, meaning ‘to hurry; figuratively, to be eager with excitement or enjoyment:–(make) haste(-n), ready.’ Its meaning implies the opposite of shame (the disappointment and dishonor when what is foretold and therefore expected, doesn’t come).”
Psalms 119
169 Let my cry [rinnah] come near [garab] before [paniym] you, O LORD [Jehovah]: give me understanding [biyn] according to your word [dabar].
170 Let my supplication come before you: deliver [natsal] me according to your word.
171 My lips shall utter praise, when you have taught me your statutes.
172 My tongue shall speak of your word: for all your commandments are righteousness.
173 Let your hand help me; for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I have longed for your salvation, O LORD; and your law is my delight.
175 Let my soul live, and it shall praise you; and let your judgments help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant; for I do not forget your commandments.
As we know, the word natsal is the equivalent of harpazo, which describes the LORD pulling us from the fires of confusion caused by following the evil misleaders in our midst. The word rinnah above is used (Isaiah 48:20 rendered “singing”) in telling of the LORD redeeming us from these misleaders (Babylon and the Chaldeans – confusion and enchanters using their words to mislead, manipulate, and control in an evil direction). Then in Isaiah 49:13, it (rinnah) tells of the same “singing” in high places when the LORD has comforted (led into all truth) His people. In Isaiah 47:14, the word natsal appears, there speaking of the same evil men, challenging those who trust in their wickedness (spells and predictions), to stand with them and see if they can save, while warning they cannot “deliver” themselves from the power of the flame.
Isaiah 47
1 Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin [without a real man to lead them] daughter of Babylon [God’s people held in confusion], sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans [wizards of this world, using deception to manipulate and control]: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.
2 Take the millstones, and grind meal: uncover your locks, make bare the leg, uncover the thigh, pass over the rivers [of deception].
3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, your shame [disappointment from not reaching the evil end] shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and I will not meet you as a man.
4 As for our redeemer, the LORD of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.
5 Sit you silent, and get you into darkness [ignorance], O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the ancient have you very heavily laid your yoke.
7 And you said, I shall be a lady forever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it.
8 Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwells carelessly, that says in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
9 But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection [when I free them from your spell] for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments.
10 For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am [a god], and none else beside me.
11 Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from where or when it rises: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know.
12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you.
14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver [natsal] themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.
15 Thus shall they be unto you with whom you have labored, even your merchants, from your youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save you.
Isaiah 48
1 Hear you this, O house of Jacob, which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the LORD, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness.
2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
3 I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass.
4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
5 I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I showed it you: lest you should say, Mine idol has done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them.
6 You have heard, see all this; and will not you declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, and you did not know them.
7 They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when you heard them not; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them.
8 Yea, you heard not; yea, you knew not; yea, from that time that your ear was not opened: for I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.
9 For my name’s sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I cut you not off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, but not with silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For mine own sake, even for mine own sake, will I do it: for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.
12 Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.
13 Mine hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together.
14 All you, assemble yourselves, and hear; which among them has declared these things? The LORD has loved him: he will do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.
15 I, even I, have spoken; yea, I have called him: I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.
16 Come you near unto me, hear you this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the LORD God, and his Spirit, has sent me.
17 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go.
18 O that you had hearkened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea:
19 Your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your bowels like the gravel thereof; his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me.
20 Go you forth of Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing [rinnah] declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say you, The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.
21 And they thirsted not when he led them through the deserts: he caused the waters to flow out of the rock [His word from my mouth] for them: he clave the rock also, and the waters gushed out.
22 There is no peace, says the LORD, unto the wicked.
Isaiah 49
1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, you people, from far; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name.
2 And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me;
3 And said unto me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4 Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
5 And now, says the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.
8 Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard you [the “cry” spoken of in Psalms 119:169, which begins the process by sending a deliverer], and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness [in ignorance], Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north [hidden in ignorance] and from the west [from where the sun set – where understanding left]; and these from the land of Sinim [thorns – where misleader overgrew the unattended Eden].
13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing [rinnah], 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 you with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does.
19 For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed you up shall be far away.
20 The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
22 Thus says the LORD God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
25 But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children.
26 And I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
Isaiah 49:8 above, telling of our salvation process, the LORD’s working in us and then through us, referring to the below passages, where in 2 Corinthians 6:12 it is quoted. There Paul is telling of the end, when we, by the work and mind of Christ, see the Father in the son, and become the children the LORD has given him. He speaks of being in the body and absent from the LORD, and describes the unseen identity, His and ours, until we put on the like mind by coming out of the dead and corrupt body. He explains that this isn’t something (His presence) that comes by being unclothed of flesh (the veil hiding it), but rather when we are clothed over with the immortal reality contained unseen therein.
The mind of Christ comes through the New “Testament,” which is not a new book, but rather giving Christ like understanding to/of the law and the prophets. It’s removing the vail, the flesh that hides the LORD who is always among us, and when we turn (return) to the LORD the veil is removed, and every man will know Him.
Hebrews 8
7 For if that first covenant [diatheke] had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the LORD.
10 For this is the covenant [diatheke] that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts [as the foundation of their thinking and acting]: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he says, A new covenant [diatheke], he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16 To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
1 Corinthians 10
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God [giving understanding through us, in us and you]; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart [the foundation of our thinking and acting].
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament [diatheke – new covenant, foretold in Jeremiah 31 and quoted in Hebrews 8]; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains [the unseen Spirit of God with us then in us] is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is [flesh] abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament [not understanding the LORD was in all those through whom He spoke and wrote]; which vail is done away in Christ [some will say Christ wrote nothing, when in fact He wrote it all, as He writes and speaks here and now, His Spirit unknown, veiled in flesh].
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [katoptrizomai – meaning “to mirror oneself, i.e. to see reflected (figuratively)” – seeing Christ in yourself, understanding by His same mind] the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
Hebrews 10
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost [the LORD unknown, veiled in flesh, leading us into all truth] also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant [diatheke] that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; [“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD.” Jeremiah 31:34]
17 And their sins [of ignorance] and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest [the presence of God] by the blood of Jesus, [Hebrews 9:19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is {all these things are the blood of the covenant, the means of the ministration, and the work wrought by the minsters – by the mind of Christ, our chief priest} the blood of the testament {diatheke} which God has enjoined {entellomai – the goal in you} unto you. 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin {lead us into understanding that removes blindness, and we see to lead the way into New Jerusalem – where the peace and safety of God’s ways are though and followed} by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.] [1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus {Jehovah’s Salvation in flesh} is the Son of God? 6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood {the word of God sent from heaven and the sacrifice to deliver it as received}. And it is the Spirit {the LORD unknown working} that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth {who leads us into all truth}. 7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost {the LORD unknown working}: and these three are one. 8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit {the LORD unknown working}, and the water {the word of God sent from heaven}, and the blood {the sacrifice to minister, delivering His word as received}: and these three agree in one {flesh}. 9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. 10 He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that believes not God has made him a liar; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son. 11 And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.]
20 By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having a high priest over the house of God;
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 wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth 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 belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith 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.
32 But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions;
33 Partly, whilst you were made a gazing-stock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst you became companions of them that were so used.
34 For you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which has great recompence of reward.
36 For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.
37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the LORD Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 5
1 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:
3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked [we shall not be ashamed].
4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
5 Now he that has wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body [endemeo – among the corrupt body], we are absent from [ekdemeo – out of the body of] the LORD:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)
8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent [ekdemeo] from the [corrupt] body, and to be present [endemeo – in the body] with the LORD.
9 Wherefore we labor, that, whether present [endemeo] or absent [ekdemeo], we may be accepted [euarestos] of him. [Ephesians 5: 8 For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the LORD: walk as children of light: 9 (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) 10 Proving what is acceptable [euarestos] unto the LORD. 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness {the corruption of the ignorant}, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. 13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light {understanding – the mind of Christ}: for whatsoever does make manifest is light {understanding}. 14 Wherefore he say, Awake you that sleep, and arise from the dead {come out from among the dead body – to life everlasting}, and Christ shall give you light {understanding}. 15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, 16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of LORD is.] [2 Corinthians 10: 1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled. 7 Do you look on things after the outward appearance? if any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s. 8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the LORD has given us for edification {education}, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed: 9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters. 10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible. 11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present. 12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.]
10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.
11 Knowing therefore the terror of the LORD, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
12 For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them which glory in appearance, and not in heart.
13 For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
14 For the love of Christ constrain us [binds us together]; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
16 Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
19 To wit [hos – in this manner], that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and has committed unto [tithemi – placed in] us the word of reconciliation.
20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though [hos – in this manner] God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be you reconciled to God.
21 For he has made him to be sin for us [in us], who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
2 Corinthians 6
1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored [rescued] you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fasting;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8 By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O you Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged [our minds are shown to be the mind of Christ].
12 You are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own bowels [you are restricted by lack of understanding – you own minds’ blindness to reality].
13 Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be you also enlarged [put on this same mind].
14 Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light [understanding] with darkness [ignorance]?
15 And what concord [what like mind] has Christ with Belial [men’s idols]? or what part has he that believes with an infidel [with those who have no faith]?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.
Psalms 48
1 O clap your hands, all you people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph [rinnah].
2 For the LORD most high is terrible; he is a great King over all the earth.
3 He shall subdue the people under us, and the nations under our feet.
4 He shall choose our inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob whom he loved. Selah.
5 God is gone up [‘alah – ascended] with a shout [truw’ah – a call to gather to the battle], the LORD with the sound of [qowl – His voice as] a trumpet [showphar]. [1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.] [2 Samuel 6:15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up {‘alah} the ark {in which is the testament} of the LORD with shouting {truw’ah}, and with the sound {qowl – voice} of the trumpet {showphar}.]
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth: sing you praises with understanding.
8 God reigns over the heathen: God sits upon the throne of his holiness.
9 The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.
