Author: wordofgod

Friends, I would much rather come to you on this day of the rising son and preach about how all things are good and right, but that isn’t the case and in fact if couldn’t be farther from the actual state of God’s people. The LORD started my day by speaking from Jeremiah 12, 13 & 14, specifically telling of her corrupted and worthless (become without intended form, and void of any value) rulers, teachers, preachers, and her prophets. This is the state of church and nation. And instead of altering their form, and adding value (repent, and be forgiven their sins past) they return to their vomit and wallowing in their mire.

Hebrews 6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God:
8 But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

In the prior post, we discussed this word of God, mentioned as the oracles of God and the advantage given to God’s people. We looked at it from this perspective in Romans 3, and went on to mention the word logion as the word “oracles” and it being from the original root lego. With that came (in the comments) the critics, the ignorant who think they know something while all they know is how not to hear or learn anything beyond their own self-elevation (proud and wise in their own conceit). If they would like me to go into more detail about the word logion and how it is the foundational discourse, I will boast a little in the knowledge God has given me. But if I glory, I will glory in the LORD and not my own self-created wisdom.

Logion is from the word logos, AS WE ALL KNOW. In the Strong’s we are told of the word logos coming from the word lego, literally meaning to lay out, as in a systematic discourse. It is telling of the foundational building blocks that make up an ordered discourse that allows for understanding (Isaiah 28:10). This gives us the understanding of only the first half of what is actually the compound word logion, log = logos = lego; the second half, ion, is from aion, meaning age, and is one of the words translated world. Therefore in this we are able to see the “oracles” are specifically telling of the eternal word of God.

Should I go on?

In the prior post, we talked about those opposing this word of God being, as described in Romans 3 by quoting Hebrew scriptures, as having mouths that are like an open sepulcher (as the empty tomb – no Jesus Christ in them – no anointing or salvation in their words). The passage also told of these men not knowing the “ways of peace.” This last point was the topic. It is also what the foundational discourse refers to, the way of peace, when it is told of in the name Jerusalem.

AGAIN, as we have studied many times here, (and if you haven’t studied along with us don’t dare assume we don’t know something or have left something out) Jerusalem is from two words; yarah and salem. Yarah (yara’) literally means to flow from, therefore meaning to layout, or throw, thereby meaning and being translated as the foundation and teaching, and as logion, tell of the only teaching and foundation upon which peace (salem) is able to exist.

Should I go on?

Salem (Shalem) is from the word shalam (same as shalom), and in knowing the full definition of this word we understand what is taught by God, as the foundation of peace and that flows directly from Him to be delivered in just that same form (without additions, subtractions, or “corrections” from the self-anointed “experts”). It tells of reciprocal security as the essential aspect of abundant life and what the LORD reduces to/for the simplicity of understanding to the second of the two great commandments, “love your neighbor as yourself” (mutual security).

Here is the definition of shalam from the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Strong’s #7999: shalam (pronounced shaw-lam’) a primitive root; to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be (causatively, make) completed; by implication, to be friendly; by extension, to reciprocate (in various applications):–make amends, (make an) end, finish, full, give again, make good, (re-)pay (again), (make) (to) (be at) peace(-able), that is perfect, perform, (make) prosper(-ous), recompense, render, requite, make restitution, restore, reward, X surely.

I will stop here, but could go on, and on, and on, into eons (aion).

When Romans 3 tells of these men not knowing the ways of peace, it is speaking of these same rulers, teachers, preachers and prophets, not so much about their not knowing them as it is their rejecting them, teaching and rely on their own ways instead. (I am going to go on a little more), It isn’t that they aren’t free to be ignorant if they choose, as are all, but they have no right to teach ignorance to others or lead them by ignorance, (because if the blind lead the blind they will both fall into a ditch).

The crime is that these men do teach and rule by corrupted ideas, and have caused them (ruinous ideas) to become the foundation upon which now the entire world relies. (And they can’t figure out why there is no peace – there is no peace for the wicked). AS WE HAVE OFTEN STUDIED, this is what Peter speaks of when he tells of the “elements” melting away as the world burn up (see Hebrews 6:8 above).

We know the word elements is from the Greek word stoicheion, meaning an orderly arrangement, as in fundamental ideas. We know it is the same word translated as “principles” as in Hebrews 5 when it tells of the those, thinking themselves teachers, needing to be taught again the first principles (stoicheion) of the oracles (logion) of God.

Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.

These men teaching their ways that aren’t the ways of peace is also why Romans 3 tells of this true preaching, sent from God, being for the purpose that all those doing so would see themselves guilty before God, and that every one of their mouths would be stopped.

It is also why when Peter tell of the fires that end of this age of ignorance, he is specific in saying that it is their ideas (their works), which both set the world on fire, and the ideas themselves melt away – being replaced with righteousness. He ends chapter 3 by also specifically speaking of the ignorance of the men (false teacher and prophets) who wrestle with the word of God, as written by Paul, and do so to their own destruction.

2 Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbers not.

2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

This is also why as Paul speaks of these men not knowing the ways of peace he quotes from Isaiah 59:8, a chapter where the LORD tells of His looking at the earth and seeing there wasn’t any man that called for Justice and Judgment, and therefore He knew He had to do it Himself. This is the meaning we recently discussed as being found in the name of Jehovah (self-existing and self-generating at His own will, whenever He decides), and in the name of Jesus, meaning Jehovah’s Salvation. The name Jesus being the full revelation of God’s mission, generating Himself into our greatest needs, and doing so for our Salvation. I am that I am.

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 righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

 

Romans 3 begins by telling of the advantage of God’s people, those claiming His name but remaining in unbelief. The chapter goes on to describe their condition by first telling of the advantage they have in that the oracles of God have been delivered to them. The Greek word there rendered “oracles” is logion, meaning the foundational building block (lego) of Godly wisdom and knowledge.

Here is the meaning of lego, and in it is seen what oracle (logion) is telling of being delivered to us by the utterance (word) of God.

From the Strong’s Greek Dictionary: Strong’s #3004: lego (pronounced leg’-o) a primary verb; properly, to “lay” forth, i.e. (figuratively) relate (in words (usually of systematic or set discourse; whereas 2036 and 5346 generally refer to an individual expression or speech respectively; while 4483 is properly to break silence merely, and 2980 means an extended or random harangue)); by implication, to mean:–ask, bid, boast, call, describe, give out, name, put forth, say(-ing, on), shew, speak, tell, utter.

When the above definition speaks this systematic discourse, and the chapter of this content coming from God being the advantage of His people, we understand the question that follows, and the reaming portion of the chapter telling of the resulting product of those who in unbelief reject this treatise.

The question asked, to be answered, is, “What if some refuse to believe, does their unbelief invalidate the faith in God of those who do believe and take advantage of the advice?”

The answer initially come in Paul quoting from Psalms 51:4, saying, “4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That you might be justified in your sayings, and might overcome when you are judged.”

He then says, “5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?”

What Paul is saying here is that the unbelieving people were calling His word/preaching unrighteousness and a lie, because he said it was God speaking through him, but it couldn’t be denied it was God’s truth being delivered to them. In this we see (understand) the remainder of the chapter when it speaks of the deadly venom that was continuing to be spoken against God, by those who were rejecting it and refusing the way of peace.

This is the same subject of Psalms 51, where we read of all born into the flesh with this tendency toward ignorance. Romans 3 tells us the mission is to first let this aspect be seen, the folly in man without God, and as now all rejecting Him, so that all becoming guilty before God. We read of this being so that every mouth, that exalts itself against God’s, would be stopped, for all have sinned and come short of what can be seen as the glory of God in those who do believe.

I stand as a witness in/as the Glory of my Father who sent me. I and the Father are One.

Romans 3
7 For if the truth of God has more abounded through [what they falsely accuse of being] my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?
8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulcher [that is the tomb that is now seen as empty]; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things so-ever the law says, it says to them who are under the law [those not believing this report]: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus [I and the Children God has given me (the risen body of Jesus Christ), are Jehovah’s Salvation (Jesus), through preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins past (in his name)].
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith, [the faith of those believing (I and the children)].
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Psalms 51
1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight: that you might be justified when you speak, and be clear when you judge.
5 Behold, I was shaped in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part you shall make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which you have broken may rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from your presence; and take not your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors your ways; and sinners shall be converted unto you.
14 Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, you God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of your righteousness.
15 O LORD, open you my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth your praise.
16 For you desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: you delight not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 Do good in your good pleasure unto Zion: build you the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shall you be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon your altar.

Continuing: In the prior post and many before it we’ve mentioned the “glory” of the LORD, both as what is seen of the LORD at His coming, and as its being manifested in us as it occurs. In the previous post, we saw it as the topic of Isaiah 49, the LORD telling of His servant being born and Him naming us Israel, saying, “In whom I will be Glorified.” We also saw the chapter begin by addressing the “isles,” using the Hebrew word ‘iy, meaning a habitable place, as in reaching the shoreline after crossing the waters.

It appears the deeper meaning in the name Israel is seen when we see it as ‘iy being the first of three words compounded into it. The other two are the know words sarah and el; sarah meaning to prevail, and el meaning God. Compounding these meanings, we see the name tell of God’s people by defining them as: those in whom the LORD God finds a habitable place, where He has and is able to further prevail. This meaning is what we later see in Isaiah 49 as the LORD describes His work that He will accomplish in us, as He is Glorified in us.

The Hebrew word there translated “glorified” is pa’ar, meaning a gleaming, as to embellish or to boast of (the light producing the gleaming). It means to explain something to make it clearly understood. The word is also used in forms meaning foliage – as in shooting forth in the same way (as gleaming), and of shaking a tree (as does the wind – unseen, while still known).

In this one word we are able to see the LORD’s description of the coming of the Son of man, when He says in Matthew 24: “30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”

In the above passage and description, we clearly see what the LORD is/was telling us when he told so many times of our knowing, in this day, that He is in us, and the Father being in us as He is in Him…

John 14
1 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
4 And whither I go you know, and the way you know.
5 Thomas said unto him, LORD, we know not where you go; and how can we know the way?
6 Jesus said unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father, but by me.
7 If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip said unto him, LORD, show us the Father, and it suffice us.
9 Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father?
10 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it 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 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.

In verse 5 above Thomas (the doubting one) tell the LORD he doesn’t know the way because He doesn’t know where the LORD is going. This is both a necessary confession and an admission of the cause of not knowing. The LORD tells Him where He is going, and the way, but because of not being able to accept what he is being told he is himself the cause of not understanding.

This is the same sequence and topic we have examined in John 3 and Nicodemus’ (overcoming [the thinking of] the crowd) encounter with the LORD. The conversation begins with the LORD telling of the same new birth we read of in Isaiah 49, that comes as the Glory of the LORD is seen in us.

John 3
5 Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it is inclined, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not tell from where it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit [affected by the unseen, but known by the effect].
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Are you a master of Israel, and know not these things?
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. [To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears my voice.]
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, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
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.

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 abhor, 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, 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, Shew 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.

(See the prior post.)

Ephesians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the LORD Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
8 Wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he has purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his own will:
12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
13 In whom you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the LORD Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
17 That the God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all.

Ephesians 2
1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
11 Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12 That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14 For he is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19 Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together grows unto a holy temple in the LORD:
22 In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.

Psalms 127
1 Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
3 Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
5 Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.

Do you see it? The Glory? Mine eyes have seen the Glory, as undeniable as the sunrise (or a son rise – if you prefer). If you deny it, you deny yourself.

Continuing: let’s look at the time and our human condition through the eyes of the LORD. What our human eyes see are the spasmodic thrashing of a world without any control of its own movement or direction. This itself is the time we are told of as the Days of Judgment, and are both birth pains of the women bringing forth her child and the thrashings of a new born. (The mother is the body of Christ eternal and complete – physical and metaphysical, and the swaddling bands are what she (not a person) and the Father have wrapped us in, for our protection until we have learned to control ourselves.)

John 16
19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do you enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me?
20 Verily, verily, I say unto you, That you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
21 A woman when she is in travail has sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

Luke 2:12 tells us of the sign of child wrapped the waddling cloth, lying in a manger. We also know the LORD tells us, more than once, the only sign will be the sign of Jonah, for as Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale so shall the son of man be in the belly of the earth.

Jonah 2:5 tells of the wrapping that were about his head as he was in the belly of the whale and seemingly descending into hell.

The Greek word only Luke uses to describe what is translated “wrapped Him in swaddling clothes,” is spargnoo (written in the original text as esparganomenon), from the word sparasso, meaning spasmodic contractions. Sparasso is only used four time, all telling of those possessing a spirit that causes them to rend or tear themselves. This should be seen as telling of those without the ability to self-govern (self-control). In all four of the cases the word is used when speaking of a condition only the LORD is able rescue us from.

Here is the condition again, now described by Jonah in Jonah 2, verse 5 mentioning the wrapping about his head.

Jonah 2
1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and you heard my voice.
3 For you have cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all your billows and your waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet have you brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto you, into your holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto you with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

In understanding this chapter in relation to others we see the whale for what it represents. Above we see Jonah calling out to the LORD and the LORD hearing him in his trouble as if in hell. This is referring to what is written in Isaiah 49:8 and later quoted by Paul in 2 Corinthians 6:2. In both these cases it is speaking of the LORD hearing us in an acceptable time and coming to our rescue. We know in 2 Corinthians 6 it is telling of our coming out from among the corrupted idol worship we are unequally yoked to. In Isaiah 49 the LORD speaks of His coming to preserve us, and of our being those who say to the prisoners, “Go forth.”

The “dry land” is the same “dry land” God’s people walked on as they passed through the sea in the Exodus, when God rescued us from the fiery furnace of our oppressors. Isaiah 49 begins by speaking to those in the “isles,” using the Hebrew word ‘iy, meaning a habitable spot, as in reaching the shore.

Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition of ‘iy: Strong’s #339: ‘iy (pronounced ee) from 183; properly, a habitable spot (as desirable); dry land, a coast, an island:–country, isle, island.

Isaiah 49 goes on to tell of our coming from our mother’s womb, and sent by the LORD as the one He hid in His hand, and He having made our mouth’s like a sharp sword. “And said unto me, ‘You are My Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be Glorified.’”

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 abhor, 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, 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, Shew 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 and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
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 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.

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 succoured [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.
12 You are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be you also enlarged.
14 Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an infidel?
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.

2 Peter 1
1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our LORD,
3 According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our LORD Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ.
12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth.
13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;
14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our LORD Jesus Christ has shewed me.
15 Moreover I will endeavor that you may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost [as the Spirit moved on the waters in creation].

The Greek word Luke uses to tell of the manger where the child will be found, as a sign, is pateomai, written is the original text as patne. It is essentially the same word as pateo, meaning to trample under foot. Pateo is only used five times and the last is telling of the LORD “treading” the grapes of wrath at His coming, and doing so with a sharp sword that goes out of His mouth. Revelation 19:15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

2 Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily [from their own imaginations] shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the LORD.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: [by] the dumb donkey speaking with man’s voice forbidding the madness of the [false] prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.ord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

To begin today I am issuing my own warning, in the name of the LORD, remember our discussions about the natural law provision and phases of self-defense. Specifically: if a person or nation is threatened with violent action, and the one making the treats persists in them, and even after being warned off continues to take steps toward enacting their threats, the one threatened has the right, and in national defense the obligation, to act preemptively before the threat can be carried out. (This is actually a warning about the natural response we could see from those we threaten. Threats aren’t good foreign policy – warnings are.)

In commenting and in a prior post I have mentioned John Quincy Adams’ warning against going abroad looking for monsters to destroy. His remarks came in a speech he gave in on July 4, 1821, and therein he used this metaphor to speak against the federal government’s entangling itself in the affairs and conflicts of foreign governments. The sound reasoning he presents against such action is the underlying motives (ideas) of these other nations, which are counter to ours and therefore our involvement is unjustifiable.

Here is the first portion of the passage I posted from the speech, which asks if we are to be known by our material advances, or by the ideas that have created us [and our prosperity]:

“And now, friends and countrymen, if the wise and learned philosophers of the older world, the first observers of mutation and aberration, the discoverers of maddening ether and invisible planets, the inventors of Congreve rockets and shrapnel shells, should find their hearts disposed to inquire, what has America done for the benefit of mankind? let our answer be this–America, with the same voice which spoke herself into existence as a nation, proclaimed to mankind the inextinguishable rights of human nature, and the only lawful foundations of government. America, in the assembly of nations, since her admission among them, has invariably, though often fruitlessly, held forth to them the hand of honest friendship, of equal freedom, of generous reciprocity. She has uniformly spoken among them, though often to heedless and often to disdainful ears, the language of equal liberty, equal justice, and equal rights. She has, in the lapse of nearly half a century, without a single exception, respected the independence of other nations, while asserting and maintaining her own. She has abstained from interference in the concerns of others, even when the conflict has been for principles to which she clings, as to the last vital drop that visits the heart. She has seen that probably for centuries to come, all the contests of that Aceldama, the European World, will be contests between inveterate power, and emerging right. Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own. She will recommend the general cause, by the countenance of her voice, and the benignant sympathy of her example. She well knows that by once enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself, beyond the power of extrication, in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy, and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standard of freedom. The fundamental maxims of her policy would insensibly change from liberty to force. The frontlet upon her brows would no longer beam with the ineffable splendor of freedom and independence; but in its stead would soon be substituted an imperial diadem, flashing in false and tarnished luster the murky radiance of dominion and power. She might become the dictatress of the world: she would be no longer the ruler of her own spirit.”

The paragraph that follows gives many examples of the advances in all areas of science and philosophy, and comes to this conclusion as its end, “It is not by the contrivance of agents of destruction, that America wishes to commend her inventive genius to the admiration or the gratitude of after times; nor is it even by the detection of the secrets or the composition of new modifications of physical nature.”

He then quotes a passage from Virgil’s Vision of Roman Greatness:

“Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera”

It is the first line in what translates to:

“Others will forge breathing bronzes more smoothly
(I believe it at any rate), and draw forth living features from marble.
They will plead law-suits better and trace the movements
Of the sky with a rod and describe the rising stars.
You, O Roman, govern the nations with your power- remember this!
These will be your arts – to impose the ways of peace,
To show mercy to the conquered and to subdue the proud.”

This is what Adams meant above when he said: “Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her [Americas’] heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

What is “her own” is well defined earlier when Adams states:

“The final sentence upon it has long since been passed upon earth and ratified in heaven.

The interest, which in this paper [The Declaration of Independence] has survived the occasion upon which it was issued; the interest which is of every age and every clime; the interest which quickens with the lapse of years, spreads as it grows old, and brightens as it recedes, is in the principles which it proclaims. It was the first solemn declaration by a nation of the only legitimate foundation of civil government. It was the corner stone of a new fabric, destined to cover the surface of the globe. It demolished at a stroke the lawfulness of all governments founded upon conquest. It swept away all the rubbish of accumulated centuries of servitude. It announced in practical form to the world the transcendent truth of the unalienable sovereignty of the people. It proved that the social compact was no figment of the imagination; but a real, solid, and sacred bond of the social union. From the day of this declaration, the people of North America were no longer the fragment of a distant empire, imploring justice and mercy from an inexorable master in another hemisphere. They were no longer children appealing in vain to the sympathies of a heartless mother; no longer subjects leaning upon the shattered columns of royal promises, and invoking the faith of parchment to secure their rights. They were a nation, asserting as of right, and maintaining by war, its own existence. A nation was born in a day.

“How many ages hence shall this their lofty scene be acted o’er In states unborn, and accents yet unknown?

It will be acted o’er, fellow-citizens, but it can never be repeated. It stands, and must forever stand alone, a beacon on the summit of the mountain, to which all the inhabitants of the earth may turn their eyes for a genial and saving light, till time shall be lost in eternity, and this globe itself dissolve, nor leave a wreck behind. It stands forever, a light of admonition to the rulers of men; a light of salvation and redemption to the oppressed. So long as this planet shall be inhabited by human beings, so long as man shall be of social nature, so long as government shall be necessary to the great moral purposes of society, and so long as it shall be abused to the purposes of oppression, so long shall this declaration hold out to the sovereign and to the subject the extent and the boundaries of their respective rights and duties; founded in the laws of nature and of nature’s God. Five and forty years have passed away since this Declaration was issued by our fathers; and here are we, fellow-citizens, assembled in the full enjoyment of its fruits, to bless the Author of our being for the bounties of his providence, in casting our lot in this favored land; to remember with effusions of gratitude the sages who put forth, and the heroes who bled for the establishment of this Declaration; and, by the communion of soul in the re-perusal and hearing of this instrument, to renew the genuine Holy Alliance of its principles, to recognize them as eternal truths, and to pledge ourselves and bind our posterity to a faithful and undeviating adherence to them.

Fellow-citizens, our fathers have been faithful to them before us. When the little band of their Delegates, “with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, for the support of this declaration, mutually pledged to each other their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor,” from every dwelling, street, and square of your populous cities, it was re-echoed with shouts of joy and gratulation! and if the silent language of the heart could have been heard, every hill upon the surface of this continent which had been trodden by the foot of civilized man, every valley in which the toil of your fathers had opened a paradise upon the wild, would have rung, with one accordant voice, louder than the thunders, sweeter than the harmonies of the heavens, with the solemn and responsive words, ‘We swear.’”

Ezekiel 36
1 Also, you son of man, prophesy unto the mountains [the high places – seats of power] of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2 Thus says the LORD God; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the LORD God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD God; Thus says the LORD God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea [Esau, those selling their birthright for mere morsels], which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus says the LORD God; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown:
10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built:
11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of men.
13 Thus says the LORD God; Because they say unto you, You land devorest up men, and have bereaved your nations:
14 Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nations any more, says the LORD God.
15 Neither will I cause men to hear in you the shame of the heathen any more, neither shall you bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shall you cause your nations to fall any more, says the LORD God.
16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus says the LORD God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whither you went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31 Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 Not for your sakes do I this, says the LORD God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
33 Thus says the LORD God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built.
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus says the LORD God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Here is the full closing of the Adam speech:

It is not by the contrivance of agents of destruction, that America wishes to commend her inventive genius to the admiration or the gratitude of after times; nor is it even by the detection of the secrets or the composition of new modifications of physical nature.

“Excudent alii spirantia mollius aera.”

Nor even is her purpose the glory of Roman ambition; nor “tu regere imperio populosa” [move nations with your power] her memento to her sons. Her glory is not dominion, but liberty. Her march is the march of mind. She has a spear and a shield; but the motto upon her shield is Freedom, Independence, Peace. This has been her declaration: this has been, as far as her necessary intercourse with the rest of mankind would permit, her practice.

My countrymen, fellow-citizens, and friends; could that Spirit, which dictated the Declaration we have this day read, that Spirit, which “prefers before all temples the upright heart and pure,” at this moment descend from his habitation in the skies, and within this hall, in language audible to mortal ears, address each one of us, here assembled, our beloved country, Britannia ruler of the waves, and every individual among the sceptered lords of humankind; his words would be, “Go you and do likewise!”

Over the past few days we have been discussing Judgment Day, explaining it in truth. Of course, it is contrary the fictional accounts created by men, false prophets and deceiver all, and counter to the poor judgment exercised as common practice by those sitting in the seats of judgment ruling over church and nation.

In past discussion’s we have examined in great depth the common traits underpinning all the enemies of our unique culture founded upon the Law of Nature and Nature’s God. We have come to know these enemies, whether communist, marxist, progressive, muslim, globalists, or just plain old scientific materialists and liberal elites, collectively as those who as a necessary prerequisite for imposing their individual ideological foundation having to destroy ours. We have seen these, each in their own way, as policy use any means of violence and deception to attack and degrade our IDEAS.

So, when people ask themselves as I have asked myself, why such as large and diverse group (spanning all the above “isms”) would join as one in support of an attack on Syria, we need only to look for the common denominator. (Revelation 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.)

We know one of the techniques used in the attempt to destroy our culture is diluting it with those who, rather than brought here to assimilate into it, are brought here, encouraged and supported, to establish footholds for their own lesser ideas (cultures). The eventual end it to absorb us into the same ways (schismatic and fragmented) that have kept the rest of the world in constant chaos. We know these conflicting ideas, intermixed with ours, are what has corrupted our institutions and culture into the degenerate form it has become.

So, when we see the marxists and the republican globalists reveling in the attack on Syria, it comes down to it advancing their agenda, or their seeing it as opening a door for manipulation toward it. When all these types in government and media come together their will be no deeper investigation, but rather more deception and calls for the same response. All we will see from here will be maneuvering to advance their particular version of degrading this nation by assimilating and subordinating it into and under the world. There will be none of that “America First” heard – unless it’s by those hoping that somewhere in this pile of horse dung there is a pony.

***
The LORD started our day with Isaiah 58, and it calling me to show His people their transgressions. (Friends, unless we get a handle of this it is going to spiral out of control quickly. “It” is Trump being played by the same establishment monsters he claimed he was so much smarter than. I say this as a friend and unafraid.)

Isaiah 58
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and you sees not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors.
4 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.
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 [His interruption to correct us], 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.

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 [the life leaving the body], and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 None call 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 righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Ephesians 6
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the LORD, and in the power of his might.
11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Psalm 85
1 LORD, you have been favorable unto your land: you have brought back the captivity of Jacob.
2 You have forgiven the iniquity of your people, you have covered all their sin. Selah.
3 You have taken away all your wrath: you have turned yourself from the fierceness of your anger.
4 Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause your anger toward us to cease.
5 Will you be angry with us for ever? will you draw out your anger to all generations?
6 Will you not revive us again: that your people may rejoice in you?
7 Shew us your mercy, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.
8 I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
12 Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

The title of the prior post spoke of Judgment Day, and it being a Day of Darkness and of Ignorance Covering the World. Today a deeper look into the word of God and His explaining the ignorance and darkness as a result of men teaching their own creations, thereby confusing themselves and those they have led astray from His Truth.

We know Babylon speaks of the state of confusion that now covers and captivates the world. We also know its fall into self-destruction is what is spoken of in the latter chapters of Revelation.

Be it know, as we begin to look into and speak the truth we will unavoidably, without fear, stir up those mired in this ignorance, they unwittingly rising to the defense of the darkness, which they have not only been taught, but also hold others in its confused grip.

Revelation 17 tells of Babylon as a great mystery, saying, “And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.”

The Greek word musterion here rendered “mystery,” is used three other times in the book of Revelation, each time speaking of the same secret surrounding the same seven headed beast and the unfaithful women who rides it/them.

In Revelation 1:20 we are told of the “mystery” being of the seven angels of the seven churches, meaning the mystery being uncovered in this book of Revelation (apocalypse – removing the covering) is the messengers of the churches and more specifically their falling away into corruption and confusion.

In the verses prior we read of the LORD telling John not to fear, and of His being first and the last, and having the keys to unlock death and hell. This is speaking of the seals that are eventually unsealed, as the mystery, piece by piece, is uncovered.

Revelation 1
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 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.
19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which you saw are the seven churches.

The same two-edged sword, we read of in verse 16 above, coming from the mouth of the LORD, is the same fiery sword that later comes from His mouth in the destruction of Babylon. It is telling of His word as the key, and when they and the book are silenced/closed there is confusion and hell, and when He opens and speaks there is salvation. We know from Revelation 5 what is unsealed is the book, that was locked when it became corrupted by this falling away.

Revelation 5
1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders says unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
9 And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever.

Before going on it is important to understand the mystery is Babylon – the secret is the confusion of those trying to make themselves seem as if they have some knowledge, which they don’t have because the LORD hasn’t sent them nor has He told them anything (except to repent).

To this point we understand what Peter and Paul are telling us when many times they speak of the false prophets who will be among us – these messengers (angels) of death in the churches. We know from Peter, in 2 Peter 2, that these false teachers will bring, have brought, in damnable heresies even denying the LORD who bought them. We know from Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2, that the day of the LORD doesn’t come until this falling away (from God and His truth) has occurred, and these men infest all the judgment seats.

We know from Paul, 2 Corinthians 11, the true identity of these men who make themselves out to have greater knowledge, knowing every detail as their means of weaving their web of deceit. “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.”

The mystery is the confusion, and by it the people of God are unable to know the time, unable to see what is right in front of their face. AND they will never see it as long as they are listing to those who have told the lies, or expecting them to lead them out of what they have led them into.

They know what Revelation 18 says of their city they have built, and it being in flames as their works of corruption are burning. They refuse to repent because they are protecting their own kingdom and cursing God to do it. They do the work of Satan by keeping God’s people from seeing the time, because if they did see it they would know exactly what they must do.

So, the minions, the masses of confusion, will attack this truth until their end, choosing to perish rather than repent. They have chosen their end.

The next use of the word musterion is in Revelation 10:7 speaking of this sounding off. Again, we see the book being open as what ends the mystery, and it becoming in the mouth of the reader words as sweet as honey.

Revelation 10
1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And swore by him that lives for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

This takes us to this time and those hearing my words but not understanding them, because of the confusion caused by these fallen away messengers, of Babylon, confusion the mother of the fallen away (harlots).

The word musterion is actually used twice in Revelation 17, the first as we have seen to tell of the secret of the confusion (mystery Babylon), and the other as John (the angel delivering God’s words) explains the “mystery of the women,” beginning in verse 7.

The further description is found in verse 8, when we are told of the one perishing. We are also told prior of this one as being drunk in the blood of the prophets and martyrs of Jesus (killing off those God has sent to correct them). We know from our recent studies this is telling of the pattern the LORD speaks of in Matthew 23 where he ends saying:

Matthew 23
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 stones 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.

John then goes on to tell of his seeing this and wondering with great admiration. Greek word here rendered “wonder” is thaumazo, from thauma, the word translated as “admiration.” A more correct rendering of the words should include the ideas of the wondering being of not understating or perceiving the end of the events being seen. This is understoond in its being immediately followed by the further description giving understanding to those not having the mark of confusion (in their heads).

There we are told of these many, who we are later told of having one mind (the wicked one as the many), and fighting against the Lamb (the many with the mind of Christ). These wicked men are those who infest what “was” the church, became not the church by falling away (“is not”), and now they go into perdition (perishing), and all the earth, whose names are not written in the book of life, wonder (thaumazo). They wonder because of the confusion, unable to understand what they are seeing, because they are looking for something else (the lie that will never come).

The Mystery Babylon is the established church fallen into this final eighth form in total confusion. This is why we read in Revelation 18 the LORD Calling his people out from among them, as we have seen in Hebrews 13. There we are called to go outside the camp, to meet the LORD, bearing his light burden, yoked together with him in the reproach bought upon us by knowing Him, and preaching this repentance in spirit and truth.

Revelation 18
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 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.

Therefor the LORD says in 2 Corinthians 6:2. “I have heard you in an acceptable time, and in the day of salvation I have rescued you.” Then in verse 16 He says, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” He then in verse 17 & 18 tells us, “Wherefore, come out from among them, and be separate, and touch no unclean thing (defiled by the dead), and I will receive you, and be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters.”

We are called to come out from under the confusion they have caused to cover the earth in total darkness. And without our doing so we will never see the time nor will we see/know the LORD.

The above, 2 Corinthians 6:17 calling us to come out from among them, as does Revelation 18, quote from and refer to Isaiah 52:11, and thereby the full chapter giving us the necessary context.

Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on 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 nought? 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 [wondered] 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.

Continuing: the main reason people surrender into silence when confronted by the voices of evil, the godless advice (vomit) that has led the world into confusion and chaos, is fear of ridicule and an unwillingness or inability to respond with courageous inarguable truth that shuts the mouths of lions and quenches these fiery darts of the wicked. This even in a time when all know the accusers are without any moral standard holding them to truth, and all their outlets and reporters are willing accomplices propagating known lies as tactic, and these perilously their only means of offense or defense. Never before in history has it been so self-evidently apparent that to be cursed by the minions of the demonic, those speaking lies as their first language, is to be blessed in the eyes of God and the men and women who know Him. Welcome their idiocrasy with wisdom worthy its lack of veracity and its impotence; in doing light the darkness they seek to hide under.

Remember, as in the days of Jonah, the people of Nineveh didn’t know their right hand from their left. The ignorance is much greater in our time, and it is therefore a time for the greater light to lighten them.

In the prior post, we discussed the LORD saying in Luke 11 the only sign that will be given to this generation is the sign of Jonah, “For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.”

We saw the LORD speaking of this as a “sign,” of the time, when we will know it by this distinguishing fact. The passage goes on the tell of the light, and not hiding it when it is shining in this way. We are able to understand this as our rising up, as the LORD describes, to condemn this generation (judgment), and call it to repentance (mercy). In this we place our faith, with a singleness of vision, knowing this is the LORD come with healing salvation in His wings (the object of our faith).

In the past we have looked at the Greek word krisis, meaning a decision point, and as the word translated both condemnation and judgment. In John 3:19 the LORD explains the “condemnation” as being when light has come into the world and men choose instead to stay in darkness. In this we fully understand we come not to condemn in the way this generation defines condemnation. This is telling of our bringing the light, and as a result the darkness is seen as the hiding place of evil. This demands the choice, the crisis point when a decision must be made, and the true condemnation is the wrong decision, choosing not to come to the light. Separation from the light, and its life, is self-inflicted, perishing in self-destruction, by choosing to follow the advice of those preaching darkness.

Luke 11
29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
33 No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in you be not darkness.

John 3
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, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
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.

When the LORD speaks of the men of the south rising up in judgment with this generation, and condemning it, using the word krisis, translated “judgment,” he has spoken in terms referring to the great light rising in the creation account. We know in Genesis 1 this is the sun rising (the greater light of the day), which we also know from our studies represents the church. This is telling of the church rising and again shining God’s light on earth, as His righteousness, in truth (law), judgment, mercy and faith. We know Genesis and the LORD are speaking of our knowing the time by these, saying, “13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”

The word rendered “condemn” in Luke 11:31 is katakrino, meaning sentence against. The Greek word krino, means to distinguish, and katakrino here in context is telling of causing this evil generation to know (right hand from left) their crimes (transgressing the law) and decide if they are of the light or of the darkness.

All of this is the revelation (apocalypse – removing the cover – of darkness) of the time we are in and what is demanded of us in overcoming it.

In both Luke 11 and Matthew 23 the LORD tells of those sitting in the seats of powers cleaning the outside of people and not making clean the inside (renewing their minds). In Matthew 23:23 the LORD tells them they have, “omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

We also know when the LORD tells us in Matthew 5 of the attitudes (attributes) that lead to happiness (blessing), He ends His list by telling of the persecutions that will come by establishing the things these men in power have omitted. He goes on to tell of the light that can’t be hidden, the lighted church as a city on a hill where all are able to see it. This is the salt that preserves the earth, and we know the LORD ends these sayings by speaking of His coming to establish the law – the truth that has been omitted, which begins judgment, is followed by mercy to those who receive it, and all without fear by knowing/having faith in the kindness of the LORD (coming for our salvation).

Matthew 5
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: 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.
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 have 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 an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth 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 fulfil.
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 righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Psalms 139
1 O LORD, you have searched me, and known me.
2 You knows my down-sitting and mine uprising, you understands my thought afar off.
3 You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hides not from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
13 For you have possessed my reins: you have covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul knows right well.
15 My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious also are your thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you.
19 Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, you bloody men.
20 For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate you? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Continuing: there is nothing wrong with (there is no sin in) rising to power and/or gaining wealth, as long as it is done in righteousness (without deceit and inequity). There are those who preach the opposite, to justify their use of deceit and inequity, covering in darkness their love of money as the root of all their evil, to take from those who have lawfully achieved. These deceivers call themselves liberals, or social justice advocates, socialists and progressives, and come in these sheep’s clothing disguised as “news” reporters and teachers, politicians and preachers, of every cloth and with their many books. In fact, they come only to feed themselves, and to devour and consume anything that will allow itself to be consumed, until they as locusts have consumed all. These are the evil shepherds of our time, who for this love of money, or from ignorant guilt and its “good” intentions, use any and all evil means to get gain or ascend to power. There is no truth in them, and their end is self-destruction, for themselves and any held captive or complicit, led with them into their evil deeds.

We all know these types well: they preach against wealth to justify their taking control over that of others. They preach against poverty to move money through their own hands and steel from what is intended for the poor. They preach education to mandate all people be taught their corrupted ways of ignorance, and preach morals to disregard them. They call for the elimination of judgment so they can become our only judges. These are those who make themselves “experts,” our sources of “news,” and having “knowledge,” while in fact they are mass manipulators, creating demon and destroying any who dare preach righteousness, and for God’s sake don’t anyone dare mention God in spirit and truth.

REPENT!

Friends, Join in me in the condemnation of this evil in our time.

Luke 11
29 And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.
30 For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation.
31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
32 The men of Nineveh shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
33 No man, when he has lighted a candle, puts it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.
34 The light of the body is the eye: therefore when your eye is single, your whole body also is full of light; but when your eye is evil, your body also is full of darkness.
35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in you be not darkness.

Ezekiel 34
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus says the LORD God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?
3 You eat the fat, and you clothe you with the wool, you kill them that are fed: but you feed not the flock.
4 The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them.
5 And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them.
7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
8 As I live, says the LORD God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
9 Therefore, O you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
10 Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11 For thus says the LORD God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.
15 I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the LORD God.
16 I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.
17 And as for you, O my flock, thus says the LORD God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
18 Seem it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?
19 And as for my flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.
20 Therefore thus says the LORD God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
21 Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad;
22 Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
23 And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
24 And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.
25 And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
26 And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing.
27 And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.
28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid.
29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
30 Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, says the LORD God.
31 And you my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the LORD God.

Proverbs 21
1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turns it whithersoever he will.
2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD ponders the hearts.
3 To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
4 An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.
5 The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.
6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.
7 The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
8 The way of man is forward and strange [twisted and perverse, and not as God intends]: but as for the pure, his work is right.
9 It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.
10 The soul of the wicked desires evil: his neighbor finds no favor in his eyes.
11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
12 The righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked: but God overthrows the wicked for their wickedness.
13 Whoso stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
14 A gift in secret pacifies anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.
15 It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.
17 He that loves pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loves wine and oil shall not be rich.
18 The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright.
19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spends it up.
21 He that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor.
22 A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and casts down the strength of the confidence thereof.
23 Whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.
24 Proud and haughty scorner is his name, who deals in proud wrath.
25 The desire of the slothful kills him; for his hands refuse to labor.
26 He covets greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spares not.
27 The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination: how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind?
28 A false witness shall perish: but the man that hears speaks constantly.
29 A wicked man hardens his face: but as for the upright, he directs his way.
30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD.

Psalm 79
1 O God, the heathen are come into your inheritance; your holy temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of your servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of your saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 Their blood have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them.
4 We are become a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? will you be angry for ever? shall your jealousy burn like fire?
6 Pour out your wrath upon the heathen that have not known you, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities: let your tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for your name’s sake.
10 Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of your servants which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you; according to the greatness of your power preserve you those that are appointed to die;
12 And render unto our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached you, O LORD.
13 So we your people and sheep of your pasture will give you thanks for ever: we will shew forth your praise to all generations.

The LORD began today in a seemingly different place, until a deeper look reveals its present meaning to those understanding the moment and the topic at hand. We are at a point where we see patterns and their fulfilment, and either chose to see it as the LORD’s doing, and marvelous, or reject it because it testifies against your evil deeds.

2 Chronicles 24
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened unto them.
18 And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
19 Yet he sent prophets to them, to bring them again unto the LORD; and they testified against them: but they would not give ear.
20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said unto them, Thus says God, Why transgress you the commandments of the LORD, that you cannot prosper? because you have forsaken the LORD, he has also forsaken you.
21 And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of the LORD.
22 Thus Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died, he said, The LORD look upon it, and require it.
23 And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the host of Syria came up against him: and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus.
24 For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.
25 And when they were departed from him, (for they left him in great diseases,) his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.
26 And these are they that conspired against him; Zabad the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess.

The passage begins by speaking of the death of Jehoiada, and then the princes going to the king with bad advice. Earlier in the chapter (verses 2 – 4) we are told of the king doing what was right and following the LORD. This was “doing right” manifested in his repairing the house of the LORD. The bad advice from the princes (who didn’t know the LORD) was toward the same old idols (as dead wood, knowing nothing) that had caused the decline. In this we see the advice of those in power advising to return to the ways that had cause decline, and the king following them.

Later verse in 20 we read of Jedoiada the priest as the father of Zechariah, and then in verse 25 we are told Jehoiada is the father of the priests that were slain by Joash.

The name Jedoiada means Jehovah knowing, telling in type of those in power, in church and national government, who know the LORD in spirit and truth. This is speaking of a time such as now when all but an elect remnant of this type, God knowing men, has been killed off. Those left holding the reins of power are described using the name Joash (the king), meaning Jehovah fired, and in conclusion, Jehovah burned up.

We read of the LORD sending prophets (men speaking His words of advice), and of those in power refusing to listen. In this we see the age-old struggle between good and evil, and as often discussed, it being found in whose advice is listened too.

We have also often discussed it is into just such a situation God increases His presence; when the worst advice is the chosen counsel of those in the highest seats of power, resulting in darkness and the shadow of death looming over all they affect. In the above pattern, we see it is Zechariah, the son of those knowing the LORD, who the LORD sends.

Zechariah means, the LORD has remembered. The name is spoken in contrast to what is written of king Joash forgetting the kindness of those knowing the LORD (Jedoiada) and killing off his sons.

This is the circumstance into which Zechariah is sent. In Zechariah we are told of another name for his father, Berechiah the son of Iddo. Berechiah means, kneeling before Jehovah, and Iddo means, to advance.

Zechariah is telling us of this same situation, when it is again made clear the only way forward (to advance) is to bend the knee to the LORD, meaning to remember His better ideas, taking His advice, knowing only therein will we see any repair and progress.

This is where Zechariah 3 begins, with Satan standing as the right hand of Joshua the high priest, who is standing before the angel of the LORD. We know Joshua is the Hebrew name translated as Jesus in English (by way of the Greek rendering). The angel of the LORD here is Zechariah, speaking for the Father, to the son type (Joshua) who represent the body of Christ, and Satan represents those with the bad advice. Satan standing at the “right hand” is telling of these men, giving advice opposing God, being those in power.

In the verses prior, we see this description, enlightening to define the situation, comes as the LORD tells of His being among the people. Again, we see the allusion to the “temptation,” of all those who will bend their knee to God, as it was for Christ, and as we are originally told of in Exodus 17:7. It is the LORD seen among us as we know it is His doing, and only able to come from His miraculous way (unique and distinguishing).

We will begin in Zechariah 2, wherein the LORD tells of Himself as being a wall and fire of protection around His people: His advice, protecting those who choose to receive it, and burning up all those who reject and oppose it.

O you of little faith, open your eyes and see the Glory of The LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.

Zechariah 2
1 I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2 Then said I, Where go you? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
5 For I, says the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, says the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, says the LORD.
7 Deliver yourself, O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon [in confusion].
8 For thus says the LORD of hosts; After the glory has he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that touches you touches the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the LORD.
11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me unto you.
12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.

Zechariah 3
1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre [crown] upon his head. So they set a fair mitre [crown] upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; If you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
10 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.

The word translated in Zechariah 3:6 as “protested” is the Hebrew word `uwd, meaning to witness or testify to. It is telling of what the word zakar, as in Zechariah, tells of when it speaks of things we are told we should or will remember.

This is what the LORD meant the numerous times He told His disciples they would remember and in remembering know. Zakar literally means a mark, as in what distinguishes something to be recognized.

Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition: Strong’s #2142: zakar (pronounced zaw-kar’) a primitive root; properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention; also (as denominative from 2145) to be male:–X burn (incense), X earnestly, be male, (make) mention (of), be mindful, recount, record(-er), remember, make to be remembered, bring (call, come, keep, put) to (in) remembrance, X still, think on, X well.

The word zakar is only used twice in Zechariah, once to tell of our remembering the LORD (10:9), the other to tells of the idols we will forget (13:2).

Zechariah 10
1 Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.
12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the LORD.

Zechariah 13
1 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, You shall not live; for you speaks lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

Zechariah 14
1 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, and your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.
4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
5 And you shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, you shall flee, like as you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with you.
6 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark:
7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9 And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.
10 All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s winepresses.
11 And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12 And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.
14 And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance.
15 And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
20 In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness Unto The LORD; and the pots in the LORD’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar.
21 Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember [zakar] you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb [where the LORD showed Himself by water and fire] for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.