Author: wordofgod

Continuing today with a deeper examination of Divine light, law, and the taste of death and life, beginning in 2 Corinthians. Before doing so lets reexamine a few verses from our recent discussions where the LORD tells us that in purging from us the scum of man’s creations, presented as if His truth, it would be as if He was taking away a heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh. We know this passage from Ezekiel 11 is speaking of law graven in stone, contrasts it with the spirit of the law, and the “spirit” meaning to bring to the forefront of our reasoning what the law was intended to accomplish. It speaks of our deeper realization of whom/what we are as human beings.

Ezekiel 11
14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus says the LORD God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus says the LORD God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the LORD God.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I spoke unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had showed me.

These final verses above tell of the glory of the LORD departing the city, and now resting on the mountain on the east side of the city. Verse 21 gives the reason for the parting as those in control refusing to be purged of their scum and their continuing after the heart [reasoning] of their detestable things and their abominations.

We know from our previous discussions Ezekiel 11 begins with the LORD speaking to the elders [as if gatekeepers] at the door of the gate on the east side of the city. We are told by the LORD, “these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city: Which say, It is not near; let us build houses…”

This is the departing the LORD mentions when He speaks in Ezekiel 44 of departing by the east gate, and of no man entering it until the prince, who will sit in it eating bread before the LORD.

Here again we see the contrast between Chapter 11 and the wicked men sitting at the door eating the detestable things, and chapter 44 where we see the prince siting eating bread before the LORD.

Ezekiel 44
1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looks toward the east; and it was shut.
2 Then said the LORD unto me; “This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut.
3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before the LORD; he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.”

This takes us to 2 Peter 1:11 again, and our being told of the “entrance” into the everlasting kingdom that has been ministered unto us abundantly. This is Godly charity, giving what has been given, and in doing blessing as we have been blessed. It is the unmerited gift given to us as divine bread from the LORD.

2 Peter 1
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.

This bread we sit eating before the LORD is the bread we are told of in 2 Corinthians 9:10. There we read of our experiencing its reproductive power demonstrated in our being part of the open experiment performed before the now opened eyes of the just (upright) and the wicked in control of the world’s powers.

2 Corinthians 9
6 But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver.
8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
9 (As it is written, He has dispersed abroad; he has given to the poor: his righteousness remains for ever.
10 Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)
11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God.
12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God;
13 Whiles by the experiment of this ministration they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men;
14 And by their prayer for you, which long after you for the exceeding grace of God in you.
15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.

Verse 9 above is a quote from Psalms 112:9 and is part of a Psalm praising the LORD for His blessings given to us as light rising in the darkness. That aspect is what is exemplified by the east gate, where light is first seen by those sitting with the LORD eating this enlightening bread.

Psalms 112
1 Praise you the LORD. Blessed is the man that fears [reveres] the LORD, that delights greatly in his commandments [His counsel].
2 His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches shall be in his house: and his righteousness endures for ever.
4 Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous [“But he that lacks these things is blind”].
5 A good man shows favor, and lends: he will guide his affairs with discretion.
6 Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
8 His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies.
9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures for ever; his horn shall be exalted with honor.
10 The wicked shall see it, and be grieved; he shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away: the desire of the wicked shall perish.

This takes us now to 2 Corinthians 2 and the difference between what the upright experience compared to that of the wicked, as the truth is manifested.

2 Corinthians 2
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16 To the one [the wicked who choose their detestable abomination] we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other [the reproduced upright] the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

The law written in stone leaves no place for the wicked, but as we read on in 2 Corinthians, they are still able to renounce their wicked works, their creations as foundational principles (stoicheion) upon which they base their reasoning (as if a law written in their stone heart):

2 Peter 3
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.

2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the veil shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.

2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death works in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the LORD Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

As I have often said, as the LORD has told me, the ship (the wicked establishments) doesn’t make it through this. It must be abandoned as the escape.

Acts 27
19 And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.
20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss.
22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.
23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve,
24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God has given you all them that sail with you.
25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island.
27 But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country;
28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
30 And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship,
31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved.
32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.
33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.
34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.
35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
37 And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.
38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea.
39 And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship.
40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore.
41 And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained un-moveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.
42 And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape.
43 But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:
44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.

Continuing: In a recent post titled, “The Escape in Not Neglecting So Great Salvation Now Spoken,” we looked at the child to be born named Mahershalalhashbaz, meaning, haste to the spoil and speed to the prey. Telling of this conception and birth begins Isaiah 8 where we later read it speaking to/of those ruling and leading God’s people refusing the counsel of the LORD, and therefor He sends them a son (Immanuel) to lead this people (Mahershalalhashbaz) who have escaped by hearing the word of the LORD. As the title says, these children are those who haven’t neglected the salvation being spoken in the name of the LORD.

We know the above reference is to Hebrews 2:3 and our being admonished to not neglect what is spoken, and confirmed in those that head it. We also know this is what is spoken of as the sign in Isaiah 8 where we read, “I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.” In each of these mentions we see the one speaking, and those receiving it becoming those who escape the corruption.

Isaiah 8
9 Associate yourselves, O you people, and you shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you of far countries: gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.
10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 Say you not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid.
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Hebrew 2
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of your hands:
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren [my brothers and sisters],
12 Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me [are for signs and wonders, as we speak according to this word (see Isaiah:8:18 thru 20)].
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For truly he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham [the seed of the faithful, believing God].
17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor [rescue] them that are tempted.

We know what is being preached is the gospel of peace (eirene), God calling His sons and daughters out of the corruption of these darkened institutions into His marvelous light. We saw this spoken of in Ezekiel 24 as the escaped being those purged from the scum that has appeared as if in a pot (caldron) boiling. We read there in verse 18 of the corrupted institution spoken of, as if Ezekiel’s wife, dying, and this representing those having been purged being freed to join themselves to the LORD’s new creation.

When Isaiah 8 tells of these same advents in pattern it is also very clearly referring to Isaiah 5, just as Ezekiel 24 is clearly referring to Ezekiel 11.

Ezekiel 11 begins with Ezekiel being taken by the Spirit to the east gate. We know this is the gate-way between hell, Gehenna, and Jerusalem; hell meaning – the pit where trash is burned; Jerusalem meaning – being taught and founded in the ways of peace – the city itself being (as a pattern) built upon the ruins the city before it (Uru-Salim, the city of Salem.)

There at the door of the gate Ezekiel sees twenty-five elders and among them he specifically saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. Jaazaniah means the one whose hearing was broadened by the LORD, and therefor understanding what was heard. Azur means to surround, as in to protect or succor (rescue or escape). Pelatiah means those who had already been delivered (escaped) by the LORD, and Benaiah meaning (the house or family) begun or built by the LORD.

In Verse 13 we read of Pelatiah the son of Benaiah dying, and this just after we are told in verses prior of the caldron (pot) and this as the judgment in which we shall know the LORD. It is telling of the house the LORD had begun and delivered, then being corrupting in the hands of men who now refused to be purged of their scum, and of their dying off so the new could replace it. The replacement is Jaazaniah, those hearing and understanding what is then defined in the following verses of the chapter saying, “18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the LORD God.”

This is the exact pattern and context we see in Isaiah 5 when it begins with the LORD asking what more could He have done for His vineyard. He tells of it being corrupted by those tending it and likens it to their bringing forth wild grapes. Then as now He set before us a life and death choice, “Choose, I pray you, between Me and My (now old and corrupted) vineyard.” The corruptors will in most cases, as history has repeatedly proven, will choose the darkness of the hell they have created, as long as they are those in charge of the fires and what trash is burned.

Isaiah 5
1 Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
8 Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!
9 In mine ears said the LORD of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
10 Yea, ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of an homer shall yield an ephah.
11 Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret [drums], and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore hell has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
26 And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
28 Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:
29 Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.
30 And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

Ezekiel 11
1 Moreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORD’s house, which looks eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus says the LORD; Thus have you said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8 You have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, says the LORD God.
9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10 You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
12 And you shall know that I am the LORD: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah LORD God! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, the men of your kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus says the LORD God; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus says the LORD God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, says the LORD God.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had showed me.

Continuing with the message of advent/coming, today with the deep message found in the record, the announcement, of the birth of the Child we celebrate being born into the world. Here is what Luke writes of the event in Luke 2:13 & 14, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

I have many times over many years explained the mission I have been sent on as being, to unify the church, in doing rescue it from the men who have usurped control over it, and once accomplished we together will rescue the world from itself. This is the same the LORD, Jehovah’s Salvation, Jesus was sent into the world to accomplish, and now is the finalization of that act.

The Greek word translated “peace” in the passage above is eirene, meaning to join together. The word translated “good will” is eudokia, a compound word from eu, meaning good and well; and the word dokeo, meaning to think. The intended meaning is first found in knowing the Greek word eu is almost identical to the Greek name Eua, translated Eve.

The understanding being conveyed is that the life of all men (humanity) is found in joining together in health producing thinking, and this thinking is only found when the Glory of God is revealed and accepted as the highest form of rational thought.

The word eudokia is only used nine times, and in examining the other uses we see this deepest meaning of the Father’s intention toward humanity, exclusively and specifically to those who choose to become His children by receiving it.

Two of the first uses are in Matthew 11:26 and Luke 10:21, both telling of when it seemed “good” to the Father to reveal His will through the son. It is telling of the LORD revealing the things kept secret until it is His time to release them, and of bearing this message an easy burden.

Matthew 11
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Luke 10
21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank you, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in your sight.
22 All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knows who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.
23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see:
24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.

We are next told of the this being the “desire” (eudokia) and prayer to God by Paul, that all God’s people (Jew and gentile) would be saved by the revelation of this knowledge added to their zeal. Paul later summarizes this message in verse 15 as the gospel of peace (eirene – joining together), preached as glad tidings of good things.

Romans 10
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes.
5 For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which does those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what says it? The word is nigh you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same LORD over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, LORD, who has believed our report?
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The next two uses of eudokia are in Ephesians 1:5 & 9 as “good pleasure;” first to tell of this as what the LORD has predestined us to: the adoptions as His children coming through Jesus the Christ according to His will. We are then told of this coming by His revelation of these secrets made know to us. The passage begins by telling us of the peace (eirene) and this being the blessing bestowed upon us, (as we have discussed in recent posts.)

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.

We next read in Philippians 1:15 of those who are preaching the word out of “good will” and contrasting it against those preaching strife and contention. It is speaking of the difference between preaching what will further separate, and those who preach well thinking, revealing the glory God intended to be seen in us. This again is our yoke, being joined in the burden of the gospel of peace (eirene) to men of well thinking (all being able to understand but some having minds that aren’t well.)

Philippians 1
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
10 That you may approve things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ.
11 Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
12 But I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel;
13 So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places;
14 And many of the brethren in the LORD, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will:
16 The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds:
17 But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.

Then in Philippians 2:13 we are told of this being God working His “good pleasure” in us and then out through us to bless others.

Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfill you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.
23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the LORD that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that you had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the LORD with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.

Those who study along with us know we have many times in the past explored the meaning of the name Epaphroditus. We know the name speaks of one who was unwell through a mind wandered from the path of truth, and of his now retuning to wellness and thereby becoming steadfast and profitable. It is in pattern telling of those who have led the church astray into its fall. I encourage you if you have, or are, among that number – be you made well. “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

The final use of eudokia is again as “good pleasure,” and appearing in 2 Thessalonians 1:11.

2 Thessalonians 1
1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timothy, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ:
2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ.
3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other abounds;
4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure:
5 Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer:
6 Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the LORD Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the LORD, and from the glory of his power;
10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our LORD Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the LORD Jesus Christ.

2 Thessalonians 2
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and these men of sin be revealed, the sons of perdition [that perish];
4 Who opposes and exalts themself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that they as God sits in the temple of God, showing themselves as if they are God.
5 Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now you know what hold us down that they might be revealed in their time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now lets will let [they who restrain us from rising together], until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall the Wicked be revealed, whom the LORD shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie [because they have put their trust in lies]:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure [eudokeo] in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our LORD Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
16 Now our LORD Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.

2 Thessalonians 3
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the LORD may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
3 But the LORD is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.
4 And we have confidence in the LORD touching you, that you both do and will do the things which we command you.
5 And the LORD direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
7 For yourselves know how you ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
8 Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our LORD Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
13 But you, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
16 Now the LORD of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The LORD be with you all.
17 The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle: so I write.
18 The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Continuing: In the previous post we discussed the son, his bringing many sons to the glory intended for them by God, and this being the product of their being purged from the corrupted ideas of the degenerated institutions and the men in control of them. We saw this beginning with a son born, and this being the one God anoints to be His spoken will and presence among us (Immanuel), and this word is first announced to an elect remnant who are by it transformed/reproduced into the same image as sons and daughters of God.

We know that in former times God spoke to us by the prophets, but in most recent times His speaking is done through His son, whom He has anointed to be heir of all His creation. It is by the son and this means the Father creates worlds (ages), as the old and corrupted, that which has become without any of its intended form, and void of any effectiveness to reform, is replaced by what has been made new. The new is what was pure, is now made pure again, and produces what is to come, a new heaven and earth wherein dwells righteousness (truth and equity in judgment/reasoning).

This is what we read in the Hebrews 1, and there in verse 4 is found perhaps the most important description of this advent, which is then more fully explained in the subsequent verses through quoting its manner from Psalms 2 (all pasted below).

This same process is what we looked at yesterday as occurring through the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel, as the LORD spoke through them as ministering angles to deliver His word. But in these most resent (last) instances He has spoken to us by His son, the last Adam as quickening spirit able to bring to life sons and daughters in His same image and likeness (with His same mind). He as we has been sowed into the earth as natural seeds (having no life in us), and was/are then quickened to life, being born again as spiritual creations.

John 3
7 Marvel not that I said unto you, You must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it lists [the Spirit breaths life wherever he decides], and you hear the sound thereof [as His voice through whom He anoints], but can not tell from where it comes, and where it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
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 [I witness because I know from experiencing it].
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 [risen into the kingdom of heaven], but he that came down [was given life by the quickening Spirit] from heaven, even the Son of man which is in [the kingdom of] heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up [so they will be saved from the deadly venom of those in the camp (corrupted ideas and institution), and will instead look to the life giving (quickening) son the Father has raised 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 [the self-condemning decision], that light is come into the world, and men loved [chose] darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest [because then] his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

1 Corinthians 15
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God gives it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, un-moveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.

Hebrews 1
1 God, who at sundry [various] times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Has in these last days [most recent instances] spoken unto us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6 And again, when he brings in the first-begotten into the world, he says, And let all the angels of God worship him.
7 And of the angels he says, Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8 But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
10 And, You, LORD, in the beginning have laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of your hands:
11 They shall perish; but you remain; and they all shall wax old as does a garment;
12 And as a vesture shall you fold them up, and they shall be changed: but you are the same, and your years shall not fail.
13 But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward [repayment in return];
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
5 For unto the angels has he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.
6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of your hands:
8 You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
11 For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren [my brothers and sisters],
12 Saying, I will declare your name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto you.
13 And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God has given me [are for signs and wonders, as we speak according to this word (see Isaiah:8:18 thru 20)].
14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
16 For truly he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham [the seed of the faithful, believing God].
17 Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
18 For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor [rescue] them that are tempted.

The difference between the prophets and the son is stated in the last verses above. The prophets were only able to deliver the message, and were not able to reconcile and rescue, as is the son. The prophet couldn’t quicken the nation and the people back to life, and couldn’t create and make all things new again. Before the son this was only in the power of the Father, but the Father has given all things (His power) into the hand of the son.

John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lights every man that cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Psalms 2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel [the old corrupted vessels/institution].
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings [you who sit in the seats of power in church and nation, refusing to be purged from your scum (see the previous post, and Ezekiel 24:12 thru 14)]: be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The meaning of the change spoken of in Hebrews 1:12 & 1Corinthians 15:51 & 52 is known to us when we read of them in the context they appear in Psalms 102.

Psalms 102
12 But you, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and your remembrance unto all generations.
13 You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.
15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: your years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old have you laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed [the old restored into the new, the corrupted into the uncorrupted, the mortal having put on immortality]:
27 But you are the same, and your years shall have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before you.

Thus says the LORD (this is the word the LORD gave for today): 21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will profane My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword.
22 And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he has done shall you do: and when this comes, you shall know that I am the LORD God.
25 Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapes in that day shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?
27 In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

The above is from Ezekiel 24 where earlier in the chapter the LORD describe a boiling pot wherein is placed the choice parts of the flock. It goes on to tell of the scum appearing, and of it as the part that remains unconsumed. This is the backdrop of the above passage. It is the LORD speaking against the rebellious house in the day the king of Babylon (confusion personified) set himself against Jerusalem (the foundational teaching of God that produces His peace).

Ezekiel 24
2 Son of man, write you the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.
3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6 Wherefore thus says the LORD God; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
12 She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13 In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged you, and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon you.
14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the LORD God.
15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16 Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of your head upon you, and put on your shoes upon your feet, and cover not your lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18 So I spoke unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19 And the people said unto me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?
20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

This speaks of the old remaining as the scum that refuses to be purged; the first passage above tells of the new replacing it and springing from this purified remnant. The name Ezekiel means the Strength of God, or God is strong (comparable to the name Israel). What we read in the verses above the LORD began today with is of the strength of the rebellious house taken away and of those now having become as Ezekiel, speaking as he speaks, as the LORD’s voice (of edification and purging). This is also what verse 18 speaks of when it tells of Ezekiel’s wife dying, and in death the union is broken between the rebellious house (those refusing to be purged of their scum) and the strength of God (Ezekiel). The LORD is then freed to join Himself (as strength) to the remnant that is in accord with His spoken purpose.

Ezekiel 24
24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he has done shall you do: and when this comes, you shall know that I am the LORD God.
25 Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapes in that day shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?

Ezekiel is the son of man, as I am the son of man with/by the strength of God, and, I and the children God has given me (those like me by speaking according to this word) are for signs to those remaining in rebellion. We read of those escaped doing so by hearing the word of the LORD from this first-born remnant now become, as Ezekiel, the strength of God.

When we are told of this as their becoming signs and joined to Ezekiel it is in the same pattern as we read of in Isaiah 8. There we read of the child born, of the admonition to reject the counsel of those lacking the counsel of the LORD, and we are called to reject the confederation with them and be joined instead to the LORD.

Isaiah 8 begins by telling of the child who is born, and before he knows to cry, “My father, and my mother,” the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria. This is telling of thinking Damascus and Samaria are the father and mother, and in the following verse we read of this being refusing the waters of Shiloah. It speaks of the waters of Shiloah as the waters that flow from the throne of God, as his uncorrupted counsel, which is personified as our father and mother.

The flood that comes is the self-inflicted tribulation that exposes corrupted counsel and reveals the truth as Immanuel, God with us, seen in those who have become confederated with the LORD. That is what we read in verses 18 thru 20 when they say: “18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? [Should they look] for the living [among] the dead? 20 [Or] To the law and to the testimony [?]: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Isaiah 8
1 Moreover the LORD said unto me, Take you a great roll, and write in it with a man’s pen concerning Mahershalalhashbaz [meaning, haste to the spoil and speed to the prey].
2 And I took unto me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.
3 And I went unto the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. Then said the LORD to me, Call his name Mahershalalhashbaz.
4 For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and my mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken away before the king of Assyria.
5 The LORD spoke also unto me again, saying,
6 Forasmuch as this people refuses the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
7 Now therefore, behold, the LORD brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks:
8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.
9 Associate yourselves, O you people, and you shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all you of far countries: gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces.
10 Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 Say you not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid.
13 Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
14 And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.
16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

These last verses tell of those who refuse to be purged, choosing rather to remain in rebellion, speaking their own words and giving their self-created counsel. They choose to remain in the darkness they have created and then blame God as they reject Him.

What follows in Chapter 9 tells of the dimness not being increased; saying the world is no longer without light. These first two verses are later defined in as they appear in Matthew 4:15 & 16. There we are able to understand them by the LORD showing us in the pattern of his rejecting all the kingdoms of the world, and rejecting being given control over them if He would just bow down to them. These are the pattern of the same corrupted institutions (corrupted by the scum found in the counsel of their self created ideas). What we see after this is the quote from Isaiah 9:1 & 2 telling of refusing to be joined with these places in darkness and dimness, and the reason is unto us a great light has been given. Immediately following the quote Jesus (Jehovah’s Salvation personified in the LORD) begins to preach and say, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The next event in Matthew 4, as in these afore mentioned chapters, is we read of those being joined to the LORD – as disciples learning so they can teach, and being blessed so they can bless. “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

Isaiah 9
1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.
3 You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
9 And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,
10 The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.
11 Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;
12 The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
13 For the people turn not unto him that smites them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.
14 Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.
15 The ancient and honorable, he is the head; and the prophet that teaches lies, he is the tail.
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.
17 Therefore the LORD shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
18 For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.
20 And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm:
21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Matthew 4
8 Again, the devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And said unto him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
10 Then said Jesus unto him, Get you hence, Satan [the spirit of evil, found in the kingdoms of the world, personified]: for it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and him only shall you serve.
11 Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim:
14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,
15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles;
16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he said unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

This is all written as a warning to those still in control of the kingdoms of this world, in church and nation. You should read the previous post; it is God’s word spoken against you and for you, as is this post. Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Thus says the LORD to you, the spiritually wicked sitting in seats of power, who think themselves just and justified in their rejection of God’s counsel, which say:

2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4 Yea, you cast off fear, and restrain prayer before God.
5 For your mouth utters your iniquity, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I: yea, Your own lips testify against you.
7 Are you the first man that was born? or were you made before the hills?
8 Have you heard the secret of God? and do you restrain wisdom to yourself?
9 What know you, that we know not? what understands you, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the gray-headed and very aged men, much elder than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God small with you? is there any secret thing with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away? and what do your eyes wink at,
13 That you turns your spirit against God, and lets such words go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, he puts no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinks iniquity like water?
17 I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believes not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 For he stretches out his hand against God, and strengthens himself against the Almighty.
26 He runs upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
27 Because he covers his face with his fatness, and makes collops of fat on his flanks.
28 And he dwells in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabits, which are ready to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepares deceit.

Today a few words about those who teach and lead the flock of God, beginning with telling you the truth that mostly all have fallen away from the truth, now becoming messengers of antichrist. In previous posts we very briefly looked at the Greek word episkopos, said to mean overseer, translated as such one time and four other times as bishop. The deeper meaning is of one who diligently seeks the LORD and only leads the flock after finding Him.

In Matthew 24 and the other Gospels we read of the LORD telling us that many will come in His name deceiving many, and claiming they are the Christ. The actual language used tells of their coming teaching and preaching, claiming they are anointed by God to do so, and will lead many astray.

The first time the word episkopos is used is in Acts 20:28 translated as “overseers.” There we read of Paul calling to Ephesus for all the elders of the church to come to him in Miletus. There he spoke to them about overseeing the flock of God, and in doing further defined the LORD’s warning of those who after Paul’s departure would come into their midst and “draw disciples away” after themselves. Paul follows this immediately with commanding to “watch,” telling them to remember how he warned of this. Later we also read of Paul telling of him coveting no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. He says he rather ministered with his own hands to the necessities of others. He defines what he is talking about by quoting the LORD’s saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” This is the offense of those who lead astray; they use this quote to extort money from the poor and those in need; rather than it should be, only using it to explain the necessity for the overseers to feed the flock of God.

Acts 20
17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
18 And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons,
19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews:
20 And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house,
21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
23 Save [but] that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city [to me], saying that bonds and afflictions abide me [will remain with me].
24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.
26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
33 I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.
34 Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
35 I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

As we have learned: following the word episkopos into its next uses we better understand the steps then taken to combat what Paul tells of as the inevitable encroachment by the antichrists [without proof of their anointing]. This aspect is what Paul also warns of when he in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 warns of the mystery of iniquity that was already at work, after he in earlier verse tells of they being those sitting in the seats of power showing themselves as if they are God, opposing and resisting everything he had taught.

The next use of the word appears in 1 Philippians 1:1 where Paul and Timothy are writing to the saints at Philippi, with the “bishops” and beacons. They begin by commending them for their fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, and in verse 7 continuing the sentence saying, “Be confident of this very thing, that He Which has begun a good work in you will perform [perfect and complete] until the day of Jesus Christ.”

This is also what Paul speaks of in 2 Thessalonians 2 when he tells of the LORD coming and revealing the truth, taking the deceivers out of the way, and allowing us to rise from under their deception.

2 Thessalonians 2
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withhold us that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now lets will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
17 Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.

As we have studied in the past; all the translations that point to the wicked spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 2 as a singular person are errors, and disguise the fact about all falling away from the truth through mass apostasy. It comes upon all the church as they are led away by these wicked men who have crept in and taken control of all church teaching. As we have seen these same people are correctly defined in chapter 3 as it properly identifies them in the plural. These are influential men who set doctrine and teach order, being without faith and therefor never finding the LORD’s way, truth and life. Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” They seek their reward from those (the poor and needy) they extort with promises of rewards they can never deliver.

2 Thessalonians 3
1 Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.
3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil.
4 And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you.
5 And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly [see verse 11], and not after the tradition which he received of us.
7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
8 Neither did we eat any man’s bread for naught; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
12 Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.
13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
14 And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
15 Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

This takes us to 1 Timothy 3:2 where episkopos is used as “bishop” after telling in verse 1 of this speaking to those seeking the office of bishop (episkope). In telling of those who “desire” the office Paul uses the same wording that appears in Hebrew 6:10 & 11 speaking of the same.

1 Timothy 3
1 This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that rules well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 Likewise must the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

Hebrews 6
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
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 cometh 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.
9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.
10 For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end:
12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself,
14 Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
17 Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

This is telling us that God blesses with the true reward after they have diligently sought Him, and in blessing them He, The Father, blesses all with His blessing them, and they freely give what they have received. “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

We next look as we have been led to the next use of episkopos in Titus 1:7, and there let the LORD speak to us/bless us.

Titus 1
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate [without proof – that they know God].

In closing let’s continue hearing the word of the LORD speaking to us, as those who know the LORD in spirit and truth. The final use of episkopos is in 1 Peter 2:25 telling of our now having returned from straying to the true Shepherd and “Bishop” of our souls. Thank you Father, for the blessing.

1 Peter 2
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
13 Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme;
14 Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
15 For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men:
16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
17 Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
18 Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward [those gone astray].
19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
20 For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Continuing: even if it may not seem so. What is the Christmas story? It is that God condescended to becoming one with man (Philippians 2), and all the world except for a very few were unable to comprehend it, and so because they were misled into looking for something else.

Acts 1
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.

1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;
2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas [Peter], then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then comes the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God gives it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, un-moveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.

Just after the encounter with the two men referenced above in Acts 1:10 & 11 the disciples returned to Jerusalem and the upper room. There they being to discuss the betrayal, with Peter speaking of it fulfilling the words of David in the Scriptures. Before looking at the message conveyed thereby we need to investigation other aspects of the chapter that must be noted and understood.

In verses 7 & 8 the LORD tells those standing by listening to His teaching, it isn’t for them to know the times and the seasons, because this power in with the Father only and it is up to Him when it will be released. This is followed by His then telling of this power coming to us when the Holy Spirit has come upon us, and then shall we be witnesses of what He, God the Father by His Holy Spirit, led us into now understanding. The passage is telling of the understanding we are later told of in chapter 2; the Holy Spirit comes, those He comes upon understand what the LORD had just accomplished in His coming and teaching, and they are then are able to explain it so that all men hear it as if their own language.

Acts 1
7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father has put in his own power.
8 But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

The question asked, and answered above, is, “LORD, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” The discussion prior to this is of the promise of the Father to send the Holy Spirit. The LORD there says it is what we have heard from Him about this; He then defines His words, given but not understood, as the baptism of water. He tells us that the Holy Spirit [Ghost] baptism, as we heard told of by Him, is what will come when the Father decides, giving us understanding of His words.

We know what the LORD is speaking of when we look at what He is referring to in John 16. There before telling us of the mission of the Holy Spirit, leading us into all truth, He tells of the response we will receive from those in control of our religious and teaching institutions (and the mass media they control). He says they will put us out of their congregations, because the truth we tell will offend them. We are told it is because they have not known Him, nor do they know the Father (therefor they don’t know truth). We know the stumbling block they stumble at is the flesh; this is why the LORD then tells us that He must go away, removing the flesh so they can see His Spirit, by His Spirit.

Acts 1
1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus [friends of God], of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, said he, you have heard of [from] me.
5 For John truly baptized with water; but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, LORD, will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

The name Theophilus Luke begins Acts (and Luke) by addressing, means friend of God. He is addressing those who the LORD defines as His friends, those who love Him and keep His word, whom He will manifest Himself to (and not to the world).

John 14
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 [our place of living] with him.

John 15
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant know not what his LORD does: but I have called you friends [philos, as in Theophilus, God friend]; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
18 If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his LORD. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16
1 These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you ask me, Whither go you?
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father has are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
16 A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.
17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he said unto us, A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
18 They said therefore, What is this that he said, A little while? we cannot tell what he says.
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 Truly, truly, 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. (And it’s Christmas again, according to the scriptures, and only the wise see it – as the world again has missed it because of the wicked ones sitting in the seats of power controlling what is heard and what is taught.)

This takes us to where the LORD began our discussion today:

Mark 15
25 And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.
26 And the superscription of his accusation was written over, The King Of The Jews.
27 And with him they crucify two thieves; the one on his right hand, and the other on his left.
28 And the scripture was fulfilled, which says, And he was numbered with the transgressors.
29 And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, you that destroy the temple [actually saying the corrupted institutions, and it’s cause, the corrupted ways of the men who control them], and build it in three days,
30 Save yourself, and come down from the cross.
31 Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save.
32 Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him.
33 And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he called Elijah.
36 And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.
37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.
38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.
39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

I die daily so that Christ can be born (or borne) in me. The corrupted thinking of the world is that crucifying the messenger will end their torment. They are ignorant of the fact that their torment is self-inflicted by their choosing to remain ignorant and in darkness. They are likewise ignorant that the LORD is faithful to deliver those who suffer at their hand for delivering His, My Father’s, message as He has commanded. And He raises me up to life.

When Peter in Acts 1 speaks of the betrayal being according to the scriptures he quotes (in verse 20) from both Psalms 69:25 and Psalms 109:8. These give us a full description of those in the seats of corrupted power and tell us why the following verses in Acts 1 tell of them being replaced.

Psalms 69
1 Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
3 I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.
5 O God, you knows my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from you.
6 Let not them that wait on you, O LORD God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek you be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
7 Because for your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face.
8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.
9 For the zeal of your house has eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached you are fallen upon me.
10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.
11 I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.
12 They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.
13 But as for me, my prayer is unto you, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of your mercy hear me, in the truth of your salvation.
14 Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.
15 Let not the water-flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.
16 Hear me, O LORD; for your loving-kindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of your tender mercies.
17 And hide not your face from your servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
18 Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.
19 You have known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor: mine adversaries are all before you.
20 Reproach has broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.
23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your wrathful anger take hold of them.
25 Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom you have smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom you have wounded.
27 Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful: let your salvation, O God, set me up on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that has horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33 For the LORD hears the poor, and despises not his prisoners.
34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moves therein.
35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Psalm 109
1 Hold not your peace, O God of my praise;
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set you a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortionist catch all that he has; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19 Let it be unto him as the garment which covers him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20 Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.
21 But do you for me, O God the LORD, for your name’s sake: because your mercy is good, deliver you me.
22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I am gone like the shadow when it declines: I am tossed up and down as the locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh fails of fatness.
25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.
26 Help me, O LORD my God: O save me according to your mercy:
27 That they may know that this is your hand; that you, LORD, have done it.
28 Let them curse, but bless you: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let your servant rejoice.
29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.
30 I will greatly praise the LORD with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.
31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

John 17
1 These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you:
2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify you me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.
6 I have manifested your name unto the men which you gave me out of the world: Yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever you have given me are of you.
8 For I have given unto them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you did send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me; for they are Yours.
10 And all mine are Yours, and Yours are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are.

Continuing: beginning today in Isaiah 28 and the LORD asking the question in verse 9, “Whom shall He teach knowledge, and whom shall He make to understand doctrine…” The Hebrew word translated “doctrine” is shemuwah, meaning something heard, and thereby an announcement (the annunciation). It is the feminine passive participle of the word shamam, meaning to stun, as in to stupefy or amaze. In context it is telling of understanding something being announced that has stunned and astonished those hearing the report.

As we know the passage goes on to answer the question by telling us it is those who have been weaned from the food of children, and have learned from what had seemed at first to be stammer lips of a language they couldn’t comprehend, and by this they become men, having put away childish things. The original text actually alludes (in verse 13) to the response of those hearing it is to mock and sarcastically mimic it (like saying blah, blah, blah.)

This is why we read in verse 19 of this teaching coming every day [line upon line, precept upon precept], and it is a vexation only to understand the report. As it is written in Isaiah 53:1, “Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?”

Isaiah 28
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

This premise takes us again to the previous post and to Isaiah 44 & 45, specifically to them telling of the redeemer, and to several quotes therein later used in further revealing their meanings.

In the previous post we began by looking at Ezekiel 16 and we discussed it telling of the condition the LORD found us in (His ancient and everlasting people).

Ezekiel 16:8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine.

We saw the chapter end telling of all the women being gathered into the family of the LORD. There we are also told, in this we will know the LORD, and we will be confounded (stunned – in this vexation), then knowing to be silent and listen [to the teaching, for in it is our life].

Ezekiel 16
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD:
63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.

The allusions here are to Ruth and Boaz: Boaz meaning he who comes at that time, as the providence of our salvation; and Ruth, meaning to rule, as an associate. Ruth is part of the inheritance Boaz redeems, and we read in chapter 4 that after he does she becomes just the other members of the family [of God]. In chapter 3 we also read of Boaz’s determination once he commits to being the redeemer of the women and the field.

Ruth 3
16 And when she [Ruth] came to her mother-in-law [Naomi], she said, Who are you, my daughter? And she told her all that the man [Boaz] had done to her.
17 And she said, These six measures of barley gave he me; for he said to me, Go not empty unto your mother-in-law.
18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will fall: for the man will not be in rest, until he have finished the thing this day.

Ruth 4
9 And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, of the hand of Naomi.
10 Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day.
11 And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do you worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
12 And let your house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give you of this young woman.

This is an example to all those who call themselves believers in Jehovah our Salvation, the name that is above all names, and is the meaning found in the name of Jesus. Christ has purchased us all; and those now controlling and dividing us into separation are not our LORD. We should listen, understand, and “receive our sisters.”

In Isaiah 44 the LORD says to His chosen:

1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus says the LORD that made you, and formed you from the womb, which will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jesurun, whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
5 One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them.
8 Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

We know the chapter goes on to describe the idol those misleading God’s chosen have created, saying these are our gods. We read above of those leaving these false gods behind and ascribing themselves to the LORD, and this coming after He has poured out His message upon them as living waters poured on a dry ground. The LORD describing Himself in verse 6 above, is as He later quotes describing himself in Revelation 1:17. There we read of the LORD coming with the sword of His word coming from His mouth. There we also read of the preceding announcement stunning John into a state as if dead, and the LORD saying to him, “Fear not; I Am the First and the Last.”

The passage begins with John saying he was in the Spirit on the LORD’s day. Many falsely claim this as somehow part of a justification of their claim of a mandate for Sunday worship (give it up sister – the mandating). It is actually the same day spoken of by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2 telling of the day of the LORD coming as a thief in the night. This comes just after telling us we will know the time and the season, and just before saying those who don’t see it (comprehend) are those who are the sleeping dead (and drunken) he described in Chapter 4. Both passages are telling of what is clearly defined in Isaiah 2 and mention in verse 12 as “the day of the LORD.”

Isaiah 2
8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made:
9 And the mean man bows down [to the idols], and the great man humbles himself [to the idols]: therefore forgive them not.
10 Enter into the rock, and hide you in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
12 For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:
13 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,
14 And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,
15 And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall,
16 And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures.
17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
18 And the idols he shall utterly abolish.

This day of the LORD is the day of His judgment when He with judgment removes the stumbling-blocks. We see it described in Isaiah 2 above, and in Revelation. It is to remove those controlling God’s chosen people into separation from Him and from their own parts. Revelation 1 tells us He is speaking to the churches, now having been corrupted into destruction, as the LORD perfectly portrays in Isaiah 44 describing the idols now replacing Him there.

Revelation 1
10 I was in the Spirit on the LORD’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What you see, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
12 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines 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.

This takes us to the ending verses of Isaiah 45:

17 But Israel [God’s chosen] shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell you, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Verse 23 above is quoted in part in two different places, and in both it is the LORD testifying of His presence and His purpose of our salvation.

The first quote appears in Romans 14:11 in telling of judgment that is superficial and over critical, in the case of our time mostly all corrupted. It is telling of the LORD coming with perfect judgment by/in those who are of like mind as His, as a son with a father. It is telling of unification by education.

Romans 14
4 Who are you that judges another man’s servant? to his own master he stands or falls. Yea, he shall be held up: for God is able to make him stand.
5 One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
6 He that regards the day, regards it unto the LORD; and he that regards not the day, to the LORD he doth not regard it. He that eats, eats to the LORD, for he gives God thanks; and he that eats not, to the LORD he eats not, and gives God thanks.
7 For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself.
8 For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; and whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the LORD’s.
9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be LORD both of the dead and living.
10 But why do you judge your brother? or why do you set at naught your brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
11 For it is written, As I live, says the LORD, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.
12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.
19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify [educate] another.

The other quote appears in Philippians 2:10 as the chapter tells us of the mind in Christ, and should be in us. It is speaking of salvation and our working it out of us into the salvation of the church and the world (as is the mind of Jehovah our Salvation = Jesus Christ).

Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfill you my joy, that you be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputing:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.

Continuing: today deepening our examination of the meaning held in Habakkuk 3:9 telling that the LORD’s “bow was made quite naked, (according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word).” As we discussed in the prior post, the bow here is the “bow” of Genesis 9:16 that signifies the LORD’s salvation and His redeeming us out from our corrupted ways. We saw the “oath” spoken of is from Genesis 49 and is referencing Israel telling his sons of what “shall befall them in the latter days.” (I suggest reading the referenced previous post.)

Let’s begin in Ezekiel 16 were appears three of the six uses of the Hebrew word `eryah, translated in Habakkuk 3:9 as “naked.” In Ezekiel 16 it is rendered “bare” in telling of the condition the LORD comes and finds us in, after our having self-inflicted this condition. It is told of as the state we were in when He first found us, and of our declining there from our prosperity through falling away from Him. It tells of the many times God’s people have degenerated in this ways by the same means of following the corrupted and foreign ways (idols) of men, instead of God.

We know from the previous post the “oath” foretells of the return of judgment, of our overcoming the wicked ones misleading us, of our again partaking in true riches as heirs to the kingdom, and of God’s word and understanding loosed to us. We read of this followed by Joseph, exemplifying him as the Shepherd and Stone providentially laid where, and for when, needed. We saw this representing the one separated (hidden) from His brothers, returning in unification of the family, and with it returns the blessing.

This is the same end we see in Ezekiel 16 beginning in verse 59 were we are told of the LORD returning our ways upon us; because we have despised the oath and have broken the covenant. In verse 60 the LORD proclaims He will remember, and will establish (raise up to us) His “everlasting covenant.” This is referring to the “bow” in the cloud told of in Genesis 9:12. There it uses the same two Hebrew words to tell of the “bow” signifying this “covenant” there made “perpetual” to all future generations. It tells of the LORD coming to save His people when the entire world, including them, have fallen away from Him into a state of total confusion and being void of any understanding (found in the corrupted ways of man). (You must read the two previous posts in this sequence.)

Genesis 9
11 And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Ezekiel 16:61 thru 63 then tell us that at this time all the children of God shall be joined as one, and that the LORD will establish His covenant with us. In the original text it actually says he will raise us up, not by our covenant, but by His covenant, “and you shall know that I Am The LORD.” The final verse (63) in the chapter says this will be so we know to keep our mouths shut [and listen – having no other God before Him].

Ezekiel 16
58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD.
59 For thus says the LORD God; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD:
63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.

The Hebrew word translated as “everlasting, and “perpetual” is translated as “ancient” in Isaiah 44:7 in telling of an appointed everlasting people. It is speaking of the people of the “oath” as it again speaks of what was foretold and has befallen us in these latter days. The chapter well defines the decline as those in leadership making idols they then claim by their own definitions are gods, while never admitting they are the keepers of lies and the focus of the reform. And this corrupted must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.

I am pasting below Isaiah 44 & 45 and both are meant for us today, to hear and understand now, in God’s rightly dividing the time.

Thus says the LORD, Jehovah our Salvation:

Isaiah 44
1 Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
2 Thus says the LORD that made you, and formed you from the womb, which will help you; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and you, Jesurun [God’s chosen people – in prosperity/blessing], whom I have chosen.
3 For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon your seed, and my blessing upon your offspring:
4 And they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water courses.
5 One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
6 Thus says the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
7 And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them.
8 Fear you not, neither be afraid: have not I told you from that time, and have declared it? you are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.
9 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.
10 Who has formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?
11 Behold, all his fellows shall be ashamed: and the workmen, they are of men: let them all be gathered together, let them stand up; yet they shall fear, and they shall be ashamed together.
12 The smith with the tongs both works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength fails: he drinks no water, and is faint.
13 The carpenter stretches out his rule; he marks it out with a line; he fits it with planes, and he marks it out with the compass, and makes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man; that it may remain in the house.
14 He hews him down cedars, and takes the cypress and the oak, which he strengthens for himself among the trees of the forest: he plants an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.
15 Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread; yea, he makes a god, and worships it; he makes it a graven image, and falls down thereto.
16 He burns part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eats flesh; he roasts roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he makes a god, even his graven image: he falls down unto it, and worships it, and prays unto it, and says, Deliver me; for you are my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considers in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feeds on ashes: a deceived heart [corrupted reasoning] has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?
21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant: I have formed you; you are my servant: O Israel, you shall not be forgotten of me.
22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, your transgressions, and, as a cloud, your sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed you.
23 Sing, O you heavens; for the LORD has done it: shout, you lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD has redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
24 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, and he that formed you from the womb, I am the LORD that makes all things; that stretches forth the heavens alone; that spreads abroad the earth by myself;
25 That frustrates the tokens of the liars, and makes diviners mad; that turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish;
26 That confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers; that says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, You shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
27 That says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers:
28 That says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built; and to the temple, Your foundation shall be laid.

Isaiah 45
1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
2 I will go before you, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
3 And I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call you by your name, am the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded you, though you have not known me:
6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.
7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
8 Drop down, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.
9 Woe unto him that strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What have you made? or your work, He has no hands?
10 Woe unto him that says unto his father, What have you begotten? or to the woman, What have you brought forth?
11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command you me.
12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, says the LORD of hosts.
14 Thus says the LORD, The labor of Egypt, and merchandise of Ethiopia and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over unto you, and they shall be yours: they shall come after you; in chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down unto you, they shall make supplication unto you, saying, Surely God is in you; and there is none else, there is no God.
15 Truly you are a God that hides yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior.
16 They shall be ashamed, and also confounded, all of them: they shall go to confusion together that are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved in the LORD with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end.
18 For thus says the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he has established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
20 Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
21 Tell you, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who has declared this from ancient time? who has told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me.
22 Look unto me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.
23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
24 Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
25 In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Psalm 10
1 Why stand you afar off, O LORD? why hide you yourself in times of trouble?
2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
3 For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and blesses the covetous, whom the LORD abhors.
4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
5 His ways are always grievous; your judgments are far above out of his sight [never appearing]: as for all his enemies, he speaks empty words at them.
6 He has said in his heart [corrupted reasoning], I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.
8 He sits in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are secretly set against the poor.
9 He lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to catch the poor: he doth catch the poor, when he draws him into his net.
10 He crouches, and humbles himself, that the poor may fall by his strong ones. [And so does he secretly with his fake news and intentional deceptions.]
11 He has said in his heart, God has forgotten: he hides his face; he will never see it.
12 Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand: forget not the humble.
13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn [scorn and vilify] God? he has said in his heart, You will not require it.
14 You have seen it; for you behold mischief and spite, to requite it with your hand: the poor commits himself unto you; you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break you the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till you find none.
16 The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.
17 LORD, you have heard the desire of the humble: you will prepare their heart, you will cause your ear to hear:
18 To judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress.

Continuing: when as in the previous post we examine and reexamine our founding principles it is to accomplish what the LORD has said, now confirmed, of these as wherein our strength abides. The LORD began today in Habakkuk 3 and its description asking if we thought He was angry at the rivers. This is said to ask if we understand His displeasure is actually with the corrupted information that is flowing deception and death to His and all people. It is His telling of the mass fraud that is being perpetrated against us by the news media and the enemies of our foundations: this troop of godless insurgents laying siege to our Judeo-Christian culture and the nation it has produced. The verse asking this goes on to tell of it as part of the LORD riding into this battle for our Salvation.

Habakkuk 3
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was Your anger against the rivers? was Your wrath against the sea, that You didst ride upon Your horses and Your chariots of salvation?
9 Your bow was made quite naked, (according to the oaths of the tribes, even Your word). Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw You, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered His voice, and lifted up His hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of Your arrows they went, and at the shining of Your glittering spear.
12 You did march through the land in indignation, You did thresh the heathen in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people, even for salvation with Your anointed; You wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14 You didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 You didst walk through the sea with Your horses, through the heap of great waters.
16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when He comes up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

When verse 9 parenthetically mentions this will be in accordance with the “oath of the tribes,” it is speaking of what is written in Genesis 49 of the tribes of Israel and what “shall befall them in the latter days.”

The specific mention of the “bow,” we are told of in Habakkuk 3:9, that will be made “quite naked” according to the oath and the word, is described in Genesis 49:24 as the bow wherein abides strength. This description is followed and refined by another parenthetical statement telling us, “from there [abiding in this strength] will come the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.” The Hebrew word used to tell of this “abode” is the same word rendered “sit,” in Psalms 110:1, “The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Genesis 49 tells of it as the time of judgment and begins this portion in verse 16 & 17 with Dan. It tells of him as the judge, and he will be as a serpent at the heels of the horse. It is telling of judgment being against what has been the strength of God’s people, speaking of what they are relying upon (riding) to carry them (corrupted principles – stoicheion). The verse ends with telling of this causing the rider to fall backward; followed immediately in verse 18 with the definitive statement of this being the salvation waited for.

Genesis 49
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for Your salvation, O LORD.

The phrase “fall backward” is later used in Isaiah 28:13 to tell of what we read in Habakkuk 3:9, parenthetically, of this strength being according to the word of the LORD. The statement in Habakkuk is followed by telling the LORD cleaving the earth with [His own] rivers, and in Isaiah we see these as rivers of information and teaching coming from the LORD, precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little there a little, that they may be taken and snared, and “fall backward.” These are the same rivers we read of in Revelation 22 flowing as pure waters from the throne of God, and of the Lamb.

Psalm 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make Your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of Your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.

Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Doth the plowman plow all day to sow? doth he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, doth he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

Isaiah 28:16 also tells of this as the work of the foundation Stone laid is Zion by the LORD: the same Stone we read of in Genesis 49:24 as the Shepherd who is the Stone of Israel. It is what we also read of in Habakkuk3:9 as the strength in the bow that is made “quite naked.” It is telling this bow of salvation as awaking us, our finding all things naked and all is seen.

Revelation 3:18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.

We know Revelation 3 tells of those who gain their sight being those who overcome and are set down with the LORD in His throne. We also read of this in Genesis 49 as Gad overcoming, and of Asher being partaker in the things of royals [on their thrones].

This is followed in Genesis 49 by telling of Naphtali loosed and giving good words. We know form our discussion this is telling of the Holy Spirit loosing the meaning of His word, and giving us understanding according to God’s timing. This is a product of the work coming before it in overcoming.

What comes next is Joseph, the one separated from His brothers, hidden there in plain site until the blessing comes through Him as the strength revealed, and he is seen as God’s providential Shepherd and stone laid there by the LORD.

Genesis 49
16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he gives goodly words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25 Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

2 Timothy 2
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit you to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
3 You therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No man that wars entangles himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier.
5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
6 The husbandman that labors must be first partaker of the fruits.
7 Consider what I say; and the LORD give you understanding in all things.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abides faithful: he cannot deny himself.
14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the LORD that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
17 And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The LORD knows them that are his. And, let every one that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor.
21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the LORD out of a pure heart.
23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they are meant to produce strife.
24 And the servant of the LORD must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,
25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.