wordofgod – Page 41

March 7, 2021March 8, 2021

Because you knew not the time of your visitation.

Because you knew not the time of your visitation.

As seen in the previous post, the LORD gives the above cause, in Luke 19:44, as what would lead to His people’s total desolation, as it now has.

Luke 19
41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace! but now they are hid from your eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon you, that your enemies shall cast a trench about you, and compass you round, and keep you in on every side,
44 And shall lay you even with the ground, and your children within you; and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another; because you knew not the time of your visitation.
45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves.
47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,
48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

As seen in previous posts, the “visitation” spoken of above speaks of the one the LORD sends to inspect and relate a proper assessment. Receiving the truthful characterization is a necessary prerequisite of accepting the prescribed correction.

In the above, the LORD states the condition found, when inspecting the city, as not knowing the least of the things that belong to peace. The city is Jerusalem, which we know is from Hebrew words (yara’ shalam) telling of teaching that flows directly from God, the foundational ideas and ways of peace.

As we know from the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary, yarah (yara’) means, “to flow as water (i.e. to rain); transitively, to lay or throw (especially an arrow, i.e. to shoot); figuratively, to point out (as if by aiming the finger), to teach,” and shalam means, “to be safe (in mind, body or estate); figuratively, to be (causatively, make) completed; by implication, to be friendly; by extension, to reciprocate (in various applications).”

The deep exploration of these principles, their establishment, by understanding, as necessities in relationships, self-governing by them, micro and macro, person and nation, are the ways of peace and sustainable civilization.

The LORD, after telling of what inevitably occurs when abandoning and replacing these best ideas and ways, goes right to the heart of the problem; to the house of prayer (communicating with Him), which, as now, became a den of thieves (who steal away God’s words and exchange them for their corrupt, primitive, and failed ideas and ways).

Above, after casting out the thieves, He then restores, heals, and reverses the disease’s cause. As the prescription needing to be administered, He teaches the word of God: God in Him reestablishing His ways and replacing the abominations (put in His place), causing desolation.

Isaiah 28
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem [tsphiyrah – a crown] 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 [ta’ah]; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way [ta’ah] through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit [‘qe] and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuw’ah – the report, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts [who now draw from the Ancient of Days].
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 [shmuw’ah – the sound doctrine, teaching, the rumor].

As we’ve seen in previous posts, the word “visitation” is the four times used Greek word episkope, meaning “inspection (for relief); by implication, superintendence; specially, the Christian ‘episcopate’:–the office of a ‘bishop’, bishoprick, visitation.” In its use in Acts 1:20, while quoting Psalms 109:8, we see it’s the equivalent of the Hebrew word pquddah, meaning “visitation (in many senses, chiefly official).”

In this context, the LORD began the day in Jeremiah 46, then in Jeremiah 8, both speaking of the above-mentioned “visitation.”

Jeremiah 46
10 For this is the day of the LORD God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword [of His mouth] shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the LORD God of hosts has a sacrifice in the north [tsaphown – hidden] country by the river Euphrates [by revealing the what is hidden in the words].
11 Go up into Gilead [this mountain of testimony], and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shall you use many medicines; for you shall not be cured [by following the corrupt advice of those in power oppressing].
12 The nations have heard of your shame [that your prescriptions do not produce the end you falsely promise], and your cry has filled the land: for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.
13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt [the confusion caused by the lies of their false prophets, shall destroy the oppressors once what is hidden in the waters is revealed].
14 Declare you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say you, Stand fast, and prepare you; for the sword shall devour round about you.
15 Why are your valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he has passed the time appointed.
18 As I live, says the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19 O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish yourself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction comes; it comes out of the north [from its hiding].
21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation [pquddah].
22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, says the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

Jeremiah 8
4 Moreover you shall say unto them, Thus says the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return?
5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.
6 I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knows her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
8 How do you say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.
9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one deals falsely.
11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says the LORD.
13 I will surely consume them, says the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defensed cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan [in this judgment, of which my people are ignorant, because those who teach them are thieves who rob them of my words, and therefore there is no peace for the wicked]: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein.
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, [men whose words destroy] among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead [in this mountain of testimony]; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Friends, the truth is there are very few who have the faith to believe, and therefore, few are saved. They are going to follow the same men who led them here, deeper into hell, “Because you knew not the time of your visitation.”

As we know, when Acts 1:20 uses the word episkope it’s in telling of the one replacing the betrayer of the LORD. Psalms 109:8 is telling of removing from office the one the LORD judges and condemns. In the context of Zechariah 3, it tells of Satan standing at the betrayers’ right hand, which Zechariah says, is to resist (satan) the LORD’s correction. We know this speaks of the LORD correcting and purifying the priesthood and rebuking Satan. The wicked, the betrayers in the priesthood, refuse the LORD’s correction and instead choose to follow the devil [the misleader in the churches – 2 Chronicles 11:15] into perdition.

Zechariah 3
1 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand [as the powerful in the priesthood] to resist [satan] him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire [as in Jude 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.]?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4 And he answered and spoke unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment [the garments of the purified priesthood].
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested [reiterated] unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts; If you will walk in my ways, and if you will keep my charge, then you shall also judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.

Psalms 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 [pquddah].
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 extortioner 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 shook 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 [your work]; 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.

The following is from the post of 24 April 2020, which speaks of the lies and confusion that produced mass delusion. This state led to the fire that burnt up cities all across this nation and ended commerce there, as written in Revelation 18. These men have all the world following them ever deeper into hell, looking for and fearing their false claims, while the truth of God’s word is unfolding all around them. The cure is to remove them.

Habakkuk 2
18 What profit the graven image that the maker thereof has graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusts therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that says to the [dead] wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath [no life or life-giving power] at all in the midst of it.
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Friends, God’s people are blinded to these events, the magnitude of the moment, by the gods of this world, the men they’ve followed into ignorance. They have all God’s people looking for their lies to come true, which they never do or can, because they are also graven and molten images they’ve created and put in God’s place.

The fires these men have created, false prophets with false prophesies in church and state, can end and any time, by taking the LORD’s stretched out hand and being lifted from them. But they won’t, because the great paradox remains, the great chasm between hell and heaven, the ever-open mouths of these men, who swallow up all the world and holds it in the belly of hell. The paradox is that men, the masses, look to those who’ve created the problem to save them. This isn’t going to happen; these men have forever held God’s people under the shadow of death. They have all the world believing they are the experts, and if it doesn’t listen to them, it will descend into hell or die, even continuing as their lies lead it into hell and it dies.

The false prophets in the church have always told of the time of the great tribulation, the five months between May and September, the time of the locust. They and the other false prophets are the locusts who will now bring even greater tribulation on the world, because they know their time is short and their end is near. They are Babylon the beast, the confusion now turned delusion that rules over the world, that comes from the ever-open mouths of these men, dragons and false prophets (the misleaders, Satan, and the devil, which mislead god’s people). Their ways will continue to destroy (as Apollyon and Abaddon, the misleading throughout history, the endless fall in the bottomless pit), and will bring in greater misery – because that is their mission, to destroy humanity and send it to hell.

Revelation 16
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates [that carries the word that produces the fruit of confusion]; and the water thereof was dried up [so what was hidden below the surface of their word can be seen], that the way of the kings of the east [Chaldeans] might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [what was hidden below the surface of their words] come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils [misleaders], working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame [lest they follow lies and never reach their expected end].
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon [meaning mountain of the rendezvous, this high place, the set time].
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings [this voice of understanding]; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21 And there fell upon men a great hail [this word of that has been reserved in heaven, frozen until this moment, to be sent] out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Revelation 17
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto you the judgment of the great whore [those who’ve left God to follow the kings {gods} of the earth] that sits upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings [misleaders] of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns [all the world’s church and state powers].
4 And the woman [God’s unfaithful people – still following men] was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5 And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.
6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7 And the angel said unto me, Wherefore did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [the endless fall away from God, now at its end], and go into perdition [apoleia – {self}-destruction]: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 And here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains [the seven {all} churches – where the judgment takes place], on which the woman sits.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come [the seven churches called out in Revelation 1 thru 3]; and when he comes, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth [Babylon – these seven churches fallen into one confusion], and is of the seven, and goes into perdition [apoleia – perishes].
12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast [these are all the world’s political misleaders who were brought to power once the church fell into confusion].
13 These have one mind [of confusion], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast [Babylon, the confusion that rules the world, now turned to delusion].
14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is LORD of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. [Isaiah 8:11 For the LORD spake 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? {Should they be looking} for the living to 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 {understanding} in them. 21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry {because they refuse this bread, the word from God’s mouth, by which only does man live}: 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 {ignorance}, dimness of anguish {misery}; and they shall be driven to darkness {greater ignorance}.]
15 And he said unto me, The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast [the political part of Babylon], these shall hate the whore [hate the unfaithful church], and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire [as it is this day].
17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast [Babylon – to be ruled by confusion], until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18 And the woman which you saw is that great city [Babylon], which reign over the kings of the earth.

Revelation 18
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened [was given understanding] with his glory [God’s glory seen in him].
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon [confusion] the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils [misleader], and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
7 How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. [Isaiah 47:5 Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called, The lady of kingdoms. 6 I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; upon the ancient have you very heavily laid your yoke. 7 And you said, I shall be a lady for ever: so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it. 8 Therefore hear now this, you that are given to pleasures, that dwells carelessly, that says in your heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9 But these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon you in their perfection for the multitude of your sorceries, and for the great abundance of your enchantments. 10 For you have trusted in your wickedness: you have said, None sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you; and you have said in your heart, I am, and none else beside me. 11 Therefore shall evil come upon you; you shall not know from whence it rises: and mischief shall fall upon you; you shall not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon you suddenly, which you shall not know. 12 Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, wherein you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from these things that shall come upon you. 14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it.]
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LORD God who judges her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come.
11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buy their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
14 And the fruits that your soul lusted after are departed from you, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from you, and you shall find them no more at all.
15 The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
16 And saying, Alas, alas that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
17 For in one hour so great riches is come to naught. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,
18 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city!
19 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.
20 Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her.
21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.
22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in you; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in you; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in you;
23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries were all nations deceived.
24 And in her [Babylon – the misleaders in church and state, their corrupt governments under corrupt men, in which] was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

Revelation 19
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the LORD our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up forever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and you that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings [the voices of understanding], saying, Alleluia: for the LORD God omnipotent reigns.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: I am [I am] your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Psalms 4 [Added today] A Psalm of David
1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: you have enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
2 O you sons of men, how long will you turn my glory into shame? how long will you love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah.
3 But know that the LORD has set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
6 There be many that say, Who will show us any good? LORD, lift you up the light [understanding] of your countenance [paniym – your presence] upon us.
7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for you, LORD, only make me dwell in safety.

March 7, 2021

And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

And as they heard these things, he added and spoke a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

The parable the LORD speaks of, in Luke 19:11 above, is of how the kingdom appears: after His rejection and when He receives it with the increase produced by the gifts He’s left (in the wheel) before we lost sight of Him. He tells of His leaving on a journey and leaving ten (ordinal perfection) servants to occupy until His return, who the people hated (as Job) and refused His authority remaining in them (the ten). When He returns and receives the kingdom, these are the same servants, each given a pound (His same authority) at His departure, called to give account for what they’ve gained in trading. (It’s like venture capitalism and achievement at work – the good now called evil. And the one who refused to work (the slothful and the communists) is (and will be as now) the one scorned by the LORD.)

Luke 19
12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, LORD, your pound has gained ten pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, you good servant: because you have been faithful in a very little, have you authority over ten cities.
18 And the second came, saying, LORD, your pound has gained five pounds.
19 And he said likewise to him, Be you also over five cities.
20 And another came, saying, LORD, behold, here is your pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man: you take up that you laid not down, and reap that you did not sow.
22 And he said unto him, Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
23 Wherefore then gave not you my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that has ten pounds.
25 (And they said unto him, LORD, he has ten pounds.)
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which has shall be given; and from him that has not, even that he has shall be taken away from him.
27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
28 And when he had thus spoken, he went before, ascending up to Jerusalem.
29 And it came to pass, when he was come nigh to Bethphage [the house of ripe figs, God’s people ready to be harvested] and Bethany [the house of misery], at the mount called the mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,
30 Saying, Go you into the village over against you; in the which at your entering you shall find a colt tied [God’s lowly people held in misery, loosed from the houses that have now become dens of thieves, where the prisoners are bound], whereon yet never man sat: loose him, and bring him hither.
31 And if any man ask you, Why do you loose him? thus shall you say unto him, Because the LORD has need of him.
32 And they that were sent went their way, and found even as he had said unto them.
33 And as they were loosing the colt, the owners thereof said unto them, Why loose you the colt?
34 And they said, The LORD has need of him.
35 And they brought him to Jesus: and they cast their garments upon the colt, and they set Jesus thereon.
36 And as he went, they spread their clothes in the way [the old garments, spotted by the flesh, trodden underfoot at this time – the change].
37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen;
38 Saying, Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the LORD: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
39 And some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke your disciples.
40 And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.
41 And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
42 Saying, If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things which belong unto your peace! but now they are hid from your eyes.
43 For the days shall come upon you [has come], that your enemies shall cast a trench about you, and compass you round, and keep you in on every side,
44 And shall lay you even with the ground, and your children within you; and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another; because you knew not the time of your visitation.
45 And he went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and them that bought;
46 Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer: but you have made it a den of thieves.
47 And he taught daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the scribes and the chief of the people sought to destroy him,
48 And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him.

The change of garments described above is the same spoken of in Zechariah 3:4, as Joshua, the priesthood, is cleansed in this way.

The word “wondered” is the Hebrew word mowpheth, meaning “from 3302 [yaphah – to be bright] in the sense of conspicuousness; a miracle; by implication, a token or omen:–miracle, sign, wonder(-ed at).”

It’s referring us to its appearing in Ezekiel 24:24 & 27, where it tells of when the mouths that have been closed are opened. This is as in Luke 19:38, when the mouths of the people are opened, “Saying, Blessed be the King that comes in the name of the LORD: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.”

In this passage in Ezekiel 24, as in Luke 19, the LORD tells of His profaning the sanctuary because of its degenerate state, which is what’s covered (closed) the mouths of His people. As we know, the LORD saying, in Luke 19:40, “if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out,” is referring to what is written in Habakkuk 2:11, that the “the stone shall cry out of the wall,” speaking of the silenced prisoners’ mouths opened.”

Ezekiel 24
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 wast 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,
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 [mowpheth]: 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 [mowpheth]; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

This sign is what Isaiah speaks of, in Isaiah 8:18, saying, “I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs [the standard lifted to show the way] and for wonders [mowpheth] in Israel from the LORD of hosts [the Army of heaven, His children], which dwells in mount Zion.” It goes on to say, “if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light [understanding] in them.”

Isaiah 8
…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 [of the irrational and deluded, those who wear the mark, the mask, showing they follow and kneel to the advice of ignorance {Does this offend you?}], 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 offense 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 [this word of God, which is His seal], 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 [the standard lifted to show the way] and for wonders [mowpheth] 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 [the voices of the known dead], and unto wizards [the so-called experts of this world] that peep, and that mutter [broad-casting their spells to mislead]: should not a people seek unto their God? [should they be looking] for the living to the dead [the familiar spirit – known liars telling known lies]?
20 [They should be looking] To the law and to the [this] testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light [understanding] in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry [because they refuse this manna]: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and [in the resulting ignorance] look upward [and see darkness].
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness [ignorance], dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness [into ever greater delusion, as they have].

Habakkuk 2
1 A prayer of Habakkuk [meaning to take hold of, with His hand] the prophet upon Shigionoth [those who have strayed, been misled].
2 O LORD, I have heard your speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman [the place of the Theophany, where wisdom is found, after it is rescued from the enemies among us], and the Holy One from mount Paran [where things are made clear]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light [giving understanding]; he had horns [rays of light] coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured [assessed] the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan [darkness – ignorance] in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian [strife – the places of endless argument] did tremble.
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers [or their pollution by the lies of men]? was your anger against the rivers [or the lies in them]? was your wrath against the sea [into which the river flows their polluted information], that you did ride upon your horses and your chariots of salvation [yshuw’ah]?
9 Your bow was made quite naked, (according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word) [this parenthetical statement is referring us Joseph’s blessing written in Genesis 49: 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well [a tree of life by these waters of God]; whose branches run over the wall [the wall of lies men have created and teach]: 23 The archers {ba’al – the gods of this world whose teaching has blinded all from seeing the Father, in the son, the seed of the women who brings forth the man child – see Revelation 12:17} 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 {rabats – couches as a lion} under {the deep meaning that lies below the surface}, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb {seed, the son}: 26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors {all those who have come before us, and were only blessed with part of what is perfected in our return to the LORD} 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.]. Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers [through which these pure waters flow].
10 The mountains saw you, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice [qowl], and lifted up his hands on high.
11 The sun and moon [church and state governments – misleaders] stood still in their habitation: at the light [understanding] 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 [‘arah – uncovering] the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14 You did strike through with his staves the head [misleaders] of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 You did 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 [qowl]: 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.

When Habakkuk 2:8 above speaks of the LORD riding upon “horses and your chariots of salvation,” it’s referring us to loosing the colt, which we know appears in Zechariah 9:9. As we’ve seen, it’s speaking the LORD coming to free His humble and imprisoned people upon who he lowly enters, who, after their mouths are opened, become His goodly horse in the battle, which is written of in Zechariah 10:3.

From the post of 31 January 2020:
Zechariah 9
1 The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach [from the one time used word chadar, referring us to Ezekiel 21:14 where it is rendered “entered your privy chambers.” The chapter is telling of the trial, the judgment, when the works of men are exposed as worthless] and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD [referring us to Revelation 7 [where the elect remnant are sealed and the multitude comes out of great tribulation]].
2 And Hamath [the fortress {the ideas} in which they trust] also shall border thereby; Tyrus [the false rock, the corrupt and now false church], and Zidon [those who’ve hunted God’s people as their prey, to devour them], though it be very wise.
3 And Tyrus [the false church] did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea [her power over the people]; and she shall be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon [she shall be weighed in the fire – and we] shall see it, and fear; Gaza [the strong – those in power] also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron [she shall be plucked up and not reach her expected end]; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza [from the powerful], and Ashkelon [those sentenced to the fires] shall not be inhabited [shall not sit any longer as judges].
6 And a bastard [those refusing correction] shall dwell in Ashdod [with the powerful who perish], and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines [the invading immigrants].
7 And I will take away his blood [the words that drain life] out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains [after the judgment], even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron [over those who have been plucked up and disappointed {ashamed and confounded}] as a Jebusite [as those who have been trodden down and are the ruin of the old city, the old world].
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army, because of him that passes by, and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, by the blood of your covenant I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, you prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto you;
13 When I have bent Judah [my leaders] for me, filled the bow with Ephraim [my people], and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece [the dregs – mire], and made you as the sword [see Ezekiel 21:9 below] of a mighty man.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning [understanding]: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet [calling His people together], and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine; and they shall be filled like bowls, and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign [nacac] upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

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

Ezekiel 21
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:
5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.
6 Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto you, Wherefore sigh you? that you shall answer, For the tidings; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the LORD God.
8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemns [ma’ac – takes away] the rod [the scepter – to rule] of my son, as every tree.
11 And he has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon your thigh.
13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn [ma’ac – takes away] even the rod [the scepter – to rule]? it shall be no more, says the LORD God. [See verse 26 & 27 below]
14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite your hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entered [as did Jael – Judges 4:21] into their privy chambers [chadar].
15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Go you one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever your face is set.
17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
19 Also, you son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose you a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites [this word upon the great men of the old world, who exalt themselves above God}, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defensed [where God’s elect are protected in peace].
21 For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.
24 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.
25 And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end [qets],
26 Thus says the LORD God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
28 And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the LORD God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say you, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:
29 Whiles they see vanity unto you, whiles they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end [qets].
30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.
31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy.
32 You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.

In the context of the crown, when verse 20 above tells of the two ways and says the way, the end (qets), of the wicked is as Rabbath of the Ammonites, it is referring to 2 Samuel 12:29. There we read of this pattern of the LORD rescuing the people held under these men’s wicked leadership, as David takes their crown.

2 Samuel 12
26 And Joab [Jehovah the Father] fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon [the great men of the world who exalt themselves above God], and took the royal city.
27 And Joab [Jehovah the Father] sent messengers to David [the beloved {of the Father}], and said, I have fought against Rabbah [the great men of the world], and have taken the city of waters [their words – exposed their ways and ideas].
28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it: lest I take the city, and it be called after my name.
29 And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it.
30 And he took their king’s crown from off his head, the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones: and it was set on David’s head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city in great abundance.
31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon [who exalted themselves above God]. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.

Friends, these words are as stones hidden (in the hand of the beloved) for this time, which we are led to by the LORD in me/us. The word above rendered “brick-kiln” in the Hebrew word malben, a word seeming to indicate the precipice of what has been build (mul-ben), this house or family of great men (at its self-inflicted end in the fires). It only appears two other times, in Jeremiah 43:9 and Nahum 3:14, both translated “brick-kiln.”

Jeremiah 43
7 So they came into the land of Egypt [the captivity, between the two straights – the two ways]: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes. [The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew Lexicon says this means, “you will fill hands with pity”]
8 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
9 Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln [malben – at the precipice, the abrupt end in the fires], which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house [the house of the great] in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
10 And say unto them, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon [the lies of the false prophets, which have caused confusion to rule over the world and the desolation of God’s people], my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them.
11 And when he comes, he shall smite the land of Egypt [and they shall see the two ways forward], and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity; and such as are for the sword to the sword.
12 And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment [clothe himself with the sun]; and he shall go forth from thence in peace [lead them to New Jerusalem].
13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh [the house of the sun {held in darkness}], that is in the land of Egypt [captivity]; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.

Nahum 3
5 Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts; and I will discover your skirts upon your face, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.
6 And I will cast abominable filth upon you, and make you vile, and will set you as a gazing-stock.
7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon you shall flee from you, and say, Nineveh [this place that has been called to repentance] is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for you?
8 Are you better than populous No [the others who’ve disrupted the world], that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
9 Ethiopia [covering in darkness] and Egypt [and captivity] were her strength, and it was infinite; Put [whose bow] and Lubim [of affliction] were your helpers.
10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
11 You also shall be drunken [your mind shall be ignorant of these things]: you shall be hid [‘alam – this knowledge shall be hidden from you], you also shall seek strength because of the enemy.
12 All your strong holds shall be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Behold, your people in the midst of you are women: the gates of your land shall be set wide open unto your enemies: the fire [in the month of Adar {the month of fires} at Shushun, where Haman and His ten sons were hung on the gallows built for Mordecai] shall devour your bars.
14 Draw you waters for the siege, fortify your strong holds: go into clay [where these stone have been hidden, for this moment], and tread the morter, make strong the brick-kiln. [malben, at the abrupt end of this wicked family/house – try to use your words {lies} to save yourself, and ignorantly put trust in the works of your hands.]
15 There shall the fire devour you; the sword [this word of God] shall cut you off, it shall eat you up like the cankerworm: make yourself many as the cankerworm, make yourself many as the locusts.
16 You have multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven: the cankerworm spoils, and flees away.
17 Your crowned are as the locusts, and your captains as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.
18 Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria [communists]: your nobles shall dwell in the dust: your people is scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them.
19 There is no healing of your bruise; your wound is grievous: all that hear the bruit of you shall clap the hands over you: for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually?

Psalms 60
1 O God, you have cast us off, you have scattered us, you have been displeased; O turn yourself to us again.
2 You have made the earth to tremble; you have broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shakes.
3 You have shown your people hard things: you have made us to drink the wine of astonishment.
4 You have given a banner [nec – a signal] to them that fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.
5 That your beloved may be delivered; save with your right hand, and hear me.
6 God has spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem [reveal the burden in the words], and mete out the valley of Succoth [and give it to those who dwell in temporary flesh bodies with God].
7 Gilead [the mountain of this testimony] is mine, and Manasseh [those who have forgotten God] is mine; Ephraim [God people, the double blessing we have inherited] also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
8 Moab [breaking down the gates of hell] is my wash-pot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe [God will possess the enemies among us]: Philistia [the invaders shall be converted], triumph you because of me.
9 Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom [to rule amid the enemies among us]?
10 Will not you, O God, which had cast us off? and you, O God, which did not go out with our armies?
11 Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.
12 Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

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.
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: 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.

March 6, 2021

That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.

That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.

The above is the LORD speaking of the culmination, the crescendo, the unfolding events that will complete the ruin and ultimately, from the dust and ashes, bring renewal. I say, let it come, even so, come LORD Jesus, LORD of the Army of heaven.

Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, “Come into the stronghold, let the city of the tempest (seismos) and war be built and prepared: For there is a fire gone out of the stronghold, a flame from the city of the tempest (seismos) and war: it has consumed the city of the ever-open mouths that are the gates of hell, and the lords of the high places from where flowed their brawling words to the world, as rivers into the sea. Woe to you, gates of hell! you are undone, O people subdued: He has given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto tempest (seismos) and war to rule over those who’ve exalted their words and idea’s above God’s. We have shot at them; the stronghold has perished even unto ruin, and we have laid them waste as if by a mighty wind, which reaches unto waters that are calmed.” Thus God’s people will be rulers under Him as He rules the land once possessed by those who exalted their words and ideas over His.

The above is a translation of the names that appear in the passage below.

Numbers 21
27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, “Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
28 For there is a fire gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon: it has consumed Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high places of Arnon.
29 Woe to you, Moab! you are undone, O people of Chemosh: he has given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity unto Sihon king of the Amorites.
30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even unto Dibon, and we have laid them waste even unto Nophah, which reaches unto Medeba.”
31 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

As we know, the word seismos is the word rendered one time as “tempest,” in Matthew 8:24, and thirteen times more as “earthquake.” There, in Matthew, we are told it is a great earthquake in the sea (like those now occurring in the South Pacific), and those who’ve followed the LORD, into a ship taking them to the other side (of death into life), waking Him saying Hosanna (Save now), as we saw in the previous post.

Matthew 8
22 But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest [seismos – earthquake] in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, LORD, save us: we perish.
26 And he said unto them, Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
27 But the men marveled [thaumazo], saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

The word rendered above as “awoke” and “arose” is egeiro, which is the word used to tell of the LORD rising from the dead. This rising is what those following Him were amazed at, meaning they still didn’t know He was the risen LORD hidden in a man. “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?”

The meaning of thaumazo, is “to wonder; by implication, to admire.”

2 Thessalonians 1
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 [eido – see] 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 [thaumazo] 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.

Acts 13
40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;
41 Behold, you despisers, and wonder [thaumazo], and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

From the post of 27 February 2021: “The misconception is of who is corrected. The LORD comes to open His people’s doubting eyes to Him. (Acts 13:41 Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.) He corrects all away from errors that need correcting. He comes to destroy the power of false accusation and deception, and removes the incorrigible from their seats, so none are ever again by them misled into destroying themselves (as the world has done and continues through mass delusion – surrender to known deception).”

In the above-mentioned post, we discussed the Hebrew word yapha’, meaning “to shine:–be light, show self, (cause to) shine (forth).” We saw it telling of the moment the LORD goes from working unknown, called the Holy Spirit (Paraclete), to the son known, who is Jehovah’s Salvation Personified (Jesus) realized. We saw Psalms 50 speak of His shining forth in this way, coming in flaming fire (as in 2 Thessalonians 1:8 above) and tempest.

1 John 3
1 Behold [eido], what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know [eido] that, when he shall appear [phanaroo – rendered apparent], we shall be like him; for we shall see [hopou] him as he is.
3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

Psalms 50
1 The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined [yapha’ – shown Himself].
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before [paniym – His unknown presence] him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the Most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth?
17 Seeing you hate instruction, and castes my words behind you.
18 When you saw a thief, then you consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

In the context of the LORD coming to correct all, the righteous and the wicked, Ezekiel 21 begins (from where comes the title). 1 Corinthians 15:51 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 [by the LORD’s correction] 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.

Ezekiel 21
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I am against you, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.
4 Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north:
5 That all flesh may know that I the LORD have drawn forth my sword out of his sheath: it shall not return any more.
6 Sigh therefore, you son of man, with the breaking of your loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes.
7 And it shall be, when they say unto you, Wherefore sigh you? that you shall answer, For the tidings [shmuw’ah – this report, sound doctrine, not believed, which, when seen to be the arm of the LORD revealed, raises the lowly to the throne]; because it comes: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it comes, and shall be brought to pass, says the LORD God.
8 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
10 It is sharpened to make a sore slaughter; it is furbished that it may glitter: should we then make mirth? it contemn the rod of my son, as every tree.
11 And he has given it to be furbished, that it may be handled: this sword is sharpened, and it is furbished, to give it into the hand of the slayer.
12 Cry and howl, son of man: for it shall be upon my people, it shall be upon all the princes of Israel: terrors by reason of the sword shall be upon my people: smite therefore upon your thigh.
13 Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, says the LORD God.
14 You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite your hands together. and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which enters into their privy chambers.
15 I have set the point of the sword against all their gates, that their heart may faint, and their ruins be multiplied: ah! it is made bright, it is wrapped up for the slaughter.
16 Go you one way or other, either on the right hand, or on the left, whithersoever your face is set.
17 I will also smite mine hands together, and I will cause my fury to rest: I the LORD have said it.
18 The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying,
19 Also, you son of man, appoint you two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both twain shall come forth out of one land: and choose you a place, choose it at the head of the way to the city.
20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defensed. [these are the wicked and the righteous spoken of in verse 4 – the misleaders of both ruled by confusion]
21 For the king of Babylon [confusion] stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination: he made his arrows bright, he consulted with images, he looked in the liver.
22 At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to appoint captains, to open the mouth [as the gates of hell] in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to appoint battering rams against the gates, to cast a mount, and to build a fort.
23 And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them that have sworn oaths: but he will call to remembrance the iniquity, that they may be taken.
24 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, that you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand.
25 And you, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus says the LORD God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it him.
28 And you, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus says the LORD God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say you, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:
29 Whiles they see vanity unto you, whiles they divine a lie unto you, to bring you upon the necks of them that are slain, of the wicked, whose day is come, when their iniquity shall have an end.
30 Shall I cause it to return into his sheath? I will judge you in the place where you were created, in the land of your nativity.
31 And I will pour out mine indignation upon you, I will blow against you in the fire of my wrath, and deliver you into the hand of brutish men, and skillful to destroy.
32 You shall be for fuel to the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be no more remembered: for I the LORD have spoken it.

We are told in Ezekiel 3:12 the earthquake (ra’ash) is the voice of the LORD, and verse 13 says it’s the sound of the wheel, which we know is the written word of God. Earlier in verse 8, the LORD describes Ezekiel as the cherub speaking face to face with God’s people, which we’ve seen as what the cherubim over the mercy seat represents.

Ezekiel 3
1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll [mgillah – the written word of God], and go speak unto the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll [mgillah].
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll [mgillah] that I give you. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.
4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get you unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of a hard language, whose words you can not understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have hearkened unto you.
7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto you; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted.
8 Behold, I have made your face [paniym] strong [this is what we saw in the previous post, the son of many the LORD strengthens for Himself] against their faces [paniym – their presence – this is explaining and depicting the cherubims], and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made your forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks [paniym – presence], though they be a rebellious house.
10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto you receive in your heart, and hear with your ears.
11 And go, get you to them of the captivity, unto the children of your people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus says the LORD God; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.
12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice [qowl] of a great rushing [ra’ash – earthquake], saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
13 I heard also the noise [qowl] of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise [qowl] of the wheels over against them, and a noise [qowl] of a great rushing [ra’ash – earthquake].
14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.

Hebrews 2
1 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Hebrews 12
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt [oppression] to sojourn there; and the Assyrian [the communists] oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace [Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see {hopou} God. Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see {hopou} the LORD]; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye [face to face], when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before [paniym – His presence will lead] you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report [shmuw’ah – this sound doctrine]? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards [shikkowr] 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 [see verse 21 below], shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards [shikkowr] 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 [tsphiyrah – a crown] 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 [ta’ah]; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way [ta’ah] through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit [‘qe] and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuw’ah – the report, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts [who now draw from the Ancient of Days].
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 [shmuw’ah – the sound doctrine, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26 below].

Ezekiel 7
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, you son of man, thus says the LORD GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all your abominations.
4 And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6 An end [qets] is come, the end [qets] is come: it watches [quwts – awakens] for you; behold, it is come.
7 The morning [tsphiyrah – the crown, the crowning of the LORD’s chosen, the man of God, as was David, reuniting Judah and Israel under one king] is come unto you, O you that dwells in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.
9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD that smites.
10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning [tsphiyrah – the crowning] is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.
11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12 The time is come, the day draw near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place [tsaphan]: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching sound doctrine, and reporting truth] shall be upon rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching and reporting that isn’t believed, and the man of God reporting is still unknown – because of the lies and misleading of those who’ve blinded to world by drunkenness]; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Psalms 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that leads Joseph like a flock; you that dwells between the cherubims, shine forth [yapha’ – show yourself].
2 Before [paniym] Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your strength, and come and save us.
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause your face [paniym – show your presence] to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
5 You feed them with the bread of tears; and give them tears to drink in great measure.
6 You make us a strife unto our neighbors: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause your face [paniym] to shine; and we shall be saved.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt: you have cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9 You prepared room before [paniym – your unknown presence] it, and did cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
12 Why have you then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood does waste it, and the wild beast of the field does devour it.
14 Return, we beseech you, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the vineyard which your right hand has planted, and the branch that you made strong for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of your countenance [paniym].
17 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.
18 So will not we go back from you: quicken us, and we will call upon your name.
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause your face [paniym] to shine; and we shall be saved.

Psalms 94
1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belong; O God, to whom vengeance belongs, show yourself [yapha’ – shine forth].
2 Lift up yourself, you judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.
3 LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
4 How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves?
5 They break in pieces your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.
6 They slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless.
7 Yet they say, The LORD shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.
8 Understand, you brutish among the people: and you fools, when will you be wise?
9 He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10 He that chastises the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teaches man knowledge, shall not he know?
11 The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.
12 Blessed is the man whom you chastens, O LORD, and teaches him out of your law;
13 That you may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
14 For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
16 Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?
17 Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
18 When I said, My foot slips; your mercy, O LORD, held me up.
19 In the multitude of my thoughts within me your comforts delight my soul.
20 Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with you, which frames mischief by a law?
21 They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.
22 But the LORD is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge.
23 And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the LORD our God shall cut them off.

March 4, 2021

Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.

Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.

The above is Psalms 80:17, a Psalm titled: A Psalm of Asaph, the name meaning gatherer. The Hebrew word it’s from is ‘acaph, meaning to gather for any purpose. It’s referring us to its use in Ezekiel 39:17, which, as does this Psalms, speaks of the LORD of Hosts, through the son he speaks of, gathering us to a great harvest feast. In this feast, the LORD is revealing His presence in the person of the son of man He made strong for (to be) Himself.

Ezekiel 39
17 And, you son of man, thus says the LORD God; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves [‘acaph] on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19 And you shall eat fat till you be full, and drink blood till you be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20 Thus you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the LORD God.
21 And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22 So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23 And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face [paniym – presence] from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24 According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face [paniym – presence] from them.
25 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26 After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27 When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28 Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29 Neither will I hide my face [paniym – presence] any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the LORD God.

Does the LORD say I am that son? As we saw in the previous post, He does, in the palm tree from the Hebrew word timmor, saying the name tim or Timothy. Timmor is from the eleven times used word tamar, “from an unused root meaning to be erect; a palm tree.” Tamar refers us to its use in the Song of Solomon 7:7 & 8, again as Solomon describes the beloved.

Song of Solomon 7
7 This your stature is like to a palm tree [tamar], and your breasts to clusters of grapes.
8 I said, I will go up to the palm tree [tamar], I will take hold of the boughs thereof: now also your breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of your nose like apples;
9 And the roof of your mouth like the best wine for my beloved, that goes down sweetly, causing the lips of those that are asleep to speak.
10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.
11 Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you my loves.
13 The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner of pleasant fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved.

As we saw in the previous post, the word timmor is used to tell if palm trees on the door entering the “oracle,” which is the holy of holies, the innermost chamber of the temple where the ark was, and where the LORD appeared between the cherubims. Oracle is the word dbiyr, which is from the dabar, meaning “to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue.” It is speaking of the place from where the LORD speaks, as His presence is manifested apparent.

This manifestation is what Solomon speaks of above, when understanding comes, when the LORD’s word buds and brings forth fruit. As we saw, this budding is depicted on the same doors as an open flower with the palm trees. It is the LORD’s word now from His mouth, through me, bringing forth fruit and revealing Himself.

1 Kings 6
31 And for the entering of the oracle [dbiyr] he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.
32 The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees [timmor] and open flowers [tsiyts], and overlaid [tsaphah] them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees [timmor – but you can call me Timothy or tim].
33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.
34 And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding [galiyl], and the two leaves of the other door were folding [galiyl – Galilee, where the doors to the oracle is open, as an open flower, blossoming].
35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees [timmor] and open flowers [tsiyts]: and covered [tsaphah] them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

The word timmor appears nineteen times, and all except five are in Ezekiel 40 & 41, there describing the porch, temple, and the holiest place. Chapter 40 begins with Ezekiel describing the LORD’s hand upon him and, by God’s vision, bringing him to Israel. He is set on a very high mountain by the frame of Jerusalem (the city of the south). There he sees the LORD and with Him enters the gate that faces the east, to measure (assess) from the entering in, all the way into the holy of holies.

(We are later in Ezekiel 44:2 told this is the LORD’s presence in the man: “1 Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh 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.)

Ezekiel is told he is there to see with his eyes and hear with his ears, so he will set his reasoning mind (heart) upon all he’s shown (and write it down to pass on as a wheel within a wheel). As we know, the wheel within the wheel, which he describes in earlier chapters, is the word of God sent forward in time describing experiences in a time, understood and written about by God’s inspiration. This written word is sent forward in time to those receiving it, who understand and act on God’s instruction – by the same Spirit of God.

In the vision, he sees these senders and receives as cherubims who have two faces (paniym – presence), first of a man (in need of understanding) and (when receiving it) of a lion. He sees the cherubims everywhere, all having two faces that face toward the palm tree.

The palm trees depict the LORD’s presence above the mercy seat, between the two cherubims that face each other. These depictions tell of the LORD’s presence, inspiriting man, through who He speaks, passing on understanding (the oracles) the LORD uses to inspirit (effectually works to produce like understanding in) the receiver. The palm trees’ depictions tell of this time, now, when God’s presence is obviously manifested in the one He names by them.

Ezekiel 41
17 To that above the door, even unto the inner house, and without, and by all the wall round about within and without, by measure.
18 And it was made with cherubims and palm trees [timmor], so that a palm tree [timmor] was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces [paniym];
19 So that the face [paniym] of a man was toward the palm tree [timmor] on the one side, and the face [paniym] of a young lion toward the palm tree [timmor] on the other side: it was made through all the house round about.
20 From the ground unto above the door were cherubims and palm trees [timmor] made, and on the wall of the temple.
21 The posts of the temple were squared, and the face [paniym – presence] of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.
22 The altar of wood was three cubits high, and the length thereof two cubits; and the corners thereof, and the length thereof, and the walls thereof, were of wood: and he said unto me, This is the table that is before the LORD.
23 And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24 And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.
25 And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubims and palm trees [timmor], like as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face [paniym – presence] of the porch without.
26 And there were narrow windows and palm trees [timmor] on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side chambers of the house, and thick planks.

Psalms 80
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you that leads Joseph like a flock; you that dwell between the cherubims, shine forth.
2 Before [paniym – by your presence] Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up your strength, and come and save us.
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause your face [paniym – presence] to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people?
5 You feeds them with the bread of tears; and gives them tears to drink in great measure.
6 You make us a strife unto our neighbors: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause your face [paniym – presence] to shine; and we shall be saved.
8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt: you have cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9 You prepared room before [paniym – by your presence you prepared] it, and did cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
12 Why have you then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood does waste it, and the wild beast of the field does devour it.
14 Return, we beseech you, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15 And the vineyard which your right hand has planted, and the branch that you made strong for yourself.
16 It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of your countenance [paniym – your presence].
17 Let your hand be upon the man of your right hand, upon the son of man whom you made strong for yourself.
18 So will not we go back from you: quicken us, and we will call upon your name.
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause your face [paniym – presence] to shine; and we shall be saved.

The word “strong,” in verses 15 & 17 above, is the Hebrew word ‘amats, meaning “to be alert, physically (on foot) or mentally (in courage).” It’s speaking of those the LORD raised as His hosts, and the one He has strengthened and made courageous for Himself, meaning in him He has revealed His presence and is leading His people. The good shepherd (I AM) is the one He calls the “branch” in the vineyard He’s planted, the man of His right hand, and the son of man.

The word (‘amats) is referring us to the one, Joshua (Jesus – Jehovah’s Salvation personified), when spoken of in Deuteronomy 3:28 where the LORD tells Moses to charge him to be “courageous.” He is told He is the one who will lead God’s people over the river Jordan (the word of misleaders, by which all descend into death) and into the Promised Land.

Deuteronomy 3
18 And I commanded you at that time, saying, The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it: you shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war.
19 But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that you have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you;
20 Until the LORD has given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the LORD your God has given them beyond Jordan: and then shall you return every man unto his possession, which I have given you.
21 And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done unto these two kings: so shall the LORD do unto all the kingdoms whither you passest.
22 You shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.
23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying,
24 O LORD God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness, and your mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to your works, and according to your might?
25 I pray you, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.
26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice you; speak no more unto me of this matter.
27 Get you up into the top of Pisgah [the high place of the gates of hell {Moab}, the open mouths of misleaders, which have caused the breach among God’s people], and lift up your eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with your eyes: for you shall not go over this Jordan [the descending rivers, the words flowing to the people {the Dead Sea} and carrying all into death].
28 But charge Joshua, and encourage [‘amats] him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before [paniym – as my unknown presence among] this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which you shall see.
29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-Peor [under the gods of this world who’ve caused the breach, waiting for Joshua].

This charge is given by Moses later in Deuteronomy 31, where, in verses 6, 7, & 23, the word ‘amats next appears. The chapter ends with Moses telling of the descent that will inescapably come, now, when God’s people “turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.”

Deuteronomy 31
1 And Moses went and spoke these words unto all Israel.
2 And he said unto them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in: also the LORD has said unto me, You shall not go over this Jordan.
3 The LORD your God, he will go over before [paniym – his unknown presence, as the Holy Spirit working to prepare] you, and he will destroy these nations from before [paniym – by His Spirit] you, and you shall possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before [paniym – in Joshua He will manifest His presence to] you, as the LORD has said.
4 And the LORD shall do unto them as he did to Sihon [warriors causing the tempest] and to Og [those you thought were giants], kings of the Amorites [the misleader who exalt themselves and their words and ideas above God’s], and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed.
5 And the LORD shall give them up before your face [paniym – manifesting His presence], that you may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.
6 Be strong and of a good courage [‘amats], fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, he it is that does go with you; he will not fail you, nor forsake you.
7 And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage [‘amats]: for you must go with this people unto the land which the LORD has sworn unto their fathers to give them; and you shall cause them to inherit it.
8 And the LORD, he it is that does go before [paniym – manifests His presence among] you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed.
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.
10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
11 When all Israel is come to appear before [paniym – realizes it is the presence of] the LORD your God in the place which he shall choose, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
12 Gather the people together, men and women, and children, and your stranger that is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the LORD your God, and observe to do all the words of this law:
13 And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land whither you go over Jordan to possess it.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, your days approach that you must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.
15 And the LORD appeared in the tabernacle in a pillar of a cloud: and the pillar of the cloud stood over the door of the tabernacle.
16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face [paniym – presence] from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?
18 And I will surely hide my face [paniym – presence] in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods.
19 Now therefore write you this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
20 For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore unto their fathers, that flows with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
21 And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against [paniym – will be My presence manifested among] them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.
22 Moses therefore wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun [in perpetuity] a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage [‘amats]: for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore unto them: and I will be with you.
24 And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
25 That Moses commanded the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
26 Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
27 For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck: behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against the LORD; and how much more after my death?
28 Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to record against them.
29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because you will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
30 And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Israel the words of this song, until they were ended.

This strengthening, by the LORD present among us, now as the Lion of Judah leading His elect remnant, is described in Isaiah 40, which we know ends telling of strength renewing in those who’ve waited (watched) for Him.

Isaiah 40
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before [paniym – manifesting His presence in] him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare unto him?
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity [worthless].
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
27 Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 41
1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near together to judgment.
2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before [paniym – by His presence manifested in] him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
3 He pursued them, and passed safely; even by the way that he had not gone with his feet.
4 Who has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
5 The isles saw it, and feared; the ends of the earth were afraid, drew near, and came.
6 They helped every one his neighbor; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage.
7 So the carpenter encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smooths with the hammer him that smote the anvil, saying, It is ready for the soldering: and he fastened it with nails, that it should not be moved.
8 But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend.
9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from the chief men thereof, and said unto you, You are my servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.
10 Fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen [‘amats] you; yea, I will help you; yea, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.
11 Behold, all they that were incensed against you shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with you shall perish.
12 You shall seek them, and shall not find them, even them that contended with you: they that war against you shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught.
13 For I the LORD your God will hold your right hand, saying unto you, Fear not; I will help you.
14 Fear not, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will help you, says the LORD, and your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I will make you a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: you shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff.
16 You shall fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and you shall rejoice in the LORD, and shall glory in the Holy One of Israel.
17 When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
19 I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together: [by these waters shall the upright be planted, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations, and they shall be joined together as one stick in the hand of one shepherd and king]
20 That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 Produce your cause, says the LORD; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come.
23 Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.
24 Behold, you are of nothing, and your work of naught: an abomination is he that chooses you.
25 I have raised up one from the north, and he shall come: from the rising of the sun shall he call upon my name: and he shall come upon princes as upon morter, and as the potter treads clay.
26 Who has declared from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime [paniym – when it was LORD’s presence unknown, working to prepare you], that we may say, He is righteous? yea, there is none that shows, yea, there is none that declares, yea, there is none that hears your words.
27 The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that brings good tidings.
28 For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counselor, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.
29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

The palm (tree) is only mentioned twice in the New Testament, both by John, using the word phoinix (phoenix = timmor). John knew well the meaning of the word he used, which tells of the Egyptian mythological one-of-a-kind bird that must die in the fires and rise, be born again, from its own ashes. (And just why does the church burn last year’s Palm Sunday palms and mark themselves with the ashes? Don’t ask them; they have no idea and will just make something up.)

John is alluding to (the LORD is leading us to) this moment when He has risen to raise the world from the ashes of the old, which has again become without form, and void (tohuw bohuw – confusion and emptiness).

John 12
9 Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see [eido] Lazarus [the purified priesthood, outside the existing corrupt orders, raised to life from the dead] also, whom he had raised from the dead.
10 But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
11 Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.
12 On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 Took branches of palm trees [phoinix], and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna [save now]: Blessed is the King of Israel that comes in the name of the LORD.
14 And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,
15 Fear not, daughter of Zion: behold, your King comes, sitting on an ass’s colt.
16 These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.
17 The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.
18 For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.
19 The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive you how you prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.
20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see [eido] Jesus.
22 Philip came and told Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip told Jesus.
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
24 Truly, truly, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit.
25 He that loves his life shall lose it; and he that hates his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor.
27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
28 Father, glorify your name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
29 The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him.
30 Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.
31 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.
32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.
34 The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abide forever: and how say you, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?
35 Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walks in darkness knows [eido – sees] not whither he goes.
36 While you have light, believe in the light, that you may be the children of light. These things spoke Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
37 But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
38 That the saying of Isaiah [53:1] the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke, LORD, who has believed our report? and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Isaiah [6:9 & 10] says again,
40 He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see [eido] with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.
41 These things said Isaiah, when he saw [eido] his glory, and spoke of him.
42 Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
44 Jesus cried and said, He that believes on me, believes not on me, but on him that sent me.
45 And he that sees me sees him that sent me.
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believes on me should not abide in darkness.
47 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.
49 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
50 And I know [eido – see] that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

John later, in Revelation 7:9, tells of seeing the multitude who come out of great tribulation, with palms in their hands, who’ve been washed in the blood of the lamb. This is referring us back to John 3:14 & 15, saying, “14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up 15 That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

John 3
11 Truly, truly, I say unto you, We speak that we do know [eido – see], and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

Revelation 7
9 After this [the elect remnant were sealed] I beheld [eido – saw and knew], and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindred, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms [phoinix] in their hands;
10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, you know [eido – see]. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sits on the throne shall dwell among them [He is with us and in us].
16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Luke 13
34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kill the prophets, and stones them that are sent unto you; how often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen does gather her brood under her wings, and you would not!
35 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and truly I say unto you, You shall not see [eido – know my presence] me, until the time come when you shall say, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the LORD.

Psalms 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever.
4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures forever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes [opening them to see Him].
24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, which has shown us light [understanding]: bind the sacrifice [the lamb] with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you.
29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures forever.

March 3, 2021March 3, 2021

When you shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

When you shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.

The above is from Mark 13:29, and the word rendered “see” is eido, here describing the merely mechanical and passive act occurring with or without understanding. In the passage, the LORD goes on to tell us to “watch,” from the Greek word gregoreuo, meaning, “to keep awake, i.e. watch (literally or figuratively):–be vigilant, wake, (be) watch(-ful).”

A few verses before the title, the LORD uses the word hopou, which was discussed in the previous post, meaning “with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable.” It’s there also rendered “see,” and speaks of when what is occurring is realized, which is “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.”

As we know, what follows this last quote is the LORD telling of when the sun and moon are darkened, the stars of heaven are fallen, and heaven is shaken. He is speaking of understanding (light) not being found in the church (sun) or moon (civil governments), and God’s people in a like condition fallen from a firm grasp on heaven (clarity of sight). It’s into this condition of sleep, the LORD comes, like a light in the cloud, where we know the elements of understanding are said to have gone when leaving the earth.

This coming of the LORD is what we see spoken of in Revelation 22, saying:

Revelation 22
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the LORD God gives them light [understanding]: and they shall reign forever and ever.
6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the LORD God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Mark 13
14 But when you shall see [eido] the abomination of desolation [the ideas as idols put in God’s place, which have caused the desolation of His people, church and state], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that reads understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take anything out of his house [the church corrupted by the creations of men, ideas as idols put in God’s place]:
16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment [spotted by the flesh, the creations of men].
17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days [teachers who are corrupting the minds of all they teach]!
18 And pray you that your flight be not in the winter [when all the world has become cold and fires burn everywhere].
19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation [never this type of oppression and ignorance of truth, covering the entire world and there is no place where it isn’t hunting souls] of which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
20 And except that the LORD had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he has chosen, he has shortened the days.
21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ [here is the anointed teacher]; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:
22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise [have risen in every place], and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
23 But take you heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
26 And then shall they see [hopou – realize there is only one shepherd anointed by God and with His light – understanding] the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven. [Ezekiel 37:22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. 23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. 24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.]
28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near: [Revelation 22:1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see [hopou] his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.]
29 So you in like manner, when you shall see [eido] these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
30 Truly I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
32 But of that day and that hour knows no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
33 Take you heed, watch and pray: for you know [eido – see] not when the time is.
34 For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
35 Watch [gregoreuo] you therefore: for you know not when the master of the house comes, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping [katheudo].
37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch [gregoreuo].

The word katheudo, is from the words kata, meaning down, and heudo, meaning sleep. It’s said to mean “to lie down to rest, i.e. (by implication) to fall asleep (literally or figuratively).” It’s describing Abram’s (Abraham’s) “deep sleep,” which we know is written of in Genesis 15:12, saying, “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.” As we know, this is when the LORD God made His Covenant with Abram, of which the time between it and its fulfillment, in verses 17, the deep sleep is said to be in the furnace of the earth. Genesis 15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

As we’ve often discussed and demonstrated, this is the time Daniel says is when Michael (who is like God) stands, the formula there in Daniel 12 giving us the exact time ending now – which only the Father knows (eido – sees). Above, we’re told of the Father’s work in the world during this time between as a burning lamp, unseen in the smoke of the furnace. We know this smoke as what comes from the bottomless pit, the endless fall of God’s people away from Him into ignorance of Him, described in Revelation 9 as what darkens the sky (into where the LORD comes with clarity).

The chapter goes on to tell of locust coming from the smoke, which had power as scorpions. We know this is speaking the total desolation brought by them and the scorpion tails as what follows, rotting from the inside (the mind) those they strike.

In the following chapter, we’re told of the LORD coming in the cloud, giving understanding to those who receive Him, to whom He offers the now opened book. This is the same book Daniel is told, in Daniel 12, will be closed until the time of the end.

Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [who is Like God] stand up, the great prince which stand for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine [their understanding] as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
4 But you, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro [to bring the many separated part together], and knowledge shall be increased.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. [This is the river Chebar, meaning it flows through time. It is God’s word flowing through eternity, from one time {bank of the river} to the other.]
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters [the LORD above the waters] of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that lives for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half [the word given in a time, sent through a times, to the other bank where it is rightly divided, meaning properly interpreted]; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.
8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my LORD, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go your way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Revelation 10
1 And I saw [eido] another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow [the light, understanding, rightly divided, as the sign in the cloud – See Genesis 9:13 thru 16] was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
2 And he had in his hand a little book open [opening the word of God that has been sealed until now]: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars: and when he had cried, seven thunders [the sound of understanding, of the seven colors of the bow] uttered their voices.
4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not [because they’re sealed until this time, as Daniel was told in Daniel 12:9 above].
5 And the angel which I saw [eido] stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And swore by him that live for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer [and the word of God is unsealed]:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
11 And he said unto me, You must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

Mark 14
27 And Jesus said unto them, All you shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.
28 But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.
29 But Peter said unto him, Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.
30 And Jesus said unto him, Truly I say unto you, That this day, even in this night, before the cock crow twice, you shall deny me thrice.
31 But he spoke the more vehemently, If I should die with you, I will not deny you in any wise. Likewise also said they all.
32 And they came to a place which was named Gethsemane: and he said to his disciples, Sit you here, while I shall pray.
33 And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
34 And said unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry you here, and watch [gregoreuo].
35 And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto you; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what you will.
37 And he came, and found them sleeping [katheudo – in the deep sleep], and said unto Peter, Simon, sleep [katheudo] you? could not you watch [gregoreuo] one hour?
38 Watch [gregoreuo] you and pray, lest you enter into temptation [doubting and then denying the presence of God]. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
39 And again he went away, and prayed, and spoke the same words.
40 And when he returned, he found them asleep [gregoreuo] again, (for their eyes were heavy,) neither wist [eido – know or see] they what to answer him.
41 And he comes the third time, and said unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
42 Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand.
43 And immediately, while he yet spake, comes Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
44 And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely.
45 And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him.
46 And they laid their hands on him, and took him.
47 And one of them that stood by drew a sword, and smote a servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
48 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Are you come out, as against a thief, with swords and with staves to take me?
49 I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled.
50 And they all forsook him, and fled.
51 And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him:
52 And he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.
53 And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.
54 And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.
55 And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none.
56 For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.
57 And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,
58 We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.
59 But neither so did their witness agree together.
60 And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answer you nothing? what is it which these witness against you?
61 But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?
62 And Jesus said, I am: and you shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
63 Then the high priest rent his clothes, and said, What need we any further witnesses?
64 You have heard the blasphemy: what think you? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.
65 And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.
66 And as Peter was beneath in the palace, there came one of the maids of the high priest:
67 And when she saw [eido – knew] Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and said, And you also were with Jesus of Nazareth.
68 But he denied, saying, I know [eido – see Him] not, neither understand I what you say. And he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
69 And a maid saw [eido – knew] him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them.
70 And he denied it again. And a little after, they that stood by said again to Peter, Surely you are one of them: for you are a Galilaean [have been with Him in the upper room as part of His inner circle], and your speech agrees thereto.
71 But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know [eido – see] not this man of whom you speak.
72 And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, you shall deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept.

1 Thessalonians 4
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up [harpazo – pulling us from the fires] together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know [eido – see] perfectly that the day of the LORD so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness [ignorance], that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light [understanding], and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep [katheudo – remain in the deep sleep], as do others; but let us watch [gregoreuo] and be sober.
7 For they that sleep [katheudo] sleep [katheudo] in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake [gregoreuo] or sleep [katheudo], we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify [educate] one another, even as also you do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know [eido – see] them which labor among you, and are over you in the LORD, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil [mislead not those who are already misled] unto any man; but ever follow that which is good [the right leading of the good shepherd], both among yourselves, and to all men.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesying [despise not those God sends with this word].
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good [leading that comes by this word of God].
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil [misleading words].
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 1
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 [eido – see] 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 fulfil 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 [because there has come a great falling away and many are deceived]: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [apostasy] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [men who, as did Reuben, went up into his father’s bed and defiled it, taking HIS PLACE];
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, [who are sitting in God’s place] showing himself that he is God.
5 Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now you know [eido – see those who don’t see, know, God] what withholds [katecho – hold down God’s people and are keeping them from rising from their sleep to meet Him in the clear air] that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity does already work [there have always, during the time of the deep sleep, been those who’ve led God’s people into standing away {apostasis} from Him where they don’t see or know Him]: only he who now lets [katecho – holds them down in this way] will let [will hold them down in the deep sleep], 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 [this word from the mouth of God], and shall destroy with the brightness [the light of understanding] of his coming:
9 [Revealing] Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders [as is the way of all the misleaders of this world, in church and state: known, proven, liars telling known lies, false accusers falsely accusing the innocent they hate],
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 [has sent] them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
14 Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our LORD Jesus Christ.
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 stablish 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 [received as the word of God’s mouth, as it is]:
2 And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men [the same wicked men described in the previous chapter]: for all men have not faith.
3 But the LORD is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil [the misleading lies of the wicked].
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 [eido – see] 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 [trying to control everyone else’s life].

The word “disorderly” is the Greek word ataktos, the same word rendered “unruly” in 1 Thessalonians 5:14 above. It’s the reversing of (a derivative of) the eight times used word tasso, meaning to arrange in an orderly manner.

It is referring us to the first time tasso is used, Mathew 28:16, where it’s rendered “appointed” as we’re told of the eleven disciples meeting Him in the mountain He appointed. These are the mountains (oros) He told them to flee to when they saw the abomination that causes desolation put in His place.

Matthew 28
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee [the inner circle], into a mountain where Jesus had appointed [tasso] them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
18 And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go you therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name [the identity] of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

In Matthew 28:7 & 10, the angle and then the LORD, using the word hopou, tell His people they will “see” Him in Galilee, meaning it’s where they’ll realize it’s Him.

Matthew 28
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see [hopou] him: lo, I have told you.
8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.
9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.
10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see [hopou] me.

The Hebrew name Galilee is from the four times used word galiyl, meaning “a valve of a folding door (as turning); also a ring (as round).” It’s used twice in 1 Kings 6:34 to describe the “folding” of the doors “for entering the oracle,” and in telling of the hand of the beloved, in Song of Solomon 5:14.

In 1 Kings 6, we’re several times told that on these doors are carvings of palm trees and open flowers, from the words timmor and tsiyts, the latter said to mean “glistening, i.e. a burnished plate; also a flower (as bright-colored); a wing (as gleaming in the air).” These are “covered,” from the word tsaphah, meaning overlaid to hide what is beneath. These aspect are intentionally implied meanings, telling of the open door the LORD’s set before those who have met Him in this inner circle, and the “ring” on His hand is where His power is hidden: the valve from where His oracles comes as rays of light.

1 Kings 6
31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.
32 The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees [timmor] and open flowers [tsiyts], and overlaid [tsaphah] them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees [timmor – but you can call me Timothy or tim].
33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.
34 And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding [galiyl], and the two leaves of the other door were folding [galiyl – Galilee, where the doors to the oracle is open, as an open flower, blossoming].
35 And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees [timmor] and open flowers [tsiyts]: and covered [tsaphah] them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

Song of Solomon 5
14 His hands are as gold rings [galiyl] set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.

The word “doubted,” in Matthew 28:17, is the word distazo, meaning “to duplicate, i.e. (mentally) to waver (in opinion).” The only other time it appears is in Matthew 14:31, there telling of Peter’s “doubting.”

Matthew 14
24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.
25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.
26 And when the disciples saw [eido – saw but didn’t know it was] him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
27 But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.
28 And Peter answered him and said, LORD, if it be you, bid me come unto you on the water.
29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.
30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, LORD, save me.
31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O you of little faith, wherefore did you doubt [distazo]?
32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.
33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth you are the Son of God.

Psalms 17
1 Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goes not out of feigned [deceitful] lips.
2 Let my sentence come forth from your presence [paniym]; let your eyes behold the things that are equal.
3 You have proved mine heart; you have visited me in the night; you have tried me, and shall find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.
4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of your lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.
5 Hold up my goings in your paths, that my footsteps slip not.
6 I have called upon you, for you will hear me, O God: incline your ear unto me, and hear my speech.
7 Show your marvelous lovingkindness, O you that saves by your right hand them which put their trust in you from those that rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9 From [paniym – by your presence save me from] the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.
10 They are enclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint [paniym, show your presence before] him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is your sword:
14 From men which are your hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly you filled with your hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15 As for me, I will behold your face [paniym – your presence] in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake [from the deep sleep], with your likeness [the one who is made in the likeness of God, as Michael who stands to raises the stars from the dust of the earth, to again shine].

March 2, 2021

And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

The above is the final verse of Ezekiel 37, a chapter we know speaks of when the LORD raises His people from the dead and joins them into one nation in the hand of one shepherd. The conclusion is when He has sanctified us, from the word qadash, meaning “to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally).”

It (qadash) first appears in Genesis 2:3, as it does above in Ezekiel 37:28, telling of when the LORD God has finished this work, a new creation from the earth that has become a wilderness: “without form (tohuw), and void (bohuw).”

The second time, after Genesis 1:2, the word tohuw appears it’s in Deuteronomy 32:10, where it’s rendered “waste,” as the LORD describes where He found His people. He later, in Deuteronomy 32, tells of Jeshurun, His people who He prospered and protected, forgetting Him, verse 20 saying because of this His presence (paniym – face) becomes hid from them.

Deuteronomy 32
7 Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste [tohuw] howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, taketh them, bears them on her wings:
12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and you did drink the pure blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat you you are unmindful, and have forgotten God that formed you.
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

As we know, this chapter ends with the LORD telling Moses he will not enter Promised Land because he didn’t sanctify (qadash) the LORD in the midst of His people. This occurred at Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin. It speaks of when the LORD told Moses to speak to the Rock before the people’s eyes, and it will give water. He instead struck it a second time.

Hebrews 6
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame (refusing to acknowledge Him, refusing to sanctify Him).
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that comes oft upon it, and brings forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receives blessing from God:
8 But that which bears thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
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 you have shown toward his name, in that you 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 you 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 you, and multiplying I will multiply you.
15 And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.
16 For men truly 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 entered into that within the veil [into the presence of God – seeing what is hidden in flesh];
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.

Hebrews 9
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin (when His presence is sanctified, declared pure, by His people) unto salvation.

The word rendered above “unto them that look for” is the Greek word apekdechomai, meaning “to expect fully.” The word rendered “appear” is the word hopou, meaning “to gaze (i.e. with wide-open eyes, as at something remarkable; and thus differing from 991, which denotes simply voluntary observation; and from 1492, which expresses merely mechanical, passive or casual vision; while 2300, and still more emphatically its intensive 2334, signifies an earnest but more continued inspection; and 4648 a watching from a distance).”

The word apekdechomai is only used seven times, and speaks of what we are looking for; while hopou tells of the moment it’s realized. “It” is that we are the children of God “in the presence of the LORD Jesus Christ at His coming.”

1 John 3
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see [hopou] him as he is.
3 And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.

Romans 8
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waits [apekdechomai] for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting [apekdechomai] for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, why does he yet hope for?
25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait [apekdechomai] for it.
26 Likewise the Spirit also helps our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
27 And he that searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies.
34 Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For your sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our LORD.

1 Corinthians 1
4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:
7 So that you come behind in no gift; waiting [apekdechomai] for the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our LORD Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our LORD.
10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our LORD Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Galatians 5
5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
7 You did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth?
8 This persuasion comes not of him that calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you through the LORD, that you will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubles you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased.
12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.
13 For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
15 But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.
18 But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Philippians 3
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my LORD: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
16 Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as you have us for an ensample.
18 (For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also [in our conversation] we look for [apekdechomai] the Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ: [Psalms 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, 8 I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart.]
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Paul, in Romans 15:21 quotes Isaiah 52:15 in telling of those who will see the LORD.

Romans 15
21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see [hopou]: and they that have not heard shall understand.
22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.
23 But now having no more place in these parts, and having a great desire these many years to come unto you;
24 Whensoever I take my journey into Spain [the place and time of scarceness], I will come to you: for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company.
25 But now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints.

Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt [oppression] to sojourn there; and the Assyrian [the communists] oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace [Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see {hopou} God. Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see {hopou} the LORD]; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Numbers 20
1 Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh [the sanctuary where He is sanctified]; and Miriam [the rebellion against God] died there, and was buried there.
2 And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
3 And the people chided with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!
4 And why have you brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?
5 And wherefore have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.
6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.
7 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
8 Take the rod, and gather you the assembly together, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak you unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock: so you shall give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, you rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.
12 And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because you believed me not, to sanctify [qadash] me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
13 This is the water of Meribah [strife]; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified [qadash] in them.

Ezekiel 37
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O LORD God, you know.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O you dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise [qowl – a voice], and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the LORD God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall you know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, says the LORD.
15 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
16 Moreover, you son of man, take you one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and for all the house of Israel his companions:
17 And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in your hand.
18 And when the children of your people shall speak unto you, saying, Will you not show us what you meanest by these?
19 Say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.
20 And the sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand BEFORE THEIR EYES.
21 And say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:
22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.
23 Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them.
25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children forever: and my servant David shall be their prince forever.
26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify [qadash] Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

Revelation 22
1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 And they shall see [hopou] his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the LORD God gives them light: and they shall reign forever and ever.
6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the LORD God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
9 Then said he unto me, See you do it not: for I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
10 And he said unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
18 For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
20 He which testifies these things says, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD Jesus.
21 The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Psalms 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
3 And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
4 Blessed is that man that makes the LORD his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are your wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto you: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; mine ears have you opened: burnt offering and sin offering have you not required.
7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do your will, O my God: yea, your law is within my heart.
9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, you know.
10 I have not hid your righteousness within my heart; I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation: I have not concealed your lovingkindness and your truth from the great congregation.
11 Withhold not you your tender mercies from me, O LORD: let your lovingkindness and your truth continually preserve me.
12 For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
14 Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
15 Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.
16 Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you: let such as love your salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.
17 But I am poor and needy; yet the LORD thinks upon me: you are my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

February 28, 2021

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?

Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Do you know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine?

Today the LORD speaks on His revealing Himself to Job, a name we know means hated and representing God’s people who are falsely accused in the world by the enemies mixed among them. In Job 1:8, the LORD says he (Job) is “a perfect and upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil.” The LORD declares this (in Job 1:6) to Satan, “when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.”

As we know, the devil (Satan) immediately begins to falsely accuse Job, saying that if LORD wasn’t prospering him and protecting his things, and something were to happen to them, Job would curse Him to His face.

The LORD then sets the trap knowing the only power Satan has is deception (evil – ra’) through false accusation and misleading advice. As we know, the trap is to draw the false accusers into the open and have it culminate in the clarity where Job sees God’s plan and presence (face – paniym). We know Satan is a spirit working through men, manifesting himself in their evil works. This Satanic attack comes through Job’s three so-called friends, who represent the wise of this world as enemies mixed among doing this work. After these enemies are drawn out into the snare, God’s presence is manifested among them in the person of Elihu, his name meaning he is God.

Elihu is the one speaking the words of the title verses, Job 37:14 & 15, telling of when God disposes the matter by causing the light of His cloud to shine.

Job 1
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence come you? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God, and eschews evil?
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Does Job fear God for naught?
10 Have not you made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has on every side? you have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
11 But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face [paniym].
12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence [paniym] of the LORD.

One of the keys to understanding these implications is found in the eight times used Hebrews word yapha’, meaning “to shine:–be light, show self, (cause to) shine (forth).” It appears in the title verse, once in Deuteronomy (33:2), three other times in Job (3:4, 10:3 & 22), and 3 times in the Psalms (50:2, 80:1 & 94:1).

The verse in Deuteronomy, in a pattern, describes the LORD manifesting Himself among the enemies mixed among us: the so-called wises and powerful of the world, the spiritually wicked sitting in high places, who, swelled with pride, have become fools. The chapter speaks of the second blessing, giving instructions that, when followed, restore the prosperity of God’s people (Jeshurun) that follow them.

Deuteronomy 33
1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai [thorns – the LORD raised Himself up against the leaders who, because of neglect, invaded the garden], and rose up [against] from Seir [this is the mountain of Esau, representing the enemies mixed among us as misleaders – it’s also from the word sa’iyr – rendered devils {2 Chronicles 11:15} who were misleaders {he-goats} Jeroboam made priests who told God’s people the calves put in His place were Him] unto them; he shined [yapha’ – showed himself] forth from mount Paran [was clearly seen – from the word pa’ar, meaning “to gleam, i.e. (causatively) embellish; figuratively, to boast; also to explain (i.e. make clear) oneself”], and he came with ten thousands of saints [as Jude 1:14 & 15 say, quoting Enoch saying, “Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”]: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. [This refers us to Habakkuk 3:3 & 4 saying the power of the LORD is hidden in His hand and come as rays of light].
3 Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in your hand: and they sat down [as did Mary, choosing the “good part” – Luke 10:42 – entering the kingdom as little children learning] at your feet; every one shall receive of your words.
4 Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.
5 And he was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together.
6 Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few.
7 And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said, Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let his hands be sufficient for him; and be you a help to him from his enemies.
8 And of Levi he said, Let your Thummim and your Urim [discernment of God’s will] be with your holy one, whom you did prove at Massah, and with whom you did strive at the waters of Meribah [speaking to them as water coming from a Rock, the LORD as Christ speaking through Moses – 1 Corinthians 10:1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.];
9 Who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him [speaking the LORD separated from us, as was Joseph – and those who caused it claiming they don’t how it occurred]; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children: for they have observed your word, and kept your covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law: they shall put incense before you, and whole burnt sacrifice upon your altar.
11 Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him; and the LORD shall cover him all the day long, and he shall dwell between his shoulders.
13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that couches beneath,
14 And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
15 And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills,
16 And for the precious things of the earth and fullness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
17 His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns [the only power]: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim [God’s people who receive and follow this second blessing – now unifying under one power, one king, at the ends of these ages old and new] and they are the thousands of Manasseh [meaning those who’ve forgotten God].
18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out; and, Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sand.
20 And of Gad [the army of God] he said, Blessed be he that enlarge Gad: he dwells as a lion, and tears the arm with the crown of the head.
21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there, in a portion of the lawgiver, was he seated; and he came with the heads of the people, he executed the justice of the LORD, and his judgments with Israel.
22 And of Dan [judgment] he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan [the fruitfulness of Ephraim].
23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the LORD: possess you the west and the south.
24 And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as your days, so shall your strength be.
26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun [God’s people who prosper when following Him], who rides upon the heaven in your help, and in his excellency on the sky.
27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before [paniym – His presence] you; and shall say, Destroy them.
28 Israel then shall dwell in safety alone: the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine; also his heavens shall drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel: who is like unto you, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, and who is the sword of your excellency! and your enemies shall be found liars unto you; and you shall tread upon their high places.

Job, in Job 3:4, tells of this time, when the earth has become without form, and void, destroyed by wicked men’s leading. It’s when the LORD hasn’t shined his light on the world and it remains covered (clouded in men’s ignorance and rejection), and darkness covers the earth.

Job 3
4 Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine [yapha’] upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
8 Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning [this is incorrectly rendered from the word leviathan: from where in which the word of the misleaders flow].
9 Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
10 Because it shut not up the doors of my mother’s womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
11 Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
12 Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
14 With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;
15 Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
17 There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
18 There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
20 Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
21 Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat, and my roaring are poured out like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Job 10
1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me wherefore you contend with me.
3 Is it good unto you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and shine [yapha’ – show yourself] upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh? or see you as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man? are your years as man’s days,
6 That you enquire after mine iniquity, and search after my sin?
7 You know that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of your hand.
8 Your hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet you do destroy me.
9 Remember, I beseech you, that you have made me as the clay; and will you bring me into dust again?
10 Have you not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and have fenced me with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and favor, and your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13 And these things have you hid in your heart: I know that this is with you.
14 If I sin, then you mark me, and you will not acquit me from mine iniquity.
15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see you mine affliction;
16 For it increases. You hunt me as a fierce lion: and again you show yourself marvelous upon me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation upon me; changes and war are against me.
18 Wherefore then have you brought me forth out of the womb? Oh that I had given up the ghost, and no eye had seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22 A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light [yapha’] is as darkness.

The misconception is of who is corrected. The LORD comes to open His people’s doubting eyes to Him. (Acts 13:41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.) He corrects all away from errors that need correcting. He comes to destroy the power of false accusation and deception, and removes the incorrigible from their seats, so none are ever again by them misled into destroying themselves (as the world has done and continues through mass delusion – surrender to known deception).

Jeremiah 5
1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.

Job 37
1 At this also my heart tremble, and is moved out of his place.
2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth.
3 He directs it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4 After it a voice roars: he thunders with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
5 God thunders marvelously with his voice; great things does he, which we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow, Be you on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
7 He seals up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
8 Then the beasts go into dens, and remain in their places.
9 Out of the south [from the LORD’s right hand] comes the whirlwind: and cold out of the north [tsaphown {tsaphan}- His reserved, frozen, word comes from where He’s hidden it in darkness].
10 By the breath of God frost is given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened.
11 Also by watering he wearies the thick cloud: he scatters his bright cloud:
12 And it is turned round about by his counsels: that they may do whatsoever he commands them upon the face of the world in the earth.
13 He causes it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
15 Do you know when God disposed them, and caused the light of his cloud to shine [yapha’]?
16 Do you know the balancing [the judgment hidden] of the clouds, the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge?
17 How your garments are warm, when he quiets the earth by the south wind [the work of His right hand]?
18 Have you with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass?
19 Teach us what we shall say unto him; for we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness.
20 Shall it be told him that I speak? if a man speak, surely he shall be swallowed up.
21 And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passes, and cleanses them.
22 Fair weather comes out of the north [when His hidden word is released by understanding]: with God is terrible majesty.
23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
24 Men do therefore fear him: he respects not any that are wise of heart.

Habakkuk 3
1 A prayer of Habakkuk [meaning to take hold of, with His hand] the prophet upon Shigionoth [those who have strayed, been misled].
2 O LORD, I have heard your speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman [the place of the Theophany, where wisdom is found, after it is rescued from the enemies among us], and the Holy One from mount Paran [where things are made clear]. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light [giving understanding]; he had horns [rays of light] coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured [assessed] the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan [darkness – ignorance] in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian [strife – the places of endless argument] did tremble.
8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers [or their pollution by the lies of men]? was your anger against the rivers [or the lies in them]? was your wrath against the sea [into which the river flows their polluted information], that you did ride upon your horses and your chariots of salvation [yshuw’ah]?
9 Your bow was made quite naked, (according to the oaths of the tribes, even your word) [this parenthetical statement is referring us Joseph’s blessing written in Genesis 49: 22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well [a tree of life by these waters of God]; whose branches run over the wall [the wall of lies men have created and teach]: 23 The archers {ba’al – the gods of this world whose teaching has blinded all form seeing the Father, in the son, the seed of the women who brings forth the man child – see Revelation 12:17} 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 {rabats – couches as a lion} under{the deep meaning that lies below the surface}, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb {seed, the son}: 26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors {all those who have come before us, and were only blessed with part of what is perfected in our return to the LORD} 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.]. Selah. You did cleave the earth with rivers [through which these pure waters flow].
10 The mountains saw you, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice [qowl], and lifted up his hands on high.
11 The sun and moon [church and state governments – misleaders] stood still in their habitation: at the light [understanding] 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 [‘arah – uncovering] the foundation unto the neck. Selah.
14 You did strike through with his staves the head [misleaders] of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.
15 You did 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 [qowl]: 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.

Revelation 12
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun [the church], and the moon [civil government] under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: [Zechariah 9: 16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land. 17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.]
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads [the devil in power in church and state].
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael [who is like God – Daniel 12: And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.] and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time. [Romans 9:28 For He {the LORD} will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the LORD make upon the earth.]
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 12
2 Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.
2 For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward;
3 How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the LORD, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
4 God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

Hebrews 12
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Psalms 50
1 The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined [yapha’ – shown Himself].
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before [paniym – His unknown presence] him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth?
17 Seeing you hates instruction, and castes my words behind you.
18 When you saw a thief, then you consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such an one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021

Even the very dust of your city, which cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Even the very dust of your city, which cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

The above is the LORD’s instruction to those He sends as laborers into the harvest. If they are rejected, He is rejected, and the laborers are commanded to say the above to the city.

The verse is Luke 10:11, which is followed by His telling of the intolerable hell that comes upon the cities that reject the mighty works done in them. He then, in verse 16, specifically defines these works, saying those hearing those He’s sent are hearing Him, and those despising them are despising Him (speaking through them). He follows this portion with thanking the Father for the revelation, which is the mighty underlying work of God, as He speaks of in John 14:20, saying, “At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.’ “In that day” is the time He describes in Luke 10:12, saying to the cities rejecting Him, “But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.”

He next speaks of the good Samaritan, who is the pattern of those sent to those who “fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Those sent are those in who the Good Shepherd comes. The thieves are the wolves in sheep’s clothing, and the hirelings are the priests and Levites that pass by without giving any aid. Those who pass buy on the other side are describes as such, not coming near (nigh), to contrast it with what He tells those He sends to say: “be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.”

The LORD ends the chapter by giving the meaning through telling of Mary and Martha, both names meaning rebels, patterning His people, initially against God and now with Him in rebellion against the status quo. He tells us it isn’t about church services. It’s about sitting at His feet and learning as a little child. This aspect is the fuller meaning with all the above. From Matthew 18:3 and Luke 18:17: “Except you be converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” “Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”

1 Corinthians 15
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [spiritual man] was made a quickening spirit [bringing many children to life from the dead].
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, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor [in this harvest] is not in vain in the LORD.

Luke 10
1 After these things the LORD appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.
2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray you therefore the LORD of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
5 And into whatsoever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house.
6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.
7 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.
8 And into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:
9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
10 But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,
11 Even the very dust of your city, which cleave on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
12 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.
13 Woe unto you, Chorazin [said {in Thayer’s Greek Lexicon} to mean smoke of the furnace, as in Revelation 9:2, as what darkens the sun {church} and air {exhaled teaching} – seems to be from the same Hebrew origin as Hiram]! woe unto you, Bethsaida [the family of Sidon – those who hunt souls]! for if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you.
15 And you, Capernaum [those living in comfort – saying peace and safety, upon whom comes sudden destruction – as it has and continues], which are exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell [Gehenna – the trash heap outside Jerusalem, where the fires never stop burning, and where worms live among the ash – as if snakes in the ruin of the earth, which has become without form and void].
16 He that hears you hears me; and he that despises you despises me; and he that despises me despises him that sent me. [1 Kings 5:7 And it came to pass, when Hiram {Chiyram} heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which has given unto David a wise son over this great people.]
17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, LORD, even the devils are subject unto us through your name.
18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven [and Satan departed from Him].
19 Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.
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.
25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted [ekpeirazo] him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how read you?
27 And he answering said, You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
28 And he said unto him, You have answered right: this do, and you shall live.
29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
30 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho [where the wall falls, the veil of the curtain that keeps us from seeing the LORD’s presence], and fell among thieves [leistes – the robbers, as was Barabbas], which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan [idol worshipper], as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever you spend more, when I come again, I will repay you.
36 Which now of these three, think you, was neighbor unto him that fell among the thieves?
37 And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do you likewise.
38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village [Bethany – the family {house} of misery, that becomes the house of fruit – first-fruits]: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.
39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.
40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, LORD, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things:
42 But one thing is needful: and Mary has chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

John 10
1 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber [leistes].
2 But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
4 And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Truly, truly, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers [leistes]: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is a hireling [sa’iyr – the misleaders mixed among God’s people], and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches [harpazo – plucks them away from the voice of the good shepherd] them, and scatters the sheep.
13 The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one-fold, and one shepherd [this voice is the only voice leading to salvation].
17 Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He has a devil, and is mad; why hear you him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
26 But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck [harpazo] them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck [harpazo] them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shown you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are gods [see Psalms 82:6 below]?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this man were true.
42 And many believed on him there.

Psalms 82
1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges [shaphat] among the gods.
2 How long will you judge [shaphat] unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend [shaphat] the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked [which is the point].
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes [of this you should fear].
8 Arise, O God, judge [shaphat] the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.

Isaiah 11
11 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge [shaphat] after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge [shaphat] the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Isaiah 1
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil [put off corruption];
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge [shaphat] the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water:
23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards: they judge [shaphat] not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore says the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin:
26 And I will restore your judges [shaphat] as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts [those changed by putting off corruption] with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

Isaiah 2
2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge [shaphat] among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come you, and let us walk in the light [understanding] of the LORD [and only Him].

Isaiah 3
1 For, behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge [shaphat], and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
3 The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.
6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand:
7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9 The show of their countenance does witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10 Say you to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
13 The LORD stands up to plead, and stands to judge [diyn] the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean you that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? says the LORD God of hosts.

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 [shaphat], 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 [with the LORD only] 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.

Isaiah 16
1 Send you the lamb [willing to pay the price] to the ruler of the land from Sela [from where the enemies mixed among were defeated – and their house emptied] to the wilderness [where the LORD is alone], unto the mount of the daughter of Zion [who shall sit at His feet].
2 For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab [the gates of hell, the open mouth of the enemy] shall be at the fords of Arnon [the brawling stream – these words in this war].
3 Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday [see your corrupt ways as ignorance in the presence of the highest understanding]; hide the outcasts; bewray [don’t exile any longer] not him that wander [for lack of meat – without this deep understanding].
4 Let mine outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be you a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortionist is at an end, the spoiler ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging [shaphat], and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.
6 We have heard of the pride of Moab [the gates of hell, the open mouth of knows liars telling known lies]; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations [ideas and ways] of Kirhareseth [of you wall of potsherds, of deception in which you trust] shall you mourn; surely they are stricken [nake’ – are broken].

Isaiah 33
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
15 He that walks righteously, and speaks uprightly; he that despises the gain of oppressions, that shakes his hands from holding of bribes, that stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil;
16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.
17 Your eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.
18 Your heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?
19 You shall not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than you can perceive; of a stammering tongue, that you can not understand.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: your eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.
21 But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.
22 For the LORD is our judge [shaphat], the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.
23 Your tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail [nec – the pole upon which the son of man must be lifted]: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.
24 And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

Isaiah 40
21 Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges [shaphat] of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
27 Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 43
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise.
22 But you have not called upon me, O Jacob; but you have been weary of me, O Israel.
23 You have not brought me the small cattle of your burnt offerings; neither have you honored me with your sacrifices. I have not caused you to serve with an offering, nor wearied you with incense.
24 You have bought me no sweet cane with money, neither have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices: but you have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that blots out your transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember your sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead [shaphat – judge] together: declare you, that you may be justified.
27 Your first father has sinned, and your teachers have transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.

Isaiah 51
3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge [shaphat] the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7 Hearken unto me, you that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear you not the reproach of men, neither be you afraid of their reviling.

Isaiah 59
1 Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 None calls for justice, nor any pleads [shaphat] for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.

Isaiah 66
14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead [shaphat] with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.

Psalms 26
A Psalm of David.
1 Judge [shaphat] me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
3 For your lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in your truth.
4 I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
5 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
6 I will wash mine hands in innocence: so will I compass your altar, O LORD:
7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all your wondrous works.
8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of your house, and the place where your honor dwells.
9 Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
10 In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
11 But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
12 My foot stands in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in your sight. Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

Today’s title verses, Psalms 9:19 & 20, are the final verses of the previous post. The Psalm’s message is of the wicked’s judgment when they are snared in their evil ways and turned to hell. There (in the previous post), we explored several of the uses of the Hebrew word diyn, which appears in verse 8 (of Psalms 9), where it’s rendered “judge.” Its meaning is in its first appearance in Genesis 6:3, where the LORD declares that His Spirit shall not always “strive” with man. It reveals judgment as a process of pleadings (in a legal sense), as now, the opportunity to make an argument and present evidence.

The word above rendered “judged” is the more often used shaphat, which is focused on the rulings, verdict, and sentence, while implying the legal process.

Psalms 9
1 I will praise you, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all your marvelous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing praise to your name, O you most High.
3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at your presence [paniym].
4 For you have maintained my right and my cause; you sat in the throne judging [shaphat] right.
5 You have rebuked the heathen, you have destroyed the wicked, you have put out their name forever and ever.
6 O you enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and you have destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
7 But the LORD shall endure forever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge [diyn] the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment [shaphat] to the people in uprightness.
9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
10 And they that know your name will put their trust in you: for you, LORD, have not forsaken them that seek you.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwells in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
12 When he makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.
13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, you that lifts me up from the gates of death:
14 That I may show forth all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in your salvation [yshuw’ah].
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged [shaphat] in your sight [paniym – presence].
20 Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

The word above rendered “prevail,” the crux of the matter, is the word ‘azaz, “to be stout,” meaning, which side has the stronger case and therefore wins. As we know quite well, man appears to have all the power in the world and has corrupted it absolutely toward establishing injustice and tyranny. The above tells of their (the powerful’s) weakness, the wicked’s error, of which they are ignorant: they have forgotten God, who is Just. The context of the first use of diyn, in Genesis 6:3, is it’s when the LORD ends the argument, like now when He sends the word reserved for this moment.

Jude
Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speak great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.

2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoleia] of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – foundational ideas, the corrupt ideas and unjust ways of the wicked] 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 [stoicheion] 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 wrestle, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction [apoleia].
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

Romans 9
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau [the enemies mixed among us oppressing] have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
17 For the scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
19 You will say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who are you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the LORD make upon the earth.
29 And as Isaiah said before, Except the LORD of Sabaoth [the LORD armies of heaven] had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offense: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed [shall not be disappointed, because the end promised will {has} come as vowed].

The word ‘azaz, telling of the strength of the case, appears in Psalms 52:7 in describing those who “strengthen” themselves in wickedness. It also appears in Isaiah 30:2, there telling of those who “strengthen” themselves in Pharaoh, and trust in the shadow of Egypt. As we know, the appellative Pharaoh means the house of the powerful, and Egypt represents oppression. As we saw in the previous post, the following verse says this strength and trust shall be their “shame” and “confusion.” We saw these same words appearing in Isaiah 61:7 where we’re told of when this word bears fruit, and the LORD who loves judgment directs our way into salvation. The same words appear in Jeremiah 3:25 where they (shame and confusion) are the product of not listening to the LORD’s voice.

Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.
7 For your shame [bosheth] you shall have double; and for confusion [klimmah] they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

Jeremiah 3
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north [the those hidden in darkness – blinded by ignorance], and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you; for you are the LORD our God.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame [bosheth], and our confusion [klimmah] covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Psalms 52
1 Why boast you yourself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endures continually.
2 The tongue devises mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
3 You love evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.
4 You love all devouring words, O you deceitful tongue.
5 God shall likewise destroy you forever, he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and root you out of the land of the living. Selah.
6 The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:
7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened [‘azaz] himself in his wickedness.
8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
9 I will praise you forever, because you have done it: and I will wait on your name [Your indemnity revealed]; for it is good before your saints.

Ecclesiastes 7
1 A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.
3 Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools.
6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression makes a wise man [of the world] mad [delusional]; and a gift destroys the heart.
8 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry: for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Say not you, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for you do not enquire wisely concerning this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun [the new day].
12 For wisdom is a defense [the greater strength], and money is a defense [the strength of the world]: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom gives life to them that have it.
13 Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also has set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
15 All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perishes in his righteousness [explained in verse 16], and there is a wicked man that prolongs his life in his wickedness [explained in verse 17].
16 Be not righteous over much; neither make yourself over wise: why should you destroy yourself?
17 Be not over [tolerating and ignoring] much wicked, neither be you foolish: why should you die before your time?
18 It is good that you should take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not your hand: for he that fears God shall come forth of them all.
19 Wisdom strengthens [‘azaz] the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city.
20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not.
21 Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest you hear your servant curse you:
22 For oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others.
23 All this have I proved by wisdom: I said, I will be wise; but it was far from me.
24 That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out?
25 I applied mine heart to know, and to search, and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness:
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman [church – teacher], whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands as bands: whoso pleases [is in agreement with] God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.
27 Behold, this have I found, says the preacher, counting one by one [precept upon precept, line upon line], to find out the account:
28 Which yet my soul seeks, but I find not: one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman [church – teacher] among all those have I not found.
29 Lo, this only have I found, that God has made man upright; but they have sought out [baqash] many inventions.

The final verse above tells of what men create and offer as worship in God’s place. The war is against these creations and the men who mislead God’s people into seeking them (their creations) and not Him. The word rendered inventions is the Hebrew word chishshabown, “from 2803; a contrivance, i.e. actual (a warlike machine) or mental (a machination).”

The only other time the word appears is in 2 Chronicles 26:15, rendered “engines.” In a pattern, it’s speaking of the creations coming from men’s zeal in the battle, carried away by their own success into corrupting the source of strength.

2 Chronicles 26
12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor were two thousand and six hundred.
13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
14 And Uzziah [the strength, ‘azaz, of Jehovah] prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones.
15 And he made in Jerusalem engines [chishshabown], invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped [given eyes to see], till he was strong.
16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense [strange fire] upon the altar of incense.
17 And Azariah [who Jehovah has helped] the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertains not unto you, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron [light {understanding} bringer], that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for you have trespassed; neither shall it be for your honor from the LORD God.
19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, leprosy even rose up in his forehead [in His mind] before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar.
20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him.

The origin of chishshabown is the Hebrew word chashab, meaning “to plait or interpenetrate, i.e. (literally) to weave or (gen.) to fabricate; figuratively, to plot or contrive (usually in a malicious sense); hence (from the mental effort) to think, regard, value, compute.” It’s speaking of men intermixing their corruption into God’s word. It caused the elements of understanding to separate and be taken from the earth. They are kept in the cloud until He reassembles and sends them again, purified of men’s corruption, in this time of war, as His strength returned.

Jeremiah 23
20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has executed, and till he has performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it perfectly.
21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23 Am I a God at hand, says the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24 Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
25 I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
27 Which think [chashab – which create things] to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal [the creations of men].
28 The prophet that has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? says the LORD.
29 Is not my word like as a fire? says the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbor.
31 Behold, I am against the prophets, says the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He says.

Ezekiel 11
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise [chashab – create] 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.

Hosea 7
11 Ephraim [God’s people in this latter time] also is like a silly dove [yownah] without heart [deluded and unable to see He has reached the promised end, after the latter rain]: they call to Egypt [to their oppressors], they go to Assyria [to the communists, thinking these oppressors’ misleading will deliver them].
12 When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them; I will bring them down as the fowls of the heaven; I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard.
13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.
14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.
15 Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine [chashab – creates] mischief against me.
16 They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue: this shall be their derision in the land of Egypt [this land controlled by oppression].

Hosea 8
11 Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.
12 I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted [chashab – because of their creations they were] as a strange thing.
13 They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accept them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and builds temples; and Judah has multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

Amos 6
3 You that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near;
4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;
5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent [chashab] to themselves instruments of music, like David;
6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph [the one separated from them by their creations].

Micah 2
1 Woe to them that devise [chashab] iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.
2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
3 Therefore thus says the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise [chashab] an evil, from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you go haughtily: for this time is evil.
4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he has changed the portion of my people: how has he removed it from me! turning away he has divided our fields.
5 Therefore you shall have none that shall cast a cord by lot [none to properly assess and judge] in the congregation of the LORD.
6 Prophesy you not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame [they promise them deliverance, an end that will never come].

Nahum 1
7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knows them that trust in him.
8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
9 What do you imagine [chashab] against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
10 For while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.
11 There is one come out of you, that imagines [chashab] evil against the LORD, a wicked counselor.
12 Thus says the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.
13 For now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds in sunder.
14 And the LORD has given a commandment concerning you, that no more of your name be sown: out of the house of your gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make your grave; for you are vile.
15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace! O Judah, keep your solemn feasts, perform your vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off.

Malachi 3
16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought [chashab] upon his name.
17 And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.
18 Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.

Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.

Psalms 89
13 You have a mighty arm: strong [‘azaz] is your hand, and high is your right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face [paniym – presence].
15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of your countenance [paniym].
16 In your name shall they rejoice all the day: and in your righteousness shall they be exalted.
17 For you are the glory of their strength: and in your favor our horn shall be exalted.
18 For the LORD is our defense [magen]; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19 Then you spoke in vision to your holy one, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

February 22, 2021

I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

The above statement, Isaiah 42:6, continues in verse 7, saying, “To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” As we know, the “light” is understanding, and the blind are called “Gentiles,” which describes those who don’t know God. The “blind” include God’s people, with whom He has made His “covenant.” By their ignorance of Him, they are in the prison houses where idols (men’s creations) are in His place.

He concludes the chapter by saying He is speaking specifically to Jacob, His people still in rebellion and wrestling with His word. He says they are held in holes, spoiled, robbed, and refuse to walk in His ways; neither are they obedient to His word.

So, here we are. These men’s main objective is to keep people in their control, in their corrupt churches (all), only listening to and following their ways, their commandments. Isaiah 42 begins with the LORD Himself declaring what all these men should be:

Isaiah 42
1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles [the dry places were this word hasn’t been heard] shall wait for his law.
5 Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar [darkness – ignorance] does inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
14 I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’s servant?
20 Seeing many things, but you observes not; opening the ears, but he hears not.
21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25 Therefore he has poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

As we know, Isaiah 61:1 & 2, which the LORD quotes when he first enters the synagogue, tell us where and to who this word is sent (to God’s people where they gather). It is to those the LORD made His covenant when He made it with Abram (Abraham), saying He would come to awaken, from deep sleep, those held by the nation He is now judging: “and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.”

Genesis 15
12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.
13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14 And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge [diyn]: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age.
16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites [those who exalt themselves, their words, above God’s] is not yet full [shalam – its complete work of total desolation].
17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

These rivers are telling of the words and ways of oppression (Egypt) that produce the total desolation of God’s people and the breaking forth, the fruitfulness (Euphrates), of this word of God.

Luke 4
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
18 The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the LORD.
20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
23 And he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal yourself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in your country.
24 And he said, Truly I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
25 But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta [the refinement {in the furnace}], a city of Sidon [who hunt souls], unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed [purified], saving Naaman [those who agree with the LORD, in who He delights because they follow His good advice and are delivered] the Syrian. [Both these examples are telling of those followed the instructions of God coming through the one He speaks through.]
28 And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
29 And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
30 But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.
32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
33 And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice,
34 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with you, you Jesus of Nazareth? are you come to destroy us? I know you who you are; the Holy One of God.
35 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold your peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not.
36 And they were all amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying, What a word is this! for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.
37 And the fame of him went out into every place of the country round about.
38 And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her.
39 And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them.
40 Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.
41 And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, You are Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.
42 And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them.
43 And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.
44 And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.

Isaiah 61
1 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
5 And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall you boast yourselves.
7 For your shame you shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the LORD God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

The “shame” and “confusion,” mentioned in verse 7 above, describe God’s people’s current condition: trusting for deliverance those who are their oppressors, whose mass delusions control and destroy them. These words are referring us to Isaiah 30:3, where the same words more descriptively appear.

Isaiah 30
1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be an help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.
16 But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.
18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.
20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.
22 You shall defile also the covering of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth; you shall say unto it, Get you hence.
23 Then shall he give the rain of your seed, that you shall sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover the light of the moon [understanding of civil Government] shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun [the understanding of the church] shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian [communists in church and state] be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33 For Tophet [the place of fires] is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.

The judgment spoken of in Genesis 15:14 above, from the word diyn, is in context referring us to its use in Deuteronomy 32:36.

Deuteronomy 32
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To me belongs vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the LORD shall judge [diyn] his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left [this is the total desolation, the current condition of God people].
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock [the false christs in church and state] in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O you nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

Isaiah 3
1 For, behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, does take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water.
2 The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient,
3 The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.
4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable.
6 When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, saying, You have clothing, be you our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand:
7 In that day shall he swear, saying, I will not be an healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people.
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9 The show of their countenance does witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10 Say you to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
13 The LORD stands up to plead, and stands to judge [diyn] the people.
14 The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15 What mean you that you beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? says the LORD God of hosts.

Jeremiah 5
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge [diyn] not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful [shammah – a desolation not understood] and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?

Jeremiah 8
17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says the LORD.
18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me.
19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.
21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment [shammah – desolation caused by the venom, the words, of false prophets who are like serpents] has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead [in this testimony]; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Genesis 49
16 Dan [the judge – speaking of strength returned and the righteous judgment of the world begins] shall judge [diyn] his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way [as a serpent raised as a standard on a pole {nec}, as the son of man must be lifted], an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels [this is the heel bruised in the judgment, meaning the serpents among the people are rendered without effect], so that his rider shall fall backward [so the body of Christ will return to the place from which she fell – see, in Isaiah 28:13 below, this teaching causes them to fall backward].
18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad [the LORD’s army, overcome until their return to Him], a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Out of Asher [happy] his bread shall be fat [happiness returns when the word of God prospers], and he shall yield royal dainties [ma’adan – speaking of the royal line again raised up – referring us to its use in Proverbs 29:17, telling us this is when rest returns, when we, by correction, give the Father “delight”].
21 Naphtali [by this wrestling – unknowingly with the LORD] is a hind let loose: he gives goodly words [our tongue {the word of God} is loosed and we teach it as received directly from Him].
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well [a tree of life by these waters of God]; whose branches run over the wall [the wall of lies men have created and teach]:
23 The archers [ba’al – the gods of this world whose teaching has blinded all form seeing the Father, in the son, the seed of the women who brings forth the man child – see Revelation 12:17 below] 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 [the deep meaning that lies below the surface], blessings of the breasts, and of the womb [seed, the son]:
26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors [all those who have come before us, and were only blessed with part of what is perfected in our return to the LORD] 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.

Isaiah 28
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.
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.

Revelation 12
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Psalms 9
1 I will praise you, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will show forth all your marvelous works.
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing praise to your name, O you most High.
3 When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at your presence.
4 For you have maintained my right and my cause; you sat in the throne judging right.
5 You have rebuked the heathen, you have destroyed the wicked, you have put out their name forever and ever.
6 O you enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and you have destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.
7 But the LORD shall endure forever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.
8 And he shall judge [diyn] the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.
9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
10 And they that know your name will put their trust in you: for you, LORD, have not forsaken them that seek you.
11 Sing praises to the LORD, which dwells in Zion: declare among the people his doings.
12 When he makes inquisition for blood, he remembers them: he forgets not the cry of the humble.
13 Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, you that lifts me up from the gates of death:
14 That I may show forth all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in your salvation.
15 The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
16 The LORD is known by the judgment which he executes: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
17 The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish forever.
19 Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in your sight.
20 Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.