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There Shall Not Be Left Here One Stone Upon Another, that Shall Not Be Thrown Down

There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
 
Continuing: The word “stone,” from Matthew 24:2, is lithos; said to be a primary word and is without an origin given. It appears to be akin to the word lanthano, a primary verb meaning to lie hid, adverbially as unwittingly (ignorant).
 
We know from the previous post, Isaiah 34:11 speaks of the world that had become without form, and void, saying it was built using stones of emptiness, on a foundation laid by confusion. This house could do nothing other than fall when the latter rains and the wind came. “And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passes, and cleanses them.” Job 37:21
 
In Romans 9:32 & 33 Paul speaks of the stumbling stone that is the rock of offense to those who don’t believe the one in who they should have faith. This stone is the foundation the LORD has laid in Zion, who Peter describes in 1 Peter 2:4 & 5, upon which the new house is built, made of those who have purified their souls in obeying the truth, (which is written in 1 Peter 1:22). These passages, wherein the stone is mentioned, come in quoting Isaiah 28:16, which we know describes the LORD speaking to His peoples with a tongue they cannot understand. We are there plainly told this is Him teaching knowledge that is the rest and refreshing of His people. We are told it is precept upon precept, line upon line, coming morning by morning, and the only vexation is to understand the report.
 
Romans 9
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 replies 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 shew 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 [hosts – tsaba’] 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 [those who don’t know God or His name], 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 [lithos];
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone [lithos] and rock [petra] of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
 
We know from our prior discussions the Rock (petra) spoken is referring to Horeb and Christ the Rock, from whom the waters flowed, as described in Exodus 17: 1 – 7 and 1 Corinthians 10:1 – 11. Horeb, meaning desolate, is telling of when and where the old ways learned while in captivity (Egypt) were destroyed by God’s pure word flowing to teach His ways of peace and civilization (Yara’ Shalam – Jerusalem – taught and founded upon the ways of peace). It is the pattern of creation when the earth becomes without from, and void, and the spirit of God moves and speaks light into the darkness and create the new heaven and earth upon the ruins. We know this is the same pattern of Jerusalem built on the ruins of Salem, and New Jerusalem (our spiritual city) built on the cast down stones of the Old teaching. They are the pattern spoken of in Genesis 1 (2), Isaiah 34 (11), and Jeremiah 4 (23), which plainly speak of the destruction coming under man’s control and degeneration.
 
2 Corinthians 3
1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone [lithinos], but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones [lithos], was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excells.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remain the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.
 
1 Peter 1
2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you,
5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
8 Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
15 But as he which has called you is holy, so be you holy in all manner of conversation;
16 Because it is written, Be you holy; for I am holy.
17 And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judges according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
18 Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
22 Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which lives and abides for ever.
24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower thereof falls away:
25 But the word of the LORD endures for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
 
1 Peter 2
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby:
3 If so be you have tasted that the LORD is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone [lithos] , disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 You also, as lively stones [lithos], are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone [lithos], elect, precious: and he that believes on him shall not be confounded.
7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone [lithos] which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 And a stone [lithos] of stumbling, and a rock [petra] of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should shew forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
 
Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge [the darkness that covers all the old earth]?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone [‘eben] thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? [These verses are repeated below in verse 30 thru 32 using different phrasing.]
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves [swelled arrogance of man] be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwells? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That you should take it to the bound thereof, and that you should know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Know you it, because you were then born? or because the number of your days is great?
22 Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scatters the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who has gendered it?
30 The waters are hid [in Christ] as with a stone [‘eben], and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Know you the ordinances of heaven? can you set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send lightning, that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Will you hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provides for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat [and with meat they are gathered].
 
Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, [those ruling God’s people in this latter generation, who are drunken in arrogance by their power and positions,] whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol 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 [‘eben], a precious corner stone [‘eben], 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 Sheol [the grave] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.
 
The word rendered “make haste” in verse 16 above is the Hebrew word chuwsh, and is referring to its only other use in Isaiah. It appears in Isaiah 5:19 when the wicked are calling on the LORD to hurry up (hasten) His work so they will know it. As we know, the LORD will not be rushed, as Peter tells us in 2 Peter 3. They will know after their world (heaven and earth) have passed away and they find themselves snared in inescapable darkness (by the choices they have made to despise this word).
 
2 Peter 3
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [these men’s corrupted ideas and teaching/advice] 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 [the ideas of the wicked and disobedient] shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [wrestle with], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
 
Isaiah 5
13 Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol [the grave] has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoices, shall descend into it.
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled:
16 But the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.
18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:
19 That say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23 Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts [tsaba’], and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
 
Psalms 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures for ever.
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 [‘eben] 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.
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 shewed us light: bind the sacrifice 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 for ever.
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Heaven and Earth Have Passed Away, But My Words Shall Not Pass Away

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
 
Continuing: the word above translated “pass away” is the Greek word parerchomai, which is said to be from two words, para, meaning beside or near, and erchomai, which is the same as the words eltho and eleutomai, all meaning to come or go. The meaning of parerchomai is of passing near something in a fixed position without stopping and then departing it. This context is found in the above statement and the word surrounding its proclamation. It (the context) appears in Matthew 24:31 where the LORD tells of sending His angels (messengers) to gather His elect, from one end of heaven to the other. It is upon those the word comes and does not depart, in them it abides, and they are the elect of whom He speaks. This event will pass by all the world without lighting. We know this “light” is what the LORD speaks of in verse 27 as He tells of His appearing.
 
Matthew 24
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
28 For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven [in the rightly divided word]: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh:
33 So likewise you, when you shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
42 Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your LORD does come.
43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
44 Therefore be you also ready: for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man comes.
45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his LORD has made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
46 Blessed is that servant, whom his LORD when he comes shall find so doing.
47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.

Friends, I tell you the truth, if this word has not passed by you, you are God’s elect, and all the world has just been through what the false prophets have called the “end of the world.” As we know, it is the end of the age of confusion and darkness for all who have come to the light. The new earth is in the light, and the new heaven is where God’s word is rightly divided and men are not confused.
 
Revelation 21
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away [aperchomai – apo, away or off, and erchomai] .
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that over-comes [the wicked] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven [the rightly divided word] from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the LORD God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
 
Revelation 22
1 And he shewed 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 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 for ever 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 shew 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 shewed me these things.
9 Then said he unto me, See thou 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.
 
When the LORD in Matthew 24 tells of the end of the old He is alluding to the new and Isaiah 34:4, a chapter we know uses the same words spoken in the creation account of Genesis 1:2, and only used one other time (Jeremiah 4:23). They are the word rendered “without form, and void” in Genesis and Jeremiah, and in Isaiah it is in “the day of the LORD’s vengeance” when He gives his evaluation and sentence against those who have ruled the world into becoming without, form and void. In Isaiah they are “confusion” and “emptiness,” and describe the plumb line used (confusion) to prepare the ground it is built upon, and (emptiness) the stones used in its construction.
 
Isaiah 34
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies [tsaba’]: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host [tsaba’] of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host [tsaba’] shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
7 And the unicorns [r’em – their exalted ones] shall come down with them [the hosts of the old heaven], and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.
9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness [measuring the old city – the opposite of the new spoken of in Revelation 21:15 – 21 above – twelve by twelve – perfect].
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.
17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.
 
The word rendered “armies” in verse 2 above is the same word translated “hosts” in verse 4 where we see these are the fallen lights of heaven. When we understand it in this context we see who the LORD comes against, those who’ve led the world into confusion and emptiness, and there is no living man on the old earth or in the old heaven. They are without light and thereby without the spirit, and the only living are the Spirit-filled men who are alive in the new earth and new heaven, wherein dwells righteousness. This is what the LORD is speaking of when he tells of the old heaven and earth passing away, but His word will not pass by the elect upon who it lights and abides.
 
Isaiah 8
11 For the LORD spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying,
12 Say you not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear you their fear, nor be afraid.
13 Sanctify [separate yourselves to] the LORD of hosts [tsaba’] 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 [God’s elect] are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts [tsaba’], 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 in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the [old] earth; and behold trouble and darkness [because the lights in heaven have become darkened], dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
 
Isaiah 9
1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined.
3 Thou have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4 For thou have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
5 For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
8 The LORD sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel.
 
Isaiah 34 above describes this as the day the LORD’s vengeance comes as a recompense (just reward) for the “controversy of Zion.” The word here rendered “controversy” is riyb, literally meaning a contest. As we know, riyb is the word used in Exodus 17:7 to tell of the “chiding” among God’s people, in the temptation when they asked, “Is the LORD among us, or not?” This is when the LORD answered by causing water to flow from a Rock [tsuwr], the same [tsuwr] Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah 8:14 that becomes the snare in which the confederacy of the corrupted becomes caught as their reward. His presence is the just repayment for their doubt and rejection. “14 And he shall be for a sanctuary [our place of safety]; but for a stone of stumbling and for a Rock [tsuwr] 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.”
 
Exodus 17
1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide you with me? wherefore do you tempt the LORD?
3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?
4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.
5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with you of the elders of Israel; and your rod, wherewith thou smote the river, take in your hand, and go.
6 Behold, I will stand before you there upon the Rock in Horeb; and thou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding [riyb – controversy] of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us, or not?”
 
The controversy spoken of in Isaiah is questioning if it is the LORD speaking through me/us from Zion. It is what Hebrews 12 says when it tells of this [our] destination, correcting our thinking as in Horeb. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10 it is the same baptism all God’s people have come through to get here, by the same Rock.

Hebrews 12
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
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 speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake 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.
 
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.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
 
Psalms 67
1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
2 That your way may be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations.
3 Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you.
4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah.
5 Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise you.
6 Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
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Blessed Are the Pure in Heart: for They Shall See God

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
 
The “pure” in heart are those who are perfected and through the veil enter into the presence of God. As we know, the veil is the body in which the LORD appears, flesh minded man only seeing Him when his reasoning (heart) is purified by washing away the old blinding ideas. Once the veil is penetrated God is seen speaking from behind it, within the holiest of holies, which represents the mind now wholly joined to the LORD by agreement.
 
Ephesians 2
17 That the God of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling [which is Christ in us (individual)], and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23 Which is his body [community], the fullness of him that fills all in all.
 
Ephesians 2
1 And you has he quickened [brought to life], who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation [community behavior] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.
 
Friends, again I tell you, when the word of God is received, (realized) as the LORD’s presence in that person, those who receive it as such are given the same power to become the children of God. This power that works in us is “received” by obedience to its instruction, in the pattern of the purification necessary before we go through the veil and see God inside. It is what John records in John 1 when He tells of the LORD’s coming as light un-comprehended in the darkness, and the transfiguration is seen by those who receive the word made flesh and dwelling among us. This is what the title tells us in the LORD’s words from Matthew 5:8.
 
Again, I repeat Paul’s description of this from 1 Thessalonians 2, first telling of our walking worthy of our calling, receiving the word of God, as it is in truth His word. We know Paul goes on to tell of the persecution and longsuffering of those who have preached and received it as such; the same persecution we now experience from the false teachers and false preachers among us whose ways are from what we are purified. These are those the LORD speaks of in John 3 when He tells of the condemnation chosen by them; light having come into their darkness and they choose the darkness because their deeds (works) are evil. These are the persecution the LORD speaks of in the later verses (10 thru 12) of Matthew 5, there also saying the reward of this suffering is heaven, (the LORD gives us the rightly divided word and validates it in us, in our resurrection before the eyes of the persecutors.)
 
1 Thessalonians 2
9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and un-blamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children,
12 That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
14 For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
15 Who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan [the spirit of disobedience resisting God’s work] hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our LORD Jesus Christ at his coming?
20 For you are our glory and joy.
 
Matthew 5
1 And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
2 And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying,
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [to them is sent the word of God].
4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted [receive the baptism].
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth [those who wait for the LORD to right the wrongs].
6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness [right judgment]: for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
 
The Greek word rendered “peacemakers” in verse 9 above is eirenopoios, a one timeused word meaning to (eiro) join (eimi – en) exist with me (hopoios) in this manner. Acts 1: 11 Which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
 
It is in this context of the word’s affect the LORD continues:
13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness [right judgment] shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees [those controlling religion], you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
 
The word “pure” in verse 8 (and the title) is the Greek word katharos, said to be from an uncertain word affixed to kath, meaning as. The unknown word is arestos, meaning to be in agreement with, and thereby fit. It is used four times, once rendered “reason” (reasoning), and the other three as forms of the word “please.” It is the word used in John 8:29 as the LORD tells of the Father in Him, which we will know when the son of man is lifted up [as in Acts 1:11 above]. It is telling of those who please God, by speaking the thing He gives us to speak. The LORD is also speaking directly to the unbelievers (those who don’t believe He is speaking God’s word) and in this, they are witnesses against themselves by their inability to hear it, because to them it is an unknown tongue. (1 Corinthians 14:22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith [belief] it is impossible to please [euaresteo] him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.)
 
John 8
25 Then said they unto him, Who are you? And Jesus said unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.
26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
27 They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father.
28 Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.
29 And he that sent me is with me: the Father has not left me alone; for I do always those things that please [arestos] him.
30 As he spoke these words, many believed on him.
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed;
32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
 
Arestos is the word used in 1 John 3:22 to tell of those who receive whatsoever they ask, because they keep His Commandments (instructions), and do the things that are “pleasing” in His sight.
 
1 John 3
8 He that commits sin [whose manner is error – to wander from God’s commandments and resist His correction] is of the devil; for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
9 Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.
11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death.
15 Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoso has this world’s good, and sees his brother have need, and shuts up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwells the love of God in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
19 And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him.
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
22 And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing [arestos] in his sight.
23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.
24 And he that keeps his commandments dwells in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.
 
1 John 4
4 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2 Hereby know you the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof you have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world hears them.
6 We are of God: he that know God hears us; he that is not of God hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
 
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
 
John 3
31 He that comes from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaks of the earth: he that comes from heaven [the rightly divided word of God] is above all.
32 And what he has seen and heard, that he testifies; and no man receives his testimony.
33 He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true.
34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God: for God gives not the Spirit by measure unto him.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
36 He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
 
Hebrews 10
7 Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do your will, O God.
8 Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin you would not, neither had pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do your will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
14 For by one offering he has perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 By a new and living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure [katharos] water.
23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.
26 For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins,
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.
28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know him that has said, Vengeance belongs unto me, I will recompense, says the LORD. And again, The LORD shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
 
John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now you are clean [katharos] through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
 
Friends, Paul uses the word katharos in Titus 1:15 as he speaks of the Cretians (those who continue in the flesh – dead without the Spirit). He says of these types, who we have often discussed and identified, to them nothing is pure. In chapter 2 he then urges us to speak sound doctrine. “For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” 1 Peter 2:25
 
Titus 1
1 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
3 But has in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior;
4 To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the LORD Jesus Christ our Savior.
5 For this cause left I you in Crete [among those remaining in the flesh], that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed you:
6 If any be blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of riot or unruly.
7 For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 Holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision:
11 Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
12 One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.
13 This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith;
14 Not giving heed to Jewish fables [the fictions made up by the religious], and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.
15 Unto the pure [katharos] all things are pure [katharos]: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure [katharos]; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate [without any proof].
 
Titus 2
1 But speak you the things which become sound doctrine:
2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becomes holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed [evil spoke of].
6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
7 In all things shewing yourself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing un-corruptness, gravity, sincerity,
8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.
9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again;
10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity [faithfulness]; that they may adorn [put on] the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,
12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;
14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify [katharizo] unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you.
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When opinions become doctrine, bad precedent turns error into law and injustice.

When opinions become doctrine, bad precedent turns error into law and injustice.
 
Continuing: the Greek word for heresies is hairesis, meaning preference and choice; from the word airo, meaning lift up and take away, and figuratively to keep the mind in suspense, and a ship weighing anchor and sailing away. These definitions are all the effects of opinions that have no basis in fact, creations of imagination and preference, which then become law. These delusions, (the final condition of confusion’s work, erroneous (preference based) opinions become precedent,) are when the truth becomes the villain and seeking justice the crime.
 
Bad precedent allowed slavery to continue, just as it now allows the killing of unborn humans. In each is exhibited how preference will go to any lengths to normalize its opinion and the ensuing injustice, no matter how barbaric and unlawful it’s reality. These are the same dehumanization that produced the Holocaust and the many more millions killed by all the communist regimes of the twentieth century. It’s the same spirit at work now in our nation; raised up through a degenerate mass media and opinion based education with a communist worldview. We see it in many of our young, who without God, lacking a healthy conscience or the ability to critically think, who on command are now being deployed against those who uphold foundational truths and God as the only anchors of reality and just law.
 
Those who study along here know I often quote from a 2008 article in the American Thinker, by Linda Kimball, in which she prophesies of the coming of these days. She documents the historical course of our fundament transformation into Materialist Communism: evidenced in the intentional effects we now see in the ever-worsening delusions and chaos. Here following I will again paste excerpts from her article, “The Materialist Faith of Communism, Socialism, and Liberalism.” The first passage tells of the demons embodies in the ideology, (now emerging from its deceptive hiding place in the name “progressivism” to again be called communism.) The second paragraph defines materialism and its inevitable and intended ends.
 
“This demon is embodied in ‘enlightened’ Liberals and the West’s transnational ‘elite,’ both of which are deeply infected by materialistic Communism (Cultural Marxism) and the delusion that the true enemy of America is always on the Right. Having rejected God and the religious heritage of our civilization, they embrace instead a new order of beliefs of which Communism and Socialism are logical expressions. A new world order is what they seek, but in order that it can emerge, the existing culture must be completely destroyed.”
 
“Materialist faith, or scientific materialism, has virtually displaced America’s founding Judeo-Christian worldview with the result that materialism is now the operative assumption for much of our government, culture, politics, and law. Materialist operatives now control every public institution in the United States. According to the inner logic of materialist faith, “we the people” are nothing but socially-constructed atomized robots which can presumably be deconstructed and melted into an atomized mass. Toward both this goal and to raise up an army of street thugs who will destroy our culture, materialist change-agents use our education system to subvert and convert the minds of our youth. Should they succeed in thoroughly corrupting them and in turning their hearts to hate, this generation of children may become the next Khmer Rouge, who at Pol Pot’s order murdered nearly two-million people, including their own families.”
 
Kimball closes her article by quoting from a speech delivered by President Calvin Coolidge on 5 July 1926, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In her final sentence, she warns against continuing on this same path (a warning we have failed to heed), which she likened to ending in a similar manner to the swine in whom the LORD cast the demons, who then by their own choice ran over the Gadarene Cliff and drowned themselves. Here are her closing words.
 
“As early as 1926, President Calvin Coolidge was aware of and deeply concerned by the insidious spread scientific materialism in America. As he knew, Americans are free only because of the Judeo-Christian foundation laid by the country’s founders. In a speech he delivered in Philadelphia, July 5, 1926 to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Coolidge tried to call American’s back to their Judeo-Christian heritage. He told Americans that the Declaration’s principles of liberty arise from man’s God-given inalienable rights. And these are found, said Coolidge, “in the texts, the sermons, and the writings of the early colonial clergy…” The clergy preached equality “because they believed in the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.” Sanctity of life, the right to self-defense, and all the rest of our individual liberties were justified “by the text that we are all created in the divine image, all partakers of the divine spirit.” God’s children therefore, have no “superiors;” there are no modern-day “divine rights kings” who possess “any right to rule…over them.” Americans are free to choose their own leaders.
 
“The Declaration, continued Coolidge, is “a great spiritual document.” Its principles are not material but spiritual. “Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are not elements we can see and touch. They are ideals (whose) source and roots (are) in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world.”
 
“President Coolidge cautioned Americans that, “unless the faith of the Americans in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We can not continue to enjoy the result if we abandon the cause.”
 
“Coolidge ended his speech with a stark warning, “We must not sink into a pagan materialism…” (Back Fired, William Federer, pp. 269-271)
 
“Yet, believing they are “enlightened” and “scientific,” maddened Liberals and Transnational “elites” are leading America over the Gadarene Cliff.”
 
Here are the links to the full text of Kimball article and the Coolidge speech:
 
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2008/02/the_materialist_faith_of_commu.html
 
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-occasion-of-the-one-hundred-and-fiftieth-anniversary-of-the-declaration-of-independence/
 
Friends, these people begin with opinions that are in fact failed ideas of the past. Coolidge says of communits’ claims that these ideas are “progressive,” that they are not progress at all, but rather a return to ideas that are more primitive. He calls the ideas in the Declaration “final,” meaning they cannot be improved.
 
It should be our mission as a nation, as we did with slavery, to seek out bad precedents (opinion and preference) that are opposite these founding ideas, and right their wrongs. Coolidge reminds us, our better ideas, based on our Judeo-Christian foundation, are what have caused our prosperity and our achievements. These did not create our ideas, and in fact, claiming the reverse is true is itself part of the materialists’ requisite opinions (wrongly saying environment does and should create foundation ideas, when in fact foundational ideas create environments).
 
Here are Coolidge’s closing words: “The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.”
 
Now, the advice we have heard and have followed, and which we will continue to hear from all the fake news media false prophets and TV preachers, will be the opposite of what I have just written and with much longsuffering advised. Remember, theirs are the same opinions that produced the ongoing decline: corrupt trees only able to bring forth the same corrupt fruit.
 
The Greek word hairesis is used 9 times, four times rendered “heresy” or “heresies” and the other five times translated “sect.” It tells of the ideas, the opinions and the preferences around which groups or parties are formed. It is inevitable that people will join in community with those who have like ideas. I tell you now, all these groups become corrupted as errors are introduced and adopted, and ALL are now corrupt. When Paul tells of the mystery of when we will join with the LORD, and when all will be changed (as discussed in the prior post), he is speaking in this context.
 
Peter says in 1 Peter 1 that we have not followed cunningly devised fable, but rather the word of God, as the LORD spoke through holy men He moved by His Holy Spirit. Before this he speaks of the coming of the LORD, in power on this same mountain of transfiguration, when he heard the voice of God from heaven (out of the rightly divided word). That voice is the LORD showing His approval, the proof He is the one speaking.
 
Peter goes in chapter 2 to say there were false prophets among these holy men, just as there will be false teachers among us. He says they are those who “privily” have brought in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD who bought them. The word here rendered “privily bring in” is the Greek word is pareisago, which is only used his one time, from three Greek words meaning led (ago) into (eis) separation (para). The word translated damnable is apoleia, the same word translated “perdition” in telling of the only son(s) who perishes. It is the word rendered “destruction” in the same verse, “pernicious” in the following verse, and “damnation” in the one after.
 
2 Peter 2
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable [apoleia] heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction [apoleia].
2 And many shall follow their pernicious [apoleia] ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation [apoleia] slumbers not.
 
The LORD has set the trap for these men and it is their heresies, their words, 1 Corinthians 11:19 saying, “For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.”
 
John uses the word apoleia twice in Revelation, in Revelation 17:8 & 11, which points to these men, whose works are of false prophesy (speaking for God when God hasn’t sent them or said anything to them – and are thereby found to be reprobates, without validation). The chapter tells of the identity (id entity) of the unfaithful woman and the beast that carries her, who has seven heads (rules in all the churches) and ten horns (and has power over the civil government). We know these meanings from our studies in previous posts. She comes out of the never-ending falling away from God (the bottomless pit) and goes into perdition (apoleia). We know from the LORD’s words in John 17:12 there is only one who perishes, those united in this same spirit of confusion and disobedience, which John later in Revelation 17 reveals as MYSTERY BABYLON, the unfaithful woman (God’s unfaithful people), and the idols (abomination) of the earth. Their confusion is now ended in the LORD sending His word.
 
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 shew unto you the judgment of the great whore that sit upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings 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.
4 And the woman 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 [confusion] The Great, The Mother Of Harlots [the unfaithful] And Abominations [the idols that have caused the total desolation] 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 carrieth her, which has the seven heads [leads the churches] and ten horns [(confusion and disobedience) the power in and over the civil governments].
8 The beast that you sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit [the endless fall away from God], and go into perdition [apoleia]: 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 [all the churches], on which the woman sits.
10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a short space.
11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition [the final church under the power of confusion and total disobedience to God].
12 And the ten horns which you saw are ten kings [the same power at work in civil governments], which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13 These have one mind [the single son that perishes – the spirit that now works in and through the children of disobedience], and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.
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.
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 [civil governments] which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore [God’s unfaithful people], and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17 For God has put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled [until they are totally desolated by their abominations].
18 And the woman which you saw is that great city [Babylon –confusion], which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
 
Peter uses the word apoleia twice in 2 Peter 3 to define these men, the same false teachers he speaks of in the prior chapter. In verse 3:7 it is to tell us their destruction is by the word of God kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and “perdition” of ungodly men. In verse 16 it tells us exactly to whom this perdition comes, as these men wrestle with the word of God, to their “destruction.” It is what is referred to when Peter says in verse 17 not to be “led away” with the error (the heresies) of the wicked, (because it’s what leads those who follow them into perdition.) This day is the scripture fulfilled before our eyes, as Daniel 12:10 says, none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
 
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 [their corrupted ideas] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction [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 for ever. Amen.
 
Hebrews 6 tells of the perfecting of those who inherit the promise of God, verse 18 telling of the refuge of those who lay hold on this hope set before us. Verse 19 says this hope is our anchor, both sure and steadfast, and is our entering into what is behind the veil. “Where the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”
 
Hebrews 6
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that 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 shewed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew 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 shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
 
Hebrews 7
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abides a priest continually.
 
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn [the oath and the promise], and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way [the word of God – the waters stored up and reserved unto fire again the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men]: therefore shall he lift up the head.
 
Matthew 12
34 O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.
38 Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from you.
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah:
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here.
42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
 
Matthew 7
15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them.
21 Not every one that says unto me, LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, LORD, LORD, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that hears these sayings of mine, and does them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
Posted on

Unto You it is Given to Know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God

Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.
 
Continuing: the LORD gives this same answer in other Gospels when asked why he speaks in parables – language only understood once He gives the keys. In the title (Luke 8:10) they are the keys to the kingdom of God, elsewhere described as the kingdom of heaven, both together telling us they are the same place in our minds. The keys, the LORD’s given language, are what unlock the book, the word of God, and also the pearls of great value He speaks of in Matthew 13:45 & 46. We know these pearls are the gates of the kingdom John sees coming down from God out of heaven (out of the rightly divided word of God). This is recorded in Revelation 21 after in earlier chapters Babylon (confusion that rules the world) and Gog (the spirit of disobedience) are defeated by the kingdom of heaven come to earth in the mind of Christ (Revelation 12:10).
 
The earlier occurrence of the kingdom coming (in Christ) is after the devil is cast out of heaven (the place where the word of God is divided) to the earth, and after the first son is born. He is the one we are told will rule the nations with a rod of iron, and is the same one who later becomes the Lamb, laying down His life for the world. He is the Lamb the elect follow, and they together bring many out of tribulation by defeating Babylon (confusion) and Gog (the spirit of disobedience). When these (the lies that cause confusion and its mass delusion) are vanquished the kingdom (mind) returns to rule over all the earth, when all nation can enter the kingdom through these same pearls (unlocked gates).
 
The kingdom is the one we see on in Revelation 22, where God and the Lamb are enthroned on earth.
 
Revelation 22
1 And he shewed 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 his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads [minds].
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 for ever 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 shew 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 shewed 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 said, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, LORD Jesus.
21 The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
 
When Hebrews 12 speaks of the correction that comes from God as our perfect Father, by a voice out of heaven (the rightly divide word) it is speaking of the same angel John describes in Revelation 22:6, who says in verse 9 he is a fellow-servant. Hebrews ends telling of God as a consuming fire, which is His Spirit manifested in the words spoken, it is followed in the first verse of Hebrews 13 by telling us to let Philadelphia (brotherly love) continue. Philadelphia (motivated by brotherly love – charity – giving what is needed for life) is where and when the key of David is found and opens and shuts (the word of God and His kingdom.) Next, the Laodiceans (the people made right – made righteous as they come out of unrighteousness) are urged to buy from me gold tried in the fire, that they may become rich, (and become as the precious foundation stones of Revelation 21.)
 
Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews [the churches which say they are the true believers], and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you wert cold or hot.
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness does not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
 
As discussed in previous posts, Hebrews 12 goes on to warn against being joined with those who are defiled by idols, but rather be joined to the LORD, in the conversation leading us by teaching Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
 
We know this latter aspect is what Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 6 as he calls us to come out of the corrupted, (mind joined with idols,) and tells us only then and there does Father receive us as His children. It is perfectly logical that those using lies to lead all the world astray must necessarily be taken out of the way so our mind can receive the LORD’s truth, and only by it can we enter His kingdom by renewing our mind (receiving the mind of Christ).
 
2 Thessalonians 2
6 And now you know what withholds [katecho – holds down (keeps from rising to meet the LORD – mind to mind)] that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only he who now lets [katecho – keeps us down] will let [keep down], until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked [the spirit of disobedience (Gog) now at work in wicked and unreasonable men spoken of in 2 Thessalonians 3:1 & 2] be revealed, whom the LORD shall consume with the spirit of his mouth [these words as he speaks through me/us], and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan [resisting the plan and purpose of God] with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
13 But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the LORD, because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of [separation from the defiled by] 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.
 
2 Corinthians 6
14 Be you not unequally yoked [joined in the works] together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believes with an infidel [the unfaithful and unbelieving]?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.
 
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 God] under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars [God’s people and their fixed positions in heaven]:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven [where the word of God is divided]; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads [misleaders in all the churches] and ten horns [and having power in all the civil government], and seven crowns upon his heads [ruling of all God’s people].
4 And his tail [the consequences that followed] drew the third part of the stars of heaven [away from their fixed positions (ideas)], 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 [quoting Psalms 2:9 telling of a son by God’s proclamation found there]: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness [where she would unlearn the corrupted ways she had been taught], 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 [the messenger, who is like God – the name referring us to Daniel 12] and his angels [the elect, who Daniel tells us rise and shine as lights in the firmament – returned to their fixed position is heaven by the rightly divided word] 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 know that he has but a short time [which we see in the screaming and flailing (the strong delusions) of all the false prophets – the TV preachers and their ilk in church and state].
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 [the events we see in the world contradict their lying claims], 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 2 [Hear this word of God]
1 Why do the heathen [they know who they are] rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together [the confederacy of the corrupted], against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their [God’s] bands asunder, and cast away their [God’s] cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision [has let their delusions take hold of them].
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.
 
Revelation 21
1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea [the old had become without form, and void, and there was no living man upon it, before the light came – as in Genesis 1(2), Jeremiah 4(23 – 25), and Isaiah 34(11)].
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven [out of the rightly divided word], prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle [the dwelling place – in us] of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
7 He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious [taught from the rightly divided word, and now become founded upon the true riches of wisdom and understanding – the ways of God’s peace and civilization], even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits [the same number as the elect are thousands – all these numbers in twelves, the number of perfect governance], according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the LORD God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
 
As we know from previous discussions, Revelation 21:4 quotes from Isaiah 25:8, saying “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” It is speaking of when “there shall be no more death.” Isaiah 25:6 says is when the LORD makes a feast in the mountain [of Transfiguration], which we know Revelation 19 says is the supper that joins God’s people to Him (by the one mind). The other part of Isaiah 25:8, as we know, is quoted in 1 Corinthians 15:54 as we are told of the great mystery of when all are changed (in joining to the LORD), when the corrupted have put on incorruption, and the mortal has put immortality, when “death is swallowed in victory.” We know this is the mystery of the marriage Paul speaks of in Ephesians 5:30 – 32, the same as Revelation 19:9, and the marriage Hebrews 13:4 speaks of, all these telling of now when we join ourselves to the LORD. “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.” 1 Thessalonians 1
 
Ephesians 5
30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.
32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
 
Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage [joining – bonds] is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled [as long as the one joined with isn’t defiled by idols]: but whoremongers [idolaters] and adulterers [unfaithfulness] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation [your behavior in the community – among those we join with] be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation [topos – their manner – Acts 1:11].
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
 
1 Corinthians 15
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 [made in the image and likeness of God, in spirit and the truth of the rightly divided word].
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God [His like mind]; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew 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?
 
Isaiah 25
1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For you have made of a [corrupted] city an heap; of a defensed city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify you, the city of the terrible nations shall fear you.
4 For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. [The apocalypse – uncovering what became hidden.]
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD has spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab [the gates of death] shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim [dividing the waters by His works]: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands [works].
12 And the fortress of the high fort of your walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.
 
1 Corinthians 4
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judges me is the LORD.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the LORD come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that you might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
7 For who make you to differ from another? and what have you that you did not receive? now if you did receive it, why do you glory, as if you had not received it? [Why do you glory as if it comes from your own mind, which shows it to be defiled if it does indeed come from your own power?]
8 Now you are full, now you are rich, you have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God you did reign, that we also might reign with you.
9 For I think that God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are honorable, but we are despised.
11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place;
12 And labor, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
13 Being defamed, we entreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the off-scouring of all things unto this day.
14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
15 For though you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be you followers of me.
17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the LORD, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the LORD will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21 What will you? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
Posted on

Advent – The Word of God Made Flesh

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
 
Continuing: Friends, this is the end of the mystery of God. (Revelation 10:7 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.)
 
The mystery, as we know, is Christ in us. Hopefully, by now, those who have followed along with us understand these are not merely empty words but are indeed spirit and truth. As we have discussed, precept upon precept, line upon line, as written in John 1, from where comes the title: the word of God comes to us un-comprehended. It comes into the darkness of a world become without form, made void of understanding by men who were led away by their lusts, and who then led the world into ignorance. They removed the reality of the metaphysical (the realm of God) from their reasoning.
 
We have seen that God send his word first in one person he chooses, to confound the wise and mighty of this world and to be rejected by them. The LORD then by revelation validate His word showing it to be His voice speaking, and to those who receive it as such (as the word of God), He gives the power to become the children of God. Then this same resurrection is reproduced in them as they are reconciled to God’s mind, and Christ is formed in them. (John 13: 20 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that receives whomsoever I send receives me; and he that receives me receives him that sent me.)
 
Friends, this is Advent. We are living the return of the LORD, who is alive in me, in those who receive His word and become the children of God. All of God’s written word was intended for this moment in time when all those before us are perfected in us and with us. (Hebrews 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.)
 
John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.
8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
9 That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that comes after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
16 And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
18 No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?
20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
21 And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you that prophet? And he answered, No.
22 Then said they unto him, Who are you? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What say you of yourself?
23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the LORD, as said the prophet Isaiah.
24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.
25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptize you then, if you be not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet?
26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there stands one among you, whom you know not;
27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
30 This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me.
31 And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.
33 And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
36 And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God!
37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
38 Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said unto them, What seek you? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwell you?
39 He said unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.
42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, You are Simon the son of Jonah: you shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and found Philip, and said unto him, Follow me.
44 Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael, and said unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.
46 And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile [dolos – deception with the intention to mislead]!
48 Nathanael said unto him, Whence know you me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.
49 Nathanael answered and said unto him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto you, I saw you under the fig tree, believe you? you shall see greater things than these.
51 And he said unto him, Truly, truly, I say unto you, Hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
 
When the LORD sees Nathanael coming and says He is an Israelite in who is no guile, the meaning of his name is calling him a gift given by God. He then says he is an Israelite, the name saying he is one who will be a prince (reigning on earth) with and as God. The gift is a direct reference to Isaiah 8:18, saying “Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given [gifted] me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.” Before this Isaiah speaks of the disciples who have received the testimony, who were not part of the confederacy of the corrupted, and in whom is the light of the undefiled word.
 
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, 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 in them.
21 And they [those who refuse the water that flow directly from the LORD] shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.
 
The word dolos, rendered guile in John 1:47, is only used 12 times, the last in Revelation 14:5 describing the same elect remnant, which God has given me, in whom is no guile.
 
Revelation 14
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile [dolos]: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast [the confederacy of the corrupt] and his image [their idols], and receive his mark [confusion] in his forehead [into his mind], or in his hand [and does his works],
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels [the undefiled messenger mentioned above], and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receive the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
 
Friends, the LORD sends His word so his people will find rest and refreshing (renewing our minds into the peace of well-ordered thought). We know Isaiah 28 tells of sending His word, precept upon precept, line upon line, for this very purpose, and it is rejected by those who have instead made a covenant (formed a confederacy) with death. The LORD responds by sending a hail and overflowing waters first to wash away the lies and disannul their covenant with death. We saw this in the prior post as the confusion (Babylon) destroyed first, so the spirit of disobedience would then be destroyed by understanding.
 
Understanding is the point we saw spoken of in Daniel 12 when he is told of the time of the end, when the book is unsealed, and “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.” Isaiah 28:19 tells us of this teaching, “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.”
 
Isaiah 8, before the above portion, speaks of this same overflowing coming, as a foreign invasion, verse 6 thru 8 saying: “6 Forasmuch as this people refused the waters of Shiloah [tranquility – rest and refreshing] that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son [instead choosing foreign advice – standing away from God’s]; 7 Now therefore, behold, the LORD brings up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria [foreign ways – the idols], and all his glory: and he shall come up over all his channels, and go over all his banks: 8 And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
 
The foreign ways are what Isaiah is speaking of when he says, “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.” The language of the invaders is the flood that overflows the unbelieving and the unlearned because they are corrupted by it and unable to understand the word of the LORD (His voice).
 
1 Corinthians 14
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be you children, but in understanding be men.
21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me [because they are unbelievers], says the LORD.
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not [showing them as unbelievers in that they can’t understand or refuse to learn our language]: but prophesying [the full explanation given] serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad [because they can’t understand our language]?
24 But if all prophesy [give the full explanation], and there come in one that believes not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
 
This full understanding is the mystery ended, now when we all see clearly. So let’s not speak as children, with vain babbling, but putting away childish things, speak every man truth to those in need.
 
1 Corinthians 13
8 Charity [giving what is needed] never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
 
1 Thessalonians 2
1 For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain:
2 But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as you know, at Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the gospel of God with much contention.
3 For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile [dolos]:
4 But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which tries our hearts.
5 For neither at any time used we flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness; God is witness:
6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.
7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherishes her children:
8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us.
9 For you remember, brethren, our labor and travail: for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.
10 You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and un-blamably we behaved ourselves among you that believe:
11 As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father does his children,
12 That you would walk worthy of God, who has called you unto his kingdom and glory.
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
14 For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews:
15 Who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our LORD Jesus Christ at his coming?
20 For you are our glory and joy.
 
Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim [God’s people in this latter generation], whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol 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.
 
2 Peter 3
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 – corrupted ideas] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
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I Will Give You a Mouth and Wisdom, Which All Your Adversaries Shall Not Be Able To Gainsay nor Resist

For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
 
Continuing: in several previous posts we have discussed the new song: words of praise as the LORD comes judging with righteousness and equity the works of men. The “new” aspect pertains to the conversion away from the old corrupted ideas: the ideas they have created and made into idols worshiped in place of the LORD. The new song is praise (worship) in spirit and truth, because this itself is the reason He appears, to seek such from man.
 
The title is Luke 21:15 and is preceded by the LORD telling us not to meditate what we will answer when they deliver us up to public persecution and judgment, (with unrighteousness seeking to justify themselves.) The LORD says this is part of His plan to speak through us: verse 13 saying, “And it shall turn to you for a testimony.”
 
First thing this morning I asked the Father what His people need to hear so they would be healed. He, without any hesitation took me directly to Job 29, where Job, finding himself in a state of personal decline and public persecution, attempts to justify himself (rather than justifying God, which we are later told is the point. Job had forgotten what he once knew: that according to the knowledge of God, His character, we understand all things are worked together for the good of those who worship in spirit and truth. This is who God is.)
 
This is now, our place in time. The TV preachers in self-justifying their idols, in a pattern are in full panic trying to call their false gods down to burn up their sacrifices. (I continue to scan their stations to see if they are going to repent and sing the new song. I am waiting to see when they will get out of the way and let the LORD rise in them, speaking His words as the proof. Instead, all I see is comparing themselves to themselves, and each telling of approving the other. The LORD calls this the confederacy of the corrupt, as they walk “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.”
 
I Kings 18
19 Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel’s table.
20 So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets [the confederacy of the corrupt] together unto mount Carmel.
21 And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt you between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.
22 Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal’s prophets are four hundred and fifty men.
23 Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under:
24 And call you on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.
25 And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for you are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under.
26 And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.
27 And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleeps, and must be awaked.
28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
29 And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.
30 And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down.
31 And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be your name:
32 And with the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed.
33 And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.
34 And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.
35 And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.
36 And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
37 Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that you are the LORD God, and that you have turned their heart back again.
38 Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.
39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
40 And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon [the snare], and slew them there.
41 And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get you up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain.
 
There are two times in Revelation when fire comes down: the first in Revelation 13:13 as we are told of the lamb who comes, the false image with the false anointing (Christ). He gives his power to the confusion that rules over the world, and cause the entire world (in type, except Elijah and the elect remnant) to bear the mark (of Babylon – confusion) in their minds and works (forehead and hand). The second is in Revelation 20:9 as the fire comes down from God out of heaven (from His rightly divided word) and devours Gog and Magog.
 
Gog is a Hebrew word of an unknown origin and meaning. Magog is the world under (land of) Gog. These names are mentioned in and refer to Ezekiel 38 & 39, where we are told of their destruction. The only indication given to the name’s meaning is found in the one other time it is mentioned in a lineage of the sons of the tribes of Israel. It appears in 1 Chronicles 5:4, which says, “The sons of Joel; Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son.” Shemaiah means heard by Jehovah, and Shimei means the renown or famous. Gog is defining these men, who think they are gods, sitting in His place opposing Him – the famous preachers, princes of the power of the air (the airways and atmosphere of lies and confusion), whose wickedness (rejection and vilification of His correction) has come into the ears of God Almighty. (Examine the Hebrew text, and you will see the mark of the beast [embedded] in the name Gog.)
 
Ezekiel 39
1 Therefore, you son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech [who I have drawn out] and Tubal [who has been brought]
2 And I will turn you back, and leave but the sixth part of you, and will cause you to come up from the north parts, and will bring you upon the mountains of Israel:
3 And I will smite your bow out of your left hand, and will cause your arrows to fall out of your right hand.
4 You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, you, and all your bands, and the people that is with you: I will give you unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.
5 You shall fall upon the open field: for I have spoken it, says the LORD God.
6 And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
8 Behold, it is come, and it is done, says the LORD God; this is the day whereof I have spoken.
9 And they that dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand-staves, and the spears, and they shall burn them with fire seven years:
10 So that they shall take no wood out of the field, neither cut down any out of the forests; for they shall burn the weapons with fire: and they shall spoil those that spoiled them, and rob those that robbed them, says the LORD God.
11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give unto Gog a place there of graves in Israel, the valley of the passengers on the east of the sea: and it shall stop the noses of the passengers: and there shall they bury Gog and all his multitude: and they shall call it The valley of Hamongog [the multitudes of Gog].
12 And seven months shall the house of Israel be burying of them, that they may cleanse the land.
13 Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them; and it shall be to them a renown the day that I shall be glorified, says the LORD God.
14 And they shall sever out men of continual employment, passing through the land to bury with the passengers those that remain upon the face of the earth, to cleanse it: after the end of seven months shall they search.
15 And the passengers that pass through the land, when any sees a man’s bone, then shall he set up a sign by it, till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamongog.
16 And also the name of the city shall be Hamonah. Thus shall they cleanse the land.
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 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 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 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 any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, says the LORD God.
 
John puts the destruction of Gog after the destruction of Babylon. In Ezekiel, the order is reversed. This sequencing insinuates they are simultaneous events describing different aspects of the judgment. Revelation give us the key as John tells of confusion (Babylon) necessarily destroyed before the spirit of antichrist (Gog – the beast and the false prophets).
 
Revelation 20
1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [the never-ending fall away from God] and a great chain in his hand.
2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years [2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment],
3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign [have reigned] with him a thousand years.
7 And when the thousand years are expired [as it has – see Ezekiel 39:8 above], Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city [see Luke 21:20 below]: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hades delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14 And death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
 
The above is the time the LORD speaks of in Luke 9, which is also the time Daniel described: when those found written in the book of life are delivered. (Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael [who is like the LORD] 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 [the rightly divided word/waters]; 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, and knowledge shall be increased.)
 
Luke 9
34 While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud.
35 And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
36 And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone. And they kept it close, and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen.
37 And it came to pass, that on the next day, when they were come down from the hill, much people met him.
38 And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech you, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
39 And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly cries out; and it tears him that he foams again, and bruising him hardly departs from him [flailing and cutting themselves as the prophets of Baal].
40 And I besought your disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
41 And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring your son hither.
42 And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him. And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child [will you be healed?], and delivered him again to his father.
43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his disciples,
44 Let these sayings sink down into your ears: for the Son of man shall be delivered into the hands of men [death, from where I/we have been loosed – apoluo].
45 But they understood not this saying, and it was hid from them, that they perceived it not: and they feared to ask him of that saying.
46 Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.
47 And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
48 And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receives me: and whosoever shall receive me receives him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.
49 And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in your name; and we forbad him, because he follows not with us.
50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem [teaching the foundation of the ways of peace, which flow directly from God],
52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans [the place where the idols where set up in God’s place], to make ready for him.
53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem [because he refused to worship their idols, and instead chose to worship in spirit and truth].
54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, LORD, will you that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did?
55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of [the fire of God comes to save men’s lives, by burning up the works that are destroying them].
56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
57 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, LORD, I will follow you whithersoever you go.
58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay his head [He is the house of God as we are and have no house made with man’s hands].
59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, LORD, suffer me first to go and bury my father.
60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead [all who are without the spirit of God in them because they remain in houses made by men] bury their dead: but go you and preach the kingdom of God [speak the words of life, showing Christ lives in you].
61 And another also said, LORD, I will follow you; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house [come out and don’t go back to take anything out].
62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back [as did Lot’s wife], is fit for the kingdom of God.
 
In John 4 the LORD speaks to the woman of Samaria at the well, whose many husbands represent the many men who have led her into her unfaithfulness to God. These men (misleaders and false prophets) and the women (the misled and deceived people of God) should hear the LORD speaking to them.
 
John 4
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that says to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.
11 The woman said unto him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then have you that living water?
12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again:
14 But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
15 The woman says unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.
16 Jesus said unto her, Go, call your husband, and come hither.
17 The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, You have well said, I have no husband:
18 For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly.
19 The woman said unto him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
21 Jesus said unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
23 But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.
24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
25 The woman said unto him, I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
26 Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto you am he.
 
Now I tell the truth, this is the word of the LORD, in spirit and truth. I did not premeditate these ideas, but the LORD did as He said he would. These are His words coming from the mouth He has given.
 
Luke 21
7 And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass?
8 And he said, Take heed that you be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ [saying I am anointed – the false lamb with the false fire]; and the time draws near: go you not therefore after them.
9 But when you shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues [the churches], and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.
13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.
14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer:
15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
16 And you shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death.
17 And you shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake.
18 But there shall not an hair of your head perish.
19 In your patience possess you your souls.
20 And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter there into.
22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
 
Revelation 19
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: 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 [is the Spirit speaking God’s word].
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.
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And They Sung a New Song.

Continuing: In the previous post, we discussed Psalms 98 beginning by telling of the new song sung praising the LORD when He comes to judge the earth. We saw His coming is to restore righteousness and equity in the world that has abandoned it and replaced it with its opposite: unrighteousness and inequity in all judgment, thereby turning justice into injustice.
 
The title is from Revelation 5:9 and is speaking of the same song, which Revelation 14:3 then tells of the elect singing “as it were a new song.” In Revelation 5 it is when the sealed book is opened, which we know is referring to the same sealed book Daniel is told of in Daniel 12:9. He is later told to close it “till the time of the end,” when many are purified, and it says the wicked will not understand. In Revelation 14 we are told the elect are the only men who can learn the song, because they have not been defiled by God’s unfaithful (women). What they sing “as it were a new song” is what they have learned from the book that is now unsealed. The wicked are unable to understand it because they are defiled by works of false teaching from those who have been mishandling the word of God, saying He said when He hasn’t said anything to them.
 
As we know, the name Daniel means the judge of God and speaks of what is lost (right judgment) until the end when the dead are resurrected.
 
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [who is like God] stand up, the great prince which stands [in the resurrection] 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 [found when it is opened].
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 [where the waters, the word of God, are rightly divided]; and they that turn many to righteousness [to right] as the stars for ever and ever.
4 But you, O Daniel [judge of God], shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, 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 [death], and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon 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; 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.
11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination [the idols men created and put in God’s place – in death while the book is closed] that makes desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go you your way till the end be: for you shall rest, and stand [in resurrection] in your lot at the end of the days.
 
Revelation 5 describes what Daniel sees as the bank on the other side of the river (death) when the book is opened again. It begins with the word given from the throne, and the river (waters rightly divided) become as a river of life-giving waters flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, as we are told in Revelation 22:1. “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal [purified], proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
 
Revelation 5
1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.
8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints.
9 And they sung a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for you were slain, and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
10 And have made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.
14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever.
 
Revelation 14
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon [confusion] is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name [worshiping their creations and confusion is their mark].
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man [coming to judge the earth with righteousness and equity], having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
 
Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love continue [Philadelphia].
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares [God’s messengers, as in the one who was just spoken of in Hebrews 12:25 as the one speaking from heaven].
3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage [joining into a bond] is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled [if the one you have joined with doesn’t lead you into idolatry]: but whoremongers [idol worshipers] and adulterers [the unfaithful] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation [tropos – manner or means] be without covetousness; and be content with such things as you have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
6 So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God [again referring to Hebrews 12:25]: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation [anastrophe – behavior].
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp.
12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.
18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly [anastrepho].
19 But I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our LORD Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
22 And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.
23 Know you that our brother Timothy is set at liberty [released]; with whom, if he come shortly, I will see you.
24 Salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints. They of Italy salute you.
25 Grace be with you all. Amen.
 
When Hebrews 13:5 speaks of our manner (tropos), goes on to describe our behavior and Christ as our helper with us always, then saying to remember those who have spoken the word of God to us, it finishes with verse 8 saying, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” It is speaking of the consistent manner and means of the LORD who is always with us.
 
The word that tells of the manner and means is tropos, the same word Luke uses in Act 1:11 to tell of the LORD returning in like “manner” as He was seen going into heaven. “You men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.”
 
Friends, the LORD appears as we comprehend His word, receiving it as the word of God, the power manifesting His glory and our joy. This is what Satan (the power that resists God’s word and plan) hinders and keeps some from seeing and hearing.
 
1 Thessalonians 1
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
14 For you, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for you also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews [the pattern of the religious who call themselves the rightful heirs – now the corrupted and unfaithful church]:
15 Who both killed the LORD Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men:
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles [those who don’t know God is with us] that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
17 But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.
18 Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.
19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence of our LORD Jesus Christ at his coming?
20 For you are our glory and joy.
 
We know the word rendered “effectually” in verse 13 above is the Greek word energeo, which tells of the power that is at work in us. As we have seen, it is the same word used to describe the opposite power that “works” in the children of disobedience, whose conversation we have escaped.
 
Ephesians 2
1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works [energeo] in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation [anastrepho] in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
 
Romans 10
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what says it? The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
 
The power in the spoken word (this discourse) is the proof the LORD has risen. The conversation we have escaped and call all to understand and come out from, is what Peter describes in 2 Peter 2. He then also precisely defines the power of the word of God, which is held in store, sealed up until this time. When Hebrews 13:1 tells us to let Philadelphia continue, it is after the previous verse speaks of God as a consuming fire. Both of these statements come after we are told of the voice shaking heaven and earth. The voice is the consuming fire issuing from the LORD’s mouth, by which we receive a kingdom that cannot be moved.
 
Psalms 18
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
 
2 Peter 2
18 For when they [the false prophets among us] speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error [anastrepho – their conversation still working the works of disobedience].
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
 
2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – (corrupted) principles] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works [of disobedience] 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 [anastrophe] 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 wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
 
Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door [the entrance to the kingdom preached here], and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews [those claiming they are the true believers (church)], and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept [see John 14:23] the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans [the people made right] write; These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation [the word] of God;
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you wert cold or hot.
16 So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.
17 Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel you to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed, and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear; and anoint your eyes with eye-salve, that you may see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten [as is written of in Hebrews 12]: be zealous therefore, and repent [return to the knowledge of God – see Romans 10:1-3].
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
 
Psalms 149
1 Praise you the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise in the congregation of saints.
2 Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
3 Let them praise his name in the dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbrel and harp.
4 For the LORD taketh pleasure in his people: he will beautify the meek with salvation.
5 Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.
6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;
7 To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;
8 To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;
9 To execute upon them the judgment written: this honor have all his saints. Praise you the LORD.
 
Revelation 19
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 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.

 

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The Enemies, Whose End is Destruction, Whose God is Their Belly, and Whose Glory is in Their Shame

With trumpets make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King, for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
 
Continuing: the title is from parts of Psalms 98:6 & 9, and speaks of the LORD coming to judge the world by the means it lacks: righteousness and equity. One of the vilest injustices on the earth is when men apply law and judgment unequally. We have seen this evil openly executed before our eye by the US Justice Department as it was first intentionally infested by enemies of our Constitution, who then perpetrated their intended injustice. Don’t believe the denials; these vermin are communists and their useful idiots, deliberately or as misguided dupes, carrying out the overthrow of our system, or as they have disguised it: fundamentally transforming toward more progressive ideas as its foundation. And as is their way (the results opposite their claimed intentions), their re-engineering society to achieving “social justice” is, in reality, removing all justice. Justice is when laws are equally administered, deaf and blinded to calls to anything others. The wicked in church and state abandon truth, reject the ways of peace and civilization, and judge only to achieve their evil desires.
 
Philippians 3
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 [politeia (polity – political) community – common unity] is in heaven [is founded in the righty divided word of God]; from where also we look for the Savior, the LORD Jesus Christ:
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 [self-governing with truth and equity].
 
Psalms 98 begins by calling us to sing a new song: because we are rejoicing that the LORD has come and restored righteousness and equity to judgment.
 
Psalm 98
1 O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he has done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, has gotten him the victory.
2 The LORD has made known his salvation: his righteousness has he openly shewed in the sight of the heathen.
3 He has remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
4 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.
5 Sing unto the LORD with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm.
6 With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the LORD, the King.
7 Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
9 Before the LORD; for he comes to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.
 
The word “righteousness” in verse 9 is tsedeq, meaning right (natural, moral or legal), also abstractly, equity, or figuratively, prosperity. It is the word joined with melek (king) to form Melchizedek, the Hebrew name only used twice. The first is in Genesis 14:18 telling of the king of Salem (peace), the priest of the Most High God. In the passage, we are told that Abram (Abraham) refuses to receive anything from the hand of the king of Sodom, but received what was offered by Melchizedek. This is the pattern spoken of in Hebrews when the LORD comes in the order of Melchisedec and gives bread and wine (communion – the ways of common unity) to the seed of Abraham. It is showing the LORD as the first and last priest and king; the passage is the first time the word kohen (priest) is used in God’s word. The chapter is the first time the words melek appears, twenty-seven times, with the twenty-eighth in Melchizedek where tsedeq (righteousness) also first appears.
 
Genesis 14
18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.
19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:
20 And blessed be the most high God, which has delivered your enemies into your hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to yourself.
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latches, and that I will not take any thing that is yours, lest you should say, I have made Abram rich:
 
The other time the name appears is in Psalms 110:4, which is later quoted Hebrews 5:6 & 7:17.
 
(Please bear with me for a moment: many say the people of God shouldn’t be involved in politics. They are wrong. We are part of the community, the body politic, joined into one community to achieve the same goal. Our politics are not supposed to divide the body, as it now does with intention and as the tactic of the demagogue (one who uses created prejudices and divisions to propel themselves to power). In this body church and state must be inseparably joined in achieving the goal of community but resolutely separate in their missions. Modern politics uses charity (Christian love and care for our brothers/neighbors) as a means (holding the purse as did Judas) to gain and keep power. Charity is what should and must be separated to the church run by men with no desire to through it increase wealth or power. Politics should also be peopled by those equally as servant minded, to build roads, armies and such. Political parties (factions) should be focused on these common goals, only differing in means to achieve them. The general welfare of the nation does not come from the endless argument and creating animosity. These are the ideal – and as we know the reality is there are those now among us who are hostile to our Constitution and our foundations. They are enemies of the community and seek to divide us to conquer us. They must be defeated. “25 But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. 27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1)
 
Psalms 110
1 The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.
2 The LORD shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion: rule you in the midst of your enemies.
3 Your people shall be willing in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: you have the dew of your youth.
4 The LORD has sworn, and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
5 The LORD at your right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.
6 He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries.
7 He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
 
The parenthetical statement above is describing our time when the LORD has appeared to bring these things to pass. The enemies of the community, those who agitate and disturb the peace, will be defeated as the people see them as they are and reject them (as they do now as the LORD has uncovered them before the eyes of all). The LORD has said He would send priests and kings, after the order of Melchisedec (outside the existing corrupted orders of priests and politicians), as we have here discussed many times. (I and the children God has given me are for signs and wonders – outside the confederacy of the corrupted.) We are told, in Hebrews 5, the LORD becomes the Author of eternal salvation to those who obey Him. We know the chapter goes on to speaks of those who think they are teachers and are in need of being taught the first principles (stoicheion – elements) of the oracles of God.
 
Hebrews 5
1 For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins:
2 Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
3 And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself, to offer for sins.
4 And no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.
5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, You are my Son, to day have I begotten you.
6 As he says also in another place, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
10 Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.
11 Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.
12 For when for the time you ought to be teachers, you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
 
Hebrews 6
1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
3 And this will we do, if God permit.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that comes oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:
8 But that which beareth 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 labour of love, which you have shewed toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
11 And we desire that every one of you do shew 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 sware 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 shew 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 entereth into that within the veil;
20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
 
Hebrews 7
1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
3 Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abides a priest continually.
4 Now consider how great this man was, unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils.
5 And truly they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham:
6 But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.
7 And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.
8 And here men that die receive tithes; but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.
9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who received tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertains to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar.
14 For it is evident that our LORD sprang out of Juda; of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood.
15 And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there arises another priest,
16 Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
17 For he testifies, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
18 For there is truly a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.
20 And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
21 (For those priests were made without an oath; but this with an oath by him that said unto him, The LORD swore and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec:)
22 By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.
23 And they truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death:
24 But this man, because he continues ever, has an unchangeable priesthood.
25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
27 Who needs not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.
28 For the law makes men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, makes the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
8 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the LORD pitched, and not man.
3 For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
4 For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, says he, that you make all things according to the pattern shewed to you in the mount.
6 But now has he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8 For finding fault with them, he says, Behold, the days come, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, says the LORD.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13 In that he says, A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away.
 
Hebrews 9
1 Then truly the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.
2 For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
3 And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;
4 Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5 And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercy-seat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.
6 Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7 But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle [His first body] was yet standing:
9 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience [perfecting the conscience];
10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
11 But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building [but of his new body];
12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh:
14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.
16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.
17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
18 Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.
19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,
20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God has enjoined unto you.
21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.
22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.
23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these [see and understand this in what is said in Hebrews 12:24 – 29, of the voice being heard from heaven].
24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others;
26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
 
Friends, those who have studied here for a while know Hebrews is written to introduce Timothy, the first outsider, into the New priesthood. It was written to the Hebrews who wanted to remain with the Levitical letter of the law instead of understanding the pattern it showed and was intended to achieve. Hebrews 13:23 tells of Timothy being set at “liberty,” from the seventy times used word apoluo (apolelumenon in the text), used the seventieth and last time here. It is the word used in the gospels to tell of Pilate having the power to “set free” the LORD from the sentence of death. Hebrews 13:23 is referring to Timothy as the one set free from the law by death (of the old nature and raised up in the order of Melchisedec,) as it is written in the final verses of Hebrews 9 above.
 
Friends, I say again, Christ is risen in me, by His own power (I am become who I am become), according to the scriptures.
 
Ezekiel 28
25 Thus says the LORD God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am the LORD their God.
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Under God, Liberty Enthroned Guarded by Order and Authority

The fear of the wicked, it shall come upon him: but the desire of the righteous shall be granted.
 
Continuing: today’s title is Proverbs 10:24, a chapter written by Solomon describing the differences between the righteous and the wicked. In verses 8 & 10 he describes the wicked as “prating” fools, from the many (176) times used Hebrew word saphah, which is most often rendered “lips.” Daniel 12:5 translates the word twice as the “bank” of the river we know as death, the bank, therefore, showing where death begins or ends. Ezekiel 47 (verses 6, 7, &12) describe the saphah (as brink and bank) using the same terms that appear in Revelation 22 describing the river of living waters.
 
Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael [who is like God] stand up, the great prince which standeth 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 [where the waters/word are rightly divided]; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank [saphah] of the river, and the other on that side of the bank [saphah]of the river.
 
What is described is the words of men showing them as either producing life or death, and when we pass into physical death, we rise into the next physical life (not a cliché) into the same state we left the last, again our words showing and producing life or death.
 
Ezekiel 47
1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.
2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that look eastward [where the LORD, the sun, and light are all first seen]; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward [toward the light], he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters [the words of life and death]; the waters were to the ankles.
4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
6 And he said unto me, Son of man, have you seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink [saphah] of the river.
7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank [saphah] of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country [where the light comes from], and go down into the desert [wilderness], and go into the sea [the masses of people]: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed.
9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that lives, which moves, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river comes.
10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi [the fountain (eye) on the bank] even unto Eneglaim [the fountain (eye) of the two calves (idols)]; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. [See Revelation 22:11]
11 But the miry places thereof and the marshes [the waters mired by men’s words of death] thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt [remember Lot’s wife].
12 And by the river upon the bank [saphah] thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat [living men preaching life giving words], whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat [life giving nourishment], and the leaf thereof for medicine.
13 Thus says the LORD God; This shall be the border, whereby you shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions [Ephraim – double blessing].
14 And you shall inherit it, one as well as another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance.
 
Revelation 22
1 And he shewed 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 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 for ever 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 shew 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 shewed 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.
 
Ezekiel first uses the word saphah in Ezekiel 3:5 & 6 where it is rendered “speech” as we are told of Ezekiel sent by the LORD to find and eat the roll. The “roll” is the Hebrew word mgillah, meaning a scroll as in a book or a volume.
 
Ezekiel 3
1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that you find; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel [and become as waters rising – which they will not understand at first] .
2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause your belly to eat, and fill your bowels with this roll 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 an hard language, but to the house of Israel;
6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an 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 strong against their faces, 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, 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 of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.
13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing.
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.
 
Revelation 10
5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven,
6 And swore by him that lives for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:
7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he has declared to his servants the prophets.
8 And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth.
9 And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make your belly bitter, but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey.
10 And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
 
Mgillah is the word first used in Psalms 40:7, which speaks of the LORD coming in the volume of the book written of Him.
 
Psalm 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 an 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 [see the prior post and Luke 21:26].
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.
 
Friends, salvation and resurrection come by our words and deeds, speaking and showing life. The words and the ways of the wicked and unreasonable are death, and their end is to remain in self-inflicted agitation forever.
 
I reluctantly tell you, I am sent as the living pattern, risen in this quickened mortal body, now put on immortality after the corrupted put on the incorruptible. (I say I am reluctant because I have not been sent to preach myself, but Jesus Christ, my LORD, crucified and risen from the dead. I know because I have seen and heard Him and know it is He in me that has brought me to life. I therefore without any reluctance declare and confess I know He lives. My only glory is the LORD, who I also know is my Father.)
 
Romans 10
1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge [the knowledge I just confessed].
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law [see 1 Corinthians 15:56 & 57 below] for righteousness to every one that believes.
5 For Moses described the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which does those things shall live by them.
6 But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)
7 Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)
8 But what says it? The word is nigh you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.
10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture say, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same LORD over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, LORD, who has believed our report?
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.
19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
 
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the LORD Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
 
1 Corinthians 15
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew 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? [see Hosea 13:14 & Isaiah 25:8 below – from where this is quoted]
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, un-moveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.
 
Hosea 13
12 The iniquity of Ephraim [double fruit – God’s people in this latter generation] is bound up; his sin is hid.
13 The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him: he is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children [See Isaiah 13:8 in the prior post].
14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be your plagues; O grave, I will be your destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
15 Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.
16 Samaria [the place where men have replaced God with idols] shall become desolate; for she has rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up [as a result of their leaving God’s ways and ideas].
Hosea 14
1 O Israel, return unto the LORD your God; for you have fallen by your iniquity.
2 Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips [saphah].
 
Isaiah 25
1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For you have made of a city an heap; of a defensed city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify you, the city of the terrible nations shall fear you.
4 For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6 And in this mountain [of the transfiguration] shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people [removing the cover – the apocalypse], and the vail that is spread over all nations [unable to see the LORD God behind it].
8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the LORD God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD has spoken it.
9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.
10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab [the gates of death] shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.
11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swims spreads forth his hands to swim [dividing the waters]: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.
12 And the fortress of the high fort of your walls shall he bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, even to the dust.

 

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