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Why is the world doomed? Meaning, why is this age of deceit ending in its only logical conclusion of ignorance, confusion and chaos, and why will it continue in the same direction? The question answers itself. People also ask the question, why would the ruling class want to destroy the greatest form of government in history that has resulted in our greatest nation, and with intention do so? It is about our ideas and thier being the last obstacle.

As discussed a few posts ago, there are people who prefer a communist system, and prefer it because it allows for the victimization of whoever it wills as central planers engineer society toward a theoretical utopia. It has been determined rightly by these utopians that Judeo-Christian standards of morality, specifically personal responsibility, accountability and respect for individual rights, are what has stood in the way of the Marxist Revolution succeeding worldwide. Therefore they’ve determined they would have to destroy these ideas knowing in the logical sequence our Constitution with its foundation removed would not survive.

So entered Cultural Marxism under its disguise as multiculturalism, which demands all cultures are equal and deserving equal moral status. (The only way this can even be claimed is if it is laid on new pillars of Scientific Materialism that say all standards are equal because all are created by men and man at his essence is nothing more than “matter in motion.” The mind is seen in their new enlightenment as reduced to a series of defined responses directly attributed to lusts and desires (self-centered priority) and therefor is manipulated and altered creating standards feeding these.) Objective standards that consider effects and outcome based on the evidence of what these culture produce are ignored, and the only consideration is keeping the culture segregated from the Christian culture and its accompanying standard of morality.

The liberal elites and multiculturalists like to say we are nation founded on multiculturalism, and diversity is our strength. This is another great distortion of truth, and mislabels what had been a melting pot into the sum of distinctly different parts not being mixed into our unique culture. Our strength and greatness is found in our BETTER ideas, and the truth is all people of different cultures once became one as they adopted our ideas. It had never been we took upon us the more primitive foreign cultures.

There is a symbol used in God’s word that tells of a great nation that rules over all the earth. It tells of it having feet of both iron and clay. This depiction is that its foundation is a mixture of strength and weakness. It is a picture of our nation now with our ideas which have made us strong being mixed with the ways of the earth (clay) and in doing creating a foundation upon which we cannot stand.

Multiculturalism is the deceptive means by which these Marxists remove what has impeded their dream of a Godless utopia, which is in fact equality in misery and eternal torment for those violently controlled in its totalitarianism.

When people wonder why, this is the answer. We are hopelessly doomed because of the Cultural Marxists that now control all our institution. They offer more of their primitive ideas and do it for the same motives, even though now the originators may have passes away leaving in their wake the ignorant they have ideologically subverted (demoralized, meaning the removal of a moral standard), the ”long march” continues unabated into its almost conclusion.

Here is the definition of ideological subversion from former KGB Agent Yuri Alexandrovich Bezmenov: “What it basically means is to change the perception of reality of every American to such an extent that despite the abundance of information, no one is able to come to sensible conclusions in the interests of defending themselves, their families, their community and their country.”

The first stage of this means of overthrowing a society, according to this same Soviet defector, is demoralization with the intention to accomplish the above. The second step is Destabilization (confusion and chaos), the third Crisis (event demanding decisions), and the final is Normalization.

Merriam-Webster Definition of demoralize:
1: to corrupt the morals of
2a : to weaken the morale of : discourage, dispirit
b : to upset or destroy the normal functioning of
c : to throw into disorder

Here is how Bezmenov over 30 years ago described the final phase of Normalization. He describes it as happen with the force of Soviet tanks rolled into one of its nation states. Here the threat is also internal, through overreaching federal regulation and now with nationalizing the Police – and it coming after a point of crisis and violence (as defined by their news media’s focus, paying fawning and distorted attention to events to create a crisis where there isn’t one):

“And, after crisis, with a violent change of power structure and economy, you have so-called a period of “normalization”. It may last indefinitely.

Normalization is a cynical expression borrowed from Soviet propaganda. When the Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia in 1968, Comrade Breznev said: “Now, the situation in brotherly Czechoslovakia is normalized.”

This is what will happen in the United States if you allow all these schmucks to bring the country to crisis. To promise people all kinds of goodies, and a paradise on earth. Just to destabilize your economy. To eliminate the principle of free-market competition. And to put a Big Brother government in Washington, D.C. with benevolent dictators like Walter Mondale who will promise LOTS of things — never mind whether the promises are fulfilled or not.

He will go to Moscow to kiss the bottoms of new generation of Soviet assassins. Never mind. He will create false illusions that the situation is under control. The situation is NOT under control.

The situation is disgustingly OUT of control.

Most of the American politicians, media and educational system trains another generation of people who think that they are living at the peace time. False. United States is in a state of war. Undeclared total war against the basic principles and the foundations of this system.

And the initiator of this war is not Comrade Andropov, of course. It’s the system — however ridiculous it may sound — the world communist system or the world communist conspiracy. Whether I scare some people or not, I don’t give a hoot. If you are not scared by now, nothing can scare you.

But you don’t have to be paranoid about it. What actually happens now, that unlike myself, you have literally several years to live on unless United States wakes up — the time bomb is ticking. With every second, the disaster is coming closer and closer, and unlike myself, you will have nowhere to defect to.”

The above mentioned symbol of the nation with a mixed foundation appears in Daniel 2. There we are told of a stone cut out of this mountain without the use of any human hand. We are told of this stone as being the corner stone of Government as God intended it and not the product of human ingenuity. We are told of it as a kingdom that will last forever and so because it is built upon His eternal wisdom.

Daniel 2
40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things: and as iron that breaks all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41 And whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.
42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
43 And whereas you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45 Forasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.

Isaiah 28
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with the place of eternal self-inflicted torment are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

Isaiah 54
4 Fear not; for you shalt not be ashamed: neither be you confounded; for you shalt not be put to shame: for you shalt forget the shame of your youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of your widowhood any more.
5 For your Maker is your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called.
6 For the LORD has called you as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when you were refused, says your God.
7 For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.
8 In a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the LORD your Redeemer.
9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with you, nor rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, says the LORD that has mercy on you.
11 O you afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 And I will make your windows of agates, and your gates of carbuncles, and all your borders of pleasant stones.
13 And all your children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of your children.
14 In righteousness shalt you be established: you shalt be far from oppression; for you shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near you.
15 Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against you shall fall for your sake.
16 Behold, I have created the smith that blows the coals in the fire, and that brings forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
17 No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD.

Isaiah 59
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, an appropriate response to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, says the LORD.
21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD; My spirit that is upon you, and my words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your seed, nor out of the mouth of your seed’s seed, says the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Psalms 147
1 Praise you the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.
2 The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathers together the outcasts of Israel.
3 He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds.
4 He tells the number of the stars; he calls them all by their names.
5 Great is our LORD, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.
6 The LORD lifts up the meek: he casts the wicked down to the ground.
7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
8 Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains.
9 He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
10 He delights not in the strength of the horse: he takes not pleasure in the legs of a man.
11 The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion.
13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; he has blessed your children within you.
14 He makes peace in your borders, and fills you with the finest of the wheat.
15 He sends forth his commandment upon earth: his word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool: he scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.
17 He casts forth his ice like morsels: who can stand before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them: he causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow.
19 He shows his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
20 He has not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise you the LORD.

Let’s look at Ezekiel 16 and the LORD telling us of how he sees us as His people. Before posting the chapter we need to focus on verse 6 where we read that the LORD says He found us when we were “polluted in our own blood.” Blood symbolizes life leaving the body, and therefor we see this as saying we were bleeding to death. The word “polluted” is from the Hebrew word bawc, meaning to tread under foot. This is depicting both to loath and to be trampled, these together showing cause and effect of why the life was bleeding out of humanity’s body. According to Merriam-Webster the definition of loath is: unwilling to do something contrary to one’s ways of thinking. The idea of trampling something under foot is that it is perceived to be worthless. Ezekiel 16 speaks of the LORD finding us polluted in doing things the same way as all humanity (human nature), and doing so thinking there was no value in His alternative, therefore not even consider it. It tells of His taking us as His own and showing us His ways and our prospering into a great kingdom by these unique ideas. It goes on to describe our forgetting the ideas and corrupting ourselves back to the same condition we had been delivered from, and doing so by taking on the ways the chaotic nations of the world. The corruption is in all church and civil government and now the whole lump is corrupted to the point that we reject returning and instead choose again to ourselves death.

The chapter begins with the LORD commanding Ezekiel to cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Jerusalem meaning the place taught and founded upon the ways of mutual and reciprocal security (order and civilization). The abominations are the ways of the world that lead to death, and a place of eternal self-inflicted torment (chaos and confusion). The chapter ends with the LORD saying, “…I will establish my covenant with you; and you shalt know that I am the LORD: 63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.”

The Hebrew word translated as “pacified” here is kaphar, literally meaning a cover. Kaphar is most often translated as atonement, and in all cases the meaning is something that positively reorders what was wrong. The context is our being covered as in what LORD says in Ezekiel 16:8 when he made us His by giving us His wisdom: “8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine. 9 Then washed I you with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.”

The word kaphar is one time translated as “shall be disannulled,” when in Isaiah 28:18 the LORD speaks of His disannulling our covenant with death. There we read that the covenant with death, and our agreement with the place of eternal self-inflicted torment, is when we make lies our refuge and cover ourselves with falsehood. There we are also told that it is the stone that the builders rejected that corrects the error. This is speaking to those who loath to their own destruction, and reject the LORD’s introduction of His wisdom (the Way, Truth and Life).

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

Isaiah 28
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 the place of eternal self-inflicted torment are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with the place of eternal self-inflicted torment 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.

Ezekiel 16
1 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3 And say, Thus says the LORD God unto Jerusalem; Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother an Hittite.
4 And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to supple you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
5 None eye pitied you, to do any of these unto you, to have compassion upon you; but you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.
6 And when I passed by you, and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live; yea, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live.
7 I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and waxen great, and you are come to excellent ornaments: your breasts are fashioned, and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.
8 Now when I passed by you, and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I swore unto you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the LORD God, and you became mine.
9 Then washed I you with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you also with broidered work, and shod you with badgers’ skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.
11 I decked you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands, and a chain on your neck.
12 And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
13 Thus were you decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; you didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and you were exceeding beautiful, and you didst prosper into a kingdom.
14 And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon you, says the LORD God.
15 But you didst trust in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
16 And of your garments you didst take, and decked your high places with divers colors, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
17 You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and didst commit prostitution with them,
18 And took your broidered garments, and covered them: and you have set mine oil and mine incense before them.
19 My meat also which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed you, you have even set it before them for a sweet savor: and thus it was, says the LORD God.
20 Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your prostitution a small matter,
21 That you have slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
22 And in all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.
23 And it came to pass after all your wickedness, (woe, woe unto you! says the LORD God;)
24 That you have also built unto you an eminent place, and have made you an high place in every street.
25 You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.
26 You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians your neighbors, great of flesh; and have increased your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.
27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of your lewd way.
28 You have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied.
29 You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied therewith.
30 How weak is your heart, says the LORD God, seeing you do all these things, the work of an imperious unfaithful woman;
31 In that you build your eminent place in the head of every way, and make your high place in every street; and have not been as an harlot, in that you scorn hire;
32 But as a wife that commit adultery, which takes strangers instead of her husband!
33 They give gifts to all prostitutes: but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and hire them, that they may come unto you on every side for your prostitutions.
34 And the contrary is in you from other women in your prostitution, whereas none follow you to commit prostitution: and in that you give a reward, and no reward is given unto you, therefore you are contrary.
35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
36 Thus says the LORD God; Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness discovered through your prostitution with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children, which you didst give unto them;
37 Behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will discover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness.
38 And I will judge you, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy.
39 And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your eminent place, and shall break down your high places: they shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare.
40 They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.
41 And they shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: and I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shalt give no hire any more.
42 So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the LORD God: and you shalt not commit this lewdness above all your abominations.
44 Behold, every one that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45 You are your mother’s daughter, that loath her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, which loath their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
46 And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at your left hand: and your younger sister, that dwells at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
47 Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.
48 As I live, says the LORD God, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
51 Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done.
52 You also, which have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than you: yea, be you confounded also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.
53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of your captives in the midst of them:
54 That you may bear your own shame, and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them.
55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate.
56 For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,
57 Before your wickedness was discovered, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you round about.
58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD.
59 For thus says the LORD God; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you shalt remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shalt receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant.
62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shalt know that I am the LORD:
63 That you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.

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

The enemies are not going to stop their agitation nor will they leave us alone to do the work of repairing what has been destroyed. It doesn’t matter to them that people know their tactics or their motives because they know it doesn’t deter the army they’ve conditioned to hate. They’ll continue to attack truth no matter how obvious it is, and will contradict it with the same means and motives we’ve seen. These are the same discussed in detail in exposing the opposing angelic army and its Satan like methods of covering truth with lies and slandering it when it comes to light.

As we’ve studied in great detail these adversaries are known by the foundation of their reasoning and by the work they conspire to commit because of their evil thoughts. We have seen this as the mark in the head and in the hand that shows whose work they are doing. The mark is the mark of ownership and displays in whose name the work is done. We have also seen the “name” as being the identifying character traits that show these workers as either being Christ like or Satanic. We know the main characteristic of Christ is His being our deliverer from death and the truth who destroys the deception. We know Satan by the traits of being a liar and the father of it, the one who authors false accusations against the truth, and does it motivated by his desire to hold us down in death’s grip.

This is what we read in Revelation 12 where we see the angelic armies at war. We see God’s army defeating the Satanic, but even though cast down to the earth in defeat they continue their tactic despite being exposed. There we see the Satanic defined as the “accuser of the our brethren.” The Greek word translated “accuser” in verse 10 is katecho, which literally means to hold down. Here we see the one holding us down is “cast down,” and the word used is kataballo. This the one who we see by his traits of throwing false accusation and slander, doing so because he has been separated from (kata) heaven. He has been cast down as the Christ like army, “overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” These are those who remain attached to heaven and rejoice. Those holding fast to the earth not having yet come to the Lamb (the still dead in Christ because they love their lives) are those under attack from the one cast down and his army of cast down stars.

Notice the contrast: Christ like go up to heaven and the adversaries go down to earth. The battle as we have looked at it is for justice as equity in judgment and it as what determines the reign of heaven on earth, or the earth without justice (without God) and the death that comes with it.

Revelation 12
1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceives the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens, and you that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has but a short time.
13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

As we have looked at in the past, the flood that the earth swallows up are the lies and slander, and swallowed by the evidence of their being false as seen in the earth’s condition of decay into chaos under the reign of deception.

This brings us to Nehemiah 6 and it telling us of those opposing the rebuilding of the wall Jerusalem. This should be read at this time as a warning against those offering false remedies and their “help.”

Nehemiah 6
1 Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;)
2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief.
3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner.
5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
6 Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that you and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause you built the wall, that you may be their king, according to these words.
7 And you have also appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.
8 Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as you say, but you falsify them out of your own heart (plotting).
9 For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.
10 Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay you; yea, in the night will they come to slay you.
11 And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.
12 And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
13 Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me.
14 My God, think you upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear.
15 So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.
16 And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.
17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them.
18 For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
19 Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

The names used of those opposing the repair allude to these being thorns in the side of the builder. We are told in 2 Corinthians 12:7 – 10 of like aspects as the above description. We see the thorn in Paul’s side being explained as messenger of Satan sent to hinder the work, and the LORD telling Paul of His grace that gives strength. We also see the Satanic angels as messengers throwing false accusations and slandering the truth.

2 Corinthians 12
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
8 For this thing I besought the LORD thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

We can also look at Numbers 33 to see these thorns as the people with ways that opposes the ways of God. The people were told to drive them out because God in his wisdom knew they would be teaching the ways of death and opposing and slandering the Truth, Way, and Life. This again tells us of the “accuser” we looked at above, which is the same word translate as “withholds” in 2 Thessalonians 2:6. There we are told of those opposing God and refusing the love of the Truth. We are also told these are the same ones that will be holding us down until they are “taken out of our midst.” This again is in the context of what we saw above in Revelation 12.

Numbers 33
55 But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which you let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell.

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

Psalms 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he has made in the earth.
9 He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in sunder; he burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

The recent mass murders by a cultivated racist programmed to hate traditional culture and authority, as embodied in whites and the police, is Cultural Marxism’s effects working as planned. Cultural Marxism is also known as multiculturalism and has at its core the goal of destroying all traditional society and replacing it with scientific materialism, which is the idea that all matter is the same and there is no moral or ethical standard other than those men create to keep themselves in power and positions of control over the masses. Scientific Materialism is the basis of reasoning and Cultural Marxism is the means to impose it upon the world, and western Judeo-Christian (American) culture in particular.

I have many times referenced an article by Linda Kimball from February 23, 2008 titled, “The Materialist Faith of Communism, Socialism and Liberalism.” In the article she defines the origin and course of Scientific Materialism as it has sought to replace God and all cultural standards opposed to the belief that man is nothing more than a machine to be programed and used as one would any other matter or machine. In its form as political systems it is meant to allow the intellectually superior to both tend and control the masses of humanity the same as any other domesticated herd of beasts. The idea is that the herd is mollified and pacified with provisions and distractions provided by these tenders until such a time needed to be manipulated and deployed against their cultural enemies.

In the article Kimball explains this as, “Modern materialist states began by rejecting God and denying objective standards of right and wrong. They threw out sanctity of life and demonically reduced man to matter in motion. The end case, in every instance, was to place absolute power over ‘atomized masses’ into the hands of psychopaths and autocratic states to be wielded without restraint or mercy.”

Kimball wrote another article that appeared in the American Thinker the year prior, February 15, 2007 titled, “Cultural Marxism.”
This article tells of the reorganization of the Cultural Marxists into many separate but common focused special interest groups. Their tactic of manipulation, as is well known to most critical thinkers, is as the article says, “A corresponding and diabolically crafted idea is political correctness. The strong suggestion here is that in order for one not to be thought of as racist or fascist, then one must not only be nonjudgmental but must also embrace the ‘new’ moral absolutes: diversity, choice, sensitivity, sexual orientation, and tolerance. Political correctness is a Machiavellian psychological ‘command and control’ device. Its purpose is the imposition of uniformity in thought, speech, and behavior.”

The article goes on to define the main objective of the tactic is to bully people into silence. It explains the principal necessary aspect of critical thinking is criticism. Therefore, if the better ideas of liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and the right to private property were to be defeated it could only come from suppressing the ideas from being presented. This is why all institution out of necessity had to be, and now have been, infiltrated and foundationally transformed to both proliferate these opposing ideas and to suppress decent through political correctness among those “learning” the new “better” ways.

These tactics were designed to target specific traditional aspects of our culture. Kimball explains the opposing ideas and means for suppressing critical thinking as, “… premised on the notion that Christianity, capitalism, and the traditional family create a character prone to racism and fascism. Thus, anyone who upholds America’s traditional moral values and institutions is both racist and fascist. Children raised by traditional values parents, we are told to believe, will almost certainly become racists and fascists. By extension, if fascism and racism are endemic to America’s traditional culture, then everyone raised in the traditions of God, family, patriotism, gun ownership, or free markets is in need of psychological help.”

We hear the champions of multiculturalism now offering as solution to what are the effects of their ideology that we should go deeper into the abyss. The only logical reason they would suggest more of the cause as cure is if their desired outcome was an ever increasing degrade of traditional truthful standards and with it the inevitable chaos and confusion.

If there is to be an honest discussion of the cause of the breakdown of civilization and the cultural decay it must start with truthful evaluation of the ideas that have created it.

Linda Kimball ends her article about these Materialist based ideologies by quoting from Calvin Coolidge’s speech commemorating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In it Coolidge was defending the better ideas of our Founding against the false utopian ideas of these same domestic enemies. He speaks of our founding as based on unique thoughts that couldn’t be improved upon and any attempt to do so was movement into a less civilized and more primitive time.

What made this country the greatest in human history is that it was based on the Judeo-Christian concept of all men being equally entitled to live under the laws of nature and nature’s God, and the only JUST reason for instituting a government (and therefor what makes a government just) is to secure the people’s God given right to live in a state of mutual and reciprocal security of life, liberty and property.

What we see in our country today are the result of these contradictory principles supplanting the original. This new transformed system has its foundation upon cultivating hostility and then using this aggression as justification and means to produce ever-increasing levels of the same.

This is the idea of the swept house – the house we are being called to return to is civility, but rejecting the truth, and therefor minus the ideas needed, they call us to take in demons even greater than the one they will replace, and in doing the final state will be much worse than the first.
Luke 11:24-26
24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walks through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and furnished.
26 Then goes he, and takes to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2007/02/cultural_marxism.html

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2008/02/the_materialist_faith_of_commu.html

Continuing with understanding the breach in God’s house as the separation from His wisdom and into confusion, and the ongoing repair. As we have seen in previous posts it is often described in God’s word in the likeness of an unfaithful women leaving her husband and going after another, and the repair as their reconciliation.

Today a deeper look as the overflowing Divine correction that we’ve seen in previous posts, and this as flood of pure truth from God as if an immeasurable flash to enlightenment appearing in those receiving the epiphany. This idea can be seen summed up in a few verse from Isaiah 30: 25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. 26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.

Those studying with us know the mountains are the high places that rise out of the earth and describe the place of government. We also know these as the now unjust governments corrupted by the interference of men with their ideas of a “better way” than God’s, and by the ensuing confusion and chaos defined as Babylon (meaning confusion). These ideas of corrupted rule are what is depicted as being on “every high mountain, and upon every high hill” as the “towers,” that fall, as in the tower of Babble. We see them being destroyed by the rivers of water that overflow them, meaning the overflowing torrent of truth and correction that comes from God. These are the same as we looked at in detail yesterday.

We also know the sun and the moon to symbolize God’s form of church and civil government as they are intended to shine and reflect His reign of justice as light covering the earth. What we see spoken of is the demise of injustice in governing and the epiphany leading to what is depicted here as the light that shines seven times brighter that it was. We are also told this being the breach closed and the wound healed.

In the verses that follow in Isaiah 30 we see what brings this about. These should be viewed in the light of previous posts and Zechariah 4 & 5.

Isaiah 30
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

Hebrews 12
25 See that you refuse not him that speak. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath 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.

In recent days we have also looked at Hebrews 12 and its warning call to hear, and the connection to the Overflowing scourge of correction. Isaiah 30 begins by addressing the rebellious children that are taking counsel but not from the LORD, and covering themselves with a cover (their lies) that isn’t with His Spirit. It likens it to their going to Egypt and to Pharaoh, and in this it is likened to their returning to captivity they had been delivered from. It tells of the rebellion resulting in their being ruled (governed) by the confusion of man created systems opposed to God’s ways.

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

(Tophet is in the valley of Hinnom – the great trash pit where the fires burned continually. It was outside Jerusalem in the place where the heathen once sacrificed their children into the fire to the idol Moloch. These are the depiction of hell and eternal torment, the word deriving from meaning a continual beating of a drum, as continually being held in contempt.)

This takes us to Zechariah 4 where in the beginning verses we see the seven lamps, as telling us what produces the light, seven pipes for pouring out, and the two olive trees telling us of the source of the oil that feeds the flame. This is telling of the same light, overflowing and source as we looked at above. We then see this explained as, “This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.”

The name Zerubbabel literally means the one flowing away from confusion; from zarab, meaning to flow away, and Babel, meaning confusion.

Zechariah goes on to address the Great corrupted governments of our time by saying, “7 Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”

The two anointed ones are the two governments (church and civil under the LORD – sun and moon shining and reflecting His light) that have been anointed (endowed with/by the Holy Spirit) by the oil poured out. In this context we clearly see the meaning of the chapter.

Zechariah 4
1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
2 And said unto me, What see you? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 So I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Know you not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
7 Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and you shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Know you not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.

Zechariah 5 then goes on to speak of stealing, falsely swearing in the name of the LORD, and of the ephah as symbolizing a set standard of measure. These speak of taking your neighbor’s property, of speaking lies and falsely swearing to it being truth, and the (false) unequal balance of justice. It is telling of the great commandments upon which not only do all the law and prophets hang, but upon which all hope of living in a civilized society is also dependents. The chapter is a direct reference to Leviticus 19 and to it as the origin of the commandment of reciprocal respect and equality in treatment of your neighbor. This is the objective of a just government – equally securing our God given rights, among them life, liberty, and property, no matter a person’s material station in life.

It’s only difficult to understand for those who refuse to see it because they disagree with its conclusions.

John 3
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hates the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

Zechariah 5
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
2 And he said unto me, What see you? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that goes forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sits in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.

(Shinar is a place in Babylon. It symbolizes the pinnacle of confusion as the balance of justice is now corrupted to its most extreme – as lead cast into the ephah. It is lifted between heaven and earth symbolizing injustice and inequality as what separated earth from heaven. It is telling that when it is reconciled heaven can be again on earth, as it is in heaven.)

Leviticus 19
11 You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
12 And you shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
13 You shall not defraud your neighbor, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with you all night until the morning.
14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling-block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
15 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: you shall not respect the person of the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go up and down as a talebearer among your people: neither shall you stand against the blood of your neighbor; I am the LORD.
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart: you shall in any wise rebuke your neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him.
18 You shall not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.

Continuing: Yesterday we looked at Hosea as it addressed Ephraim, and this name representing the progeny of God’s chosen people. In association we looked at passages from Isaiah 1 & 10 being quoted in Romans 9. The topic of the post was a warning and a reminder to not reject the correction (guidance) that comes from the LORD, and this as explained in the similitude of Hosea. There we read of God’s people selling themselves into ignorance by leaving His wisdom – as a woman leaves her husband and going into prostitution.

Today a look at Isaiah 28 where in the ending verse of Romans 9 it is quoted as, “33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.” In Isaiah 28:16 we see the word rendered in Romans as “ashamed” appears as “make haste.” The meaning is to flee away in shame. In the verse prior in Isaiah we are told it is the “overflowing scourge” that those not believing are fleeing from. We are also told they have made lies their refuge and under falsehood have hid themselves. We see this defined as their covenant with death, and in agreement with hell.

“Overflowing scourge” is the topic of the entire chapter as it tells of the LORD’s correction (to release us from death’s grip and opening the gates of hell to free those held prisoner therein). This is what the writer of Hebrews is telling of as he says in chapter 12 the LORD “scourges” every son he accepts. The context there is of His correcting us as our Perfect Heavenly Father as he brings us into His household and His new city, Heavenly Jerusalem and an enumerable company of angels. In both these place we are warned not to reject the correction. We are told that those who do “believe” will not flee in shame.

Isaiah 28
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Hebrews 12
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when you art rebuked of him:
6 For whom the LORD loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chastens not?

The Overflowing and being confederated with death and hell are, by referring to Isaiah 8, telling of these (death and hell) resulting from taking the counsel from the ignorant and estranged men instead of God (as a women leaving for another).

Again: When Isaiah 8 is speaking of the people refusing the waters of Shiloah it is telling of the still waters that flow under Zion and symbolizing God’s perfect counsel flowing as pure waters directly from the source. In rejecting these we see the counsel of strangers (foreign king) coming with destructive effects and this now causing the waters to become an overflowing torrent. (It is very plain to those that study along – my sheep know my voice.)

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

Here following is the full chapter of Isaiah 28. Note that it is also addressing Ephraim as representing the progeny of the people God has chosen to call His people. In this context I am going to follow with the full chapter of Romans 9.
Before both remember: Hebrews 12: “…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 speaks better things than that of Abel. 25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.”

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

When verse 21 above says “the LORD will rise up as in mount Perazim,” it is a reference to 2 Samuel 5:20 and what is there called Baal-perazim, the name said to mean – possessor of the breaches. Baal is the god of the (ignorant, confused and chaotic) world, and Perazim means breach, or separation (from God). In 2 Samuel 5:20 we see the meaning as the LORD rising up as flood that comes because of the breach. “20 And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, ‘The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.'”

The above is telling of the destruction of this city that worships the gods of ignorance (men’s creations). It is telling of it as repairing the breach in the fallen city, as it is written in Amos 9: “8 Behold, the eyes of the LORD God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, says the LORD that doeth this.”

When Isaiah 28:21 goes on to mention Gibeon it is referring to Joshua 10:10 and surrounding context of Joshua (Jesus as deliverer – LORD of Sabaoth) going to Gibeon to save the people at peace with the progeny of God, from the foreign kings that have taken their city. It is actually alluding to one aspect when the LORD tells him, “Fear them not: for I have delivered them into your hand; there shall not a man of them stand before you.”

The final verses of Isaiah 28 tell of this in the context of the full work from breaking the ground through the preparing the grain after harvest. It is in other words of similitude saying: “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.”

Romans 9
1 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall your seed be called.
8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he said to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
17 For the scripture say unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
19 You will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art you that reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he said also in Osee, 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 shouts 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 had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.

Today a reminder and warning against rejecting the LORD’s correction. Hosea tells of those who have rejected knowledge and instead chosen to listen to other men, men that have created their own knowledge and wisdom (self-defined, and affirmed within their echo chamber – as the “experts” and “prophets” of our time). As we have seen in past studies, Hosea is the root of the name Joshua, and Joshua is translated in Greek and becomes in English Jesus. Hosea is said to mean deliverer, being derived from the root word yasha’, meaning to open wide or free. Hosea tells in type of God’s chosen people having gone after other’s counsel, having a tendency do so, and of the LORD coming to bring her out of this destructive chaotic lifestyle back to His wisdom.

Hosea 3
1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:
3 And I said unto her, You shall abide for me many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be for you.
4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without any willing to offer themselves to redeem you from your errors, and without a fixed standard to look to, and without any to (gird you) prepare you for traveling, and without healer:
5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

Hosea 4
1 Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel: for the LORD has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
2 By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood.
3 Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwells therein shall be sick and waste away, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven; yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away.
4 Yet let no man strive, nor reprove another: for your people are as they that strive with the priest.
5 Therefore shall you fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with you in the night, and I will destroy your mother.
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
7 As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their glory into shame.
8 They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their reasoning mind on their iniquity.
9 And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
10 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit prostitution, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
11 Prostitution and wine and new wine take away the heart (right reasoning mind).
12 My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declares unto them: for the spirit of prostitution has caused them to err, and they have gone prostituting from under their God.

They worship and seek to please the corrupted places risen out of the earth, the creations of ignorant men, because the shadow thereof is good: therein your daughters have commit prostitution, and your spouses shall commit adultery.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they commit prostitution, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that do not understand shall fall.
15 Though you, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend; and come not you unto Gilgal (places where your kings set up houses of idol worship in place of the LORD), neither go you up to Bethaven (house of naught), nor swear, The LORD lives (when you are worshiping idols after/while rejecting Him).
16 For Israel slid back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
17 Ephraim (progeny of God’s chosen people – see Hosea 3:5) is joined to idols: let him alone.
18 Their drink is sour: they have committed prostitution continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give you (taking for what is their duty in service).
19 The wind has bound her up in her wings, and they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Joshua is Jehovah compounded with yasha’, therefore we see Jehovah meaning Self-existent and Eternal added to deliverer. This among the many names the LORD chose to be identified by is the one above all others. In all the LORD’s previous compounded names He selected to define Himself by individual and topic particular character traits. In this one name Jesus He chose to tell us of Himself in expressing His overriding objective as our (humanity’s) deliverer, or savior.

Hosea 14 is the conclusion of the matter and again we see the LORD calling those having fallen away to return. This chapter should be read in the context of what is alluded to above in Hosea 3:5.

Hosea 14
1 O Israel (The people God has chosen rule in the way He intended governing to be on/over earth as it is in heaven), 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.
3 Asshur (those foreign to God’s ways, who we have chosen to rule over us) shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, “You are our gods:” because only in YOU LORD the fatherless finds mercy.
4 I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
5 I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
6 His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
7 They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon.
8 Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard Him, and observed Him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is your fruit found.
9 Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.

When Jesus is referred to as the LORD of Sabaoth it tells of Him as the LORD of hosts, meaning the LORD of the armies of heaven. In this the LORD is telling of His coming to redeem us out of death’s grip and to raise us to life as he intends it. We are told many times of this being as Light into a darkened world. The analogy refers to Jehovah as eternal wisdom personified, as we saw in recent posts defined in Proverbs 8 and John 1 as what existed before the world was made and by it/Him were all things made.

Proverbs 8
1 Does not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O you simple, understand wisdom: and, you fools, be you of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing twisted or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the fraudulent mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O you children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.
36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

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 cometh into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spoke, He that cometh 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.

The LORD of Sabaoth is only mentioned twice in the Greek scriptures when telling of the LORD redeeming His people on earth to end this age. The first is Romans 9:29 quoting Isaiah 1:9 just after quoting Isaiah 10:22 & 23.

Isaiah 1
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? says the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

Romans 9
19 You will say then unto me, Why he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who art 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 show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he said also in Osee, 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 shouted 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 had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorra.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

The other time the LORD of Sabaoth is mentioned is in James 5:4. Take heed because the Judge is standing at the door.

James 5
1 Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, shouts: and the shouts of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the LORD of Sabaoth.
5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the LORD. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be you also patient; establish your hearts: for the coming of the LORD draws near.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the LORD, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the LORD; that the LORD is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest you fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the LORD:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.

Continuing with Matthew 24:37 and the LORD telling us this day would be as the days of Noah.

Here is what the days of Noah were like according to Genesis 6: 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. 5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Later in the chapter we read: 11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.

Matthew 24 describes it as: 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 Noah 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.

In both descriptions we see an intermixing of God’s people with the ways of the world, and out of this corrupted bloodline came giants. We also see that it was assumed as if a normal condition among those engaged in everyday life.

This mirrors our time as we see those who have become bigger than all others and because of their status are afforded treatment above the little people. Because they are above the laws that govern all others we see the entire world corrupted to serve their lusts.

We are told these “giants” are, “mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

The Hebrew word translated as “giants” is nphil. The word is only used three times, this once and twice in Numbers 13:33 to describe the way the spies saw the people of the Promised Land in comparison to themselves. Their perception, the way they saw things was the reason they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. (See yesterday’s post and the explanation of the word giving the meaning of the mark in their “forehead” – from metopon, literally meaning amid the face. The idea is what is inside the head and controls the way the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth perceive what they are sensing, and also what the mouth speaks.)

Here is the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary definition: Strong’s #5303: nphiyl (pronounced nef-eel’) or nphil {nef-eel’}; from 5307 [to fall]; properly, a feller, i.e. a bully or tyrant:–[translated as] giant.

This is telling of those who were remnants of the original fall. Without going into the definitions I will tell you the Hebrew text literally says they are tyrants who bear the name (character traits) of man of old (when man was governed by his animal instincts – shallow perceptions – the mark of the beast in their foreheads).

Genesis says that God’s response to this, counter to what you may think, is He released the water that ran secretly under the earth and these are the water that prevailed against the high places that had risen out of the earth (the corrupted governments). Those studying along know we have many times looked at the water of Shiloah that run softly and secretly (unperceived) under Zion. There in Isaiah 8 we also read of these waters becoming a torrent because of who the people choose to take counsel from as they turn from God and His wisdom. The Genesis text tells us these are the waters of the “fountains of the deep” that are ripped open or shoot forth. We are told these are the windows in heaven also opened. The word here for “rain” is the Hebrew word geshem, which is the same word Goshen, where God’s people were separated to keep them safe while the plagues came upon Egypt. There the ark that saved them was Moses.

Genesis 7
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
14 They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creep upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.
16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.
17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.
18 And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.
19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.

The same words used to describe the “fountains of the deep” are used multiple times in Proverbs 8 to describe the eternal wisdom of God.

Proverbs 8
1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?
2 She stands in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors.
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.
5 O you simple, understand wisdom: and, you fools, be you of an understanding heart.
6 Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing twisted or perverse in them.
9 They are all plain to him that understands, and right to them that find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver; and knowledge rather than choice gold.
11 For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the fraudulent mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign, and princes decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.
20 I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
21 That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.
22 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
26 While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
27 When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
28 When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
29 When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O you children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
34 Blessed is the man that hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoso finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of the LORD.
36 But he that sins against me wrongs his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

In 1 Peter 3 Peter describes this time of Christ being raised from the dead, then preaching to those spirits still being held (down) in the prison of death (stupor of their unperceiving) as the days when the ark was being prepared.

1 Peter 3
8 Finally, be you all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are thereunto called, that you should inherit a blessing.
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 For the eyes of the LORD are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the LORD is against them that do evil.
13 And who is he that will harm you, if you be followers of that which is good?
14 But and if you suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are you: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
15 But sanctify the LORD God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
17 For it is better, if the will of God be so, that you suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
19 By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.

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 hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah 24 tells of the LORD’s judgment against these governments and the men inhabiting them. It tells of the snare that comes upon the earth, and of it being because the windows in heaven have been opened. These are told of in language plainly understood by those having left death’s prison behind, now seeing and perceive this with the new heart the LORD has written over our old mind.

Isaiah 24
1 Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted do sigh.
8 The mirth of tabrets cease, the noise of them that rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
15 Wherefore glorify you the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

There are no giants, only small humans marked by standing arrogantly on swelled pride.

As we have seen, the angelic armies of God and those opposing Him are identified by the mark of ownership they each bear. The mark is shown in their thinking and their actions, and as we have seen, this is what God’s word defines as being a mark in the forehead or in their hand. Also in our studies we have learned when the heart is mentioned it is as what motivates thinking, as in the foundation of reasoning. The mark speaks more to feeling and reflex driving action minus any real reasoning. In the case of the beast army is it speaking of a mental stupor intentionally created to perform the action it has been trained for – repeat the lies and act on them.

The Greek word translated as “forehead” is metopon, literally meaning amid the face. The idea is what is inside the head and controls the way the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth perceive what they are sensing, and also what the mouth speaks. The hand is of course symbolic of the work that is done.

In days past we have studied the idea of the mark being in the forehead or the hand as either Christ like or Satanic. We have looked at the traits of each of the angelic armies as personifying the body of their owner. Today a deeper look into the identifying traits.

Let’s begin with what 2 Thessalonians 2:9 tells us are the “working of Satan.” It goes on the say these are, “with all power and signs and lying wonders.” It is speaking of those opposing God, their coming and usurping “all power,” and their power is, as we have seen, covering truth with lies, and slandering God and His defining character (His standard).

The context here is of those sitting in the seats of power in religious and civil governments – presidents, popes and all their minions. As we have looked at multiple times, these are those holding God’s people down. The angelic armies are engaged in a battle in which the satanic are attempting to continue holding down, while God’s armies is mustered to liberate us from under their tyranny.

The Greek word energeia translated “working” in 2 Thessalonians 2:9 is later rendered “strong” in verse 11. There we see it as the “strong delusion” we are told God sends to those refusing to accept the truth. The Greek word used here for delusion is plane. Those who read along know we have studied this word and its origin. We saw it as meaning a wandering away from truth, as symbolized by the planets moving through the night sky. They appear as if stars while being revealed as deceivers by their wandering. The stars are fixed in positions and thereby can be reliably used for navigating without losing one’s way.

The context is telling of their false star’s only power being in the methods they use to mislead. In other words and in my paraphrasing Alexander Hamilton and Federalist 1: They come paying a fawning attention to those with invalid grievances, and in giving undo attentiveness to these special interest groups elevate their cause and themselves to undeserved relevance and power, beginning demagogues they end as tyrants. Speaking of the power of delusion, I hear Obama is coming to NC today.

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

Yesterday we looked at Isaiah 13 as it told us of the LORD mustering His army. It began with telling of lifting up the standard and it being voiced by sending it to the gate of the nobles. This is the gate of hell and by design is to keep the dead in through keeping them dead (the unperceptive stupor).

Isaiah 14 goes on to address the false morning star, this is the one who came claiming he was the healing of the planet, but instead turned out to be death personified, as the whole world now suffers under the misery of his proliferation of delusion (confusion and the inevitable chaos). And the answer to the question is – No, the dead don’t know they are dead.

Isaiah 14
1 For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob (His rebellious people), and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
3 And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve,
4 That you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon (delusion), and say, How has the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased!
5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers.
6 He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.
7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.
8 Yea, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you are laid down, no feller is come up against us.
9 Hell from beneath is moved for you to meet you at your coming: it stirred up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; it has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto you, Are you also become weak as we? are you become like unto us?
11 Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you.
12 How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see you shall narrowly look upon you, and consider you, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
17 That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?
18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.
19 But you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.
20 You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.
21 Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.
22 For I will rise up against them, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, says the LORD.
23 I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts.
24 The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
25 That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.
26 This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth: and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations.
27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
28 In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden.
29 Rejoice not you, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote you is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill your root with famine, and he shall slay your remnant.
31 Howl, O gate; cry, O city; you, whole Palestina, are dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.
32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the LORD has founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

Jude
1 Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:
2 Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only LORD God, and our LORD Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the LORD, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The LORD rebuke you.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the LORD cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
16 These speak grudgingly, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words [of pride], having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

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

In recent posts we have been exploring the judgment of the LORD and His enlisting an army of angels to bring us back to His pure truth. We’ve seen this is what has been mislabeled as the “return” of the LORD, and is in actuality our return to Him who has never left us, or forsaken us. We’ve seen the battle is against the army opposing God as they cover and slander all the character traits that define Him and His. We’ve seen the traits of God and their opposite, along with the actions they each inspire as what marks a person as being Christ like or Satanic. It is the mark in the head as what governs reason and the mark in the hand showing the work, and by these we know the name of who owns each. The devilish methods are to cultivating ignorance by covering up truth with lies, and then defending these positions with slander. God’s angelic army are those not denying His name and accepting His pure truth that identifies Him. (See yesterday’s post and those previous.)

Today a look at the time and knowing it is at the door. Yesterday we looked at the keys that open and shut the door, and which unlock the wisdom to not just know the time but wake from our stupor to join the LORD in the battle.

Matthew 24:31 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.

The above verse it telling of this army being sent to gather the elect into one. It is telling of this happening on earth while defining it a heaven, meaning the LORD is reigning as King among those gathered.

In the verse prior we are told of the LORD coming in the clouds of heaven. Even before this we are told of His coming as lightning that shines and covers the earth. In our studies we have seen this as enlightenment coming directly from the LORD over (epi) the world that is held in darkness by the armies of evil. Job 37:21 And now men see not the bright light which is in the clouds: but the wind passes, and cleanses them.

The context is referring to Daniel 7:13 & 14, “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.”

Daniel 7 also gives us the identity of the “carcass” of Matthew 24:28, when it says, “21 I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them…” The carcass is the body of the God’s people having been overcome by the opposing army. The gathering eagles are the gathering angels, and again note they are gathering to the LORD. (See Matthew 24 below)

Later in Daniel 7 we read this horn is the same one speaking against God as we recently studied being the trait of the opposing army as it is written in 2 Thessalonians 2: 4, “Who oppose and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Daniel 7 says it as, “25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”

This takes us to rightly dividing the time. Matthew 24:31 above is a quote from Deuteronomy 30:4 where in the context our returning to the LORD we are told of the same gathering.

Deuteronomy 30
1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD your God has driven you,
2 And shall return unto the LORD your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul;
3 That then the LORD your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion upon you, and will return and gather you from all the nations, whither the LORD your God has scattered you.
4 If any of yours be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from there and then will the LORD your God gather you, and from there and then will he fetch you:
5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.
6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart [remove the cover covering your reasoning], and the heart of your seed, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.
7 And the LORD your God will put all these curses upon your enemies, and on them that hate you, which persecuted you.
8 And you shall return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command you this day.

The point is made very plain (ek-pedinos).

Matthew 24:29 also defines this time of our now being separated, ruled by leaders and governments not being as God intended them, as the time when the sun and moon are darkened, and stars have fallen from heaven. This is again in context (as we have studied many times in the past) is telling of church and civil governments not being as God intended them – not shining and reflect His light on earth as in just government under His name (possessing His character), and once His people are no longer under His type of rule they have fallen away from truth and heaven (God’s rule and reign).

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

Verse 29 is actually a quote from Isaiah 13:10 & 11. There we should note the LORD is here and because of these evil men now ruling judgment has come against their Satanic consortium. It tells of the LORD mustering His army and calling His mighty ones.

Isaiah 13
1 The burden of Babylon [the reign of confusion], which Isaiah [JAH (Jehovah) has saved] the son of Amoz [the strong and alert] did see.
2 Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded my sanctified ones, I have also called my mighty ones for mine anger, even them that rejoice in my highness.
4 The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts musters the host of the battle.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the LORD, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
6 Howl you; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travails: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible [tyrants].
12 I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep that no man takes up: they shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them shall fall by the sword.

This is the shaking of heaven and earth, so that the old makes way for new heaven and new earth. It is the revolving of time as this age end and the new begins with God’s light beginning the new day and then covering the earth. This is what the LORD says in Matthew 24:35 & 35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” It is also what we are told of the shaking in Hebrews 12 as it says:

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

You should also consider the difference between speaking from earth and speaking from heaven. One is speaking to the carcass, the other to the living. The quickened can see and hear; the dead see and hear nothing because of the cover of darkness over their minds.

The time is of the resurrection of the dead.

Matthew 24:33 tells us that when we see all these things know it is near, “over (epi) the door.” The Greek word thura is translated door, and is the same “door” we are told of Revelation 3:20 in the warning that comes to the Laodicean church. These are the lukewarm believers who are self-confident (straddling between serving God or mammon – wealth personifying self-confidence).

Another point worth noting before going on is that we see the leaders of these churches of Revelation defined as “angels.” In this we see angels are the “stars” of heaven, those leading as steadfast examples of God’s rule (by character).

Revelation 3
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 art neither cold nor hot: I would you wert cold or hot.
16 So then because you art 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 art 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: 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.

The angels are those bearing the standard (banner) of God. This we read above in Isaiah 13:2 as it says, “Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.” The “gate” is the “door” the LORD is standing at and is written also above in Revelation 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.”

These verses are referred to in 1 Thessalonians 4 as the archangel calls us to the LORD. “16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.”

Now is the time and this is the door.

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