And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Continuing: In the previous post, the LORD spoke to us, in and through me, about receiving His word, His message, and then broadcasting it to the world, so it will increase and bear fruit. We saw those who receive it, and then follow His commandment to freely preach it as received, are those who enter His kingdom. The practical meaning of His message is His word has the supernatural power to change people from within, if they hear it and faithfully follow it/Him. It/He is what changes the world, the culture (the aion, the age) and brings the metaphysical kingdom upon the physical world. This is faith, in the unseen, the metaphysical reality, the nothing by which man is born again and the substance from which God creates all things.
Friends, these are not platitudes, or similitudes, or parables, or clichés. They are the secret formula for success and happiness. It’s secret only because men stopped teaching and preaching it, and they produced the darkness that now covers the earth. As we well know, the darkness is this same ignorance, which is easily reversed by the light, preaching and teaching the forgotten treasures. As we also know, the problem is the weak point, man, who keeps this good news (the gospel) from a free course. This is where the supernatural manifest Himself, overcoming the natural weakness and over it triumphing by His word.
Romans 10
8 But what says it? The word is near you, even in your mouth [we have tasted and consumed it], and in your heart [and it has become our foundation of reason]: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;
9 That if you shall confess with your mouth the LORD Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead [if you believe and confess Jesus Christ is alive in me {in us} preaching His word], you shall be saved.
10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture says, Whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed [shall reach the expected end, God’s kingdom on earth].
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same LORD over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, LORD, who has believed our report [they’ve seen the arm of the LORD revealed, but because of their ignorance of His word, they are blinded to it/Him]?
17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
18 But I say, Have they not heard? Yes truly, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world [oikoumene – the houses where God’s people remain].
19 But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you.
20 But Isaiah is very bold, and says, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me.
21 But to Israel he says, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people.
Now, again, in this context, we read what the LORD is saying to us, from the passage surrounding Deuteronomy 30:14, which, as we know, is quoted in verse 8 above. It is speaking of this confession, the good news, as how we reach the promised end we’ve waited for.
Deuteronomy 30
6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart [shall remove the flesh covering our mind’s eye, so we can see the unseen], 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.
9 And the LORD your God will make you plenteous in every work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers:
10 If you shall hearken unto the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if you turn unto the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.
11 For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you, neither is it far off.
12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?
14 But the word is very near unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil;
16 In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that you may live and multiply: and the LORD your God shall bless you in the land whither you go to possess it.
Friends, the LORD has raised me (us) up and caused me (us) to prosper in His treasure, above all those who’ve come before us (progenitors), for His purpose, for His glory. In me (us) He has come to save the world. This is the reality we must all accept and confess (believe me, it’s as hard for me as it is for all).
This takes us back to the title’s origin, verse 14 above quoted from Isaiah 52:7, and the following verse quoting from Isaiah 53:1. It is speaking of now, this moment in history. Saying above how hard this is to believe (because its truth has been so distorted and disfigures by men’s violence done to God’s word) is why the LORD says He is found by those who weren’t looking for Him (because they were looking where the false teachers and false preachers were telling them to look). It’s quoted above in verse 20, and continues in verse 21, saying He is stretching out His hand to us, a disobedient and “gainsaying” people. The Greek word, rendered “gainsaying,” is the eleven times used word antilego, meaning to speak against. The LORD is telling of His own word (distorted and disfigured into damnable heresies) used to deny Him and to cause people to speak evil of the truth.
Luke 2
25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon [those who’ve head the LORD speaking in His word, these messages]; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation [the comfort, when we would be led into all truth] of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the LORD’s Christ.
27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 LORD, now lets you your servant depart in peace, according to your word:
30 For mine eyes have seen your salvation,
31 Which you have prepared before the face of all people;
32 A light [understanding] to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.
33 And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against [antilego];
35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through your own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed [as the thoughts of Miriam {meaning rebel, as does Mary} were revealed when she spoke against Moses – Numbers 12].
As we know, the mother personified in Mary, who rebelled against the corrupt status quo, and Miriam, represent the church as teachers of the children of God. Aaron, who also spoke against Moses, and Joseph (his name referring us to the natural father of Jesus, and Ephraim), represent preachers of God’s word, who instruct the children into God’s righteousness. These together as one, bring the LORD to (into) the world. These entities, teachers and preachers, now in their corrupt and desolate state, are who the LORD comes to, unknown as the Holy Ghost, to lead them into all truth.
It is from this condition, the violence committed by these men who’ve led us here, the LORD now calls us to awaken.
Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake; put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 Shake yourself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose yourself from the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the LORD, You have sold yourselves for naught; and you shall be redeemed without money.
4 For thus says the LORD God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
5 Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, that my people is taken away for naught? they that rule over them make them to howl, says the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Between Paul’s quoting Isaiah 52 & 53, and ending Romans 10 with Isaiah 65:1 & 2, he quotes Psalms 19:4 (with which we will end) and Deuteronomy 32:21. As we’ve seen, Psalms 19 begins with saying the arm of the LORD, the work of His hand (handy-work), is revealed in the firmament. This place describes His expanding, drawing out the deeper meaning, by explanation, and thereby rightly dividing the word (waters) of God from the corruption of men (the waters below).
Deuteronomy 32
15 But Jeshurun [God’s people when they were upright, and thereby prospered] waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations [idols that caused their desolation] provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils [those who misled them], not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat you you are unmindful, and have forgotten God that formed you.
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation [a generation that has twisted and perverted all truth], children in whom is no faith.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities [worthless things]: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth [mouths] of beasts upon them, with the poison [of their words] of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared [for them] the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD has not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding [light] in them. [Isaiah 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion. 19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? {Should they be looking} for the living to the dead? 20 {Or} To the law and to the testimony{?}: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light {understanding} in them.]
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom [burning], and of the fields of Gomorrah [ruin]: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons [the deadly words of wide-open mouths that are never shut], and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To me belongs vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone [because the uncorrupted word of God is absent from their minds], and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings [their preachers and teachers who’ve robbed them of their offerings and their very lives]? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
Isaiah 65
1 I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name.
2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walks in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
3 A people that provoke me to anger continually to my face; that sacrifices in gardens, and burn incense upon altars of brick [the creations of their own minds];
4 Which remain among the graves [the habitations of the dead], and lodge in the monuments [among the dead], which eat swine’s flesh [their unclean things], and broth of abominable [the idols they’ve created] things is in their vessels;
5 Which say, Stand by yourself, come not near to me; for I am holier than you [the pride of the self-righteous, caused by the false rock in which they trust]. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.
6 Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom,
7 Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says the LORD, which have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills: therefore will I measure their former work into their bosom.
8 Thus says the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
10 And Sharon [where God’s word is plainly preached – face to face] shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor [where there was continual strife] a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.
11 But you are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop [the enemies mixed among us], and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.
12 Therefore will I number you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, you [goats] did not answer; when I spoke, you did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.
13 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed:
14 Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.
15 And you shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the LORD God shall slay you, and call his servants by another name:
16 That he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that has not filled his days: for the child shall die a hundred years old; but the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed.
21 And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them.
22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
24 And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 66
1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.
3 He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice of noise from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the LORD that renders recompense to his enemies.
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says your God.
Psalms 19
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handy-work.
2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them has he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is your servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.
12 Who can understand his [own] errors? cleanse you me from secret faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.
