Chapter
6
In the beginning knowledge was given, but that knowledge is in parables,
riddles and metaphor. Understanding comes from God and, without understanding,
knowledge can be a curse.
In the beginning, the earth was without form and all were void of
understanding. God made the ordinances
of the moon and stars to light the night, and the Son of Righteousness will rise
to rule the day.
And the saints will judge the world; in the resurrection they will shine
like the stars in the heavens.
And there will be no need of the sun, for the glory of the Lord will be
the light.
In the beginning Adam brought knowledge into the world and they knew they
were naked. Sin was exposed
for they no longer had ignorance as an excuse; their knowledge was a curse.
Moses gave the law--a
blessing and a curse--knowing the law and not obeying, they revived sin.
In the beginning, Jesus brought the knowledge of the truth into the
world--a blessing for the obedient,
condemnation for the unbelieving. His
words will judge them for they are naked of excuses and
no longer have ignorance as a cloak for their sins.
We are all born into this world living according to the flesh, and yet
children are considered innocent;
their sins are not imputed as they don't know any better. When we learn to
discern between good and evil, we
are condemned--being aware of our sin and naked to the truth.
Those whose deeds are evil prefer darkness for it is camodius to their
injustices, but the good are repentant
and prefer the light. Light exposes
the truth and the truth brings justice--a blessing for the good
and a curse for the wicked.
John came, preaching the baptism of repentance, to prepare the way of the
Lord into the world. In the same
way, we must have repentance to prepare the way of the Lord into our hearts,
(Matt 21:32).
As the world was baptized by Noah's flood, destroying the wicked,
signifying the destruction and
resurrection of the end when all things will be made anew; likewise, we are
baptized, signifying death with Him
and resurrection. We proclaim death
to the lusts of the flesh, that we may walk according
to the Spirit. We proclaim
salvation now in a figure, accepted until the time of the end when
we will be gathered from the ends of heaven and earth to salvation.
The true ark is Jesus Christ and
those in Him will be safe. And He
shall appear the second time unto salvation.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word is the light of the world, and
those who sat in darkness saw a
great light. Those whose works are
good come to the light and a repentant heart wants
to believe. Those who are evil, prefer to believe they can do their works
without any recompense and find the
truth unacceptable. But
those who have prepared their hearts find great joy in the truth.
For them it is the beginning for,
in their belief, they have passed over from death into life--being born of the
Word of God. Those who believe have
the blood of the Lamb on their lintel and His mercy on their door-posts.
In the beginning, (Exo 12:2), Moses gave the Passover.
And there was no mention of burnt offerings
out of Egypt; they were set at liberty, only God said, "obey my
voice." Adam was at liberty to
eat of any tree of the garden, only God said not to eat of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil.
As Israel came out of the bondage of Egypt, the believers came out of the
bondage of the law in Jerusalem--no
works except to believe, only Jesus said, "keep my words."
Believe. This is your
liberty and your rest from works; these lessons are for you. The lessons of Israel
were explained by the prophets; but who are the lessons for? Jeremiah was not a
prophet to Israel; he is a prophet
to the nations, (Jer 1:5-10). Or,
to put it another way, Israel is the nations (in a figure).
In belief is the acceptance of the free gift; we are under grace rather
than the bondage of works-- cleansed
from sin by His blood. And, just as
the tabernacle was purified according to law before the Lord
entered, we are purified before the Lord enters our hearts.
But the unbelieving are dead in their sins.
They are defiled as sepulchers full of dead men's bones and, according to
law, anything that touches the dead
is unclean and unacceptable to the Lord.
Without repentance, one cannot believe.
Without belief, understanding is not given.
Without understanding and
obedience, knowledge is a curse rather than a blessing.
Adam rebelled against the Lord and chose to eat from the knowledge of
good and evil--to seek his own
righteousness and judge for himself rather than trust the Lord. Likewise, those
who rejected Jesus as King thought
to establish the Kingdom on their own, when the Lord was not with them, and were
smitten by the Romans. The
children, in the wilderness, refused the promised land and the next day,
when the Lord was not with them, went up on their own and were smitten by the
Canaanites. It is the same
with us if we reject the free gift of the Lord and try to achieve salvation on
our own. He is
the only salvation; our part is to have faith in Him.
Cain slew Abel and then was driven into the wilderness.
Israel rejected the salvation of their promised
land and wandered in the wilderness forty years.
The Jews rejected Jesus and were driven into
the wilderness of the nations forty jubilees.
The taskmasters of Jerusalem were not willing to set the children free
from the bondage of the law, and
Pharaoh persued the Christians into the wilderness.
It is pride which makes us think to achieve righteousness by works and
pride that makes the taskmasters
strive to keep us in bondage that they may rule over us, but the Lord smites
through pride like dividing the sea.
The humbled pass over, but those who exalt themselves to keep us under bondage
will be drowned in the pride of the Egyptian Sea.
To this day, there are many who turn back to Egypt, saying, "eat
not, touch not,"--preaching doctrines
of works and bondage. They worship the works of their hands when only God can
save. Salvation does not come from
ceremonies and rituals. Let no man
judge you in the matter of food or drink
or Sabbaths, (Col 2:16). The
observing of days is bondage, (Gal 4:9-10).
There are many Korahs, who defy Moses--seeking to draw away disciples
after themselves. And, as there
were giants in days of old who wore chains of pride about their necks, there are
many giants today who exalt
themselves above the rest--loving to have the preeminence.
As the children lacked faith and chided with Moses about water, saying,
"Is the Lord with us or not?"
So, many would weaken our faith today, who say the Spirit is no more with
us, or only for those who had hands
laid on by the apostles. Some say
only they have the Spirit and you can't have it
unless they give it to you, not realizing that when the rock was smitten, it
gave forth its water which we all
may drink of. And the Spirit of the
Lord is always with us, (John 14:16-17); their lack of faith is
not able to cancel the promise of the Lord.
And the promise is to you and your children; to those near
and those far; as many as He shall call; the promise of the Spirit is to all
(Acts 2:39).
As Achan coveted the tongue of gold (not "wedge," forgive the
translators) and was destroyed, there
are many golden tongues in the world. Those
who covet their doctrines and err from the truth will
be given strong delusion.
True gold is the Word of God and, as craftsmen reshape gold and silver
into the graven image they choose to
worship, there are many who remake the Word into the image they prefer.
There are many idols
preaching smooth-tongued doctrines which people love to hear, and many who bow
down to them.
Forty jubilees are almost past and we who wander in this wilderness,
under grace, are nearing the end.
The promised land of His reign on earth is at hand. But as Solomon, the
king of grace, toward the end of his
forty, erred for his strange wives; as the children, near the end of their
journey, were seduced by the
Midianites to eat the sacrifices of the dead (doctrines of the unsaved); Paul
foretold that in the end there would
be damnable heresies. Balaam's
council is rampant in the world. And when
the law is made void, it is time for the Lord to work, (Psalm 119:126).
Many pastors have made the land desolate, (Jer 12:10-11), and they that
observe lying vanities forsake their
own mercy, (Jonah 2:8). It is line
on line and precept on precept, here a little and there a little,
that they may fall backward and be taken. But
those who are weaned from the milk will be fed understanding,
(Isaiah 28).
Before the children crossed over into the promised land, Moses took
vengeance on Midian; before
Melchizedek appeared, Abraham smote the kings and brought back the captives;
before the Lord appears, is the day
of vengeance. Those who lead you
astray will receive their recompense.
The spiritual history of Israel is our history and our figures; Israel is
the nations. And the trials of the
Jews are the struggles of our hearts, for the true Jew is the one who is
circumcised within. The wars of the
Jews and the Gentiles are the wars of our spirit against our flesh, and the
idols of the nations are the
cravings of our own desires which would have the rule over us.
There are many pitfalls and it is a broad path that leads astray.
And, as there are many who would
lead us astray, we have many cares of this life by which we cause ourselves to
err and the faithless will be
ensnared.
If you believe God, you are saved and set at liberty, only keep His Word.
It is better not to know the
truth, than to know and not obey. Are
you delivered to steal and murder? God
is not mocked.
He who knows the will of God and doesn't do it, for him it is sin.
If He had not come with the
knowledge of the truth, they had no sin. Who has, more will be given, but to
whom much is given, much is
required.
For every true prophet, there were hundreds of false prophets.
There is only one true Word, but there
are many false and twisted doctrines, and those who join themselves to Cozbi
will be pinned to the earth.
The Word is a seed planted in the ground of your heart.
As Christ was planted in the world and grew
to be preached to all nations, likewise the Word planted in your heart should
grow. Break up your
fallow ground; till your soil. Those
who are choked by briers and cares of this world will suffer famine
from hearing the Word. Those who
have the world in their heart can't know God's work, (Ecc
3:11). The faithful will receive rain in due season. The generation of the seed
grows until it fills the whole earth
and then the harvest--likewise in your heart.
As the Word grows to do His will and produces fruit and provides bread
for all, as the fruit of our mouths
spreads the Word to all and the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of
the Lord, continue in His Word and
you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
The history of Israel is the Word of God and your guide to the narrow
path. But if the path that leads
to destruction is broad and many would lead us astray and the Word is given in
such mystery, how can we avoid being
deceived?
Dreams are for men, but their interpretation is of the Lord; likewise,
the Word of God is for men, but its
interpretation is of the Lord. Such
things as wisdom, knowledge and understanding come
from God; if He doesn't give it to you, you don't have it.
God will guide the meek in judgement and teach them His way, (Psalm
25:9-12, 37:3). The secret
of the Lord is with them that fear Him and He will show them His covenant,
(Psalm 25:14).
Those
who do good, who keep their tongue from evil and their lips from guile will be
taught the fear of the Lord, (Psalm
34:11-15). He that disposes his
conversation will be shown the salvation of God, (Psalm
50:23). We are all taught of God, (John 6:45).
The evil don't understand judgment, but those who seek the Lord
understand all, (Prov 28:5). If any man does
the will of God, he will know the doctrine, (John 7:17).
We understand if we keep His precepts,
(Psalm 119:100). If we continue in
His words, we are His disciples and we will know the truth,
(John 8:31-32).
God hears those who do His will, (John 9:31).
In every nation, he who fears God and does right will
be accepted, (Acts 10:35). To those
who hear, more will be given, (Mark 4:24).
Those who are fruitful in
good works increase in the knowledge of God, (Col 1:10).
Those whose heart is hardened don't understand, (Mark 8:17).
Those who don't like knowledge will
get a reprobate mind, (Romans 1:28). Those
who walk after the imagination of their own heart and
after Balaam, will get wormwood and gall, (Jer 9:14-15).
If you offer your thanksgivings with leaven
(swelling His Word with doctrines of our own imagination), then the rain will be
withheld (and the seed won't grow in
your heart), (Amos 4:5-7).
The book of proverbs begins by saying, this is how to understand a
proverb and dark sayings . . .
Then the proverbs begin at Chapter 10.
The first nine chapters are instructions on how to understand.
Those instructions are: don't lie, cheat, steal; don't sleep with another man's
wife, etc.
Behave
yourself. That is the instruction for understanding, and it is just
that simple. Those who
keep His Word and do His will are given guidance.
The Holy Spirit will teach you all
things, (John 14:26). God, knowing
your heart, bares witness by giving the Holy Spirit, (Acts 15:8).
You need not that any man teach you because the anointing that abides in
you teaches you all things, (1 John
2:20-27). And who is the Holy
Spirit given to, but those who obey God, (Acts 5:32).
Here is this chapter in a nutshell: The Bible is instruction for us which
is intentionally written in a
figurative manner which the wicked can't understand.
This is what separates the sheep from the goats.
The wisdom to understand is given to those who turn from their ways and obey
God. Those who obey God are those
who are afraid to disobey Him. Therefore,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom.
Those who are faithful will be guided by the hand, but those who spread
the Word faithfully will suffer
persecution by those who can't bare the truth.
And those who are faithful to the end will receive
a just reward.
In the day of the Lord, the wicked will be stubble, but the Son of
Righteousness will rise on those who
fear His name, (Mal 4:1-3). And a
book of remembrance is written for them that feared the
Lord and thought upon His name.