The Promised Land

God’s Plan is Always Moving Forward

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

Joshua Israel’s New Leader

Book of Joshua Chapter 1

Who is this, Joshua?

The name “Joshua” as written can mean “Jehovah is his help” but it can also mean “Jehovah the Savior”.

Joshua is sometimes written Jehoshua, and Jehoshuah but in the New Testament we see it written as Jesus.

Act 7:45 Which also our fathers that came after brought in with “Jesus” into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Act 7:46 Who found favour before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

We should not be confused by these things and if we study the context of the Scripture we will not be.

We see the same thing happen in the Book of Hebrews:

Heb 4:8 For if “Jesus” had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

Joshua did not have it in his power to give rest to the people of God, only the Lord Jesus Christ has this power!

Again look at the context of this Scripture.

This Joshua is the son Nun to distinguish him from any other man name Joshua and there were others.

Joshua as a child was born into the slavery of Egypt and reached the age for military as he traveled to freedom with Moses and all of Israel.

No doubt as a young man He worked in the brick fields of Egypt.

We can believe all these things because it is Joshua, led by the Holy Spirit who has written all these things for us.

It is Joshua who also wrote the final words of the Book of Deuteronomy after the death of Moses again led by the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit does not make mistakes, so there are no mistakes in the “Received Text”!

We can say the Book of Joshua was written to the Israelites to teach them their great history and the mistakes they had made.

We also know that All Scripture is written for the Church!

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The Book of Joshua shows us how Israel conquered and divided up the land promised to these descendants of Abraham by Isaac and Jacob.

The Book of Joshua shows all readers that God is faithful to keep His promises.

The main purpose to the Book of Joshua is to teach the Doctrines of God to the Israelites and to all readers of this precious book of the Old Testament, which means the New Testament Church.

Some of those Doctrines are:

The Doctrine of Faith.
The Doctrine of the Holiness of God.
The Doctrine of Sin. God will not tolerate evil and wickedness, not forever.
The Doctrine of “Mercy and Grace”. Yes, we can see the “Grace” of God in the Old Testament and His “Mercy”!
The Doctrine of the “All Powerful” God of Creation.
The Doctrine of the “All Knowing” God of knowledge.
The Doctrine of the Sovereign Ruler of all Creation.
The Doctrine that states that God places people in certain locations for His Own Purposes!

*Jos 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Jos 1:2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

Moses at the age of 120 years old had now been taken out of the picture by God Himself, his purpose complete and God told Joshua to fill in the gap that Moses left behind.

It is our duty to answer the call of God!

Moses was a mighty man of God. How could anyone fill in for him?

Moses had already selected Joshua by the word of God and had already begun his training.

Deu 31:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.

Deu 31:23 And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.

It was Moses that had established Israel as a nation through the guidance of Jehovah making him the father of the nation of Israel.

A band of Egyptian slaves had become the nation that had set back Egypt for many years which they have never really overcome.

It was time for Israel to leave off mourning for what was, and accept what God had planned for the destruction of the sinful nations of Canaan Land

Gen_15:16 But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

On a much smaller scale than the worldwide flood, Israel was the hand of God for the destruction of the sin full people of Canaan Land.

They needed a strong leader and God gave them Joshua.

Joshua was now the Commander-in-Chief of the new nation of Israel.

We should understand Moses was a great man of God, but his death did not affect the plan of God.

God simply selects some other human to keep the plan of God moving forward at all times!

If Joshua for some reason rejected the call of God, God would simply have chosen someone else.

When God plan is in action, He will then provide all the tools and materials necessary to keep moving forward in the work God has given all the Church to accomplish.

The “providence” of God is always in His hands, and it does not depend upon any one upon this earth, or anywhere else humans are seeking to run and hide.

*Jos 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

It was the death of Moses that opened the door for Joshua, so we see that it is God who is the giver of life and only He can take a life.

Satan may have had the power of death before the work of the Lord Jesus was completed, but he could not cause death at his will, he needed the permission of God, and he still does today.

Satan answers to God, Jehovah God and he is also condemned to Hell which is why the world is moving so fast toward wicked, immoral corrupted, iniquity.

Some of the promises God made to Abraham were becoming reality.

The walk of Abraham had defined the boundaries of the nation of Israel more than four hundred years prior to the day of Joshua.

Moses had led the children of Israel right up to the shores of the River Jordan, right at the most awkward time of the rainy season, but God had a reason even for this.

It would be Joshua that led the crossing of Jordan!

What were the boundaries that God set aside for the nation of Israel?

*Jos 1:4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

South: the desert of Negev.
North: Lebanon. Mount Lebanon the tallest mountain of Syria.
East: the Euphrates River.
West the Mediterranean Sea.

To this day, Israel has never possessed all this land and will not until the return of Christ Jesus.

Why? Many of them became cowards.

Many of them refused to obey the Word of God.

The closest that Israel ever came to control of all this land was in the days of King David and King Solomon.

It is at the death of King Solomon when Israel became a divided nation and disappeared from History for a time.

A divided nation cannot stand in this world of sin!

America is more divided today than it has ever been in our brief history and America could disappear from history and it is because of our corrupt, and wicked, and immoral government!

Why is this so true? Because America has booted God out!

Why did Israel begin to show dominance for many years? It was because God was with them until they demanded God to leave.

What was God’s promise to Israel?

*Jos 1:5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

What wonderful words given to a new leader.

God promised Joshua that no nation would be able to stand against him.

To us this means as a believer, we will have a full life, a victorious life, if we continue to serve the Lord with all our heart!

We know that as this new nation of Israel moved forward, they would face many obstacles.

We can also say the same thing about them today as much of the world hates them without a reason.

This tiny nation of Israel has met many a foe on the battlefield, all of them trying to erase them as a nation, but God has not allowed this to happen, and the Bible says He will not allow it to happen.

God promises those who love Him a full and victorious life, but we must also move forward claiming victory over the obstacles we face.

We can do this because we are never alone!

With the power of God there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome!

It begins with obedience!

1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
1Jn 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

We have the promise of our Savior that He will never forsake us.

Even on those days we may not feel our Lord God, we have the assurance that He is with us.

Our life is not about feelings, our life is about the promises of God!

This is one of the greatest promises God has given to us, that He will never forsake us!

No matter what trouble, no matter what difficulty, no matter what problem we face, God will never leave us and He will walk with us through these things!

*Jos 1:6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

Joshua had been an eyewitness, as these people had rebelled against Moses many times.

The challenge of Israel was very great to be a conqueror of the many nations of Canaan Land.

They needed a leader who was equipped to manage these times and it was Joshua.

Joshua was God’s man!

What was Joshua first task? He was to trust God! He was to be strong and very courageous!

When God calls us, He knows that our task will not be easy. If it was easy, then anyone could do it without God!

The army of God must be strong and courageous.

When we put on the armor of God we are not dressing for peace, we are dressing for war!

We are to be obedient to the Word of God.
We are to never stop sharing the Word of God.
We are to meditate on God’s Word day and night!

The result of obedience to God will always be prosperity and success! This does not mean riches.

It means all that we put our hands to, that is in the will of God, will prosper!

Again, it takes strength in the Lord and obedience to overcome discouragement!

*Jos 1:7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

God did not place Joshua in this position of leadership to be lord over this people!

They would follow Joshua if he continued to follow the Lord.

Until till the last days of Joshua’s life, every day brought a new enemy to defeat.

Every year brought a new enemy.

Every day he had to send the young people of Israel into battle, and he would witness the blood shed of many of them.

These things are hard on any commander. Joshua would need much courage and strength.

No matter where we are on the battlefield of the Lord, we must know that we cannot do these things in our own strength so our relationship with the Lord must be steady and enduring.

We must follow the Word of God not veering to the left or to the right.

The pathway to Heaven remains a narrow path and few will ever find it.

Mat_7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

God will reveal to us the obstacles we will face by teaching us the deep things of God!

1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The key to our prosperity in this world is obedience to all the Word of God!

Again this does not mean riches!

How are we to study the Word of God?

*Jos 1:8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

In order for Joshua to succeed as the Commander-in-Chief of Israel, he was to know and obey all the Word of God. (Which is a type of Christ)

This has not changed for every national leader today! They have the same instructions, no matter who they are or where they are located!

We must never turn our backs to the Word of God as we see this world do so today.

If there is a godly leader in this world today, they are noticeably quiet and ashamed of the Word of God, because they are too silent!

God will give us purpose, a sense of achievement and a fulfillment throughout our Christian Life, but only if we obey God by meditating in His Word day and night, throughout our lifetime.

In other words, we should always be doing what God says to do!

Deu 5:29 O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

This is the key to our success in the plan of God!

Again, we must be strong and courageous in the things of God!

*Jos 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

If God says a thing one time, then it is enough, but when God says things three times then He knows how easy it will be for us to get discouraged when we see what is going on in our world.

We must never let these things keep us from serving the Lord!

We must be strong and courageous as we walk through our Christian Life.

We must know that when God gave these lands to Abraham, all Abraham had was his faith and he had enough faith that he could trust the Word of God is true.

Abraham trusted in the promises of God, and it is no different for us here today.

Now in this day of Joshua more than four hundred years later, Joshua is in position to begin fulfilling some of God’s promises to Abraham.

We should know that the land promised to Abraham was indeed the land called Palestine. Palestine is an area and not the name of some country.

We should also know that the land promised to Abraham also refers to the New Heaven.

Canaan Land is just a symbol of God’s Promise.

Rom 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

The inheritance that Abraham had so much faith in, refers to the entire world, the New Universe which God is going to recreate in the very end.

It is not this world we live in now that is so full of sin, immorality, and wicked corruptness!

This world that is wasting away, deteriorating, running down, that our world calls “Climate Change”. They have seen nothing yet!

2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
2Pe 3:8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The promise to Abraham refers to the New Heaven and the New Jerusalem, our Heavenly Home!

Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

All these things Abraham knew and, on this day, Joshua would begin that journey with Israel as they would cross the River Jordan.

This is where Joshua would derive his courage and his strength!

It was the promises made to Abraham that drove Joshua to be the great man of God that he was, and we should be encouraged just as Joshua was encouraged.

Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Joshua told this new nation of Israel, “let us go an obtain the promises of God”.

This is exactly what the Church is doing today!

*Jos 1:10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Jos 1:11 Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.

After forty years the long-awaited command came. “prepare the people for we are going to cross the River Jordan”.

We should remember that this people of Israel would have been several million people.

There is not an army on the face of the earth that can go from rest to moving forward for war in three days, which shows us how Moses had prepared this army.

This was not just the army but also all their families and livestock.

We should also think about those three days!

Three days to our Lord Jesus was the time of His death to His resurrection.

In three days, this rag tag bunch of slaves would resurrect as the nation of Israel.

We should be able to see the typology of all these things.

What do we know? We know that God had spoken to Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan was to be done at once.

As Israel had been at camp until this command came, they had certainly seen that the River Jordan was running out of its banks at this time of the year.

In our service to the Lord, we had better understand that the natural things must be exhausted before the supernatural is brought in.

At this time we believe the “manna” had ceased and the word “victuals” would mean the food that was natural to their surroundings.

Jos 5:12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

We also believe that before this command was given, that Joshua had already sent out those spies to Jericho, and they had returned.

On this side of this flooded river was Israel ready for war and on the other side stood the walled city of Jericho, which had to fall for Israel to be successful.

Jericho had already heard of the wars Israel had already fought, and won, and the city was afraid of Israel.

Between them lay a vast expanse of rushing water.

Joshua commanded this people of God “to prepare”, then “passover” and then “to possess”.

We must understand as a soldier in God’s Army, we must always be prepared, and we have that “Heavenly Manna” with us at all times if we are carrying the Word of God.

We must feed on the Lord Jesus Christ; He is our Passover!

No doubt that many of these people had the fear of death for war brings death!

But to the child of God, death has but one meaning and that meaning is New Life.

There would be no possessing of that land until they crossed over the flood waters of the River Jordan.

As Christians we have nothing on this side of Jordan, but the New Heaven, the New Jerusalem lie on the other side.

What lies on the other side will be the treasures of God!

A share of the inheritance of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Still that raging river seemed unsurpassable.

But the Lord will always say:

Jos 3:5 And Joshua said unto the people, Sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the LORD will do wonders among you.

When the flood waters of this world are raging, then this is when we need to trust the Lord the most!

Mar_6:50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid.

We must never forget that as we travel in this life, the Lord Jesus Christ will walk before us showing us the way!

We know that God would stop the flow of the River Jordan and several million Israelites would cross the River Jordan on dry land!

Amen

God’s People Will Be Blessed

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

God’s Nation Is Physically Blessed

Book of Ezekiel Chapter 36 Verses 5-11, 17-19, 22-28

Early in this Chapter of the Book of Ezekiel we see where the Babylonians had destroyed the lands of Israel as they marched toward Jerusalem.

We see that others from the adjacent lands, the enemies of these Jews, had helped these Babylonians to destroy the land of Israel and Judea.

We see that war destroys not only people, but also the land those people live on and depend upon.

Had by chance the Jews defeated Babylon, they could not have even recovered from such devastation.

Reminds us of Japan and World War 2, how the lands were devasted by just two nuclear bombs and Japan would never have recovered without the help of the United States.

In fact many nations would have had great trouble without the help of the USA, but these things are now forgotten by most.

The truth of Israel, and Judea, and Jerusalem:

*Eze 36:5 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed “my land” into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
Eze 36:6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because ye have borne the shame of the heathen:
Eze 36:7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
Eze 36:8 But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.

It seems that the governments of this world just do not realize just how much Jehovah God loves the Holy Land of Israel and the people He placed there so many years ago!

Zep 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Notice how God, who promised land, which many now call Palestine, had already given this to Israel, but He still says it is His land!

Idumea is the name given by the descendants of Esau, and they have been the enemies of the Jews then and are still now.

They hate the Jews, all the descendants of Jacob who was the twin brother of Esau!

These heathen, are to be considered, all the unbelieving people of the world, as compared to the Jews who are believers, and who are God’s people set aside for His use.

Jehovah said to Ezekiel, be sure to write these things down for all the world to know, that this promised land is very special to our Holy God.

The land that is the “promised land” belongs to Jehovah God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit(Ghost)!

We speak of God’s wrath, that we will miss out on, but God is giving us a small view of what His wrath looks like.

Jehovah will not allow His land to suffer because of the “heathen”!

Those who put shame and reproach upon God’s people, though God may have made it serve a purpose to His end, will sooner or later have it turned upon themselves.

We should understand that few lands have been attacked and ravaged more than the Holy Land given to the Jews.

Each time God has given this land back to the Jews! This is why to them it is still the “Promised Land”!

It’s time for the world to recognize this fact!

Zep 2:1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
Zep 2:2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’S anger come upon you.
Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

As Israel has borne the shame of reproaches and taunts of the heathen for so many years, so they when God’s wrath comes, will still bear the shame of God’s wrath upon His enemies!

Israel will bare that shame because none of these things would have ever happened, had the children of Israel remained faithful to Jehovah God all these years that have passed since the time of Abraham.

This world would have been an entirely different place, had the Jews remained faithful all these years!

We have seen the land of the Jews blossom from desert to a place of beauty, but this will be nothing compared to how all the world will blossom, when the Lord Jesus Christ will sit upon His throne in Jerusalem.

At this time in history, the 70 years of captivity was coming to an end, and Ezekiel is warning all those who claimed Judah that the Jews were soon coming home as prophesied by Jeremiah.

What happens when the Jews are on the promised land? These desert lands will be tilled and sown.

*Eze 36:9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown:

As we have seen since 1948, the land of Israel has become a garden and now the world sees the value of this land, when it was nothing more than a desert waste land that no one upon this earth wanted, because it had no value.

But even greater things are in the future for those who turn to the Lord!

Zec 8:12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.
Zec 8:13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

This is the truth of the land when the land is not occupied by the people of God.

This is also the truth of that lost soul!

The lost soul is but a waste land if it is left alone without our Savior!

A creature that lives without his Creator will die a horrible death!

God looks upon the heart of man as a field in need of plowing and sowing, so it can blossom and produce fruit.

The heart that is not plowed or sown, will produce something, but it will resemble weeds that must be removed by the root and burned that they are destroyed.

Rom 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Rom 14:8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Rom 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

If we cannot allow the Lord to come into our heart, then we will become a waste land!

If we can ask the Lord to come into our heart by our faith, then we can produce the fruit of life!

*Eze 36:10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded:

What we see is, when the Lord is living within us, we will produce life.

Notice here again, God knows where all the tribes of Israel are located.

At the time of Ezekiel we know that it was just the house of Judah and Benjamin that returned only to a small portion of the promised land.

Most all the other tribes were scattered too far, or they were too poor, or they were slaves with human masters unwilling to let them go.

When Israel became a nation again, there was an open invitation for all the tribes of Israel to return home.

Until the return of Christ to His throne in Jerusalem, this prophesy will not see its ultimate fulfillment!

All the house of Israel even all of it, the Holy Spirit says will one day go home!

The cities will be bustling with people, all the waste places will be built upon, and the land will produce enough food for them all!

But only if they will call upon the LORD. His name is Jehovah!

Isa 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

We know this has not taken place, yet it is still in the future.

Only those who call upon the Lord God Jehovah, can see these wonders of the rebuilt earth!

Isa 64:4 For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

Only those who call upon the Lord will be able to see the ever greater, glories of the New Jerusalem!

Col 1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

This time has not yet come, but we can see just a taste of it in the revival of Israel today!

*Eze 36:11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

From a meager beginning in 1948, Israel now has a population of nearly 9 million people and growing about 10,000 people each year. There are more than twice as many births as there are deaths in Israel.

God is still multiplying the people of Israel, but keep in mind that there were estimates of at least a million Jews who left Egypt in the time of Moses and God later scattered them all around the world.

What we see is, that with all the things that happened to this tiny nation, there is still a great future that awaits them!

We also see even in adverse conditions these people continue to multiply.

This land will be more prosperous than it has ever been before, because Jehovah has chosen this land for His own!

From previous lessons we know that Jehovah is able to do everything He says He will do!

From the time of Noah we know that this land has been defiled.

Defiled meaning polluted, corrupted, violated.

We can just imagine that this is what the Lord thinks of all our lands today, and He will cleanse all the lands of this earth one day and that one day may be soon coming!

*Eze 36:17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.

It’s a sad thing when we pollute the lands we live upon, but the Lord is not talking about this type of pollution.

It is the worship of pagan gods whose human sacrifices are an abomination to Him!

It is the worship of all false deities!

It is the massive killing of unborn children.

It is all those still running in Sodom and Gomorrah.

I can just imagine how the Lord feels about the abortion of so many babies throughout the world today, which is nothing but a mockery to the laws of God.

The Lord God Jehovah is even more tied to the land promised to Israel, but remember, all that we see and all that we cannot see, are God’s creation!

Uncleanness is best described as filthiness and we live in a world that parades its filthiness before God’s people every day!

In fact uncleanness describes sin!

Isa_64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

What is the difference of those who walk with the Lord from those who do not?

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

What does God think about uncleanness? Look at the example given to us of Israel.

*Eze 36:18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
Eze 36:19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.

The question we should ask ourselves is, since God will punish people, then what makes the world think God has changed in His ways?

What had these people done that God would do such a thing?

They lived unclean lives in the filthiness of sin.
They committed violence in the promised land.
They polluted the promised land with idolatry.

Remember Jehovah God said this was His land!

The world should be very careful with the decisions they make about God’s land. All creation belongs to our Holy God, but this land given to Abraham, every place he placed his feet, God has chosen for Himself!

God may be slow to punish, but we can be sure God will punish all those who make a mockery of His Words!

Rom_12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

We should also understand that the stroke of judgment from the Lord is like a lightening flash, it is irresistible, it is fatal, and it kills in the twinkling of an eye.

Eze_33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

The “judgment” and the “chastisement” of the Lord will be according to the doings of that guilty person or that guilty nation!

The truth is, when God punishes you, it is because you are guilty. Jehovah has never made a mistake and He never will!

Since Israel wanted to be like the heathen nations, then Jehovah scattered them among the heathen nations to live, and He scattered them well!

This punishment was to help them see the error of their ways!

This punishment was to rid the promised land of idolatry and corruptness!

*Eze 36:22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.

Jehovah did also show the world that He will not tolerate sin from His chosen people!

What is the truth?

From the time of Abraham, the Israelites had professed to know the only “Living God”.

When their land was destroyed and they were exiled, the world mocked their claim, and this is still the truth of today!

The world is still mocking Jehovah God!

In 1948 the nation of Israel was “Born Again” according to prophesy.

Isa_66:8 Who hath heard such a thing? who hath 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.

The true Israelites are now returning to the “Promised Land”!

This one prophesy opened the eyes of the world and the world seeks to defy Jehovah as if He does not exist, but this time the tiny nation of Israel will be protected by the “right arm of God” the arm of power, until the Lord returns to set things in order.

Mic 4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
Mic 4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
Mic 4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

The world may still be mocking Jehovah, but many see the fulfillment of God’s promises are in the making!

*Eze 36:23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, saith the Lord GOD, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

Israel is being restored not because they have ended all their sinful ways because they have not completely given themselves to Jehovah, because they still reject the Son of God.

Israel is being restored because Jehovah does exactly what He says and no power on earth can stop Him!

Israel is being restored to show the world that Jehovah is a Holy God and that He alone is the Lord of this world!

We see all those who hate Him raise up their voices, but God has always had this one saying for the world.

Gen_12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

We are more in this period now than we have ever been!

The nations who are against the Lord are gathering together and the nations that help Israel are also assembling and this taking place today.

As the Church we must know that the Lord will take us home before these things reach fulfillment!

What does Israel lack?

2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This healing has not happened as of yet, because Israel has not yet humbled themselves before the God they used to claim!

*Eze 36:24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.

After many years, the Jews are still returning to God’s land some 10,000 each year.

To be a true resident of Israel, then they must be a child of a mother who is in the bloodline of a Jew, just as it was with Sarah and Abraham.

Gen_21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

Gen 17:18 And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!
Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.

The Muslim may claim Abraham and they should, but they cannot claim the covenant God made with the descendants of Sarah and her son Isaac unless they also claim the Lord Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and the true Messiah!

They, just like all others, can be a part of the covenant with Isaac if they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Son of God, and therefore much more than a prophet and a good man, but Jehovah God in the flesh!

Notice how all that are not part of the scattered tribes of Israel, are called heathen!

Notice also how God’s land is now called the land of the Jews (their own land)!

How will God cleanse these people?

No one can come to God until they are cleansed from sin!

It is sin that clogs the heart and keeps out the ‘Love of God”!

You see Jehovah will give them a new nature.

Eze 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
Eze 11:20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

They will meet the Savior!

1Jn 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
1Jn 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

There is no other way to be cleansed from sin, and without this cleansing there will be no new heart, only with a new heart will God’s blessing bear fruit!

*Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Eze 36:28 And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

As we can see, Jehovah makes things so simple.

According to the Bible, the heart is the center of all spiritual activity and all the operations of human life.

The heart is the home of the personal life!

Mat 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Psa 24:3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
Psa 24:4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

The heart is the seat of our conscience!

Rom 2:14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:
Rom 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
Rom 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

When we were living among the lost souls of this world, how could we describe our hearts?

Jer_17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

So the salvation process must begin with the heart!

It is called faith that brings repentance with it!

A new frame of our soul.
A mind changed from sinful to holy, from carnal to spiritual.
A heart that can have the law of Jehovah written upon it.

Our own spirit will not ever be suitable, so we must have the Spirit of Jesus!

Php_1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

Which is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Holy Ghost!

The Spirit of God will come to live in every believer! He will never live in a filthy heart!

It is only these things that will cause a disposition of holiness!

We will be willing:
We will be able:
We will walk:
We will keep the judgments of Jehovah and walk in the statutes of Jehovah and we will live in holiness because these are the ways of Jesus Christ!

For Israel they will live freely in their land for 1000 years with King Jesus upon His throne in Jerusalem, as promised by Jehovah.

Then we all will live in the New Jerusalem throughout eternity.

Amen

Let’s Pray

God’s Message of Love

/ Bobby Mayfield / 1 Comment

God’s Message of Love to His People

Book of Jeremiah 2

Verses 4-9, 13, 21, 26-32, 35

We already know that the Nation of Israel had been divided at the end of the rule of King Solomon. One called Judah consisted of 2 tribes and the other called Israel consisting of 10 tribes. The men of Israel had long been carried off by Assyria and the women left behind and provided with other men and this area became known as Samaria. This was the reason there was so much, uncalled for, hatred of the Jews and Samaritans.

These things happened because the ten tribes of Israel had abandoned Jehovah and had chosen false gods.

Judah had now become more sinful than Israel had been!

Judah had forsaken the Lord Jehovah for a multitude of false gods, yet they still claimed to be the children of God.

It was an insult to God for the people of Israel to neglect God and forget Him. No one acknowledged his kindness, and no one acknowledged His great love He had for them. Today we would say those who backslide away from the Lord.

I said no one, but God always has a remnant who stands by him.

Let’s Begin:

*****Jer 2:4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
Jer 2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

We must first understand that the Lord will only forget those things that He chooses to forget! It should be obvious that as the children of God we are always under His watchful eyes.

These people had broken off their commitment to God!

We should ask ourselves, just what kind of relationship do we have with our Savior? I know the Lord prefers an up close and very personal relationship with each of us.

An atheist denies the existence of God.
An agnostic believes that no one can even really know if there is a God.
If we admit we believe that God exists but we ignore and neglect Him what does that say about us?
If we say we believe God, then maybe we should obey the words He says.

If we came face to face with the Lord today, would He take us on to Heaven with Him or would He reject us as we have rejected Him?

Would He ignore us as we have ignored Him?

When we make a genuine decision to follow the Lord but then pull away, what does that say about our love for Him?

The Lord God Jehovah promises to be faithful to us if we will commit to be faithful to Him.

Our relationship with the Lord must be based on “faith”!

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

If we please the Lord with our faith, then the Lord will please us with His promises and He promise us eternal freedom to be with Him wherever He is!

Unfaithfulness is such a terrible sin that this will be the thought behind the very first message given to Jeremiah by God the Holy Spirit!

2Ti_3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

It behooves each one of us to listen to what God has to say!

How can anyone take a piece of wood and carve out a figure and call it a god with power?
How can anyone take a stone and carve out a figure and think of it as a god with power?
How can anyone take a mold and pour melted silver or gold and say it is now become a god with power?

To put it bluntly, how could an educated people believe such things as this?

How can an educated people look at all that we can see with our eyes and say these things happened by accident?

God says it right, those who believe such things are vain. Vain means worthless.

The Apostle Peter said:

1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

The children of Israel were brought out of Egypt with the power of God and they witnessed powerful wonders that could not be explained other than to say they came from Jehovah God. This was the first time they had met their Savior!

Exo_6:3 And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.

God had made a promise to Abraham and Sarah and God will always keep all His promises!

*****Jer 2:6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

What is wrong with a people who will not concern themselves with the truth, after all the things their forefathers had witnessed of the truth of God.

The wilderness journey of the nation of Israel was the birth of the Nation that God had charged with preserving the Word of God.

As many has 600,000 may have died on the journey, yet as many as 600,000 were also born on this journey, so we could say that the nation of Israel was “born again” as they traveled from the death of Egypt to the life of the Promise land but so many had forgotten the truth of the wilderness journey!

Some Christians do the same today. They forget what they use to be before the Lord broke our chains of captivity to Satan.

They had forgotten that the Lord had warned them that this would happen.

Deu 8:13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
Deu 8:14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;
Deu 8:15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;
Deu 8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;
Deu 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

God had given Israel a land that was to be their own land and it was a plentiful land.

To me it seems that as we get older it is our memories that must sustain us until the Lord takes us home. Here we see a nation who had rejected their own memories and made the present the truth.

We see this same thing happening in our nation today as our history is being erased by those who reject the truth!

We have forgotten the birth of our own nation and the struggles to build our nation into a great nation but now a nation falling because we have forgotten our past and are trying to live in today, which has become very evil!

*****Jer 2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

We should understand that everything we see, and all the land belongs to Jehovah God and He allows us to live on it.

When we defile God’s land then He will deal with us just as He dealt with Israel back in this day of Jeremiah!

We can just imagine that these words of Jeremiah from the Holy Spirit would not go over well with these people, who still felt they were giving God the Glory with their false worship.

The Lord insisted that Jeremiah be obedient, and he would, because he still loved the Lord and He knew these Words of the Lord were true.

In most every case we just feel like we are incapable to do what God ask us to do. I know I have felt this way myself. If we use the Word of God and much less of our own words things will usually be alright.

The truth is, it is always best to submit to the will of God! We are all called to share the Word of God! We must also remember that the Word of God will cut deep to most of those who hear it!

As we study these lessons in the Book of Jeremiah we are looking into the past of Israel. There were many of these Jews in the time of Jesus and in our day that know another promise, that has not yet taken place.

Act 1:6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?
Act 1:7 And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.
Act 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

When we realize that the nation of Israel ruled their own destiny and things would have been much different if they had remained true to the Lord.

We could also say this about our own selves and our own nation, today!

When we do not learn from our mistakes as a people and as a nation, the results will be very similar, but God’s patience will not last forever.

When the Lord says that His heritage has become an abomination, He is not talking so much about the land, it is the people.

*****Jer 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

All those who were set aside to teach the people the Word of God, were themselves worshippers of Baal!

How can we not see a comparison to the church that exists today? Certainly not all but more and more as time passes.

In fact, it is becoming against the law to teach the truth of God and many are pushing this to the limit because they serve sin and the father of all sin Satan, the Devil!

Israel, the nation that had been set apart to serve the Lord, had themselves become a wicked nation.

What is sin? Sin is the departure from God and the truth of God!

We should understand that no matter how evil our leaders, or our church leaders become, we are still responsible for our own relationship with the Lord!

Sin can be described as going from things that are real to depending on things that are unreal and vain!

If our Heavenly Father had some sin within His being, we might have grounds for our sin but in all the years since our creation no sin has been discovered in the Lord!

The priests did not seek the Lord nor call upon Him!
The judges who handled the Laws of Moses did not regard Jehovah God!
The pastors, another word for shepherds, did not pasture the flocks of believers.
The prophets only prophesied of Baal and led the people to false gods!

When we forget and erase our history, we are headed for destruction!

It had been Jehovah God who had set the people of Israel free and brought them to a land of milk and honey.

The leaders of Israel had led the people of Israel in a revolt against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

We live in a land today that is ruled by those who have reprobate minds and our own President is treated has one who is hated by those who reject him in the highest office in the land. Our Congress and Senate has become a place where fools gather to do nothing!

I never knew such foolish people exists as those who are against the laws of the land and the laws of our republic!

What kind of God do we serve? The God of love who will offer chance after chance until He has had enough of our rebellion!

*****Jer 2:9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.

Israel had backslidden several times since leaving Egypt, but they soon returned to Jehovah but this time there was no sign of them returning to the truth of God.

It was the Lord Himself who gave these words to Jeremiah and these charges were brought no only against the parents but also to the children and those children’s children.

Children normally will follow the teaching of the parents and many as we know will follow in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents!

We are never to think that any child will be disciplined by the Lord for the sins of the parent.

Each of us will live or die by our own mistakes in serving the Lord or in not serving the Lord!

What God is saying is that the discipline of this nation would last a long time. We already know that besides being in siege for a period, they would spend 70 years in captivity until the time God brought Cyrus onto the scene.

Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

God will not tolerate this sin for very long!

*****Jer 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

This verse was not part of our lesson but let’s look at it anyway.

Those who are lost who go around switching from one false god to another, only commit one sin and that is the sin of unbelief which will indeed bring their eternal death.

When any Christian forsakes the One True God, they have committed at least two sins.

Once we have been introduced to the Lord then it’s time to make a choice.

We can continue to live in sin or we can accept the truth of God and be gloriously saved!

What we cannot do is claim to follow in the ways of Jesus Christ and remain out in the world, like so many we see today.

Judah currently was still claiming Jehovah, but they were serving Baal. God simply will not allow this!

What did the Lord teach that Samaritan woman at that well in Samaria?

Joh 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

There is nothing in this world, no water, no idol and no false god that can bring eternal life, for these things are only broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We must drink from the living waters that flow from the Lord Jesus Christ!

Those cisterns were used to collect rain water because water was a scarce thing at the time of Jeremiah and these people knew exactly what Jeremiah was talking about because it was the absolute truth.

Isa 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Isa 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

Another Scripture that is not in our lesson verse 21.

*****Jer 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

A noble vine, here is a healthy vine or some would say tree, but it will not show its death in the short term. Some time must pass by before it will be noticed that it is dying. Sometimes it cannot be revived and sometimes it will still produce fruit, but the fruit will not be of good quality, or not even edible.

God says Israel was a noble vine, from the right seed but turned out to be a degenerate plant, a strange looking vine that produced wild grapes as is said in another Scripture.

A so-called believer who does not retain the truth of God and veers from the truth of God will never reach its full potential!

How was Israel described:

Isa 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
Isa 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
Isa 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
Isa 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
Isa 5:6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
Isa 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

We must understand as Christians we must not follow this same path to destruction!

*****Jer 2:26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets,
Jer 2:27 Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

The children of Israel were all in a shameless pursuit of false gods trying to satisfy the lust of their flesh instead of giving themselves over to serve the Lord.

Verse 25 said they had loved strangers(false gods) and after them would they go.

They were in direct denial of Jehovah forgetting the wonders of their escape from Egypt and the miracles in the wilderness.

They had forgotten the great battles where God had fought for them.

They had forgotten the manna from Heaven and the water from the rock.

They had turned their back on God and had turned to animals such as a bull.
They had turned their back on Jehovah and turned to carved stones or carved wood and who knows what they said were now their gods.

They were not even ashamed! Even a thief is ashamed when they get caught but not these Jews, who were not ashamed that they had left the Lord for false things.

They had not been obedient to the Lord and it was Jeremiah who would point out all these things to them jeopardizing his own life, but God would be with him and they could not harm him even if they tried and they did try.

It is hard to imagine those who go back out in the world after they have known the Master, but it happens all the time.

Immorality has proven that it destroys nations throughout history and therefore an attempt to erase our own history continues to take place.

We live in a world that will be happier when us older Christians die off and then they can deal with a younger generation that has been taught lies and not the truth!

They worshipped these idols with the honor due to our Heavenly Father!

What is a backslider? Verse 27 says “they have turned their back unto me and not their face”

How can we call ourselves Christians if we are afraid to come face to face with our Lord and Savior!

They would in fact call upon these things to help them in a time of trouble, but no man-made god can help anyone, and our world today is filled with many man-made gods.

You cannot be a Christian without your Heavenly Father!

Isa 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Isa 64:9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

Until we accept the truth of our Father in Heaven, we will never know our Lord and our Savior!

Joh_6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Joh_10:30 I and my Father are one.

There is no God except the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost! Not three gods but One God in three persons!

*****Jer 2:28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

The Lord in ridicule said, you have more than enough gods, that you made with your own hands, call out to them and see if they can save you.

Even in this day of Jeremiah, it is said that the non-Jews had above 30,000 false gods, that they worshipped. Much more than enough if they had any power which was impossible, for they had no power at all!

Then the Lord said, “wherefore would you plead with Me”.

When we push the One True God away, why then should He help us in our hour of need.

Here in America, The Lord has been removed from and pushed away from us, until something happens such as a Hurricane, or the death of a child, or all the school shootings, then He gets the blame by non-believers.

Why should He stop any of these things in our land when He has been told to leave?

While our nation is so deep in sin and immorality, why would the Lord ever listen to any of our prayers.

He will only listen to the prayers of His children and that one who prays the sinner’s prayer. He will not act on prayers to those who reject Him!

Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Do not come to the Lord or even call upon Him if you are not willing to worship Him and Him only!

*****Jer 2:29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

The Lord does not expect perfection, but He does expect our worship, which means we ask for forgiveness when we know we have failed Him in any way.

2Ch_7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

*****Jer 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

We should understand that with every sin comes the chastisement of God and these people had been chastised repeatedly but it had brought no positive results this time.

They just placed their trust in other people and other nations and other gods.

Remember sometimes they would turn to Egypt for help against the Assyrians.

They would turn to other nations for help when they had the God of their forefathers who had shown Himself invincible to people who trusted Him!

Once a great nation under King David and King Solomon even when he had done wrong he had kept the nation safe from invasion.

The worship of false gods had only brought emptiness, distrust, restlessness and betrayal.

They could not even trust each other.

These things sound familiar to us today!

When they had sinned the prophets of God had preached repentance, but they did not want to hear such things and they killed the prophets of God like lions in search of their prey.

They still thought of themselves as good and decent people, but goodness will never bring salvation!

God had pity on them because He still loved them even though they desired to be free of God and His commandments.

Again, this sounds like the America we live in today.

2Ti_4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti_4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

These people had forsaken Jehovah God!

*****Jer 2:31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
Jer 2:32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

When the Lord speaks through His prophets, He is asked questions from His people, many times that the answer is a simple “No”.

If we have something to ask the Lord, then ask. He already knows what the question is, and He is always the answer!
Just ask, why delay because of shame?

**No, the Lord has never been a wilderness to Israel. We see Israel to day and as Christians we know what God is saying is true, but it was just as true in the time of Jeremiah.

**No, the Lord has never been a land of darkness. The Lord has always been a bright shining light for all people who placed their trust in Him!

We must never treat the Lord like He has left us when He never will leave us.

If we cannot trust the Word of God and the promises He makes, then we are a pathetic people!

When we place ourselves above the god we serve, it should be obvious we have taken on the traits of Satan!

Eze 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

When we take on the traits of Satan then we will suffer with him in the burning lake of fire. “The wages of sin is still death”

Eze 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

What would Judah see for her iniquities?

Eze 28:7 Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

Assyria lay to the North of Judah and had already captured the ten tribes but now Babylon had captured Assyria and it was this powerful nation that God called upon to punish Judah for her sins.

They would be captives throughout Babylon for 70 years.

Why do the guilty always declare their innocence?

*****Jer 2:35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

Just as in America today, people will always try to justify their sinful behavior. Not very many thought they deserved to see the wrath of God.

Again, we see this happening right before our eyes!

We must never forget that any act of sin, no matter how small is enough to be rejected by the Lord if we refuse to repent.

Preaching on repentance is not heard from many of the pulpits today.

When we are short of God’s glory, we are unacceptable to our Holy God!

We must wear the righteousness of His Dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ!

In the day of Jeremiah these people turned everywhere except toward the Lord!

Amen

Let’s Pray!

God’s Mercy Toward Israel

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

God’s Mercy Toward Israel

Book of Isaiah 14

If we study the Book of Isaiah chapters 13-19 we would see beyond any reasonable doubt that Jehovah God is in charge of all the nations of this world. This does not mean that God causes evil governments, it is the people themselves that cause these things to happen.
In the prophecies of Isaiah we see one nation after another receive the rebuke of the Lord for their rebellion against Jehovah God and for their sinful lifestyles.

We see nations that trust in their riches and reject God.

We see nations that trust in their military might and reject God.

The truth is, in the day of God’s “Judgment” none of these things can save them, all these things will be useless! In fact God will “Judge” individuals just as harsh as He will “Judge” these nations!

Remember nations do not end up in Hell, people do!

God is seeking a close personal relationship with each and every individual and then for those individuals to gather together to change this world according to the Word of God.

The hope for salvation lies in “repentance”!

When the Lord returns for the Second Time to set up His Kingdom up upon this Earth, only those who are willing to turn to Him to worship Him alone will escape His final wrath.

The Church will already be in Heaven at this time!

These prophecies of Isaiah were not just for those nations of that day, but are for all people in every age!

Throughout these prophecies God offers the opportunity for salvation but only according to His Word of truth. No one can enter the Kingdom of God by their own personal rules!

The truth is, the Word of God is never bound by time!

Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
 
So let’s begin:

*****Isa 14:1  For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, 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. 

There is nothing confusing about this Scripture! So why is it so rejected by this world we live in?

When the Lord returns to end the “7 years of Tribulation” and the “time of Jacob’s trouble”, He will then have mercy on Jacob.
The name Jacob refers to Jacob “the supplanter” but who would at that time make supplication to the Lord.

Hos 12:2  The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. 
Hos 12:3  He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 
Hos 12:4  Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us; 
Hos 12:5  Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial.

This will take place immediately and during the time, after God has put down the false religion and the false economies of this world:

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 

Isa 21:9  And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground. 

The false religions inspired by Satan have fallen. (Every religion that has rejected Christ and the Word of God)(is fallen)
The false economies and governments inspired by Satan have fallen. (the world Satan used to tempt the Lord Jesus)(is fallen)

Those that choose the Beast and his unholy trinity will be destroyed but those that refuse the Beast and repent will be accepted by the Lord and dwell in the Kingdom of the Lord!

The Jews will return to the Lord:

Zec 2:12  And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 
Zec 2:13  Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. 

Many Gentile nations will repent and join these Jews:

Zec 2:11  And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 

The Church will return from Heaven with the Lord, as He causes these things to happen:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 
Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 
Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Rev 19:16  And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 

And we should notice it is not Israel that will just take over as the head nation of this world, “it is those remaining nations of this world that will put Israel in that place as lead nation of the world!

*****Isa 14:2  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.

Over and over again God has delivered His people from captivity and when the Lord returns they can never be placed in captivity again!

The world that has kept them in captivity will see that they get back home, as did King Cyrus, and Israel will rule over it’s own oppressors, the Gentile world! It’s called “Mercy”!

Deu 7:6  For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. 
Deu 7:7  The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 
Deu 7:8  But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 
Deu 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 
Deu 7:10  And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 

The Lord will always do what He says He will do!

Isa 49:22  Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 
Isa 49:23  And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
Isa 60:14  The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 

And who is behind this complete change of the Gentile nations? It is the LORD! the unchanging “I AM” of the Bible.

*****Isa 14:3  And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, 
Isa 14:4  That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ceased! 
Isa 14:5  The LORD hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers. 

I do not believe there is anyone who can say that they have had no sorrow in their lives.
To the Christian when we know we have unrepented sin in our lives we will always become sorrowful.

The truth is where sin abounds, “grace” much more abounds but is this a license to sin? No, God forbids this!

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: 
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Rom 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 
Rom 6:2  God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 
Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
 
**Even knowing these things, when we feel that sorrow for our sin, we can still feel gratitude knowing that God can and God will and God does forgive our sin!

Many people have sorrow because of physical ailments that seem to interfere with their daily life, myself included.
But as the Lord told the Apostle Paul, “My Grace is sufficient” for all your pain and suffering.

So what is the answer for sorrow? Trust in the Lord!

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. 
Pro 3:8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. 

As we go through these Scriptures we will notice that it seems that this King of Babylon seems to be separated from the rest of mankind!
We will see that he is someone destined for a very distinct “judgment”.

In reality we can understand this person as our oppressor! It can be anyone who has oppressed us in our service to the Lord, but it can also mean that one who has oppressed all God’s people, Satan, the Devil.

The truth of God is this:

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 
1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 
1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 

There are no enemies of God that are ever superior to God’s children!

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What does God teach the children of Israel? Their masters will one day become their slaves! Those that oppress them shall be made to help them!

How can these things take place? Because God will one day break the staff of the wicked and there will be no more evil rulers in fact there will only be the government of God, who will rule in “righteousness”.

In the time of Babylon, God used Cyrus to break the backs of Babylon.

In the near future God will use His own “Ensign”, the Messiah, who will settle all these things.

Psa 125:3  For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 

We know that Satan is that great oppressor but we do not ever have to fear what he may do to us.

Rev 2:10  Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
 
As we will see, this oppressor is filled with pride and arrogance against the Lord and His people.

We also see that this oppressor thrived on riches in his golden city!

*****Isa 14:6  He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hindereth. 

This evil person would strike out at people in anger, with a continual stroke.
This evil person would trod down nations in his wrath and his unrelenting evil.

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 

What does God say? This evil person would be persecuted himself and no one can stop this from happening!

Rev_20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev_20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

It is obvious that this King of Babylon and his golden city is in fact a clear type of Satan and his influence upon this world!

It is also a fact that this passage will apply to anyone who does such things and lives such a wicked and cruel life. In fact all such things will come to an end at the return of the Messiah!

Rev 14:8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 

This is the only time when the whole world will be at rest!

*****Isa 14:7  The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing. 
Isa 14:8  Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. 

There are many singers in our world today singing their own songs and the songs of others but when old Satan is cast into the “Burning Lake of Fire” the world that remains will break forth into singing in joy.

In fact, Isaiah loves this idea so much, that he includes it many more times.

Isa 44:23  Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel. 

Isa 49:13  Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. 

Isa 54:1  Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD. 

Isa 55:12  For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 

This world we live in now will go through a complete change!

All the foreign invaders and oppressors who entered Palestine desired to have the trees of Lebanon, until they are practically destroyed but even these trees will rejoice because there will never be another taken down when the Messiah set’s up His kingdom on this earth!

There will also be no nations anywhere that will ever have to succumb to foreign invasion.

*****Isa 14:9  Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 
Isa 14:10  All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 

It is impossible that there can be any happiness in Hell, but when old Satan is cast into Hell there will be many already there that will be stirred to know that he also did not escape the wrath of God.

It is a fact that those in Hell already are all believers but there is no escape from that turmoil! They cannot be prayed out of Hell nor can they be bought out of Hell!

They will still get the opportunity at the White Throne Judgment to defend themselves but the Lord will not find their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life and they will suffer their eternal fate knowing that even Lucifer was not able to escape.

Rev_19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

Rev_20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Rev_20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev_20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

We must keep in mind Satan is just a creation of God, who has fallen from God’s “Grace”. He holds no power over God!

God has just allowed or it should be said, God has used Satan to prove to all what is good and what is evil and what He expects from His creations.

It was pride that brought the downfall of this created creature of God!

*****Isa 14:11  Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 
Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 
Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine 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: 
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. 

We can see that in fact, King Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon was in fact a type of Satan but these Scriptures refer to Satan, the Beast of the Book of Revelation and not Belshazzar.

“In his own”, mind Satan is the most wonderful and most beautiful of all God’s creations. God did create Satan in perfect but he also had the freedom of choice. Adam was also created in perfection with the freedom of choice.

The truth is, each and everyone of God’s creations were made with a specific purpose in mind and Satan was just a failure and God tossed him out of Heaven to make use of him on earth.

Only those who remain perfect can abide in Heaven! Thank God for His “Grace”!

The Lord Jesus was also a witness to this event:

Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 

In the end, Satan will be cast out of this world also and into the Burning Lake of Fire:

Joh 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. 

Satan will also face God at the “Judgment”:

Joh 16:11  Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. 

Why did God really pour Himself into the flesh of Jesus Christ?

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 

Pride was Satan’s downfall!

The noise of his viols is what Satan uses to entice our children. This is a reference to music. Secular music and music of praise to the Lord are two entirely different things!

Satan can only bring death, those worms are reference to the “maggot”.
No doubt the thought of the grave brings the thought of corruption and Satan is the most corrupt of all God’s creation. Those maggots will not only be spread under Satan but they will cover him. He who walked upon the luxuries of this earth will then be the uttermost of filth.

All Satan has accomplished is to bring weakness to the nations in sin and filth!

Why will these things happen? Because Satan feels in his heart that he should be more exalted than the Lord God!

It is a fact that the angels are aware that God will exalt the humans above the angels in the near future and this does not sit well with Lucifer who exalts his own self above our Holy Father.

What does God say to us?

Pro 16:18  Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

How has this affected the world of the rich and powerful?

Rev 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 

What is the truth of Satan and his works?

Satan will go to Hell. He will humbled to a miserable life for eternity!

The sides of the pit of Hell are the most dismal part of the darkness of Hell!

Ezekiel wrote:

Eze 28:8  They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. 
Eze 28:9  Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. 

The only thing Satan has had going for himself these thousands of years since his creation is, the fact of his denial. Even today the existence of Satan is denied.

Satan will not show himself until he appears as the Antichrist during the seven years of Tribulation when he will have a taste of victory that is short lived!

The truth is he will be exposed for what he is, “nothing but trouble”!

*****Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms”; 
Isa 14:17  That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners? 

Satan will be observed as being dead and many will look upon him. Some will look to make sure he is dead and others will look upon him in unbelief that he did not have the power he so boasted of, but all will fear the Lord who has done this thing!

Psa 64:9  And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing. 
Psa 64:10  The righteous shall be glad in the LORD, and shall trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

The truth will be out, the thing that Satan has tried to accomplish is to destroy God’s creation! The world is just too blind to see the truth!

Satan has blinded mankind with power and riches knowing these things only lead to destruction!
Satan has hindered the work of the Lord.
Satan has made many Christians useless in the work of the Lord.
Satan has caused his evil to reach into all the high places of governments and commercialism.

We need to remember our battle is not with each other or with any human, our battle has always been against the work of Satan!

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Satan is none other than a liar and a deceiver and those that worship him are just as bad!

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. 

Even most evil people are buried today but Satan will not be honored in any such manner.

*****Isa 14:18  All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house. 
Isa 14:19  But thou art cast out of thy 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 carcase trodden under feet. 
Isa 14:20  Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned. 

No doubt King Belshazzar was denied an honorable burial!
A mausoleum may have been prepared but it was not used, in fact his dead body just lay unburied.

In fact he was treated somewhat like Queen Jezebel when she was trodden down by the chariot of Jehu!

As we study the 7 years of Tribulation, we know of 3 and one half years when the Anti-Christ will be exalted and then the last 3 and one half years, (The Great Tribulation), when he will bring ruin to this world.

Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

All of King Belshazzar descendants were destroyed so it is very unlikely that there have ever been any descendants of Nebuchadnezzar as some have claimed.

In truth all those who have worshipped Satan, the Beast, will be slaughtered!

*****Isa 14:21  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. 
Isa 14:22  For I will rise up against them, saith the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, saith the LORD. 
Isa 14:23  I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the besom of destruction, saith the LORD of hosts. 

The offspring of Satan will never be mentioned again after this time.
The world that Satan has inspired will be totally destroyed.
The false religions that come about because of Satan’s influence will also be destroyed.

The truth is, the old city of Babylon did indeed become a desolate place.
The city of Babylon that exist now is in a different location and has never reached the fame of the old city and it never will.
The old city of Babylon is now a marsh with the remnants of some old buildings.

The truth is, the Lord Jesus Christ has already destroyed the power of Satan, the Devil.

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 

The Lord did this at the Cross on Golgotha’s hill!

What does Satan use to bring people into bondage?

Greed, Pride, Smoking, Drinking, abusing Drugs, Profanity, Illicit sex of all kinds, Sensual pleasures, Fleshy Passions, Shoplifting, and Theft, Laziness, Indifference, and Overindulgence, just to mention a few.

Because the Lord Jesus came the First Time to die for our sins, “all” these things can be forgiven!

The one thing that cannot be forgiven, is to not believe on the work that Jesus Christ has already done to release us from Satan’s bondage!

Those that believe that the Lord Jesus can be a Savior but not be a Destroyer do not read the Scriptures!

If the works of Satan are not destroyed then “God’s Mercy” cannot be accomplished!
This is why we live in God’s time of “Grace” today to allow time for us all to decide.

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 

Those that refuse to “come to repentance” will suffer the fate of Satan!

When the Lord returns the Second Time He will destroy the works of the Satan, the Devil.

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 

*****Isa 14:27  For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? 

There is not one who can turn back the hand of God!

We can choose to believe God or to believe Satan.

It’s called making a choice, I have made my choice already.

I choose Christ!

Questions?

Let’s Pray!