Jer 2:20-28 See Your Way… Know What You Have Done

[Study Aired January 3, 2021]

Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
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?
Jer 2:22  For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
Jer 2:23  How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
Jer 2:24  A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
Jer 2:25  Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
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.
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.

Our deliverance comes to us only after we have been carried away into Babylon.

Mic 4:10  Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

The Lord’s people all “come out of [Babylon]”:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Now let us pay very close attention to what the Lord tells us about the plagues with which He judges Babylon the Great within each of us:

Rev 14:6  And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Rev 14:7  Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
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:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

The worship of the beast and the dragon, which is common to “all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond” (Rev 13:4 and 16), mentioned in Revelation 14:9, is the “drinking the wine of the wrath of her fornication” of verse 8.

Then in Revelation 15 we read:

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

There it is! We are plainly told, “No man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.” Revelation 15:8 is in the aorist tense, which accords with how Revelation 14 defines all the suffering which accompanies the fulfilling of the seven plagues:

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus [“Keep the saying of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 1:3)].

Chapter 16 explains to us that those who fulfill the seven plagues of the seven angels must keep these verses:

Rev 16:17  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Rev 16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

If the fulfilling of the seven last plagues is the judgment of Babylon within us, why are we then told:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

The only reason anyone comes out of Babylon is because they have already been chastened and scourged by the “seven last plagues of the wrath of God”. No one can enter the temple of God in heaven until those plagues begin to be fulfilled in their lives:

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So why are we told:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

There are two purposes being accomplished at the same time with this apparent contradiction. The same thing is true of all the apparent contradictions in scripture. The first purpose which is being accomplished is that all the seeming contradictions in scripture give our old man the occasion he is seeking to discredit the Word of God. The second purpose which is being accomplished within those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear is that we are suffering with the world, now “in this present time”. We are being judged in “this present time” so “that we should not be judged with the world” in the lake of fire at “the resurrection to judgment”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [suffering the seven last plagues now in this age] are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

Therefore, the reason we are told to ‘come out of her that we partake not of her plagues’ is the same as telling us that those on the sea of glass mingled with fire have not worshiped the beast or his image or the number of his name:

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

There is no man “small or great, rich or poor, free or bond” who has not worshiped the beast. The point being made in Revelation 20:4 is that those who will rule with Christ a thousand years are those who “overcame the beast, his image, his mark, and the number of his name”.

Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

That is also the message of this prophecy of Jeremiah. We have all very much indeed committed spiritual fornication against our spiritual husband, and we have forsaken Him and “played the harlot” with those who are no gods.

Jer 2:20  For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

The Lord knows those who are His, and He will not lose one of us. The outward odds mean nothing to the Lord as the story of Korah and company demonstrates:

Num 16:1  Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men:
Num 16:2  And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3  And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?
Num 16:4  And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face:
Num 16:5  And he spake unto Korah and unto all his company, saying, Even to morrow the LORD will shew who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him: even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him.
Num 16:6  This do; Take you censers, Korah, and all his company;
Num 16:7  And put fire therein, and put incense in them before the LORD to morrow: and it shall be that the man whom the LORD doth choose, he shall be holy: ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi.

Joh 17:12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Joh 18:9  That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2Ti 2:16  But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.
2Ti 2:17  And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
2Ti 2:18  Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.
2Ti 2:19  Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

If the statement, “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance” applies to His rejected anointed, how much more must they also apply to His “very elect”.

Moses and Aaron were rejected by “all the congregation of the children of Israel”:

Num 16:41  But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

It was not just Hymenaeus and Philetus who rejected Paul; it was “all they in Asia… the seven churches of Asia”:

2Ti 1:15  This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

Rev 1:4  John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Rev 2:14  But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
Rev 2:15  So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Rev 2:20  Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

Rev 3:1  And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.

Rev 3:15  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16  So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

“All they in Asia” forsook Paul, and the revelation of Jesus Christ is addressed to these “seven churches of Asia”. Clearly the apostles had their own ‘Korah and company’ experience.

The New Testament apostasy was completed before the death of the apostles. The apostle John reveals that the apostates were already very powerful within the church:

3Jn 1:9  I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
3Jn 1:10  Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.

All the Lord’s prophets have always been rejected of those who claim to be His people. Each of us have listened to Korah and Diotrephes in our own time. That is why in the past we put the words of the teachers and preachers of Babylon above the words of the Lord. The Lord had “caused us to err from His ways and hardened our hearts from His fear” just as He had done to Korah, Hymenaeus and Philetus and Diotrephes before us. The Lord Himself is the one who gave us eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear so He would have the occasion to say this of us:

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?
Jer 2:22  For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Despite what the Lord has done for us, we take His love for us for granted, and we really do develop this Laodicean spirit:

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: This is the same mind which the great whore has when she declares:

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.

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:

The Lord is judging us in this present time. He judges us by making us judge ourselves. The life we now live in the flesh is Christ living within us and judging us. That is why Paul can say that ‘if we would judge ourselves in this present time, we will not be condemned with the world’ to the “resurrection of [the great white throne] judgment” (Rev 20:11):

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. [Greek: ‘krisis’, judgment]

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Co 11:31  For if we [“Christ in us”] would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world [To the white throne judgment (Rev 20:11)].

We are not responsible for the Lord “making us to err from His ways”, but just as He did with Job,  He will have us give an account of what He has had us do in these vessels of clay. That is the very definition of being judged. Being judged is being made to know who we are and confessing what we have done.

So, the Lord asks us:

Jer 2:23  How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

It was painful and humiliating for Job to be brought face to face with the realization that he was so self-righteous that he had been reproving, contending with, and disannulling the judgment of his own Maker. It was painful having to confess that he had been condemning the Lord to make himself appear righteous:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Was all this someone other than Job? No! How absurd to even suggest such a thing. However, it was in type and shadow, a dying Job who was, in type and shadow, being transformed into a new Job as his old Job died day by day.

Peter tells us of all the benefits of suffering all the pains of dying daily and being judged in this age:

1Pe 4:1  Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

“Hath suffered” is in the aorist tense. Therefore, Peter is letting us know he is speaking of an ongoing process of being renewed daily in the mind of Christ and dying daily to the mind of our old man.

Peter continues speaking in the aorist tense:

1Pe 4:2  That he no longer should live [aorist tense] the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.
1Pe 4:3  For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

To whom are all these evils attributed? Was it someone else who “wrought the will of the Gentiles,…walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries? No, it was you and me in “the time past of our life” who committed all these evils; if not physically, then we did so spiritually because we need not be a physical murderer to be a spiritual murderer in the Lord’s eyes:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Peter is given to know that the Lord has devised means so the Lord’s creatures will not forever remain banished from Him, thus He informs us:

1Pe 4:5  Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead.
1Pe 4:6  For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

“Them that are dead” refers not just to those who lived before Christ. This phrase “are dead” refers to every one of us when we first come to Christ, as Paul makes clear in:

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.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

In this sense we are all “twice dead” and the entire kingdom our old man is being, in the aorist tense, “plucked up by the roots”, gathered into bundles to be burnt at the time of harvest:

Mat 13:24  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest whil ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

When is “the time of the harvest”? This is what and when the Lord considers the harvest to be taking place:

Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

The word translated ‘world’ in this verse is the Greek word ‘aion’. So now all we must know is what and when does the Lord consider the ends of the aions (ages) to be upon us?

Here is the answer to that question:

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.

The word ‘world’ in this verse is also ‘aion’ and the words ‘are come’ are in the aorist tense, which always indicates an ongoing process. In this case it is the process of judgment which is even now begun upon the house of God (1Pe 4:17). Here is another verse which concerns these same ‘tares’ among us:

Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead [aorist tense], plucked up by the roots [aorist tense];

Inwardly our false doctrines are “spots in [our] feast of charity”. Outwardly these ‘spots’ become apostate brothers and sisters who simply are not given in this age to abide in the words of Christ:

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue [Greek: ‘meno’ abide, remain] in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

It is Christ Himself who tells us that we are even now in the time of the harvest:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
Mat 13:39  The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world [Greek: ‘aion’, age]; and the reapers are the angels.
Mat 13:40  As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
Mat 13:41  The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
Mat 13:42  And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 13:43  Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Here is how Paul says “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father”:

1Co 11:19  For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Peter confirms Paul’s assertion that the ends of the ages are even now come upon us:

1Pe 4:7  But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.
1Pe 4:8  And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
1Pe 4:9  Use hospitality one to another without grudging.
1Pe 4:10  As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
1Pe 4:11  If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

It is Peter, right here in this chapter, who is given to state so clearly that if we are the Lord’s elect, then we are being judged in this life for being made by the “Lord [to] err from His ways”:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and [you] hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It is through the humiliation of judgment that the Lord is in the process of “returning… the tribes of His inheritance”:

Rev 7:1  And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev 7:2  And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev 7:3  Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Rev 7:4  And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

“The tribes of the children of Israel” are now explained clearly in scripture as those who “are the children of faith… the children of promise”:

Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

Gal 3:26  For ye [Gentile Galatians] are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Gal 4:28  Now we [Gentile Galatians], brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWT)

Before any of us can be “returned… the tribes of [our] inheritance” it is the Lord who has determined that we must first be “the old man” whom He has determined to destroy. It is by His design that He has devised means that His banished should be restored to Him:

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

Why would the Lord want His banished to return to Him? The answer to that question is that while our old man must die, it is through the death of our old man that our new man is being created and birthed. He is no longer the old Mike Vinson, but he is still Mike Vinson. You can insert your name for mine if Christ has given you to understand how the beast within the old man can die and no longer be, and yet be the four beasts in the midst of and around the throne of God saying this of Christ and His ways:

Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10  And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

Rev 17:7  And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

You and I are this beast that was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. It is through our perdition that we become the four beasts around the throne of God, redeemed from all men to rule and reign with Christ.  Christ within us makes this happen:

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure [the face of Jesus Christ] in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

The “wise woman [of] Tekoa” hinted of this great mystery when she succeeded in convincing King David to bring his murderous son, Absalom, back to Jerusalem (2Sa 14). Christ Himself added to the depth and extent of how He will restore His banished to Himself when He gave his first recorded teaching in His hometown of Nazareth:

Luk 4:24  And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Luk 4:25  But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
Luk 4:26  But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luk 4:27  And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

While we are still in Babylon and first hear of the Truth of the salvation of all sinners, this is also our own reaction:

Luk 4:28  And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
Luk 4:29  And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Luk 4:30  But he passing through the midst of them went his way,

The Lord alone can call “light out of [the] darkness” within each of us. Only He can destroy our old man and through that death bring forth a new man who is completed and is truly in His image. This is the mystery which has been hidden from every generation of men before the death and resurrection of Christ:

Col 1:22  In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Heb 2:14  Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

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:

It is Christ who “through death” is causing us to repent of the sins of our old man, and through the daily death of our old man He is making us into a new man. We are not to think of the death of our old man as being the death of someone else. The Lord wants us to see ourselves as a “swift dromedary [and] a wild ass… in her occasion [breeding with] all who seek her”:

Jer 2:24  A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

In our rebellions and our trespasses the Lord calls us to be shod with shoes and to be relieved of the thirst we bring upon ourselves when we refuse His living waters:

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.

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

The Lord wants us to see what our natural response is to His initial offers of relief from our trials:

Jer 2:25  Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

There it is! We literally come to see how hopeless our predicament is and yet, shameful as it is, we realize that there is nothing we can to change ourselves.

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,

Our own shame is not enough to make us change our nature and our ways. It takes divine intervention, “through much tribulation (Act 14:22) [and] fiery trials” (1Pe 4:12) to drag us, kicking and screaming against the will of our flesh to be given a new will and a renewed desire to please our true Husband, our true Lord.

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.

Inwardly, giving “a stock… and… a stone” credit for our being here is speaking of our false doctrines. Outwardly it is things like the ridiculous, unreasonable, unscientific, and stupid theory of evolution, which maintains that complexity and order came out of nothing which became something and then blew up and became this entire complex creation.

When the Lord does finally crush the rebellious will of our old man, then, and not until that fiery, stormy experience has begun to be fulfilled, will He begin to deliver us and bring us closer to Himself than we have ever before been, and only then will we begin to know the peace which only He can give:

Joh 14:27  Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Oh, sweet peace! Nothing can compare to a mind which is at peace with God, but that peace comes only through “great tribulations”:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

When the Lord’s fiery trials and storms in our heavens bring us to “[our] wit’s end”, we will then begin to be given the strength to confess our own sins, forgive the sins of our brothers, and acknowledge that the god of our supposed ‘free will’ was and is powerless to deliver us from the dying predicament in which we are now able to see is the fate of our old man. We come to acknowledge “There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go… so [we are] ashamed”, What misery! At that point we are living in a world which is full of fear and total despair and torment. The Lord Himself is laughing at us and taunting us:

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.

Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

Those “gods… according to the number of your cities” in New Testament terms are “two hundred thousand thousand”. They are two hundred million false doctrines which are so many and so dense that they hide the light of The Sun:

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Rev 9:16  And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.

Joh 3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

“The dream is one” and “according to the number of thy cities are thy gods” is the same message as telling us we are doing battle with two hundred million false doctrines which are blotting out from us the light of the Sun.

Our ‘gods’ are our false doctrines which will not save us. The false doctrine of a triune God and a triune man with a will which is free from any influence from his Maker does not change these Biblical Truths:

1Co 8:6  But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1Co 15:16  For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
1Co 15:17  And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.
1Co 15:18  Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

A resurrection from death is required to save us from “perishing”. The dead are dead and will remain so until a resurrection takes place. It is the Lord Himself who has and is bringing us to the point that we can agree with King David:

Psa 91:2  I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
Psa 91:3  Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.
Psa 91:4  He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.
Psa 91:5  Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;
Psa 91:6  Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

That is our study for today. In the resurrection we are still referred to as ‘four beasts’ in and around the throne of God, because the Lord wants us to ever remember from whence He has saved us.

Here are our verses for our next revelation of the pit of the hole from which we are digged:

Jer 2:29  Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
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.
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.
Jer 2:33  Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
Jer 2:34  Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
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.
Jer 2:36  Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
Jer 2:37  Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.