THE
(Matthew
11:12)
(http://spiritualbiblestudies.com)
It is always a
delightful thrill each time we uncover another of God’s scriptural definitions;
for we once read and attempted to understand scripture on an equal footing with
our own earthly language. Even now we
barely begin to read scripture before we are subconsciously inserting much of
our own language and thoughts into each verse without giving it more
consideration. God does have a specific meaning
for everything that is taught throughout the Old and New Testaments. Today we merely see through a glass darkly;
and know in part, as 1 Corinthians 13:12 reveals. Not until we reach the other side - the
eternal and heavenly
Specific words
given in scripture might have a spiritual and heavenly meaning, but this is not
to say that the word in question does not retain its earthly meaning. God has revealed several layers of
interpretation or fulfillment throughout His Word. How do we know what is strictly an earthly
fulfillment, as opposed to both an earthly and spiritual fulfillment? And what about a spiritual only
fulfillment? Once again we go back to Christ’s
command found in John 5:39: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think
ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” Again we read a similar statement from Acts
17:11: “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.”
Therefore if we truly have the desire to know these eternal truths, we
must have an ongoing love for God’s Word; eagerly searching out every question
we may have or every passage that we desire to know more about.
VIOLENCE OF THE OLD WORLD -
The old world, as
it was called prior to the great flood, was destroyed by God for one reason -
due to the violence that filled the
earth.
Genesis 6:5 - And GOD saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil
continually.
Genesis 6:11 - ¶The earth also was corrupt before
God, and the earth was filled with violence.
Genesis 6:12 - And God looked upon the earth, and,
behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Genesis 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of
all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold,
I will destroy them with the earth.
The thoughts of man
were evil continually;
mankind had corrupted
“God’s way,” thus the earth was
filled with violence. God’s way is the same way today with the
exception that we are no longer under the Old Testament Law. It was and still is Christ’s “Way”. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” John 14:6. God tells us that the earth was filled with
violence during those times. Can we
assume that the earth was filled with actual physical violence? That is most likely a good assumption;
however it would also appear that God is teaching more than corruption through physical
violence. We just read that there were
three specific causes that prompted God to destroy the old world. These three causes were: (1) Man’s thoughts
were evil continually. (2) Man
had corrupted God’s way. (3) The
earth was filled with violence.
The third cause is the result of the first two - man’s evil heart (1)
had corrupted God’s way (2), resulting in (3) the earth being filled with
violence. As we read of violence throughout
scripture, we should keep a footnote in the back of our minds that violence in
scripture can (at times) be defining man’s spiritual (and not physical)
disobedience to God; for a clean heart will result in a clean physical
life. Thus the word violence is not necessarily
being defined as man’s physical violence toward man or the things of God, but
being seemingly more in aligned with scripture, violence can be defined as anything that goes contrary to the Word
of God.
Matthew 11:12 - And from the days
of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take
it by force.
Yes, of course we
know that the Old Testament is full of violent attacks against
Matthew 11:12-15 -
12
- And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it by force.
[John the Baptist
appeared shortly before Christ began His ministry of proclaiming Himself as the
long awaited Messiah. Verse 12 tells us
that from the “days of John the Baptist” until “now” the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence. Certainly one
must confess that this length of time is actually a relatively short span of
time in the overall scheme of things.
But is this really what scripture is teaching?
“In the days of
John the Baptist” is a phrase addressing those days of his proclaiming
“the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why
would God put this statement into His Word since it appears that He is speaking
of a short span of time from the days of John’s public proclamations until Christ
began His main ministry? What time frame
in history is this meant to convey? It
is simply the time when Christ was proclaiming the Kingdom of God, which was
shortly after John the Baptist announced Him in the desert as we read
here: “The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world,” John 1:29.
Yes, from the time
of John until the time that Christ began to preach His arrival as Messiah, the
kingdom suffered violence and the violent take it by force, Matthew 11:12. But can this short period of time be what God
is alluding to? Certainly not. Let us
continue:]
13
- For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
[John the Baptist
was the last of the Old Testament prophets. The Old Testament prophets and the Old
Testament law prophesied of the coming of Christ and they ceased at the time of
John the Baptist - (For all
the prophets and the law prophesied until
John, verse 13). John the Baptist was
certainly the last of those Old Testament prophets who prophesied of the Christ
to come. In understanding this, how do
we now deal with the time span from John the Baptist until Christ? We do so by looking at the next two verses.]
14
- And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
[IF we will receive it, God
instructs. This means that not everyone
who reads this verse will understand it.
If we will receive it, this John the Baptist is Elias (Elijah) which is
to come. What is God telling us? He is pointing us back to the Book of
Malachi.
Malachi 3:1 - Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye
delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:1 refers
to the coming of John the Baptist to prepare the way of Christ. This is confirmed in Matthew 11:10 -“For this is he, of whom it is written,
Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way
before thee.”
[The following
verse again urges us to understand. Only
those with spiritual ears will understand.]
15
- He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
[Where is all of
this leading us and what are we saying?
Simply this: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the
kingdom of heaven suffereth violence,
and the violent take it be force (Matthew 11:12).” John the Baptist was the final Old Testament
prophet: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John (Matthew
11:13). Therefore it is believed that
the “days” of John the
Baptist in fact encompasses the entire Old Testament history with all of its
prophets and law. The
OLD TESTAMENT VIOLENCE -
2 Samuel 22:3 - The God of my rock; in him will I
trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my
refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.
God (Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit) is our rock; our shield, our horn of salvation, our high
tower, our refuge, and our Savior. He
saves us from violence! But weren’t we taught that God saves us from
our sins and thus ultimately from hell?
Besides, Jesus tells us not to fear those who can kill the body. Isn’t that violence?
Matthew 10:28 - And fear not them which kill the
body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able
to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Luke 12:4 - And I say unto you my friends, Be
not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they
can do.
Throughout the
Church Age countless Christians have been violently slaughtered, to put it
mildly. This doesn’t mean that one can’t
be spared from a violent situation but the ultimate and biblical understanding
is in the spiritual interpretation. The
Old Testament word that is translated “violence”
is very interesting when we discover how it is translated. For example, in Deuteronomy 19:16-17 we read:
16
- If a false witness rise up
against any man to testify against him that which is wrong;
17
- Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before
the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;
The word false in verse 16 is defined in
the Hebrew not only as false, but is translated many more times as violence. It is number 2555 in Strong’s Hebrew and is
defined as: Violence, by implication wrong, by metonymy unjust
gain: - cruel (-ty), damage, false, injustice,
X oppressor, unrighteous, violence (against, done), violent
(dealing), wrong.
So then, a false
witness is one who wrongs or seemingly damages God’s Word through
unrighteousness, injustice and ultimately one who does spiritual violence
to God’s Word.
We read a similar
verse in Psalm 35:11:
11
- False witnesses did
rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
[Again, this word
translated as false is translated many more times as violence.]
When we look to Psalms 140:1 we read:
“>>To the
chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil
man: preserve me from the violent
[same word as violence] man;
We know that David
was most certainly a spiritual man and as such was more concerned with his
spiritual standing with God rather than his physical safety from violent men. Yet we read of him asking God to deliver him
from evil and violent men. Of
course these are they who would desire to pervert David’s faith in God; those
who would do violence to his faith. We are not taking away any of the physical
protection that God gave unto David, for there was certainly much in that
respect. God delivered David from all of
his enemies in a real literal sense. As
King David was a type or a foreshadow of Christ, in that he ruled over all of
Israel, we might wonder as to why God allowed so much physical violence during
Old Testament days. Might that too be a
portrait of spiritual things to come?
That is to say may we consider the possibility that perhaps the wars and
bloody battles of those days did have a highly spiritual fulfillment in
view? Could they have mirrored future
battles of more importance; ones that would see the ultimate
Psalm 72:14 tells us: “He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their
blood be in his sight.”
Christ is our great
Redeemer and only He can save us from our sins which begin at conception. This unbelief is nurtured with false
doctrines (deceit) coupled with more false beliefs; all of which do violence to
the precious doctrines of salvation.
Notice in the above verse that violence is joined in the same thought
with deceit, which tells us it is most likely spiritual in nature. With all of this being said, we want to take a
brief and partial look at the context in which the word violence is used.
THE WORD “VIOLENCE” AS IT
PERTAINS TO SPIRITUAL DECAY -
Proverbs 4:17 - For they eat the bread of
wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
Let us recall John
6:53: “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you.” Of course
Christ was referring to His doctrines of salvation in stating this. Not only do we observe communion by drinking
the wine and the eating of bread in remembrance of Christ, but in doctrine we
must eat his flesh and drink his blood, symbolically speaking.
1 Corinthians 11:25-26:
25 -
After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This
cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it,
in remembrance of me.
26
- For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye
do shew the Lord's death till he come.
When the above
verse of Proverbs states “they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine
of violence” we know it is referring to those who worship false gods and
practice false religions. Their bread
and their drink are not of Christ, and as such the result is that they are
eating (or practicing) a false and wicked religion. They are drinking or (practicing) a false
religion; metaphorically seen by God as not drinking the blood of Christ, but
rather drinking the blood (wine) of violence. Yes, it’s a false god and a false doctrine
that these unsaved are drinking from. We
see this same truth brought forth in the following verse:
Isaiah 4:1 - ¶And in that day seven women shall
take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our
own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.
We have the same
situation here, only in a slightly different variation. They worship a false god (eating their own
bread instead of the bread of Christ) and wearing their own apparel (rather
than being robed with the righteousness of Christ). These are the most deceptive anti-Christian forces
on the earth because they say “only let us be called by they name, to take
away our reproach.” Yes, they are in
the corporate church but clearly have their own gospel while desiring to be
called Christians. At the same time
their hearts are far from Christ. They
do not want Christ as their savior, rather they desire to have their own way of
righteousness (own bread). They too are
doing much violence to the true Word
of God.
Blessings are upon the head
of the just: but violence
covereth the mouth of the wicked.
(Proverbs 10:6)
When scripture
speaks of a mouth in general, we often find that it suggests more than a mere
mouth. A mouth can frequently symbolize
one’s words that come out of the mouth. As
an example, consider the following verses:
Matthew 15:11 - Not that which goeth into the mouth
defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Matthew 15:18 - But those things which proceed out
of the mouth come forth from
the heart; and they defile the man.
Luke 1:68-70 -
68
- Blessed be the Lord God of
69
- And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his
servant David;
70
- As he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began:
Many times
throughout scripture we find that the mouth will represent either God’s truth
or man’s lies. Christ tells us in Luke
21:15 that He will give us a mouth and wisdom, which all of our adversaries
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.
Acts 3:18 - But those things, which God before
had shewed by the mouth of
all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Romans 10:9 - That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 15:6 - That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 8:7 - For my mouth shall speak truth; and wickedness is an abomination
to my lips.
Psalms 40:3 - And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our
God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.
And he made his grave with
the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit
in his mouth. (Isaiah 53:9)
Isaiah 53:9 is a
prophecy of Christ - as is the entire chapter - that speaks of Him being taken
to the cross to atone for the sins of His people. Why was Christ crucified? Of course we know that He was crucified to
give eternal life to all whom He plans to save.
But, in the eyes of the world at that particular time we ask, why was
Christ crucified? The Romans found no
fault against Him but crucified Him to appease the Jewish community. Note:
It was God’s will to have Christ (the second Person of the holy Godhead)
crucified. We do not blame the physical
Jewish people for His crucifixion because it was in line with God’s plan of
salvation. Unsaved man crucified Christ,
NOT the Jewish race per se. The point
that is being made here is the fact that Christ was crucified NOT because He
was accused of being a thief or a criminal in any physical sense, but He was
crucified because of His spiritual accusations (religion as it would be
interpreted in the eyes of the world).
He was accused by the Jewish council of blaspheming God and was
therefore crucified; however He was crucified because secretly He was a threat
to the Jewish religion. Once again, what
is Isaiah 53:9 telling us? “And he made
his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no
violence, neither was any
deceit in his mouth.” Christ did no violence, neither was there
any deceit in His mouth. Are we to
understand this as saying He was crucified even though He never committed any physical
violence? Of course Christ never committed any
physical violence - He was God in the flesh.
But notice once more that the word violence is closely associated
with the word deceit in this verse.
The two go hand in hand and carry the same meanings. (1)
He had done no spiritual violence and (2) there was no spiritual deceit (false religious beliefs)
in His mouth. Christ was accused of and
crucified for doing violence to God’s Word.
Christ was and is God, and He had done no violence, neither was any
deceit in his mouth.
1 Peter 2:21-22:
21
- For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us,
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
22
- Who did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth:
Christ’s words were
never violence against the truth; for Christ is the Word of God, John
1:14. We can continue filling up pages
of verses that speak of God’s truth as coming from the mouth of Christ and from
the mouths of His Elect. Now, let
us look to the other side of this subject and briefly examine how the mouth is
the source of spiritual violence and wickedness.
The mouth of a righteous
man is a well of life: but violence
covereth the mouth of the
wicked.
(Proverbs 10:11)
Proverbs 13:2 - A man shall eat good by the fruit of
his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
_______________________________________________________________________
We find many times
in scripture that the word eat has a highly spiritual connotation to
it. A few brief examples are:
Psalms 53:4 - Have the
workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat
up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Proverbs 1:31 - Therefore
shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Proverbs 23:6 - ¶Eat thou not the bread of him
that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
Isaiah 7:15 - Butter
and honey shall he eat, that
he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isaiah 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.
Revelation 2:7 - He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him
that overcometh will I give to eat
of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:17 - He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that
overcometh will I give to eat
of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a
new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
____________________________________________________________________
Returning
to our search on the word mouth
as it is used in underscoring man’s wickedness, we have a partial list of
references:
Job 15:5 - For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the
tongue of the crafty.
Job 16:10 - They
have gaped upon me with their mouth;
they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered
themselves together against me.
Job 20:12-13 - Though
wickedness be sweet in his mouth,
though he hide it under his tongue; Though
he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
Psalms 10:7 - His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue
is mischief and vanity.
Psalms 50:19 - Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue
frameth deceit.
Psalms 55:21 - The words of his mouth were smoother than butter,
but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn
swords.
Proverbs 15:14 - ¶The heart of him that hath
understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.
Revelation 16:13 - And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth
of the dragon, and out of the mouth
of the beast, and out of the mouth
of the false prophet.
Revelation 13:5 - And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Revelation 13:6 - And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to
blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
We can again fill
many pages with verses that speak of the mouth as being either for God or
against God. This indeed confirms the
word of Christ in Matthew 12:30 as He states: “He that is not with me is
against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” There certainly is no silly unification of
all “religions” with the true God. In
today’s world the God of Creation - the One who breathes life into all of the
world’s Christ-hating people - is accused of discrimination because he says:
“Neither is there
salvation in any other: for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved,”
(Acts 4:12).
The next step that
this Twenty-First Century World Order will undertake is to place the Christ of
the organized church on equal status with all of the world’s false gods and
prophets. Before long true Christianity
will be viewed, and already is by many, as one of numerous “cults” that
propagate hate and religious dissension.
True Christianity will not be tolerated in much the same fashion that
extreme or radical Islam is not tolerated by the Western World today. In short, the world will throw out the baby
with the bath water.
The LORD trieth the
righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (Psalm 11:5)
How often do we see
a sticker with a smiley face and the words “Smile, God Loves You”? Does God really love everyone from a blood
thirsty terrorist down to the Christ cursing drunk? And what if Noah had placed a smiley sign on
the side of the
A man shall eat good by the
fruit of his mouth: but the
soul of the transgressors shall eat violence. (Proverbs 13:2)
The “fruit of his
mouth” is a phrase that seems to indicate one’s spiritual or Godly proclamation. Transgressors, on the other hand, produce bad
fruit from their mouths; they eat violence.
Jeremiah 6:7 speaks to Old Testament Jerusalem: “As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she
casteth out her wickedness: violence
and spoil is heard in her; before
me continually is grief and wounds.”
[No doubt this
passage has its ultimate fulfillment in the apostate church at the end of
time. Violence and spoil is heard in
her. The Old Testament word that is
translated as spoil comes
from Strong’s Hebrew # 7701, meaning: oppression, wasting, robbery,
desolation, and destruction. Once
again, the violence that is spoken of here seems most plainly to be spiritual
in nature. That is the entire nature of
today’s end-time organized church - its spiritual spoiling of God’s truth. Christ told us that the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence and this clearly appears to be what scripture is referring
to.
Jeremiah 20:8 - For since
I spake, I cried out, I cried violence
and spoil; because the word of
the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily.
What
is the spiritual condition of true believers today? How do we survive in a world that is rapidly
crucifying the true Christ of scripture?
Read the following verses carefully:
Ezekiel 12:17-20 -
17 - ¶Moreover
the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
18 - Son of
man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling
and with carefulness;
[To
drink water and eat bread are phrases that often carry the meaning of studying,
believing or digesting the Gospel. Even
though Ezekiel seems to be prophesying of a time when the literal city of
19 - And say
unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of
[What
has caused this shortage of the true word of God? Is it not the spiritual violence within the
land?]
20 - And the
cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate;
and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
[The
final desolation of the
“Her prophets are light and
treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law,”
(Zephaniah 3:4).
We can continue on
citing verse after verse that speaks of spiritual violence toward the Word of
God. We urge you to look into this matter
on your own as scripture has much to say.
NEW TESTAMENT: THE VIOLENCE
OF THE WAVES -
An in-depth study
of the word “waves” would be required in order to arrive at an adequate
understanding of the spiritual implications associated with this word. In this study we will only look at a few
references, beginning with 2 Samuel
22:2-5:
2
- And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
3
- The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn
of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me
from violence.
4
- I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be
saved from mine enemies.
5
- When the waves of
death compassed me, the floods
of ungodly men made me afraid;
God is referencing
spiritual death to waves and
ungodly men to floods. One
allegorical analogy that God uses for the church throughout scripture is a ship. It would be impossible to adequately cover
such a broad area in this short study; however, we will cite a few
passages. The flood and the Ark of Noah’s day
were indeed true events in the history of the human race. Man has little knowledge of this great event;
nonetheless it is recorded in God’s Word.
Of those who do understand the biblical account, the greatest majority
fail to see the bigger picture that God is showing us. Noah’s
The only way into God’s Kingdom is through Christ Jesus. In Acts chapter 27 we read of Paul’s
shipwreck. The entire account depicts spiritual
pictures of the corporate church (represented by the ship) as it sails through
the spiritually dangerous days near the end of time. We also read in that same account of the
absolute necessity of being a part of Christ’s Church in order to be saved. Acts 27:31 reads – “Paul said to the
centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot
be saved.”
This is not to say you have to be a member of a local congregation in
order to be saved. No, indeed you must
be brought into the
An important matter to study and recognize is
the fact that God symbolizes the total destruction of the earth as coming from
a FLOOD. The earth will be destroyed by fire and yet God
portrays or typifies the earth’s destruction as being with a flood? Why is this? The only course that will bring this world to
its fiery destruction is man’s sin.
When mankind has arrived at the juncture in history in which God
declares of it – “when the transgressors are come to full,” Daniel 8:23, then will the time be
ripe for the harvest and destruction of the earth. The end will come, as God assures us, with a flood. But what type of a flood will it be, since
God will never use a literal watery flood to destroy man from the earth again?
Christ will not bring this world to its end until all of God’s Elect
have been brought into His fold. In
other words, the end will not arrive until Christ has gathered all of His own
that He intends to save. “¼those that thou
gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost¼” John
17:12. Once the Gospel
has been preached in all the world (Matthew
24:14), God seals His Elect and the last soul has been saved, then the
end shall come ¼ as a flood.
“And
after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself:
and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
sanctuary; and the end thereof shall
be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are
determined.” (Daniel 9:26)
This is spiritual warfare that is spoken of here. The end of the age and the return of the Lord
will come only after Satan is allowed to ravish the believers and stomp the
Gospel to the ground. Yes, Christ
assures us that He will build His Church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. The true believer cannot
lose his salvation. However, Satan can
and will attack the outer church (consisting of believers and non-believers)
with an unrelenting fury. Can you find
churches today that have not swayed, but still love and hold to the
precious doctrines of Christ? No, you
most likely can not. Christ (the Deity;
knowing the end from the beginning) asks the rhetorical question in Luke 18:8: “¼when the Son of
man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?”
Numerous verses speak of this time as a “flood,” and indeed it
is. A flood of Satanic doctrines,
sermons, ideologies, etc., not in the world, where they exist and are expected
to be, but now in the Christ preaching congregations throughout the
world. Satan has or is about to take his
seat in the
Quoting again from Daniel 9:26 we read that Satan shall destroy the
city and the sanctuary at the end of time.
It shall be with a flood.
The city and sanctuary are terms God uses in depicting the New Testament
church. We saw that God’s true Church
can never be destroyed. However, in this
passage God is speaking of the outward representation, which is the
corporate church worldwide. That indeed
can and will be destroyed by Satan as he comes at the end of time with his
final assault at the Gospel of Christ.
His attack is not to physically destroy church buildings and stained
glass windows, but to destroy all truth that is still being taught in these
congregations. This is the assault, immediately preceding the return of
Christ, which is termed as a “flood.” Much
of this is prefigured and typified by the flood of Noah’s day and again by the
Apostle Paul’s shipwreck in Acts chapter twenty-seven.
Revelation chapter twelve picks up on
this end-time flood. In verse fifteen we read:
“And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood
after the woman, that he might cause her [the church] to be carried away of the
flood.” [Interesting words
here…mouth, water, and flood. Precisely
what we are teaching in this study. The flood
that Satan casts from his mouth
are words that do violence to Christ’s precious
doctrines.
Notice in the above verse that water was spewed out of Satan’s
mouth ¼ AS A FLOOD. God is giving us His own definition of what
this water or flood really is. This is
why it is so important to compare Scripture with Scripture. The water is representative of all words that
proclaim another gospel other than God’s Gospel of Salvation. Living waters throughout
Scripture typify God’s Gospel. Satan, as
an imitator of God, has his own version of waters. Satan’s lies are also presented in scripture as
waters and rivers:
Jeremiah 45:7-8 -
7 - Who is this
that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
8 -
Similar language as we saw in Daniel 9:26 - Satan coming as a flood
to destroy the city, the sanctuary and the people. Satan has no interest in destroying literal
cities of the earth. His focal point is
on the spiritual “city,” which is the church, God’s earthly
representation. Do not be confused over
the fact that the above verse in Jeremiah addresses Satan as “
Our ongoing spiritual warfare is typified
throughout Scripture as a great storm or a great tempest.
The intensity grows in magnitude (as a woman in travail), scripture tells us,
as we near the end of the age and the Second Coming of Christ. In Matthew
chapter seven we find an interesting overview of this age-old storm
of spiritual warfare.
Matthew 7:24-27 -
24 - Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto
a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 - And the rain
descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew,
and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 - And every one
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 - And the rain descended, and the
floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.”
From the first two verses we see that the person
who hears God’s Word and pursues it is liken to a “wise” man. The Bible is its own dictionary as we have
said many times. When scripture speaks
of a “wise” man, it is usually in reference to one who is a believer in
Christ. In the above parable, spiritual
warfare is taking place. The rains
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew.
What happened in the physical realm during the
time of Noah’s flood? Yes, of course –
the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew. God was displaying - for the then future
world - that when the ultimate and spiritual storm comes, there
is a refuge from the storm and a solid foundation on which to stand. That refuge and foundation is Christ Jesus,
the Rock of our salvation - Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The entire chapter of Acts twenty-seven typifies Christ’s Church
as a ship sailing through Satan’s massive end-time storm. The true and historic account of Noah’s
When God told Noah to “pitch” the
Atonement,
reconcile, reconciliation, purge, merciful, appease, cleanse, disannulled,
forgave, forgive, forgiven and pardon. What
does this tell you about the word pitch? Of course, this pitch on Noah’s
Scripture has much to say concerning the drinking
of water. God invites us to come and
drink freely from the waters of life, which of course is
allegorical language depicting the Gospel of Christ. Satan, that old serpent, also provides
waters. These waters are not pure and still
as are the true Gospel waters of Christ.
Isaiah 57:20, in speaking of the
Psalm
23:2 - He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the
still waters.”
Christ has calmed the storm. He has “stilled” the waters. “He maketh the storm
a calm, so that the waves
thereof are still,”
(Psalm 107:29). This was written before Messiah
appeared. Hundreds of years before
Christ came, these words and others spoke of Him and how His Kingdom would calm
the spiritual storms. The New Testament
records occasions where Christ literally calmed storms. Even then Christ was still showing,
displaying, or revealing spiritual truth from physical occurrences. Christ – God in man - while on earth was
still teaching, as He did from timeless eternity.
Satan was defeated at the Cross, yet his battle
will continue to rage until the day that Christ returns. Satan’s kingdom is seen in part throughout
scripture as raging waves.
Jude
1:13 - Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame;
wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
“And falling into a place
where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and
remained unmoveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves.” (Acts 27:41)
Christ states that
He would allow the tares and the wheat to grow together until Judgment Day,
Matthew 13:30. The true Body of Christ
consists of believers only while the outer part or outer court is made up of
unbelievers. These two groups make up
today’s earthly church. However, when Christ returns to pronounce judgment upon
the world the tares within the churches will be judged right along with the
unbelieving world. In the above ship of
Acts 27:41 we see that part of the ship, its forepart, stuck fast and remained
unmovable while the hinder part of the ship was broken with the VIOLENCE of the waves. Which section of the ship do you suppose
symbolized Christ’s true Church? Of
course it is the forepart. And can we
expect those in the hinder part to be able to withstand the waves upon waves
of Satan’s deception and the violence done to Christ’s Word? Can they really withstand this spiritual
attack while not having a true and solid foundation of Christ with which to
flee? Of course not - in the end they
are swept away in an instant as if hit with a giant tsunami! Many have looked to their physical churches
and buildings for their eternal safety, but churches do not save your souls,
only Christ and His Word can. And what
is the outcome of this world’s organized apostate churches? Can a false church spill out waves and waves
of floods, deceiving mankind with its violence of God’s Word and not expect to
be repaid with its own poison? We think
not.
“And a mighty angel took up
a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city
God does hold an unending love for those who
love His Word.
END OF STUDY