Lillith

An ancient legend that was well known from Jewish folklore the work known as the Alphabet of Ben Sirah, around the 8th–10th Century . The name Lillithn roughly translated to “bad wind;” the ill wind that blows misfortune. Lillith was said to be Adam’s first wife, G-d created her from the same dust from which Adam was molded, at the same time, making them equal. Gen. 1:27 “So G-d created man in his own image, in the image of G-d created He him; male and female created He them”. Lilith is described as refusing to assume a subservient role to Adam during sexual intercourse and so deserting him ("She said, 'I will not lie below,' and he said, 'I will not lie beneath you, but only on top. For you are fit only to be in the bottom position, while I am to be the superior one.'"). Lilith promptly uttered the name of G-d, took to the air, and left the garden, settling on the Red Sea coast. G-d had sent three angels in pursuit of Lilith. After that she mated with archangel Samael, who had taken her as his bride. This places Lilith in a unique position, for she left the garden of her own accord and before the Fall of Man, and so is untouched by the Tree of Knowledge. They angels made threats to kill one hundred of Lilith's demonic children for each day she stayed away, she countered that she would prey eternally upon the descendants of Adam and Eve, who could be saved only by invoking the names of the three angels. She did not return to Adam.
Samael was important archangel in Talmudic and post-Talmudic lore, a figure that is accuser, seducer and destroyer, and has been regarded as both good and evil. It is said that he was the guardian angel of Esau and a patron of the Roman empire. Samael is known as one of the seven archangels: seven archangels are Anael, Gabriel , Michael, Oriphiel, Raphael, Samael and Zachariel. They are all believed to have a special assignment to act as a global Zeitgeist ('time spirit'), each for periods of about 380 years. Michael has been the leading time spirit. Four important archangels are also supposed to display periodic spiritual activity over the seasons: Raphael during the spring, Uriel during the summer, Michael during the autumn, and Gabriel during the winter. In anthroposophy, archangels may be good or evil.
Then G-d created Eve to be Adam's mate, taken from the rib of Adam's body, she will be submissive to man. Since Lilith choose to mate with Samael it was said she was the ‘serpent’ in the garden and that it was a ‘sexual’ sin of partaking of forbidden fruit. In rabbinic literature Lilith is describe as the mother of Adam's demonic offspring; Gen. 3:15 “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; (his partaking with Eve his second wife). Gen. 2:23 “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Gen 3: 20 “And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.”
A Hebrew tradition exists in which an amulet is placed around the neck of newborn boys in order to protect them from the Lilith until their circumcision. Also a Hebrew tradition to wait a while before a boy's hair is cut so as to attempt to trick Lilith into thinking the child is a girl so that the boy's life may be spared. Lilith's name also appears in a list of demonic creatures in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q510 frag. 11.4-6a; frag. 10.1f), in a passage referring to Isaiah 34:14. The word "Lilith" appears several times in the Talmud. In Tractate Niddah 24b it refers to a winged human, while in Erubin 100b it refers to female with long hair.
Today to guard against Lilith, mothers would hang four amulets, one on the wall of each room of a newborn babe, with the inscription "Lilith - abi!" ("Lilith - begone!")
The only reference to Lilith in the Bible (Old or New Testaments) is Isaiah 34:14, it's a description of desolation, jackals and ravens among nettles and briers, etc.: "Goat demons shall greet each other; there too Lilith will repose." Most of the other creatures referenced in this poetry cannot be positively identified. The KJV, following the Vulgate, translates "the Lilith" as "the night demon," confusing the lili- with the Hebrew word for night. The notion of a Lilith as a demon is probably Assyrian, they had three female demons, Lilit, Lilu,and Ardat Lilit. There's little doubt that the Hebrew Lilith-demon mentioned in Isaiah was a folkloric adaptation of the Assyrian demons.
And ever since, Lilith flies around the world, howling her hatred of mankind through the night, and vowing vengeance because of the shabby treatment she had received from Adam. She is also called "The Howling One."
Truth or a myth? It is said the reason the for-fathers did not add this to the canonical books was because it showed women were created in equal standing, the same reason for other books that were well known back then that were written by women. Rabbinical interpretation is a strange thing to most modern Christians. The ancient scribes and Rabbis assumed that their sacred literature held cryptic meanings placed there by G-d. Biblical contradictions are an embarrassment to modern fundamentalists, but to the ancient scholars they acted as keyholes through which a hidden meaning might be glimpsed. Holes in the story could be used to tell new stories, and thereby wring a little more meaning out of the text.
History Channel

Hoarding

I watched several hoarding shows on TV which brought back memories of five people I knew from years back that were ‘Christian’ hoarders. I personally help them to try to clean up their places but all just started over ‘collecting’.
One was a lady that cleans other homes for a living and she was very good at her job. But her home was just a path that could be walked through. You had to clean off a chair to sit down or make room at any table to use. The counter was filled with everything but what was needed in the kitchen. The dinning room table was loaded as for storage place; she said it was ‘stuff to give away’, eventually.
Her children and husband just got use to it to make mom, happy. She was a regular church attender but did not have many ‘outsiders’ in.
Many would blame the children for the ‘mess’ but when they grew out, things did not change.
Church people collect Christian tapes, DVDs, books, magazines ect. More than they will ever get back to lessoning to or read, they can’t seem to throw anything away, or give away. Maybe it is a collection of memories that they hang on to. They store them in every room, even in their garages, storage sheds, or barns.
I even had one lady tell me “cleaning is not her gifting!” My answer was “What ever He gave us to take care of we are accountable for.”
Then they get ‘overwhelmed’ with trying to clean it up or go through along.
One lady that was very prominent in the church would have me over once a year to do the cleaning for her. I would sit her down in the middle of the room and bring her box after box to go through. We would find cash in all kinds of hidden places. Not that much got thrown out but the boxes got labeled and stack nicely. Eventually I refused to go, for we never seemed to make head way. She had many church people over but they were kept in the ‘clean’ areas.
I knew two men that were hoarders. One was the worse I have ever seen; three times I cleaned out his place. The last time I called the church to come over to help for it was overwhelming for me. I opened the window and threw furniture and many bags out as the church men haled it all away. His place smelled so bad that no one else would come in, not even the city people. He owned cats that went everywhere and any where for the litter box was never cleaned out. One cat escaped out and when I caught it, she was very loving until I got close to his door and the fight was on.
There were maggots’ in the bed, for he ate there. Maggots’ in the unopened food, it just was unbelievable! If his clothes were too dirty, he just bought new ones.
My church friend was very devoted to his church but he was a hoarder. He loved to buy everything that was advertised on TV, but he never even opened the boxes. He just liked to say he had ‘things’ and he had the money to buy them. He never had any people from church come to visit no one even expected he had a problem.
The TV shows say hoarders have a mental problem. This is a material world; excess things have become too important to us! Maybe subconsciously it fulfills some need that has been missing in their lives. Replacing loneliness, being in a church body does not mean anyone comes to visit. A lost of a love one, is replaced with things. Hoarders don’t seem to overcome their difficulty of letting go with out therapy to address the issues that started them collecting.
Seems like people are hurting more and covering it up in many different ways.

Spiritual Adulteress

[Jer. 3:1] They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
[7] And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
[8] And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery
I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery, Jehovah offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (1-5), allude to the subject of the last; and contain earnest exhortations to repentance, with gracious promises of pardon, notwithstanding every aggravation of guilt.
At the sixth verse a new section of prophecy commences, opening with a complaint against Judah for having exceeded in guilt her sister Israel, already cast off for her idolatry, 6-11. G-d keeps account, whether we do or no, how often He has called to us to turn to Him and we have refused. Those will justly be divorced from G-d that joins themselves to such as are rivals with Him. She is cast off, but not forever; for to this same Israel, whose place of captivity (Assyria) lay to the north of Judea, pardon is promised on her repentance, together with a restoration to the Messianic Church, along with her sister Judah, in the latter days, 12-20. The prophet foretells the sorrow and repentance of the children of Israel under the Gospel dispensation, 21. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored for G-d renews His gracious promises, 22; and they again confess their sins. In this confession their not deigning to name the idol Baal, the source of their calamities, but calling him in the abstract shame, or a thing of shame, is a nice touch of the perusal extremely beautiful and natural, 22-25.
Now Israel had been married unto G-d; joined in solemn covenant to Him to worship and serve Him only. Israel turned from following Him, and became idolatrous. On this ground, considering idolatry as a spiritual whoredom, and the precept and practice of the Law to illustrate this case, Israel could never more be restored to the Divine favor for such playing fast and loose with the marriage-bond would be a horrid profanation of that ordinance and would greatly pollute that land. They had reason to expect that G-d would refuse ever to take them to be His people again, who had not only been joined to one strange god, but had played the harlot with many lovers: but G-d, her ex-husband, in the plenitude of His mercy, is willing to receive this adulterous spouse, if she will abandon her idolatries and return unto Him.
In repentance it is good to make sorrowful reflections upon the particular acts of sin we have been guilty of, and the several places and companies where it has been committed, that we may give glory to G-d and take shame to ourselves by a particular confession of it.
Blushing is the color of virtue, or at least a relic of it; but those that are past shame (we say) are past hope. Those that have an adulterer's heart, if they indulge that, will come at length to have a whore's forehead, void of all shame and modesty. We have not obeyed the voice of the L-rd our G-d, forbidding us to sin and commanding us, when we have sinned, to repent.
The date of this sermon must be observed, in order to the right understanding of it; it was in the days of Josiah, who set on foot a blessed work of reformation, in which he was hearty, but the people were not sincere in their compliance with it; to reprove them for that, and warn them of the consequences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that which G-d here said to the prophet, and which he delivered to them. The case of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is here compared, the ten tribes that revolted from the throne of David and the Temple of Jerusalem and the two tribes that adhered to both. The distinct history of those two kingdoms we have in the two books of the Kings, and here we have an abstract of both, as far as relates to this matter. It is an evidence of great stupidity and security when we are not awakened to a holy fear by the judgments of G-d upon others.
Here is a great deal of gospel in these verses, both that which was always gospel,
G-d's readiness to pardon sin and to receive and entertain returning repenting sinners, and those blessings which were in a special manner reserved for gospel times, and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles making the one new man. Thus G-d remembers His covenant with their fathers, that marriage covenant, and in consideration of that He remembers their land, Leviticus 26:42.

Faith & Works

[James 2:18] Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
The sense is, "someone might say," or, "to this it might be urged in reply." That is, it might perhaps be said that religion is not always manifested in the same way, or we should not suppose that, because it is not always exhibited in the same form, it does not exist. One man may manifest it in one way, and another in another, and still both have true piety. One may be distinguished for his faith, and another for his works, and both may have real religion. This objection would certainly have some plausibility, and it was important to meet it. It would seem that all religion was not to be manifested in the same way, as all virtue is not; and that it might occur that one man might be particularly well-known for one form of religion, and another for another; as one man may be distinguished for zeal, and another for meekness, and another for integrity, and another for truth, and another for his gifts in prayer, and another for his large-hearted compassion. To this the apostle replies, that the two things referred to, faith and works, were not independent things, which could exist separately, without the one materially influencing another as, for example, charity and chastity, zeal and meekness; but that the one was the germ or source of the other, and that the existence of the one was to be known only by its developing itself in the form of the other. A man could not show that he possessed the one unless it developed itself in the form of the other. In proof of this, he could boldly appeal to any one to show a case where faith existed without works. He was himself willing to submit to this just trial in regard to this point, and to demonstrate the existence of his own faith by his works.
You have one form or manifestation of religion in an important or famous degree, and I have another. You are characterized particularly for one of the virtues of religion, and I am for another; as one man may be particularly well-known for meekness, and another for zeal, and another for kindness, and each be a virtuous man. The expression here is equivalent to saying, "One may have faith, and another works.”
you who maintain that faith is enough to prove the existence of religion; that a man may be justified and saved by that alone, or where it does not developed itself in holy living; or that all that is necessary in order to be saved is merely to believe. Let the reality of any such faith as that be shown, if it can be; let any real faith be shown to exist without a life of good works, and the point will be settled. I, says the apostle, will undertake to exhibit the evidence of my faith in a different way in a way about which there can be no doubt, and which is the appropriate method. It is clear, if the common reading here is correct, that the apostle meant to deny that true faith could be evinced without appropriate works.
It is implied here that true faith is adapted to lead to a holy life, and that such a life would be the appropriate evidence of the existence of faith. By their fruits the principles held by men are known.
The case proves what James purposes to prove, that the faith which justifies is only that which leads to good works. Under the trial of one’s faith the result is to be seen the co-operation of faith and good works both contributed to the end.
It must be by a faith that shall produce good works, and whose existence will be shown to men by good works. As justification takes place in the sight of G-d, it is by faith, for He sees that the faith is genuine and that it will produce good works if the individual who exercises faith shall live; and He justifies men in view of that faith, and of no other. If He sees that the faith is merely speculative; that it is cold and dead, and would not produce good works, the man is not justified in His sight. No man will be justified who has not a faith which will produce good works, and which is of an operative and practical character. The ground of justification in the case is faith, and that only; the evidence of it, the carrying it out, the proof of the existence of the faith, is good works; and thus men are justified and saved not by mere abstract and cold faith, but by a faith necessarily connected with good works, and where good works perform an important part.

Partiality & Discrimination

[James 2:9] But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
If there should come into your assembly in verse 2; in the ancient Greek, the word assembly is literally Synagogue, the name of the meeting place for Jews. The fact that James calls a Christian meeting place a Synagogue shows that he wrote before Gentiles were widely received into the Messianic church. At the time James wrote, all Messianic Believers came from a Jewish heritage. This is the only place in the New Testament where an assembly with Gentiles Christians is clearly called Synagogue.
Till the final rift between Judaism and Christianity both Christian and non-Messianic Jews used, at least often, the same word for their sacred meeting-place.
The apostle is here reproving a very corrupt practice. He shows how much mischief there is in the sin of prosopolepsia--respect of persons, which seemed to be a very growing evil in the churches of Christ even in those early ages, and which, in these after-times, has sadly corrupted and divided Christian nations and societies. Giving honor to whom honor was due, like having special seating for the guest speakers is respectful, but all other people, even of ‘rank’ should find their own place to sit, and so to act equitably towards all attainders.
The duty of impartiality in the treatment of others, verses 1-9. There was to be no favoritism on account of rank, birth, wealth, or apparel. The case, to which the apostle refers for an illustration of this, is that where two persons should come into an assembly of worshippers, one elegantly dressed, and the other meanly clad, and they should show special favor to the former, and should assign to the latter a more humble place.
A stranger coming into any place of worship, no matter what his rank, dress, or complexion, should be treated with respect, and everything should be done that can be to win his heart to the service of G-d.
But if you say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place, that is, in an honorable place near the pulpit; or in some elevated place where he would be conspicuous.
Nothing has been more remarkable than the very thing adverted to here by James, that notwithstanding this, many who profess to be Believers have been more disposed to treat certain persons with respect and attention than they have within their own congregation, if they were poor; that they have cultivated the favor, sought the friendship, desired the smiles, aped the manners, and coveted the society of such persons, rather than the friendship and the favor of their poorer Believers. Today they call it ‘net-working’ (rubbing shoulders with people of importance), yet there is many a professing Believers who would prefer to be at a party given by such persons than at a prayer-meeting where their poorer brethren are assembled; who would rather be known by the world to be the associates and friends of such persons, than of those humble believers who can make no boast of rank or wealth.
The Royal Law which he immediately mentions requiring us to love our neighbor as ourselves, if you fairly comply with the spirit of this Law, you do all that is required of you in regulating your intercourse with others. You are to regard all persons as your neighbors, and are to treat them according to their real worth; you are not to be influenced in judging of them, or in your treatment of them, by their apparel, or their complexion, or the circumstances of their birth, but by the fact that they are fellow-beings. This is another reason why they should not show partiality in their treatment of others, for if, in the true sense, they regarded all others as "neighbors," they would treat no one with neglect or contempt.
The apostle object is to show that the Law of G-d condemned this course, and would hold them to be guilty. The argument here is not from the personal distress which this course would produce in their own minds, but from the fact that the Law of G-d condemned it.
James does not here encourage rudeness or disorder. Civil respect must be paid, and some difference may be allowed in our carriage towards persons of different ranks; but this respect must never be such as to influence the proceedings of Christian societies in disposing of the offices of the church, or in passing the censures of the church, or in any thing that is purely a matter of religion; here we are to know no man after the flesh.
It shows that we misunderstand who is important and blessed in the sight of G-d.
When we choose people by what we can see on the surface, we miss the mind of G-d. Remember that Judas appeared to be much better leadership material than Peter.
With the Most High there is no respect of persons, and therefore in matters of conscience there should be none with us.

Pure Religion

The phrase "pure religion," means that which is genuine and sincere, or which is free from any improper mixture.
[James 1:12] Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
[17] Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
[18] Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
[19] Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
[22] But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
[23] For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
[26] If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but
deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
[27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Blessed is the man, this sounds like one of Y’Shua’s’ Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). In those great statements of blessing, Y’Shua wasn't finished telling us how we can be blessed. Here, we learn we can be blessed as we endure temptation.
Temptation is one of the various trials we face. In each and every case, whether by affliction or by direct allurements to do wrong, the question comes before the mind whether we have religion enough to keep us, or whether we will yield to murmuring, to rebellion, and to sin. As we persevere through temptation, we are approved, and will be rewarded as the work of G-d in us is evident through our resistance of temptation. The form of trial involved an allurement or inducement to sin; he says that no man should regard it as from G-d. That cannot be His design. The trial is what He aims at, not the sin
When desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin: Springing forth from corrupt desire is sin. Springing forth from sin is death. This progression to death is an inevitable result that Satan always tries to hide from us, but we should never be deceived about.
The crown of life which the L-rd has promised reminds us that it really is worth it to endure under the temptations we face. Our steadfastness will be rewarded as we demonstrate our love for Y’Shua (to those who love Him) by resisting temptation.
From our own fallen natures and from those who would entice us, we expect no true goodness. But every good and every perfect gift comes from the Father in heaven. The ultimate goodness of any gift must be measured on an eternal scale. Something that may seem to be only good (such as winning a lottery) may in fact be turned to our destruction.
G-d's goodness is constant. There is no variation with Him. Instead of shadows, G-d is the Father of lights. In the ancient Greek grammar, James actually wrote "the Father of the lights." The specific lights are the celestial bodies that light up the sky, both day and night. The sun, moon, and stars never "turn off," even when we can't see them. Even so, there is never a shadow with G-d. This means that G-d never changes!
We can see G-d's goodness in our salvation, as He initiated our salvation of His own will, and brought us forth to spiritual life by His word of truth, that we might be to His glory as firstfruits of His harvest, then will come the Gentiles.
Stand firm against unrighteous anger. Slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of G-d: In light of the nature of temptation and the goodness of G-d, we must take special care to be slow to wrath, because our wrath does not accomplish the righteousness of G-d. Our wrath almost always simply defends our own agenda.
We can learn to be slow to wrath by first learning to be swift to hear and slow to speak. So much of our anger and wrath comes from being self-centered not others-centered. Swift to hear is a way to be others-centered. Slow to speak is a way to be others-centered.
Receive with meekness the implanted Word: In contrast to an impure manner of living, we should receive (doing it with meekness, a teachable heart) the implanted Word of G-d. This Word is able to save us, both in our current situation and eternally. The purity of
G-d's Word will preserve us in an impure age.
To take comfort in the fact you have heard G-d's Word when you haven't done it is to deceive yourself. In the ancient world, it was common for people to hear a teacher. But if you followed the teacher and tried to live what he said, you were called a student of that teacher. Y’Shua is looking for students (disciples in Greek) - doers, not just hearers.
Y’Shua used this same point to conclude His great Sermon on the Mount. He said that the one who heard the Word without doing it was like a man who built his house on the sand, but the one who heard G-d's Word and did it was like a man whose house was built on a rock and could withstand the inevitable storms of life and eternity. (Matthew 7:24-27)
If we study the word of G-d intently, and do it (continue in it), then we will be blessed. In the ancient Greek language, the word for looks into speaks of a penetrating examination, so that a person will even bend over to get a better look.
Real religion is not shown by hearing the word, but by doing it. One way to do G-d's Word is to bridle the tongue. Your walk with G-d is useless if it does not translate into the way you live and the way you treat others. Many are deceived in their own heart regarding the reality of their walk with G-d.
Who can doubt that that is good which leads to compassion for the orphan and the helpless widow that is a widow indeed? Notice it was the ‘churches’ responsibility not the governments. Do you know any churches that practice that?
If a man is truly benevolent, he bears the image of that G-d who is the fountain of benevolence; if he is pure and uncontaminated in his walk and deportment, he also resembles his Maker, for he is holy. If he has not these things, he cannot have any well-founded evidence that he is a Christian; for it is always the nature and tendency of religion to produce these things.

Wisdom

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1) wisdom, broad and full of intelligence; used of the knowledge of very diverse matters
a) the wisdom which belongs to men
1) spec. the varied knowledge of things human and divine, acquired by acuteness and experience, and summed up in maxims and proverbs
2) the science and learning
3) the act of interpreting dreams and always giving the sagest advice
4) the intelligence evinced in discovering the meaning of some mysterious number or vision
5) skill in the management of affairs
6) devout and proper prudence in intercourse with men not disciples of Christ, skill and discretion in imparting Christian truth
7) the knowledge and practice of the requisites for godly and upright living
b) supreme intelligence, such as belongs to God
1) to Christ
2) the wisdom of God as evinced in forming and executing counsels in the formation and government of the world and the scriptures
How to receive the wisdom you need from G-d
[James 1:5] If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
[6] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
[7] For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
[8] A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
If any of you lacks wisdom, trials are a necessary time to seek wisdom from G-d. We often didn't know we needed wisdom until our trial. Once in a time of trial, we need to know if a particular trial is something G-d wants us to eliminate by faith or persevere in by faith. This requires wisdom! For in trials, we need wisdom a lot more than we need knowledge. Knowledge is raw information, but wisdom knows how to use it. Someone has said that knowledge is the ability to take things apart, but wisdom is the ability to put things together.
To receive wisdom, we simply ask of G-d - who gives wisdom generously (liberally), and without despising our request (without reproach).
Upbraideth, this is added, lest any one should fear to come too often to G-d… for he is ready ever to add new blessings to former ones, without any end or limitation. Knowing G-d's generosity that He never despises or resents us for asking for wisdom, should encourage us to ask Him often, we need to just understand that we have the G-d of the open hand, not the god of the clenched fist. Just beware of only seeking His hand more than seeking Him.
When we want wisdom, the place to begin is in the Bible. The place to end is in the Bible. True wisdom will always be consistent with G-d's Word. Our request for wisdom must be made like any other request - in faith, without doubting G-d's ability or desire to give us His wisdom. This shows the kind of heart we need in seeking G-d's wisdom from the Scriptures: a heart that believes G-d's Word, and believes it speaks to us today.
With no wavereth or doubting let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the L-rd. The one who doubts and lacks faith should not expect to receive anything from the L-rd. This lack of faith and trust in G-d also shows that we have no foundation, being unstable in all our ways.
To ask G-d, but to ask Him in a doubting way, shows that we are double-minded. If we had no faith, we would never ask at all. If we had no unbelief, we would have no doubting. To be in the middle ground between faith and unbelief is to be double-minded.
The man who came to Y’Shua and said L-rd, I believe; help my unbelief (Mark 9:24) was not double-minded. He wanted to believe, and declared his belief. His faith was weak, but it wasn't tinged with a double-minded doubt.
To be sometimes lifted up by faith, and then thrown down again by distrust--to mount sometimes towards the heavens, with an intention to secure glory, and honour, and immortality, and then to sink again in seeking the ease of the body, or the enjoyments of this world--this is very fitly and elegantly compared to a wave of the sea, that rises and falls, swells and sinks, just as the wind tosses it higher or lower, that way or this. A mind that has but one single and prevailing regard to its spiritual and eternal interest, and that keeps steady in its purposes for G-d, will grow wise by afflictions, will continue fervent in its devotions, and will be superior to all trials and oppositions.
The cure of a wavering spirit and a weak faith, the Apostle James shows the ill effects of these:
1. In asking for divine and heavenly wisdom we are never likely to prevail if we have not a heart to prize it above rubies, and the greatest things in this world.
2. When our faith and spirits rise and fall with second causes, there will be great unsteadiness in all our conversation and actions. This may sometimes expose men to contempt in the world; but it is certain that such ways cannot please G-d nor procure any good for us in the end. While we have but one G-d to trust to, we have but one G-d to be governed by, and this should keep us even and steady. He that is unstable as water shall not excel.
Ignorance is ‘a choose’ and can not be used as an excuse. Whatever your interest is calls for discipline in applying yourself. The word ignorance is the opposite of wisdom in the use of knowledge and is used 17 times in Scripture.
Lack of knowledge:
Hosa 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee…

Patience

The biblical meaning of patience, not the way we use the word loosely today to meet our stander of the word. Are people living up to G-d’s Word on patient or do they have to live up to our meaning of patience?
Strong’s G5281
1) steadfastness, constancy, endurance
a) in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings
b) patiently, and steadfastly
2) a patient, steadfast waiting for
3) a patient enduring, sustaining, perseverance
This is a letter for us. Some people have thought that the book of James isn't important for Christians it does not expound human doctrines, but lays much emphasis on G-d's Law.
In many ways, we listen to the book of James because it echoes the teaching of Y’Shua. There are at least fifteen allusions to the Sermon on the Mount in James, a man who knew the teaching of Y’Shua and took it seriously.
[James 1:2] My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Count it all joy when you fall into various trials: James regards trials as inevitable. He says when, not if you fall into various trials. At the same time, trials are occasions for joy, not discouraged resignation. We can count it all joy in the midst of trials, because they are used to produce patience.
[3] Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Faith produces patience for faith is tested through trials, not produced by trials. Trials reveal what faith we do have, not because G-d doesn't know how much faith we have, but to make our faith evident to ourselves and those around us.
If trials do not produce faith, what does? Romans 10:17 tells us: So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of G-d. Faith is built in us as we hear and understand and trust in G-d's Word.
Worketh patience, trials don't produce faith, but when trials are received with faith, it produces patience. But patience is not inevitably produced in times of trial. If difficulties are received in unbelief and grumbling, trials can produce bitterness and discouragement. This is why James exhorts us to count it all joy. Counting it all joy is faith's response to a time of trial.
It is occasionally asserted that James asks his readers to enjoy their trials . . . He did not say that they must feel it all joy, or that trials are all joy
Patience is the ancient Greek word hupomone (to stay, abide, and remain). At its root, it means to remain under. It has the picture of someone under a heavy load and resolutely staying there instead of trying to escape, describes "the frame of mind which endures. This word does not describe a passive waiting, but an active endurance. It isn't so much the quality that helps you sit quietly in the doctor's waiting room as it is the quality that helps you finish a marathon.]
[4] But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing: The work of patient endurance comes slowly, and must be allowed to have full bloom. Patient endurance is a mark of the person who is perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
The devil endeavors by sufferings and crosses to draw men to sin and to deter them from duty, or unfit them for it; but, as our afflictions are in God's hand, they are intended for the trial and improvement of our graces. The gold is put into the furnace, that it may be purified.
Our trials may be of many and different kinds, and therefore we have needed to put on the whole amour of G-d. We must be armed on every side, because temptations lie on all sides. The trials of a good man are such as he does not create to himself, nor sinfully pull upon himself; but they are such as he is said to fall into. And for this reason they are the better borne by him. The graces and duties of a state of trial and affliction are here pointed out to us. Could we attend to these things, and grow in them as we should do, how good would it be for us to be afflicted!
We must not sink into a sad and disconsolate frame of mind, which would make us faint under our trials; but must endeavor to keep our spirits dilated and enlarged, the better to take in a true sense of our case, and with greater advantage to set ourselves to make the best of it. Philosophy may instruct men to be calm under their troubles; but the Father teaches them to be joyful, because such exercises proceed from love and not fury in Him. In them we are conformable to Messiah our head, and they become marks of our adoption. By suffering in the ways of righteousness, we are serving the interests of our
L-rd's kingdom among men and edifying the body of the Messiah; and our trials will brighten our graces now and our crown at last. Therefore there is reason to count it all joy when trials and difficulties become our lot in the way of our duty.
The trying of one grace produces another; and the more the suffering graces of a Believer are exercised the stronger they grow. Tribulation worketh patience, Romans 5:3.
When the work of patience is complete, then the Believer is entire, and nothing will be wanting: it will furnish us with all that is necessary for our running the race and warfare enable us to persevere to the end, and then its work will be ended, and crowned with glory.
Today we say “you are not patient because you can’t wait until we get around to it”.
Instead of “you are growing in faith as you are developing patience active endurance the trial you are going through. You show much faith that worketh patience in you as you hear and understand and trust in G-d's Word.
Patience is to be used positively, it is not a negative word, may we view the word differently.

Call To The Nations

[Jer. 1:4] Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah's call to the prophetical office in Anathoth with Hilkiah the high priest, the prophetess Huldah, and the prophet Zephaniah. Jeremiah collected his prophecies and gave them to his countrymen to take with them to Babylon. From the long duration of his office (1:2, 3; 40:1, &c.; 43:8), it is supposed that he was at the time of his call under twenty-five years of age.
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
G-d approved of Jeremiah as His chosen instrument (Ex 33:12, 17; compare 49:1, 5; Rom. 8:29). And separated him, the primary meaning is, "to set apart" from a common to a special use; hence arose the secondary sense, "to sanctify," ceremonially and morally.
G-d had ordained Jeremiah a prophet to the nations, or against the nations whom he must make to drink of the cup of the L-rd's anger, 25:17.
[6] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
The same word “child is translated, "young man" (2 Sam. 18:5). The reluctance often shown by inspired ministers of G-d (Ex 4:10; 6:12, 30; John 1:3) to accept the call, shows that they did not assume the office under the impulse of self-deceiving fanaticism, as false prophets often did. Remember in the Hebrew you were considered a child or young man until you were thirty-three years old, to have enough life’s experience under your belt.
[7] But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Such was the perversity of the rulers and people of Judea at that time that whoever would desire to be a faithful prophet needed to arm himself with an intrepid mind; Jeremiah was naturally timid and sensitive; yet the Spirit molded him to the necessary degree of courage without taking away his peculiar individuality.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the
LORD.
There is a particular purpose and providence of G-d conversant about His prophets and ministers; they are by special counsel designed for their work, and what they are designed for they are fitted for: I that knew thee sanctified thee. G-d destines them to it, and forms them for it, when he first forms the spirit of man within him.
[9] Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
“Touched my mouth” is a symbolical act in supernatural vision, implying that G-d would give him utterance, notwithstanding his inability to speak (1:6). So Isaiah's lips were touched with a living coal (6:7; Ezek. 2:8, 9, 10; Dan. 10:16).
[10] See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Set thee over means literally, "appointed thee to the oversight." He was to have his eye upon the nations, and to predict their destruction, or restoration, according as their conduct was bad or good. Prophets are said to do that which they foretell shall be done; for their word is G-d's word; and His word is His instrument whereby He doeth all things (Gen. 1:3; Ps 33:6, 9). Word and deed is one thing with Him. What His prophet says is as certain as if it were done. The prophet's own consciousness was absorbed into that of G-d; so closely united to G-d did he feel himself, that Jehovah's words and deeds are described as his. In 31:28, G-d is said to do what Jeremiah here is represented as doing (18:7; 1 Kgs. 19:17; Ezek. 43:3).
Everything that is not planted by G-d is to be pulled out. (Matt. 15:13) and pulled down (rooted out). Then to build and plant, restore upon their repenting. His predictions were to be chiefly, and in the first instance, denunciatory; therefore the destruction of the nations is put first, and with a greater variety of terms than their restoration.
These six mighty infinitives outline the scope of Jeremiah's commission, which was very largely one of destruction; but as indicated by the last two, giving ground for hope following judgment.
[11] Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree.
G-d commended him that he was so observant, and so quick of apprehension, as to be aware, though it was the first vision he ever saw, that it was a rod of an almond-tree, that his mind was so composed as to be able to distinguish. Prophets have need of good eyes; and those that see well shall be commended, and not those only that speak well.
[12] Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
The rod is a shoot, or branch, and the Almond tree meant literally, "the wakeful tree," because it awakes from the sleep of winter earlier than the other trees, flowering in January, and bearing fruit in March; symbol of G-d's early execution of His purpose; "hasten My word" (Amos 8:3). "I will be wakeful as to My word.”
The great Creator knows what use to make of every person before He makes them. He has made all for Himself, and of the same lumps of clay designs a vessel of honor or dishonor, as He pleases, Romans 9:21.
The foreknowledge of G-d is clearly stated here, revealing that, long before Jeremiah was born, G-d knew him and selected him as the great prophet who would announce the final judgment upon Judah and condemn all of the wicked nations on earth.
We should not believe that Jeremiah's timidity and hesitation in the acceptance of so formidable a task was a sign of inability upon his part. They were due to recognition of the nearly impossible difficulty of the assignment.
He is still in his writings a prophet to the nations (to our nation among the rest); to tell them what the national judgments are which may be expected for national sins.
We know not what G-d intends us for, but He knows. Do not objects against it, as a work for which you are unqualified, it becomes us, when we have any service to do for G-d, to be afraid lest we mismanage it, and lest it suffer through our weakness and unfitness for it; it becomes us likewise to have low thoughts of ourselves and to be diffident of our own sufficiency. G-d was angry with Moses even for his modest excuses, Exodus 4:14. “Whatsoever I command thee thou shall have judgment, memory, and language, wherewith to speak it as it should be spoken." Remember Samuel delivered a message from G-d to Eli, when he was a young man.
"Be not afraid of their races; though they look big, and so think to outface thee and put thee out of countenance, yet be not afraid to speak to them; no, not to speak that to them which is most unpleasing. Thou speaks in the name of the King of kings, and by authority from him, and with that thou may face them down. Though they look angry, be neither afraid of their displeasure nor disturbed with apprehensions of the consequences of it. And thou hast cause both to be bold and easy; for I am with thee, not only to assist thee in thy work, but to deliver thee out of the hands of the persecutors; and, if G-d be for thee, who can be against thee?" If G-d do not deliver his ministers from trouble, it is to the same effect if he support them under their trouble.

Interdiction to Jeremiah

Jeremiah was called to be a prophet when only a child (1:6-7). Jeremiah prophesied for eighteen years during the reign of Josiah. He was thus about a hundred years later than the prophet Isaiah. His home was in the village of Anathoth, a few miles north of Jerusalem, and he was by birth a priest. His father, Hilkiah, was the high priest who discovered the book of Law in the Temple during the reign of Josiah.
In 608 B.E. Josiah was killed in battle and many saw this as evidence that G-d did not favor his reforms. Jeremiah came forward and stationed himself at the edge of the mob. Since the area of Jerusalem was strong during the siege of Sennacherib, the belief was that gated was impregnable. When the scroll was read to King Jehoiakim, he confiscated it and tore it. Jeremiah demonstrated his faith that Israel would return to Jerusalem by purchasing the land. The name Jeremiah means Yaway establishes. Jeremiah and Scribe Baruch that was his secretary wrote the book He was a priest as well as a prophet from the tribe of Benjamin.
Three major world powers during this time were:
1. Assyria 300 years.
2. Babylon 586 A.D.
3. Egypt.
The book covers approximately 44 years and Jeremiah’s ministry covers about 66 years. The basic message is to call Judah back from backsliding. The key words are:
1. Judah 181 times. 5. Sins 52 times.
2. Babylon 160 times. 6. Judgment 27 times.
3. Jerusalem 108 times. 7. Forsake 24 times.
4. Heart 62 times. 8. Backsliding 13 times.
Six-fold purpose of the book:
1. The final history of Judah.
2. Show G-d’s mercy and grace.
3. Main prophet was not in the largest congregation.
4. All evil will be judged and cause captivity.
5. If not repented - sin gets judgment.
6. After captivity - return to Jerusalem.
Three illustrations of absolute certainty of these ancient prophets:
1. Bought the land because people would return.
2. Jeremiah was told not to marry - war in the land.
3. Wore a girdle and worn it out - city will weak out.
Four sermon illustrations of Jeremiah:
1. Yolk on neck - Babylon will put a yolk on Israel.
2. Weeping Prophet - weep for G-d.
3. Greatest compliment - people ask Yeshua if he was Jeremiah.
4. Stood on G-d’s Word.
Days of darkness followed and Jeremiah exhorted his people to obey the voice of the L-rd and remain in the land, and not flee into Egypt. But they refused to obey, and they carried him with them where tradition says, he was stoned to death. Doctorial of invariability: thought they would escape before G-d’s raft (rapture?) G-d will deliver before any tribulation -- not before.
Jeremiah wrote of the New Covenant, means of the remnant of G-d’s people. The two baskets of figs stood for: bad - few skilled, and good - good Jews taken to Babylon. Rechabites were a testimony in Jerusalem to G-d’s plan.
At the commandment of the L-rd, Jeremiah took great stones and hit them under the large platform, or pavement of brickwork, at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, and prophesied that over these stones Nebuchadnezzar should one day set his throne and spread his royal pavilion. Tahpanhes seems to have been an old fort on the Syrian frontier, guarding the road to Egypt, and evidently a constant refuge for the Jews. In front of the fort is a large platform or pavement of brickwork, suitable for outdoor business, such as loading goods, pitching tents, etc – just what is now called a mastaba. Now Jeremiah writes of the pavement (or brickwork) which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes; this passage, which has been an unexplained stumbling-block to translators hitherto, is the exact description of the mastaba and this would be the most likely place for Nebuchadnezzar to pitch his royal tent as stated.
Jeremiah was of all the prophets of the OT, the supreme prophet of G-d to the human heart. In season and out of season, for a long lifetime, he laid siege to the hearts of his hearers. The cure of all your famines, he cried, and all your plagues and all your defeats and all your captivities – the cause and the cure of them all are in your own heart: in the heart of each inhabitant. In consequence he was the prophet of unwelcome truths, hated of all, but feared as well by all.
Jeremiah’s book wrote two times since the first was torn up. For when the monarch had heard three or four leaves of the roll he had heard enough. He asked for the roll, cut it in pieces with a penknife, and cast it into the fire that was upon the hearth. It was his last chance, his last offer of mercy: as he threw the torn fragments of the roll on the fire he threw there, in symbol, his royal house, his doomed city, the Temple, and all the people of the land.
While in seclusion, Jeremiah and Baruch rewrote the book. Other words were added, but the body of the sacred book was word by word the same as the first. Man may cut G-d’s Word to pieces with a penknife of his intellect. Like Jehoiakim he may cast his hope of salvation in the fire. But the word of the L-rd endureth forever and by that word shall he be judged in the last day. (1 Peter. 1:25; John.12:48).
The stern messages he had to give were so foreign to his sensitive nature that it could only have been the deep conviction that they were the words of the L-rd that enabled him to give utterance to them. He says: His Word was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. With such a fire burning in his heart is it any wonder that the L-rd’s promise was fulfilled, ‘Behold, I will make My words in thy mouth fire’? ‘If you take forth the precious form the vile, thou shalt be as My mouth..’ Jeremiah answered? ‘Thy words were found and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart!’ Amen and Amen!!!

Baruch

Baruch the son of Neraiah, son of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, wrote in Babylon. After Nebuchadnezzar freed Jeremiah and Baruch and brought them back to their native land, Baruch became a scribe for Jeremiah.
The question of originality is associated with the obvious use of biblical sources in each main part. The prayer echoes the language found in Daniel 9, while the poem about wisdom is based on Job 28, and the poem of consolation uses material from Isaiah 40-66. The language, images, and ideas are deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible. What did the author(s) or editor(s) hope to achieve by reformulating these biblical models? Are we to dismiss the work as lacking originality? Or does the very combination of classic themes—sin, exile, repentance, and return—in several different genres and from several different perspectives itself constitute an original contribution?
[4:1] This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endureth for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but such as leave it shall die.
[2] Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated.
[3] Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation.
[4] O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us.
[5] Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.
[6] Ye were sold to the nations, not for [your] destruction: but because ye moved God to wrath, ye were delivered unto the enemies.
[7] For ye provoked him that made you by sacrificing unto devils, and not to God.
[8] Ye have forgotten the everlasting God, that brought you up; and ye have grieved Jerusalem, that nursed you.
[9] For when she saw the wrath of God coming upon you, she said, Hearken, O ye that dwell about Sion: God hath brought upon me great mourning;
[10] For I saw the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting brought upon them.
[11] With joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping and mourning.
[12] Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many, who for the sins of my children am left desolate; because they departed from the law of God.
[13] They knew not his statutes, nor walked in the ways of his commandments, nor trod in the paths of discipline in his righteousness.
[14] Let them that dwell about Sion come, and remember ye the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting hath brought upon them.
[15] For he hath brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.
[16] These have carried away the dear beloved children of the widow, and left her that was alone desolate without daughters.
[17] But what can I help you?
[18] For he that brought these plagues upon you will deliver you from the hands of your enemies.
[19] Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left desolate.
[20] I have put off the clothing of peace, and put upon me the sackcloth of my prayer: I will cry unto the Everlasting in my days.
[21] Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto the Lord, and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies.
[22] For my hope is in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy is come unto me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall soon come unto you from the Everlasting our Saviour.
[23] For I sent you out with mourning and weeping: but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness for ever.
[24] Like as now the neighbours of Sion have seen your captivity: so shall they see shortly your salvation from our God which shall come upon you with great glory, and brightness of the Everlasting.
[25] My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you from God: for thine enemy hath persecuted thee; but shortly thou shalt see his destruction, and shalt tread upon his neck.
[26] My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken away as a flock caught of the enemies.
[27] Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto God: for ye shall be remembered of him that brought these things upon you.
[28] For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so, being returned, seek him ten times more.
[29] For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring you everlasting joy with your salvation.
[30] Take a good heart, O Jerusalem: for he that gave thee that name will comfort thee.
[31] Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy fall.
[32] Miserable are the cities which thy children served: miserable is she that received thy sons.
[33] For as she rejoiced at thy ruin, and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
[34] For I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude, and her pride shall be turned into mourning.
[35] For fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to endure; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.
[36] O Jerusalem, look about thee toward the east, and behold the joy that cometh unto thee from God.
[37] Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered together from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.
[5:1] Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of mourning and affliction, and put on the comeliness of the glory that cometh from God for ever.
[2] Cast about thee a double garment of the righteousness which cometh from God; and set a diadem on thine head of the glory of the Everlasting.
[3] For God will shew thy brightness unto every country under heaven.
[4] For thy name shall be called of God for ever The peace of righteousness, and The glory of God's worship.
[5] Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high, and look about toward the east, and behold thy children gathered from the west unto the east by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the remembrance of God.
[6] For they departed from thee on foot, and were led away of their enemies: but God bringeth them unto thee exalted with glory, as children of the kingdom.
[7] For God hath appointed that every high hill, and banks of long continuance, should be cast down, and valleys filled up, to make even the ground, that Israel may go safely in the glory of God,
[8] Moreover even the woods and every sweetsmelling tree shall overshadow Israel by the commandment of God.
[9] For God shall lead Israel with joy in the light of his glory with the mercy and righteousness that cometh from him.

Eternal Importance

[23] And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
[24] And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Significantly, Isaiah began the book with a condemnation of the shallow worship of G-d's people at the time of the New Moons and Sabbaths (Isaiah 1:12-15). Now, after the greatness of the G-d's work, all that is different.
And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me: Some from every tribe and tongue will have a destiny of ultimate triumph; some also will have the destiny - freely chosen - of ultimate tragedy. Using the images of eternal damnation (their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched), Isaiah describes the fate of those who reject G-d - even if they had the veneer of empty religion.
Go forth, and look, as the Israelites looked at the carcasses of the Egyptians destroyed at the Red Sea (Ex 14:30; compare 26:14-19; Ps 58:10; 49:14; Mal 4:1-3).
Carcasses (verse 16), are those slain by the L-rd in the last great battle near Jerusalem (Zec 12:2-9; 14:2-4); type of the final destruction of all sinners.
Worm the does not die (Mk. 9:44, 46, 48), is the image of hell, from bodies left unburied in the valley of Hinnom (whence comes Gehenna, or "hell"), south of Jerusalem, where a perpetual fire was kept to consume the refuse thrown there (30:33). It shall not be inconsistent with true love for the godly to look with satisfaction on G-d's vengeance on the wicked (Rev 14:10).
What their misery is. It is here represented by the frightful spectacle of a field of battle, covered with the carcases of the slain, that lie rotting above ground, full of worms crawling about them and feeding on them; and, if you go to burn them, they are so scattered, and it is such a noisome piece of work to get them together, that it would be endless, and the fire would never be quenched; so that they are an abhorring to all flesh, nobody cares to come near them. Now this is sometimes accomplished in temporal judgments.
After this life, and at the Day of Judgment, they shall go into eternal torments; where they will feel a work of conscience that shall never die and a fiery wrath of G-d upon their souls and bodies that shall never go out.
Our Savior applies it to the everlasting misery and torment of impenitent sinners in the future state, where their worm dies not, and their fire is not quenched (Mark 9:44); for the soul, whose conscience is its constant tormentor, is immortal, and
G-d, whose wrath is its constant terror, is eternal. What notice shall be taken of it? Those that worship G-d shall go forth and look upon them, to affect their own hearts with the love of their Redeemer, when they see what misery they are redeemed from. As it will aggravate the miseries of the damned to see others in the kingdom of heaven and themselves thrust out (Luke 13:28), so it will illustrate the joys and glories of the blessed to see what becomes of those that died in their transgression, and it will elevate their praises to think that they were themselves as brands plucked out of that burning. To the honor of that free grace which thus distinguished them let the redeemed of the L-rd with all humility, and not without a holy trembling, sing their triumphant songs
The book of Isaiah closes with a sobering contrast, revealing the ultimate, eternal importance of this present life. Each life can choose its destiny: worship or the worm. Which is it for you?

Excommunicated for Righteous Sake?

This closing chapter is the summary of Isaiah's prophecies as to the last days; hence the similarity of its sentiments with what went before.
The spiritual temple of the heart is G-d's favorite dwelling (John 14:23). In the final state in heaven there shall be "no temple," but "the L-rd G-d" Himself (Rev. 21:22).
[Isa. 66:5] Hear the word of the LORD, ye that tremble at his word; your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
Have you been cast out for His name's sake? Excommunicate, as if too polluted to worship with them? Thinking they did G-d good service, John 16:2. Isaiah shows how those with a shallow, empty religion mock those of genuine faith.
First, empty religion hates genuine faith (hated you).
Second, empty religion rejects true faith (cast you out).
Third, empty religion acts in the name of the G-d (for My name's sake).
Fourth, empty religion mocks with spiritual sounding words ("Let the G-d be glorified, that we may see your joy").
Your brethren, who should have loved you and encouraged you for their work's sake hated you, and cast you out of their services, excommunicated you as if you had been the greatest blemishes, when you were really the greatest blessings, of their church and cause of teaching the new-born.
Those that hated Messiah hated His disciples, because they supported His kingdom and interest (John 15:18), and they cast them out for His name's sake. They did not recognize your calling, that you were called by His name, and called upon His name, and laid out yourself to advance His name. Note it is no new thing for church censures to be misapplied, and for her artillery, which was intended for her defense, to be turned against her best friends, by the treachery of her governors.
But they shall be ashamed: Most importantly, empty religion will never ultimately triumph. At the end of days, if not before, they shall be ashamed, when they hear the voice of the G-d, who fully repays His enemies!
How you were encouraged under these persecutions: "Let your faith and patience hold out yet a little while; your enemies hate you and oppress you, your brethren hate you and cast you out, but your Father in heaven loves you, and will appear for you when no one else will or dare. His providence shall order things so as shall be for comfort to you; He shall appear for your joy and for the confusion of those that abuse you and trample on you; they shall be ashamed of their enmity to you."
Lift up your head with joy, knowing that your redemption drew nigh, Luke 21:26, 28. Though G-d seems to hide Himself, He will in due time show Himself.
You may not fit in with their services but you do fit in the Fathers, and vindication is on its way.

G-d's Diet

Eat it at all was contrary to G-d's Law (Lev. 11:7)
Were these laws for the Jews only or all followers of the Messiah? Has Satan enticed us into eating all the popular unclean foods? Telling us lies and once again getting us to eat the forbidden fruit. Are we twisting scripture to justify ourselves? Let's look at Peter's vision in Acts 10. G-d was not changing his laws, nor changing man's body to now digest unclean food. Peter was an orthodox Jew who sat under the Messiah's teaching and following the Messiah's example. Peter was told of the vision - he had wrongly developed the habit of call the Gentiles "unclean". And G-d was sending three Gentile men to him. The vision was to clear up Peter's thinking and prepare the way for the men found in verses 28-29.
G-d expects us to choose our food wisely, and He further expects us to use His word as the foundational element of our decision making (2 Timothy 3:15-16). Whether our bodies are the product of years of improper diet, what goes into our mouths each day is our individual responsibility. G-d has given us the freedom to destroy ourselves. He has also given us the power and the information we need to make our bodies as healthy as possible.
Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

HEALTHY FOODS:
honey almonds soybeans dark br sugar
nuts grain peanuts raisins
peas cucumbers melons leeks
wheat barley vine fruit figs
olive oil horseradish wine fruit
onions fresh vegetables beans lentils
garlic pomegranates wholegrain
manna (coriander, cilantro, Chinese parsley, tamarisk)

CLEAN FOODS:
ox sheep deer cow steer buffalo
goats bass pike sunfish perch salmon
mackerel bluefish mullet rainbow lamb tuna
sablefish shod butterfish pompano geese ducks
chickens turkeys rainbow trout lake trout fruits
grains vegetables
polyunsaturated fats; seed, veg. oils, fruits

UNCLEAN FOODS:
pigs rats skunks dogs cats horse lion
bear camel badger rabbits weasels mice mole
tortoise ferret chameleon lizard snail ossifrage kite
ospray vulture raven nighthawk chickow
cormorant owl pelican stork lapwing swan oyster
clam bat lobster shrimp shellfish fats pastries palm oil lard french fries excessive butter
muscle meat syrupy drinks

EAT TO LIVE NOT LIVE TO EAT!
WITH PROPER FOOD, YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ENJOY A RICH AND WHOLESOME LIFESTYLE.
DEFILE NOT YOUR BODY FOR IT IS THE TEMPLE OF THE L-RD.

Millennial Kingdom

[Isa. 65:8] Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
[13] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:
Hungry, (Amos 4:6; 8:11). This may refer to the siege of Jerusalem under Titus, when 1,100,000 are said to have perished by famine; thus 65:15 will refer to G-d's people without distinction of Jew and Gentile receiving "another name". A further fulfillment may still remain, just before the creation of the "new heavens and earth," as the context, 65:17, implies.
[17] For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Messiah and His followers shall inherit the renovated earth which once they trod while defiled by the enemy (34:4; 51:16; 66:22; Eze 21:27; Ps 2:8; 37:11; 2 Peter 3:13; Heb 12:26-28 Rev 21:1). The former sorrows of the earth, under the fall, shall be so far from recurring, that their very remembrance shall be obliterated by the many mercies G-d will bestow on the new earth (Rev. 21:4-27).
[18] But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
[19] And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.
(25:7, 8; 35:10; Rev. 7:17; 21:4), primarily, foretold of Jerusalem; secondarily, of all the redeemed.
[20] There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.
Refers to the New Heavens and New Earth. The other passage is 66:22-24. Both Peter
(2 Pet. 3:13) and John (Rev. 21:10 must have had the first Isaiah passage in mind, for they borrowed its wording.
The problem comes when we examine 20-25 in light of what John had to say in the Apocalypse about the New Heaven and the New Earth. Here death is possible, (death may be limited), but in Rev 21:4 death is no longer a feature of that new estate.
John depicts the new order of things as conditions in which absolute perfection has been reached and where sin, death and sorrow are no more. Y’Shua mentioned that there would be no begetting of children at that time in Lk. 20:36.
20-25 is the Jerusalem of the millennial kingdom of the Messiah. The writers of Scripture often arranged their materials in the topical, rather than a chronological order. Therefore, in the eternal state in which the New Heavens and the New Earth have arrived, there will be no sin, sorrow and death. But when the Messiah reigns on earth, just prior to this eternal state, some of the burdens will remain, even if only in limited forms. So unexpected will death be that if people die after only living one hundred years, they will be regarded as having died as infants. Isaiah breaks the chronological order expected in the chapter and interjects a related note about Jerusalem during the millennium.
Almost universally the early church believed Rev. 20:1-6 to represent a period of time, roughly corresponding to a thousand years, which would begin and conclude with two resurrections (the first of the righteous dead in the Messiah and the second resurrection of all the dead) and would be the time when, at the end of this period, satan would be loosed for one last fling at opposing G-d before being finally and forever vanquished. It is in this same time period, then, that we would assign the strange collection of facts stated by Isaiah.
Since the millennium is part of the eternal state in introduces, ‘this age’ could be expected to overlap with ‘the age to come.’ Thirty times the NT uses the dual expressions, this age and the age to come. This age is the current historical process. Overlapping the powers of the age to come (Heb. 6:5) had already begun and overlapped this present age’s historical process. Thus in the ‘now’ believers were already experiencing some of the evidences and powers to be experienced in the ‘not yet’ in bursting of the Messiah into history at His Second Coming.
[25] The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the LORD.
What a time that will be, when My Savior I shall see!! Makes our lives troubles worth it all! A time of no more sorrow, no more pain, come quickly L-rd, come quickly!

Man Not Heard, Nor Perceived

[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.
Men have not heard nor seen what G-d has prepared for those that wait for Him. Observe the character of G-d's people; they are such as wait for Him in the way of duty, wait for the salvation He has promised and designed for them.
It is all that goodness which G-d has laid up for those that fear Him, and wrought for those that trust in Him, Psalms 31:19. Of this it is here said that since the beginning of the world, in the most prying and inquisitive ages of it, men have not, either by hearing or seeing, the two learning senses, come to the full knowledge of it.
It cannot be fully comprehended by the human understanding, no, not when it is revealed; it is spiritual, and refined from those ideas which our minds are most apt to receive in this world of sense; it is very great, and will far outdo the utmost of our expectations. Even the present peace of believers, much more their future bliss, is such as surpasses all conception and expression, Philippians 4:7. None can comprehend it but G-d Himself, whose understanding is infinite.
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.
We are all as an unclean thing, or as an unclean person, as one overspread with a leprosy, who was to be shut out of the camp, or like one laboring under some loathsome disease, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot nothing but wounds and bruises, 1:6. We have all by sin become not only obnoxious to G-d's justice, but odious to His holiness; for sin is that abominable thing which the L-rd hates, and cannot endure to look upon. Even all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Our performances, though they be ever so plausible, if we depend upon them as our righteousness and think to merit by them at G-d's hand, are as filthy rags--rags, and will not cover us--filthy rags, and will but defile us.
When we would do good evil is present with us; and the iniquity of our holy things would be our ruin if we were under the Law.
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.
Foolish and careless as we are, poor and despised and trampled upon as we are by our enemies, yet still thou art our Father; to thee therefore we return in our repentance, as the prodigal arose and came to his father; to thee we address ourselves by prayer; from whom should we expect relief and succor but from our Father?
“We are all as an unclean thing, but we are all the work of His hands, therefore do away our uncleanness that we may be fit for His use, the use we were made for. We are the work of His hands, therefore forsake us not," Psalms 138:8.
It is a sore affliction to good people to see G-d's sanctuary laid waste and nothing done towards the raising of it out of its ruins. But G-d has said that He will not contend for ever, and therefore His people may depend upon it that their afflictions shall be neither to extremity nor to eternity, but light and for a moment.
This was not only intended for the use of the captive Jews, but may serve for direction to the church in other times of distress, what to ask of G-d and how to plead with Him. Are G-d's people at any time in affliction, in great affliction? Let them pray, let them thus pray for the Divine Presence!
They plead what G-d had been used to do, and had declared His gracious purpose to do, for His people in general. The provision He has made for the safety and happiness of His people, even of all those that seek Him, and serve Him, and trust in Him, is very rich and very ready, so that they need not fear being either disappointed of it, for it is sure, or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient.

Holy Spirit Throughout O.T.

[Isa. 63:10] But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
[11] Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?
There are two explicit references to the Holy Spirit in this O.T. text. Many people believe that the Holy Spirit came on certain OT leaders temporarily, but He did not dwell long-term in people until the NT period. But here an OT text clearly teaches that the general class of people ‘rebelled’ and ‘grieved the Holy Spirit. The text does not refer only to the leaders; all the people were involved in an act that reminds us of the NT warning in Eph. 4:30; ‘do not grieve the Holy Spirit of G-d.’
This text appears to contain a reference to all three persons of the Trinity. Verse 9 refers to the Father who shared Israel’s distress in Egypt, the wilderness and Canaan. But it was ‘the angel of His presence’ (or His face) that delivered them. This is the One in whom the Father had put His name (Ex. 23:20-21). That is equal to saying that He had the same nature, spirit and authority as the Father. That surely was no ordinary angel; it had to be the second person of the Trinity, the Messiah.
Yahweh and the angel of His presence (that is to say, Y’Shua the Messiah), and the Holy Spirit are distinguished as three persons, but not so that the latter two are altogether different from the first. They, in fact, derive their existence from the first and is one G-d, forming a single unity.
People today believe that the Holy Spirit came for the very first time to indwell believers after the Messiah had ascended into heaven. Could this be because of the replacement theory or for the lack of knowledge?
Y’Shua had expected Nicodemus to know of the Holy Spirit’s special work in bringing people to belief in the Messiah (John. 3:5-10). In fact, Y’Shua was ‘amazed’ that Nicodemus could be a teacher of the Jews and not know this important fact. Even before His death, Y’Shua sent out the Twelve with the assurance that the Holy Spirit would help them speak (Matt. 10:20), just as He likewise promised the Holy Spirit would be with all believers when they were hauled before the judges because of their faith (Lk. 12:12).
John 14:17 translation should read: ‘you know Him, for He lives with you and is in you.’ The Greek does not denote a fluctuating relationship, for this is the preposition that describes the Father and Son already abiding in them (John. 14:23). The manuscript evidence is strong for the present tense is in you, rather than the future tense, will be in you.
Many questions why Pentecost (Shavuot or Feast of Weeks) was necessary if the Holy Spirit was already present to some degree in every O.T. believer. Pentecost was necessary because of the Holy Spirit must have a coming in state, in a solemn and visible manner just as Y’Shua had. In this way all could see and know that the promise-plan of G-d was being fulfilled. This was the event that Joel in 2:28-32 had anticipated. Thus, just as the Holy Spirit had already regenerated and indwelled the OT believers, so now it was necessary that He validate all that had been experienced prophetically in the OT. As Calvary validated the promise of forgiveness of sins realized by all who had believed so Pentecost did the same for all who had experienced the Holy Spirit’s wonderful work in the OT.
G-d is represented, in human language, mentally speaking of Himself and His former acts of love to Israel, as His ground for pitying them notwithstanding their rebellion or perversity. He forgot not His covenant of old; therefore He did not wholly forsake them (Lev 26:40-42, 44, 45; Ps 106:45, 46); the Jews make this their plea with G-d, that He should not now forsake them.
G-d put His Holy Spirit within, Hebrew, "in the inward parts of him," that is, in the midst of His people! (Num. 11:17, 25; Neh. 9:20; Hag. 2:5).
The Spirit of the LORD caused him to rest.
O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.
[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.
[18] The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
[19] We are thine: thou never barest rule over them; they were not called by thy name.