Bereansearching Bible Studies

When we read the Bible, there are a few verses that we can come upon that can stop us in our tracks and cut to the bone (Hebrews 4:12).  They are not always easy to hear, even for those who know God, but they nonetheless are always True and Good. Some verses that hit home recently include the following:

John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.“

In this world, when things are going well, we can so easily get caught up in the love of the things of the world, the material world, and all of its material enticements.  We can easily forget how ephemeral they all are, and how these things can so quickly pass from us apart from the good grace of God Who provides them.  We can easily take them for granted, and not focus on the God (the God of the Bible) Who is the Giver of every good and perfect gift (and the eternal “good and perfect gift” from God is the salvation of souls that only comes through Jesus Christ).

 

And later in Chapter 6:24-34, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

²⁵ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?

²⁶ Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

²⁷ Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?

²⁸ And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:

²⁹ And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

³⁰ Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

³¹ Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

³² (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

³⁴ Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

 

But please remember this…If all of this is too difficult to hear, beg God for mercy, because as we read in Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” and in Psalm 51:17, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

So here is a prayer for all of us who read these Bible Studies in Bereansearching.com…

Dear Heavenly Father, Lord God, please give us the ears to hear, the eyes to see, the hearts to receive, and the willingness to be obedient to Thy Word.  In the name of Jesus Christ, thine only begotten Son, we pray.  Amen

 

In Luke 2:36-38 we read about Anna, a prophetess, and in those three short verses there is a lot of information to be gleaned by any believer willing to take the time to humbly and prayerfully search the scriptures for the wisdom to be found there, as if they were filled with hidden treasure…because that is exactly what the scriptures are…and God exhorts us to search them out as we read in Proverbs 2:3-4: “Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.”

So what exactly are the hid treasures to be found in the three verses which discuss Anna the prophetess? Please let us look together.

We read in Luke 2:36-38, “And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;  And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.”

Anna

To begin, let us start with the very name, Anna, and search out its meaning. Anna is a Latin form of the Greek name Ἅννα and the Hebrew name Hannah (Hebrew: חַנָּה Ḥannāh‎‎, meaning “favor” or “grace”)! Grace! What a perfect name for a true believer! Anna is in fact an allegorical representation of all true believers who are blessed to come under the Grace of God through the Person and Redemptive Work of the Lord Jesus Christ! We know that this is true because we read in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:”

It should also be noted that Hannah (the name translated from the Old Testament Hebrew) is only mentioned in one chapter of the Bible. In 1 Samuel 1, we read of the account of the formerly barren wife of Elkanah, “Hannah“, חַנָּה (Ḥannāh)^H2584‎‎, who was blessed by God to have a first born son named Samuel (“asked for”). Samuel became a prophet of God, the last judge of Israel, and the one who anointed King Saul and King David. That chapter is worthy of a long spiritual exposition by itself, but it is outside the scope of this study.

Prophetess

We read that she was a “prophetess.” This means that she was qualified by God to declare the scriptures, the Word of God! She was preceded by other prophetesses in the Old Testament like Meriam in Exodus 15:20; Deborah in Judges 4:4; Huldah in 2 Kings 22:14; and succeeded in the New Testament by the four daughters of Phillip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven deacons, as we read in Acts 21:8&9. It is clear that as a “prophetess”, Anna is being used to spiritually typify the “Church” which is the spiritual “Bride of Jesus Christ.” She spiritually represents all of the believers in the world who are mandated to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as declared in the scriptures. (Please note that there are many cases in the Bible where God uses women to spiritually  represent the church. For more on this, please also see the attached commentaries found on this website which address key women in the Bible like Esther, Ruth, and Deborah.)

Phanuel

We read that Anna was the daughter of Phanuel. Phanuel means “Face of God”. By naming Anna as his daughter, we gain additional insight to the fact that the Face of God had looked upon her and she was a saved individual, for we read three times in Psalm 80:3&7&19 the following,

Verse 3 “Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Verse 7 “Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

Verse 19 “Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.”

The Original Greek word for Phanuel actually comes from Peniel as we see in Genesis 32:30, “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Just as Jacob/Israel had seen the Face of God and had his life preserved (he was saved), so too is Anna’s (eternal) life preserved…she too is saved. She can also be likened as a friend of God even as Moses in Exodus 33:11 where we read, “And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”

Aser (Asher)

Asher means “Happy and blessed” as we read in Genesis 30:13 “And Leah said, Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed: and she called his name Asher.” Asher was the 8^th son of Jacob.

The number eight (“8“) represents “Resurrection” and “Eternity”  (and oftentimes “Eternal Life and Salvation“). 

We should remember that God established seven days in a week back in Genesis 2:2&3, and the eighth day always heralds the beginning of a new week. In the same way, the number eight is associated with the new birth, as exemplified by the Resurrection of the LORD Jesus Christ Who Is the “Firstborn from the dead.” Colossians 1:18, “And he (Jesus)is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.“

• Eight souls were saved on Noah’s Ark (Noah and his wife and his three sons and their wives): 1 Peter 3:20, “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.” 
• Circumcision of the male children occurred on the eighth day after birth: Leviticus 12:3, “And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.” This was a sign of the earthly Old Covenant that looked forward to the eternal New Covenant instituted by Jesus’s Atoning Sacrifice that would bring about Salvation and Eternal Life.
• Jesus was raised from the dead (the Resurrection) on the eighth day (Easter Sunday morning) from which we derive the 8th day Sabbath for Christian worship.
• The last day of the last of the three Jewish feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles, is the eighth day: Leviticus 23:36, “Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it [is] a solemn assembly; [and] ye shall do no servile work [therein].” That feast typifies the believers’ Salvation and rest in Heaven with God.

And it was at the dedication of Jesus in the Temple shortly after His circumcision (which occurred on the eighth day) that Anna was able to visibly see Jesus as we read in Luke 2:21-23, “and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. ¶And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him toJerusalem, to present [him] to the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)”

Anna received the circumcision of the heart, and was a “true Jew”.   God makes this clear in both the Old and New Testaments by comparing and contrasting the earthly outward physical circumcision with the inward spiritual circumcision. In Deuteronomy 30:6, we read, “And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.” And in Romans 2:29, “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

The blessings of Asher by Jacob in Genesis 49:20 apply directly to Anna (“Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.”) because she is being richly fed by the Word of God Who is Jesus, as we know from John 1:14: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” And then in John 6:35 we read “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” and Isaiah 55:10-11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” Moreover, Anna is provided with food suitable for royalty (the dainties) as all believers are considered to be kings and part of the royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Anna is also like Martha’s sister Mary who sat at the feet of Jesus and was fed directly from the Master (Luke 10:39), in being able to behold the Christ child, she saw God, face to face.

The blessings of Asher as prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 33:24-25 also apply to Anna. There we read, “And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.” As a typological portrait of the church, Anna represents all true believers who are blessed with spiritual children (the elect) who are brought into the church through the preaching and hearing of the Word. Anna, like all believers, also receives spiritual blessings as we read in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” As a believer she was accepted, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” The oil represents the Holy Spirit (this is made clear in other studies) and He is in control of her paths (Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

With the further blessing of Asher by Moses, hence Anna, described as having “shoes”, meant that she was not naked spiritually (barefoot, see Isaiah 20:2-3), but rather she was shod with the preparation of the gospel as we read in Ephesians 6:15, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;” Ashur’s, hence Anna’s, shoes being “iron and brass” meant that as she prophesied, the words were the savour of life unto life to the elect, and death unto death to the non-elect (2 Corinthians 2:16) as they bring judgment to us…one way or another there is judgment to be encountered. Iron relates to bondage to sin (Egypt is referred to in the Bible as the iron furnace Deuteronomy 4:20 and Jeremiah 11:4 and 1 Kings 8:51)  and brass represents God’s fiery judgment (Revelation 1:15) and together they relate to hell and punishment from which the believers will escape (because Jesus paid the full price for them) and the non-believers will not. The gospel is a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12). And let us not forget that Jesus likened Himself to the brass serpent that was lifted up by Moses on a pole to point to His impending judgment for the sins of His people, as we read in John 3:14 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:”  which referred back to Numbers 21:9, “And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.“

Great Age

Anna was of great age (either being aged 84 years, or as a widow having been married 91 years earlier, she would likely have been at least 104 if married at 13), so, either way, her life of many days reflects the strength of her faith. While Moses prophesy pertaining to Asher, in the first instance, is really speaking of Jesus Christ, it also refers to Anna (and all believers) as she represents the body of Christ. This is considered a blessing if one is a believer according to the Bible as we read in Psalm 92:12-14,“The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;” Anna flourished in prophesying, please see Matthew 21:43 “Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” And Psalm 126:6, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” Finally, Anna being in the Way of Righteousness (in Christ), her old age was a crown of glory as we read in Proverbs 16:31, “The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness.”

Husband

Anna, as a typological portrait of the church, is a wife which in the spiritual sense means she is the bride of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2 says, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” And in Revelation 21:2, we read: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Virginity

Anna was a virgin at the time of her marriage. This means she was chaste in her life walk. Spiritually speaking, true virgins are qualified to marry the High Priest (Jesus Christ). Anna was also typifying the daughters of The King (God) who were virgins (2 Samuel 13:18, “And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king’s daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her.”) Anna represented the five wise virgins in the parable of Jesus in Matthew 25:1-13 who had sufficient oil (The Holy Spirit) in their lamps (The Holy Spirit breathed Word of God… Psalm 119:105, ” NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”) who went into the bridal chamber.

Widow

Widows are addressed in depth in the study of Ruth (both Ruth and Naomi were “widows indeed” like Anna). Anna was married for seven years, but at the time of Jesus’s first coming she was a widow for her earthly husband was dead and evidently had no other family. While being a true widow, and hence desolate, she trusted in God and continued in “fastings and prayers night and day” just as we read in 1 Timothy 5:3&5, “Honour widows that are widows indeed. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.”

Departed not from the Temple

The true Temple of God, in the spiritual sense, is the body of believers. She did not depart from that assembly. The Greek word for “departed” is ἀφίστημι (aphistēmi)^G868, which is translated “fall away” in Luke 8:13 in reference to those who are not steadfast in faith because they had no root (Jesus is the Root of David, Revelation 5:5) as we read,“They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.” Anna was steadfast, and she was well rooted in her faith and she did not depart the temple or “fall away”.

Served God with Fasting and Prayers Night and Day

True fasting has to do with declaring the gospel to loose us from the bondage to sin and the devil…this is clear when we read Isaiah 58:5-7, “Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? [is it] to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? [Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? [Is it] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” While Anna could have been abstaining from eating in the normal sense of the word for fasting, she was also prophesying the Word of God, and hence the true gospel according to Isaiah 58, and thereby serving God in the process to provide spiritual bread to the hungry and set the spiritual captives free.

Anna was also praying night and day, just as we are instructed to do by Jesus in  Luke 18:1, “And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;”  Also, in Luke 21:36 we read where Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Finally, one verse sums it up in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.”

Spake of Him (Jesus Christ)

Anna was speaking of Jesus! The Greek word λαλέω (laleō)^G2980 that was translated “spake” is also translated “preach” six times elsewhere in the Bible. (in Mark 2:3, Acts 8:35, Acts 11:19, Acts 13:42, Acts 14:25, and Acts 16:6). This means that Anna was “preaching” about Jesus, just as we read in 2 Corjnthians 4:5, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.”) Moreover, Anna had been expecting Jesus’ first coming, just as believers (whom she allegorically is representative) are expecting and preaching/declaring His second coming soon.

To All Them Who Looked For Redemption in Jerusalem

Everyone who is a believer is looking forward to the day of redemption by that Great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.   The word translated “Look for” is προσδέχομαι (prosdechomai)^G4327, which is used in Titus 2:13 where we read that the believers are, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Anna is a typological prefigure of all believers who are as in 2 Peter 3:11-13, “[Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

Redemption is the Greek word λύτρωσις (lytrōsis)^G3085, which is used only three times in the New Testament. The word means a ransoming, redemption, or deliverance. In addition to Luke 2:38, we find it in Luke 1:68, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,”

Hebrews 9:12, we read, “Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” That eternal redemption is coming with the completion of the believers’ salvation upon the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Finally, there are only two Jerusalems, the one on earth that is located today in national Israel, which remains in bondage to the law, and the heavenly one that is above that is free from the law, as we read in Galatians 4:25-26, “For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Those with whom Anna spoke were in the literal physical Jerusalem, in the literal physical temple, and who were expecting the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, but as believers they would also be looking for that eternal redemption, as they also knew that there was a better place ahead, the spiritual new Jerusalem of which they would all be part as we read in Revelation 21:2.

The Message

This study, like all others on this website, is meant to share insights on the magnificent crafting of the Bible by God, which He provides us to gain insights on Who He Is and how He has controlled time and space for His Glory and for the enlightenment of His church. As we read in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Sometimes this is easier to see in some places in the Bible than in others, but in each case, it requires at least a bit of time and effort in the scriptures, to humbly and prayerfully search things out by comparing scripture with scripture (“which the Holy Ghost (the Holy Spirit, the Comforter) teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.“see: 1 Corinthians 2:13).  In this case, it seems clear that Anna is a prefigurement of all believers (as a widow standing in for those on the Old Testament side). She was a faithful witness, and she typified the believers with all of her attributes as expounded in the above. She was a prophetess who faithfully witnessed (spake) about Jesus Christ and His Redemption of His people. Anna is one more role model that God has set forth in His Word for our exhortation, and to strengthen our faith in Him and our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who is coming again soon.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow. Hallelujah!

Read more: Anna the Prophetess

Introduction and Overview*

The story of Mephibosheth is another Biblical example of God’s Grace and Mercy that is bestowed upon the undeserving believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Mephibosheth was a Benjamite, and a grandson of Israel’s first king, King Saul, and the son of David’s beloved friend, Jonathan. The Biblical account of Mephibosheth is another example of an Historical Parable.  It involves real historical events that are used by God to convey spiritual truths.  In this post it will be shown that Mephibosheth serves as a typological/allegorical representation of all believers, who, by nature, should die (eternally in Hell) for their sins (as exemplified by Mephibosheth being “lame”, and therefore blemished and banned from entering into the king’s house).  However, by the Grace and Mercy of God, alone, through the Covenant of Grace wrought through the Person and Work of the LORD Jesus Christ, all who are “spiritually lame/blemished” identified with Mephibosheth can also have eternal peace and security in Heaven with Jesus Christ. The story is also an interesting one, because it requires a bit of searching to unfold, and to see, the more complete picture. (Note: Mephibosheth is also called “Meribbaal” in 1 Chronicles 8:34  and 1 Chronicles 9:40, which means “Contender with Baal“, and his long line of descendants, beginning with his son Mica(h), are also listed to the end of both 1 Chronicles, Chapters 8 & 9. The important takeaway being that Jonathan’s line was not cut off because of the grace and mercy shown to Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth.)

* This commentary draws heavily from that of this author’s late friend and mentor, Pastor Henry T. Mahan: https://www.grace-ebooks.com/library/Henry%20Mahan/HM_Works%20Vol%201.pdf pp. 107-109. An Audio of his sermon on Mephibosheth can also be heard here: https://www.sermonaudio.com/saplayer/playpopup.asp?SID=102906214225

Contents:

PART 1: The Covenant Came First: David’s Covenant with Jonathan (Mephibosheth’s Father)

PART 2: The Recipient of the Covenant: Mephibosheth (“Dispeller of Shame”) 

PART 3: David Comes to Power, and He Remembers and Fulfills the Covenant to Jonathan by Showing Mercy to Mephibosheth

God Remembers His Everlasting Covenant/Oath

A Closer Look at 2 Samuel 9:1-13 (Some Significant Points to Ponder)

PART 4: Ziba (“Plant”), Mephibosheth’s Deceitful Servant 

PART 5: Mephibosheth Was Spared From Death, and Did Eat Continually at the King’s Table as One of the King’s Sons

The Concluding Message:God’s Covenant of Grace With and Through Jesus Christ Continues Forever!  The Believers Will Eat at Jesus’s Table in Heaven for Eternity as Sons of God!

PART 1: The Covenant Came First: David’s Covenant with Jonathan (Mephibosheth’s Father)

In 1 Samuel 20:11-17 we read, “And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.  And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee;  The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.  And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not:  But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David’s enemies.  And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.”

An Eternal Covenant of Grace

An eternal covenant was established between the house of David and Jonathan, Saul’s son, that would ensure Jonathan’s seed continued “forever” as we read in 1 Samuel 20:42 “And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city.”

(NOTE to the reader, it should also be noted that King Saul later begged David to make a similar promise to him (King Saul), which was simultaneously kept by David, as we read in 1 Samuel 24:20-22, : “And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand. Swear now therefore unto me by the Lord, that thou wilt not cut off my seed after me, and that thou wilt not destroy my name out of my father’s house. And David sware unto Saul. And Saul went home; but David and his men gat them up unto the hold.“). That oath was therefore also kept by David in the seeking out and saving of Mephibosheth.

PART 2: The Recipient of the Covenant: Mephibosheth (“Dispeller of Shame”) is a son of Jonathan, the son of King Saul, the Son of Kish, to whom that “forever” covenant applies, but he is “Lame in His Feet”

We also now know that he was lame in his feet (both feet, as the Bible later explains in 2 Samuel, chapter 9). To be lame is NOT a good thing…it is used in the Bible as being a “blemish”, and hence as an allegory for spiritually being in a state of sin sickness that requires healing and which separates everyone from God. We know this because it is specifically mentioned in God’s Law as a reason for which a man (descended from Aaron) cannot serve as a priest to approach God’s Holy Temple, or any similarly blemished animal cannot be used as a sacrifice to God for sin. Here are the key examples (please read the entire chapters referenced below to see the full context).

Leviticus 21:18, “For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,”

To be lame is treated in the Bible much like all such ailments / infirmities / blemishes / sicknesses that represent being “unclean” and spiritually signify our natural state of sin, e.g., deafness, dumbness, blindness, broken bones, leprosy, demon possession, and even physical death from which there is a need of a cleansing cure. And the Bible makes clear that Salvation through Jesus Christ is the only eternal cure for our sins. The reality is that we are all by nature, “spiritually lame.”  And spiritually speaking, we cannot remain “lame” to enter into the presence of God, as salvation through Jesus Christ’s intercession is the means whereby we are healed from all such spiritual infirmities. Hebrews 12:13, “And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”

The “Lame” were viewed as unclean and not allowed to enter into king David’s house

With specific regard to being lame, it is most interesting to note in 2 Samuel 5:6 & 8, “And the king and his men went to Jerusalem unto the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land: which spake unto David, saying, Except thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shalt not come in hither: thinking, David cannot come in hither.” “And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, [that are] hated of David’s soul, [he shall be chief and captain]. Wherefore they said, The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” (NOTE that this last sentence can also be translated as  “because they had said, even the blind and the lame, He shall not come into the house.”, which could would seem to imply that David could be deterred from coming into the house (Jerusalem) because people whom David abhorred reside there. As a result, David ordered his men into the city to kill (take away) those who were blind and lame along with the Jebusites.)

These points are important for two reasons:

• 1) While the above two verses make it clear that David’s “soul” “hates” the lame and the blind, and, moreover, that the blind and the lame “shall not come into the house”, it is not inconsistent with the fact that God HATES our sinful nature (allegorically typified by all such physical defects/blemishes) and that God will not allow any unclean thing (sin or sinners) to enter into HIS house (Heaven).
• 2) Nonetheless, because of the loving bond and covenant established between David and Jonathan, we later see that despite being lame (mentioned repeatedly), Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, is not only allowed into David’s house, but Mephibosheth was also allowed to continually eat bread at King David’s table, “as one of the king’s sons” (2 Samuel 9:11).

The “Lame” Are Healed in the New Testament (and Therefore Made “Spiritually Clean”)

We can see other accounts in the New Testament where someone is “lame” and is subsequently miraculously cured by Jesus and his disciples. See for example, Matthew 15:30&31, “And great multitudes came unto him (Jesus), having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. Also, Matthew 21:14 “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.” NOTE how different this is from what we read in the Old Testament.  There the blind and the lame were despised and could not come into the house, but here we see that they could come into the house (of God, the temple) because they were healed.  Jesus makes it possible for vile, hateful sinners to come into the presence of God in Heaven because Jesus heals and saves them from their sins.  And Mephibosheth served as a symbolic portent of God’s saving grace because of the loving bond of the Eternal Covenant that is only possible by Jesus’s Eternal Sacrifice.

This is reiterated in Jesus testimony to be passed to John the Baptist, “Luke 7:22, “Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.” and later in Acts 3:1-26, we read where Peter healed the lame man seeking alms to whom Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God:” Again in Acts 8:7 we read the account of the disciples healing infirmities that include lameness, “For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them: and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed.”

PART 3: David Comes to Power, and He Remembers and Fulfills the Covenant to Jonathan by Showing Mercy to Mephibosheth

When David was anointed king of Israel, in theory, any living male heir of King Saul could have tried to challenge David’s throne (just as Ishbosheth did), and that heir of Saul would, in general, be quite fearful of being killed by the King David for that sole reason (we later read that the male heirs considered themselves “dead men” 2 Samuel 19:28). In fact, one way or another, all but one of King Saul’s male heirs were eventually slain (including Ishbosheth, 2 Samuel 4:5-12)…only Mephibosheth was spared as we will see. We read in 1 Samuel 31:2, “And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul’s sons.” But two other of Saul’s sons and five other grandsons did live on (for a time), in addition to Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul.

 In 2 Samuel 9:1-13), we read the account where David remembers his covenant with Jonathan (that covenant was established in 1 Samuel 20:12-17), “And David said, Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan’s sake? And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba. And when they had called him unto David, the king said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king, Jonathan hath yet a son, which is lame on his feet. And the king said unto him, Where is he? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, in Lodebar. Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir, the son of Ammiel, from Lodebar. Now when Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, was come unto David, he fell on his face, and did reverence. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold thy servant! And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually. And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I [am]?  Then the king called to Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said unto him, I have given unto thy master’s son all that pertained to Saul and to all his house.  Thou therefore, and thy sons, and thy servants, shall till the land for him, and thou shalt bring in [the fruits], that thy master’s son may have food to eat: but Mephibosheth thy master’s son shall eat bread alway at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.  Then said Ziba unto the king, According to all that my lord the king hath commanded his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, said the king, he shall eat at my table, as one of the king’s sons.  And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Micha*. And all that dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants unto Mephibosheth.  So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem: for he did eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both his feet.”

*Micha(h) went on to have many progeny, who are enumerated in detail in 1 Chronicles 8:33-40 and again in 1 Chronicles 9:40-44.  Mephibosheth is also referred to there are Meribbaal.

God Remembers His Everlasting Covenant/Oath

Psalm 105:7-10, “He [is] the LORD our God: his judgments [are] in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word [which] he commanded to a thousand generations.Which [covenant] he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, [and] to Israel [for] an everlasting covenant:“

The last words of King David before his death included what we read in 2 Samuel 23:5 “Although my house [be] not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all [things], and sure: for [this is] all my salvation, and all [my] desire, although he make [it] not to grow.“

God never forgets His covenant with Israel (the eternal Israel), for we read in Leviticus 26:42, “Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.”  This is also repeated in the last four verses in Isaiah 16:1-63, beginning with “Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.”

Luke 1:67-75, The fulfillment of Zacharias’s (John the Baptist’s father’s) prophesy that spoke of Jesus, “And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed [be] the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; To perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. To perform the mercy [promised] to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant;”

God remembered and performed His covenant to Israel with a new and everlasting covenant in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ (with the spiritual eternal Israel, the true believing Christians, out of all the world saved by grace, and not by the works of the law, through the fulfillment of God’s law by Jesus Christ His Beloved Son).

A Closer Look at 2 Samuel 9:1-13 (Some Significant Points to Ponder)

And note how consistent this is with 1 Peter 2:5, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.” and 1 Peter 2:9, “¶But ye [are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

Revelation 22:5, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.“

This will be true for all believers FOREVER in Heaven! Hallelujah!

PART 4: Ziba (“Plant”), Mephibosheth’s Deceitful Servant 

However, the account of Mephibosheth does not stop there…In 2 Samuel 15:13, we read of the flight of David from Jerusalem arising from the insurrection by David’s son, Absalom against David, and David’s fearing that Absalom was going to slaughter David and his household, “make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.”  Mephibosheth (as we later read in Chapter 19) evidently intended to go with David out of Jerusalem, or at least support him in his flight, because Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba, loaded up pack animals with provisions and chased after David.  Ziba left Mephibosheth behind caught up with David. Then in 2 Samuel 16:1-4, we read where Mephibosheth is falsely accused of treason/rebellion and his possessions are taken from him and given to his accuser, Mephibosheth’s servant, Ziba,“And when David was a little past the top of the hill, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him, with a couple of asses saddled, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and an hundred bunches of raisins, and an hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. And the king said unto Ziba, What meanest thou by these? And Ziba said, The asses be for the king’s household to ride on; and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat; and the wine, that such as be faint in the wilderness may drink. And the king said, And where is thy master’s son? And Ziba said unto the king, Behold, he abideth at Jerusalem: for he said, To day shall the house of Israel restore me the kingdom of my father. Then said the king to Ziba, Behold, thine are all that pertained unto Mephibosheth. And Ziba said, I humbly beseech thee that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king.” Ziba, originally the servant of Saul (and hence also Jonathan), falsely accused Mephibosheth to King David, for Mephibosheth never said what had been accused of him by Ziba, and therefore Ziba must have evidently coveted Mephibosheth’s inheritance from king Saul.

However, later, in 2 Samuel 19:24-30, we read the following where Mephibosheth, upon meeting King David coming back across the River Jordan after Absalom was dead, has the opportunity to explain himself to King David: “And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes.  For all of my father’s house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king?  And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.  And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.”

The Key Lesson of Mephibosheth for the Believer!

Here we (and King David) can plainly see that Mephibosheth remained a faithful servant who loves David, had an unfaithful servant (Ziba), who lied about him, and that Mephibosheth placed his relationship with David above all his worldly material possessions.  Mephibosheth humbled himself before his King and was happy only to again be in the King’s presence and He left his fate in the hand of the King. David again spared Mephibosheth, and the king said that the earthly possessions granted to Ziba earlier would be divided between Mephibosheth and Ziba. However, Mephibosheth said that Ziba could take it all!

Mephibosheth was clearly a child of God (and “Typifies” all the children of God) because we see his example described in  1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Remember also that Jesus’s disciples, Peter, James, and John, when Jesus called them to be fishers of men, according to Luke 5:11, “And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.”  James 2:5, “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?  We can only wonder about the ultimate fate of Ziba, but we do know from Mark 8:36,“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” 

Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress” hymn also addresses this point well…

“Let goods and kindred go,
this mortal life also;
the body they may kill:
God’s truth abideth still;
his kingdom is forever!”

The key takeaway lesson is that while we are all lame in our feet, because of the Fall of Adam and unclean by nature for our sins, we can be reconciled to God through the Person and Work of the Lord God and King Jesus Christ, whose keeping the Covenantal Promise makes us sons of God and able to enter God’s House in Heaven and dine with Him. Moreover, the believer’s whole focus should be just like that of Mephibosheth, looking for and hasting for the day of the return of his or her King, which, in the believer’s case, is the return of King Jesus on the Clouds of Glory to bring the believer into an eternal life of righteousness, because the believer no longer has any cares for the stuff of this sin cursed temporal world.

PART 5: God’s Covenant of Grace Continues Forever!

King David continued to show grace to Mephibosheth, as we later read in 2 Samuel 21. In 2 Samuel 21:1, we read this, “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites*. And the king called the Gibeonites, and said unto them; (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites; and the children of Israel had sworn unto them (see Joshua 9:3-27): and Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.) Wherefore David said unto the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? and wherewith shall I make the atonement, that ye may bless the inheritance of the Lord? And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel, Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.” Then we are given the account in 2 Samuel 21:8&9, where two of Saul’s sons (of his concubine Rizpah) and five grandsons (of his daughter Michal) were turned over by king David to Gibeonites to appease them and were hanged, “And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the LORD: and they fell [all] seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first [days], in the beginning of barley harvest.” The Gibeonites killed (actually “hanged”**) those seven men (including an uncle of Mephibosheth, who was also named Mephibosheth, one of two sons of Saul via his concubine, Rizpah, 2 Samuel 21:8). However, most notably, we read in 2 Samuel 21:7 , “But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the LORD’S oath that [was] between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.” Mephibosheth was spared because of the LORD’s oath (covenant)!  Amazing!

*There is no unequivocal account in the Bible of Saul’s having “slew the Gibeonites“.  However, we do know that the Gibeonites were living in the area that was allotted to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 21:17), and Saul, being a Benjamite, would have been familiar with them, and at some point could have taken offense by their presence among his tribe and Israel. We also know that King Saul ordered the slaughter of 85 priests in Nob (a priestly city in Benjamin, not far from Jerusalem) for having helped fleeing David (providing him with food and Goliath’s sword).  Many others in that town were killed as well, which could have included Gibeonites who inhabited the surrounding area. In 1Samuel 22:17-19, we read the following: “And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also [is] with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not shew it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD. And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and sucklings, and oxen, and asses, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.“

NOTE: It is not insignificant that both Esther and her elder cousin, Mordechai, whom we read about in the the book of Esther are also Benjamites, as we read in Esther 2:5, “Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite;” The details of the familial relationship between Mordecai (and hence Esther) and King Saul/Jonathan/Mephibosheth are unclear, but at the least we can see that they are all part of the tribe of Benjamin, and that they are all descended from someone having the name Kish (“bow” “snare” (like the river Kishon) or “power”).  And the Kish who was the father of King Saul was described as a “mighty man of power” (or substance) according to 1 Samuel 9:1&2. 

Please also see: https://bereansearching.com/2009/09/19/an-exposition-of-the-book-of-esther/

The Concluding Message: God’s Covenant of Grace With and Through Jesus Christ Continues Forever! The Believers Will Eat at Jesus’s Table in Heaven for Eternity as Sons of God!

The Mephibosheth account provides a number of insights for us regarding God’s Magnificent Plan of Salvation.  King Saul as the first king of Israel can at times be either an allegorical “Type” of Adam, or after the Fall, of the devil. King David, a man after God’s own heart, oftentimes represents the “second” Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.  However, King David, in his relationship with Jonathan, is more of a picture of God the Father who loves Jesus, the beloved Savior with Whom the Covenant of Grace was established before all of creation.  When it was said that David’s love for Jonathan was greater than anywhere else we read in the Bible, as we see in 1 Samuel 18:1 (and 1 Samuel 18:3 and 1 Samuel 20:17) that “the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul,” which can only represent the perfect love between God The Father and God The Son.  Jonathan was never described as blemished, just as Jesus was without blemish.  So many of the Psalms have the historical conflict of David with Saul, but the language clearly points to and teaches us of that conflict with God/believers and the devil/his followers.  Mephibosheth represents the elect of God, all those who are believers throughout time.  Mephibosheth represents all those whom God seeks and saves, of the lineage of Adam (who, because of the Fall of Adam and their own sins, would otherwise be condemned to eternal death and Hell), but because of the sacrifice of Christ (“the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” Revelation 13:8), become the partakers of new birth, and are viewed by God as the seed of Christ and “heirs according to the promise” Galatians 3:29.

Moreover, just like David, God remembers his Covenant…God’s Covenant of Grace and Mercy is sealed by the Precious Blood of His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and will endure forever. In 2 Timothy 1:8-9, we read, “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” God remembers His covenant, and He will seek and save those who are His sheep…the sheep of His calling.  In 1 Peter 2:25 we read, “For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” And this brings us to Hebrews 13:20, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.“

Finally, this account of Mephibosheth points us to the loving bond between God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and God’s Covenant of Grace as established through Jesus (before the foundation of the world, 1Peter 1:18-21) to show us how despicable and loathsome sinners can nonetheless enter the kingdom of God through Grace because of the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. God sees the covenant and bond that He has established with His Son! As a result, all those who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord God and Savior, are viewed as co-heirs with Christ. God does not see the believer’s defects anymore, only Christ’s righteousness (they will be clothed in the robes of His righteousness Isaiah 61:10 and Revelation 7:9).  So the believers are invited into God’s Heavenly House to sit and eat with HIM for eternity “as one of the king’s sons”!  The account of Mephibosheth is therefore a beautiful picture of God’s Gospel of Grace through His Son, Jesus Christ, which we must preach to the world! 

May we all be blessed as Mephibosheth, and learn from his example to be humble servants willing to forsake all to serve our Lord, King, and Savior, Jesus Christ.  May we all, like Mephibosheth, eat “Bread” continually (forever) at the King’s Table in the King’s House as “sons of God” (John 1:12 and 1John 3:1&2) and “heirs according to the promise“(Galatians 3:29).

Finally, please, dear reader, remember once again the promise that King Jesus made to His disciples…What did Jesus say to His disciples, who together represent all of the believers, at the Las Supper in Luke 22:29, “And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me; That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.“

POSTSCRIPT

Please note how much this is reminiscent of the forgiveness shown by Joseph…another “Type” for Jesus Christ…to his brothers who threw him into a pit and left him for dead where, instead of punishing them, he gave them bread to eat in his house during the great seven year famine in Genesis 43-45. Remembering also, in particular, when, after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt, we read in Genesis 47:12 “And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.“

*1 Samuel 20:12-17, And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about to morrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and shew it thee; The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will shew it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father.  And thou shalt not only while yet I live shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not: But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David’s enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.

** The Bible teaches that anyone who is hanged is cursed by God. Galatians 3:13, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” The Old Testament specified that in Deuteronomy 21:23, “His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God; ) that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”  What this would seem to teach us is that all of Saul’s grandsons were cursed by God (except for Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, and not his uncle “Mephibosheth” born of the woman Rizpah as we read in 2 Samuel 21:8).  Hence, to at least some degree, as was mentioned earlier, the “Mephibosheth”, who was the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, “dispelled the shame” of his grandfather, King Saul.

Other relevant verses to ponder:

Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

Psalms 58:3  “The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.”

Jonah 2:9   “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.“

John 10:27 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:”

Matthew 15:27 “And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.”

Mark 7:28 “And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs.”

Ecclesiastes  9:4 “For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.“

Introduction 

God is Sovereign and in complete charge of all of His Creation (this Universe) and God alone determines the end from the beginning because God’s Sovereignty knows no bounds.

Jesus is the embodiment of that “Inconvenient” Truth

In recent times (2006) there was a documentary film created about a former United States Vice President’s campaign to educate citizens about “global warming”/”climate change” entitled “An Inconvenient Truth.” Valid or not, that film only had to do with some carnally, materialistically, and temporally focused issues of this world. The Bible provides us with insights on a far more important “Inconvenient Truth”…one that directly affects every single human being who has ever lived or ever will live. That inconvenient truth is not only real, but it deals with incarnate, supernatural, and eternal issues. That truth is the fact that God is Sovereign over very single facet of all creation and life, and, moreover, that He orchestrates all of the events of the universe solely for His Glory, His Honor, and His Majesty and that it intimately involves the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is “inconvenient” because it is the “Truth” that most of mankind does not want to hear and/or believe!

Another important aspect of this inconvenient truth is that we all currently live in a “Real-Temporal- Physical-World”(Creation), the same as has been recorded precisely in the Bible, which serves as a shadow (allegory) of the Real-Eternal-Spiritual-World (Heaven) that is both contemporaneous and future because it is outside of our space and time. And in either realm, God Is completely Sovereign! God is directly involved in all aspects of both existences that ultimately serve the purpose of giving Glory to God. Moreover, God tells us this in Ecclesiastes 3:15, “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.” We are also told in Job 11:10 “If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?” and Job 12:9&10, “Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand [is] the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” and Job 40:9, “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?“

God could not make it more clear that He is outside of and in control of all space and time as we read in Isaiah 46:9-11, where we are told “Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken [it], I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it.“

Isaiah 31:2, “Yet he (God) also [is] wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.“

Oftentimes, when we see evil or tragedy in the world, many will claim, “How can there be a God who allows such evil and misery to exist? How could a good God allow such evil things?” It is because it all serves God’s purposes. It goes back to the Garden of Eden.  Questions that arise include: Was the devil and his enticement that led to the Fall of man in the Garden of Eden an accident or unexpected event?  The Answer: NEITHER.  Was it some kind of an aberration to which God had to quickly develop a plan B?  The Answer: NO. It was all ordained of and predetermined by God to provide the means by which God would Glorify Himself through the redemptive action of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus became the Means by which mankind could be reconciled to God for that original sin (and all sins that they would commit in their own lives that would otherwise send them straight to Hell for eternity) and despite the adversarial actions of the devil throughout temporal history. Remember how we read in Revelation 13:8 that Jesus Christ is the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,”  which clearly indicates that His Sacrifice was not an afterthought. God clearly states His plan and His purposes to us in the Bible, just as we read here in Proverbs 16:4, “The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.*”  God reiterates this point in Job 21:30, “That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.”  And it should be very clear that “the day of evil“, “the day or destruction“, “the day of wrath“, is Judgment Day!

* Remembering  also Ezekiel 33:11, where God says, “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (הָרָשָׁ֔ע); but that the wicked (רָשָׁ֛ע) turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil (הָרָעִ֛ים, ha-ra-im) ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” And it should also be noted that this point was made by God twice previously. First, in Ezekiel 18:23, “Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: [and] not that he should return from his ways, and live?” and then in Ezekiel 18:32, “For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.”

1: God Is Sovereign and in Total Control of Everything and Everything Belongs to Him

We are told in Psalm 135:6&7, “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, [that] did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.“

When we consider earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, etc., we must be aware that it is God Who is ultimately in control of all of nature (despite the fact of, or perhaps through the use of, mankind’s influence on “climate change”).  Alternatively, when we consider the human caused acts of violence like murder, rape, acts of terrorism, or war; we know that such evil is “allowed” by God to fulfill His purposes. While we cannot readily understand all of those purposes, the sin is due to solely to mankind alone.  Nonetheless, God does “allow” sin to exist, at least for now.  

And we also know that God sacrificed (allowed evil to come upon) His Own Son to save sinners, not the righteous (because as we read in Romans 3:10-12, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.“), and that salvation program undeniably glorifies God in ways that are too marvelous for us to fully comprehend. And God makes clear that this is the case as stated for example in Isaiah 43:7, “[Even] every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”

We should also note that despite the numerous tragedies and acts of violence in the world that we hear about every day…there is still far more peace and comfort to the majority of humankind that is too often taken for granted, and that it is only God’s Divine Providence that protects the vastly greater multitudes from having to endure such tragedies on a daily basis, either the natural ones or those human caused.

God is NOT the Author of Sin!

Let’s take a look at a few important verses that reveal how God creates and uses evil, such that He can and has/will overcome it to His own Glory. But before we do that, let this be very, very, clear…God is NOT the author of sin! (Romans 9:14, “What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.”) Sin is an inherent trait of man since the fall of Adam and Eve.  However, God has allowed sin to continue to exist and He clearly can and does use the outcomes of sin for His purposes.  The Death of Jesus on the cross was the result of man’s sin…being necessary in order to save sinners due to the fall of Adam, and was effectuated by the sin of mankind who crucified Him…God allowed the crucifixion to occur as it served God’s purposes to bring about mankind’s (the believers’) salvation and redemption… which absolutely brings glory to God.

God makes this all clear in  Romans 5:12-21, “¶Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the giftof righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) ¶Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift] came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ¶Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.“

We also know from Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Along with Ezekiel 18:4, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” and Ezekiel 18:20, “The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.”

However, nonetheless, we must always bear in mind what Jesus said in John 10:14-17, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.”  Jesus voluntarily went to the cross, even though outwardly it appeared otherwise.

We are also informed and admonished in James 1:13-15: “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” This three step process ends only in death. Mankind is responsible for the sin (Not GOD!), despite the circumstances that led to it as ordained by God, Who is totally Sovereign.

And just think for a moment about David lusting after Bathsheba.  In 2 Samuel 11:1-3 we read that…”And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman.” We subsequently read how David took Bathsheba and then eventually had her husband, Uriah the Hittite, killed in battle to cover up David’s sin.  Soon thereafter those sins were exposed openly by the Prophet of God, Nathan, in 2 Samuel 12:1-11, where God led Nathan to say, “Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.” This whole series of events was no incidental accident.  God foreknew, and clearly understood, what David would do when God presented David with that sinful opportunity (God was in no way surprised…But rather, God provided that opportunity…and God allowed it to happen… and He used it for our edification, exactly as it was recorded for us in the Bible!)   One reason being that this account ultimately brings Glory to God, because it shows that God not only could, but would, save a sinner as evil as David was for having committed the sins of adultery and murder, to show us that God does not save the righteous, but rather sinners (like all of us), and moreover that despite those grievous sins, God would still have Jesus to be descended from David, via Nathan, through Mary (Luke 3:23-31).

God also provides some insights on how such orchestration serves His purposes, as God tells us in Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” or in the case of such as King David (or really anyone) we read in Proverbs 21:1; “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.“

We read in Isaiah 14:24, “The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, [so] shall it stand:“ and  three verses later in Isaiah 14:27, “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul [it]? and his hand [is] stretched out, and who shall turn it back?“

So let’s now move on to gain other insights on this inconvenient truth….In Isaiah 45:5-7, God, in addressing Cyrus the King of Persia, says, “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form (יָצַר (yāṣar) ^H3335 the light, and create (בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 darkness: I make (עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ))^H6213 peace, and create (בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 evil (The word for “evil” in Hebrew is the root word “רָע, (or phonetically “ra”) which can also be translated as adversity, calamity, distress, misery, trial, hardship, bad, or injury*): I the Lord do all these things.”

Note: Some may try to discount/dismiss the idea that God actually “created” “evil” (calamities and hardships) as opposed to having “evil” (adversity) just arise up as an oppositional consequence of God “making peace”. However, the same original Hebrew word for “create” (בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 is used in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created ^H1254 the heaven and the earth.” and Genesis 1:27, “So God created ^H1254 man in his [own] image, in the image of God created (בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 he him; male and female created (בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 he them.” Can we that say that these creations are merely the result of something else formed or made and arose in opposition to them?     Moreover, we later read in Genesis 1:31 that “And God saw every thing that he had made (עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ))^H6213 , and, behold, [it was] very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” Therefore “create”(בָּרָא (bārā’))^H1254 and “make” (עָשָׂה (ʿāśâ))^H6213 would at least seem to be interchangeable, although it is not yet clear why different original Hebrew words are used by God if that is the case. We can only expect that there must be some additional subtleties that are yet to be revealed.

We also read in Amos 3:6, “…shall there be evil (רָעָה֙, ra-ah) in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” In Proverbs 16:4 we find, “The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked (רָשָׁע , ra-sa) for the day of evil (רָעָה֙ , ra-ah).” See again also: Job 21:30, “That the wicked (רָע , ra) is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.”  We also read in Psalm 78:49 that God sent “evil (רָע) angels” to punish Israel during the  wilderness sojourn, “He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by sending evil angels [among them].” 

*The KJV translates Strong’s H7451 (רָע, ra) in the following manner: evil (442x), wickedness (59x), wicked (25x), mischief (21x), hurt (20x), bad (13x), trouble (10x), sore (9x), affliction (6x), ill (5x), adversity (4x), ill favoured (3x), harm (3x), naught (3x), noisome (2x), grievous (2x), sad (2x), miscellaneous (34x).

The day of evil or day of wrath(s) that God is talking about is Judgment Day (see 2 Peter 2:4).  Please remember also that in the book of Esther (please see other commentary on this site), the adversary Haman, who was an allegorical representation of the devil, was also called “the wicked” (הָרָ֛ע, ha-ra).  So, the result is that, in the Bible, God is making clear to us that He not only Is completely Sovereign, but He created all things, and formed everything for Himself, even including the wicked (whether  רָע  ra; רָעהָרָ֛ע, ha-ra; רָשָׁ֛ע, ra-sa; or הָרָשָׁ֔ע, ha-ra-sa) who will all be destroyed on Judgment Day.

This also brings us back to God’s complete Sovereignty.  In Romans 9:21-23,  we read, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? ¶ [What] if God, willing to shew [his] wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,” (This also harkens back to Isaiah 29:16. Please see: “The Doctrine of Election: The Potter and The Clay“)

Isaiah 43:10-13, “Ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, [even] I, [am] the LORD; and beside me there [is] no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when [there was] no strange god among you: therefore ye [are] my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I [am] God. Yea, before the day [was] I [am] he; and [there is] none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let (stop) it?“

2: God Is The Creator of the Universe, and God is Perfect!

It should also be pointed out that in Colossians 1:15-18 we read the following in reference to Jesus Christ, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.“

Deuteronomy 32:4 makes things very clear,  that God Is indeed Preeminent and His Work Is Perfect, “[He is] the Rock, his work [is] perfect: for all his ways [are] judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right [is] he.“

Notably, is it not also true that God created the devil?  Note what is said in Job 26:13, “By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” The original Hebrew word for “serpent” (נָחָשׁ (nāḥāš))^H5175 that is found in this verse is the same word as “serpent” (נָחָשׁ (nāḥāš))^H5175 in the Garden of Eden, who was the devil in Genesis 3:1.

However, the devil was created for destruction, by which God would be glorified by saving a people for Himself and that Salvation came by Jesus conquering the devil, as the Bible tells us that  that the devil was bound at the cross when Jesus died.  We read about this as a war in heaven where the devil is cast out in Revelation 12:7-12:

“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”  And then we read in Revelation 20:3 that the devil is bound in the bottomless pit until just before Judgment Day, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.” So then, it becomes clear that more evil can be expected leading up to just before Judgment Day, and that many woes will accompany that most tribulous time. We know that there will be many woes and that the vials of God’s wrath will be poured out on the earth, because we read in Revelation 15:7 that there are “seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.“

The reader should also be aware that God provided “Types” and “Figures” for the devil, in the historical accounts where God raised up of kings like Pharaoh (in Moses’ Day), Sennacherib and Nebuchadnezzar, to serve God’s purposes of bringing judgment as is explained in this post on the Book of Nahum. Moreover, God refers to Nebuchadnezzar twice as His “servant” to render judgment on disobedient Judah in Jeremiah 25:9 and Jeremiah 27:6.

Psalm 135:6&7, “Whatsoever the LORD pleased, [that] did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places. He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.“

Jeremiah 51:14, “The LORD of hosts hath sworn by himself, [saying], Surely I will fill thee with men, as with caterpillers; and they shall lift up a shout against thee. He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavenby his understanding. When he uttereth [his] voice, [there is] a multitude of waters in the heavens; and he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures.“

The Psalmist explains it in Psalm 75:7, “But God [is] the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.“

And regarding Nebuchadnezzar, God nonetheless used Nebuchadnezzar as the means by which to reiterate, with clarity, the greatness and limitlessness of God’s Sovereignty in Daniel chapter 4:

Daniel 4:17 “This matter [is] by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.“

Daniel 4:25 “That they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Daniel 4:32 “And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling [shall be] with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall passover thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.“

Daniel 4:34 “And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom [is] from generation to generation:”

Daniel 4:35 “And all the inhabitants of the earth [are] reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and [among] the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”

While some may think that this is just a matter of interpretation, or that these verses are taken out of context, let’s take a look at some other scriptural passages to see what God reveals about this point.

3: An Example of God’s Sovereignty Over Time and Space: Joseph Reveals Himself to His Brothers in Egypt

We must remember that God’s Sovereignty extends beyond time and space, which He makes clear to us in Isaiah 46:9-11, “Remember the former things of old: for I [am] God, and [there is] none else; [I am] God, and [there is] none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times [the things] that are not [yet] done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken [it], I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed [it], I will also do it.“

Before we move on to the main points of this study, there is one other amazing event that has come to the mind of this teacher, which unfolds in the Biblical account concerning Joseph within the book of Genesis. About ten years or so after Joseph was thrown into a deep pit by ten of his own (half) brothers, from which he was subsequently sold into slavery in Egypt (and forgotten and presumed to be dead by those same brothers), Joseph was raised to the right hand of the Pharaoh of Egypt.  During a time of famine (also orchestrated by God and foretold to Joseph by God providing Joseph with  the interpretation of Pharaoh’s dreams), Joseph’s father, Jacob (Israel), sent his sons to Egypt to seek for bread. The story unfolds from Genesis Chapters 37-50 (sufficient for an enormous commentary far beyond the purposes of this one), which, for the child of God and student of the Bible, the allegory of Joseph as a type of Jesus Christ becomes unmistakable.

For this study, however, in just one recognition of God’s complete mastery over all time, and space, and even the hearts and minds of men, the key verses, Genesis 45:4-9 and Genesis 50:19-21 are thus:

“And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:”

^“And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? But as for you, ye thought evil (ra-ah) against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.”

4: The Exodus Account is Another Allegory, Which Provides Us With Insights on How God Works

We can see something very interesting in the Exodus account of the ten Plagues that God brings upon Egypt in response to the Pharaoh’s repeated refusal to let God’s people go out from Egypt under the leadership of Moses.  Moreover, it is not only interesting, but contrary to most people’s understanding of those events. Hollywood, for example, has, through at least one film effort, created the impression that Pharaoh would not let the people go despite the repeated ten plagues solely as a result of his innate natural stubbornness or stupidity. However, in the Exodus account of the Bible (NOT the Hollywood version) we read where God informed Moses, beforehand, exactly how things would happen and why they would happen that way. God said that He would harden Pharaoh’s heart so that Pharaoh would not let the people go!

Exodus 4:3, “And the Lord said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”

Exodus 7:3, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.”

Exodus 7:13, “And he hardened Pharaoh’s heart, that he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.”

Exodus 7:14, “And the Lord said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go.”

Exodus 7:22, “And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, neither did he hearken unto them; as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:15, “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.” (If this verse is taken out of context, it might appear that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but the whole context shows that this was not the case.

Exodus 8:19, “Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.

Exodus 8:32, “And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.” (this again would seem to suggest that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, but from the other verses we see that God was the initiator)

Exodus 9:7, “And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people go.”

Exodus 9:12, “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had spoken unto Moses.” (This verse, like the majority of the others before it, makes it clear that it was God who hardened the heart of Pharaoh and not Pharaoh)

 Exodus 9:34, “And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.” (what is interesting in this case is that it says Pharaoh sinned yet more! How could Pharaoh be responsible for this sin, if his heart was hardened by God and as had God had ordained?…this will be addressed below.)

Exodus 9:35, “And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, neither would he let the children of Israel go; as the Lord had spoken by Moses.”

 Exo 10:1&2 “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him: And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the Lord.“

Exodus 10:20, “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go.”

Exodus 10:27, “But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.”

Exodus 11:10, “And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh: and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.”

Exodus 14:3, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord. And they did so.”

Exodus 14:8, “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.”

Exodus 14:17, “And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.”

These verses all clearly reveal that the evil that Pharaoh subsequently does in preventing, and trying to prevent, Moses from leading national Israel, the representative chosen people of God, out of the land of Egypt…was all planned, ordained, and orchestrated by God. Therefore, Pharaoh was no more than a pawn in God’s hand, as Pharaoh was created by God, raised up by God, and used for God’s purposes…which purpose was solely to bring glory and honor to God. He was used of God to fulfill God’s promise to Moses in Exodus 6:6, “Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments:”  God goes further in Exodus 9:16 to say in regards to Pharaoh: “And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” This statement is repeated in the New Testament in the writings of Paul to the Romans, as in Romans 9:17-18, “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.“

God begins the introduction of the Ten Commandments by saying in Exodus 20:2, “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” And then in Deuteronomy 5:15, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” Similarly, we also read in Deuteronomy 4:33-35, “Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.” And in Deuteronomy 26:8, “And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:” It is also notable that we read after Exodus 7:5, 1) “That the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD” and after Exodus 14:4, 2) “I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host: that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” And Psalm 135:8-12, “(The LORD) Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast. [Who] sent tokens and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants. Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan: And gave their land [for] an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people.“

5: The Whole Exodus Account Was an Allegory to Show the Power of God to Save a People for Himself and to Show That God Alone Is Sovereign, Judgment Day is Real, and God Is The Judge

There are many prefigurements that portend Judgment Day at the end of the world, such as the Flood of Noah’s Day, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea, the death of the Canaanites in Judges 4&5, the death of enemies of the Jews in Esther, etc. But God provides some additional insights on His Sovereignty with regard to His dealing with Pharaoh and the Egyptians during the Exodus.

God created Satan, just like He created Pharaoh, and raised them both up to serve His purposes for saving a people for Himself and Glorifying Himself in the process. Pharaoh was a powerful ruler who held God’s people in bondage, he served as an allegorical type for the devil who holds mankind in bondage to sin, death, and ultimately hell (note that God referred to Egypt allegorically as the “iron furnace” in Deuteronomy 4:20, “But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” (similarly also see 1Kings 8:51 and Jeremiah 11:4)  Just as God, by a mighty out stretched arm, working through amazing signs and wonders brought national Israel out of that house bondage, so too God, through the amazing sacrifice of His dear Son, Jesus Christ (as also the Passover Lamb of God) brought out His eternal spiritual Israel from bondage to sin and the devil (and otherwise destined for hell…the eternal “iron furnace”). We can say this confidently, for we read in Revelation 1:18, where Jesus (as the Lamb of God) says, “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”

In Exodus 15:1-19, via Moses, in what is referred to as the “Song of Moses“, we can read the following from Exodus 15:3-7, “The LORD [is] a man of war*: the LORD [is] his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy. And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, [which] consumed them as stubble.” This is a clear statement on how God deals with His enemies and how He will ultimately destroy all of the unsaved on Judgment Day.

*NOTE: God is saying this hyperbolically, because we know that God is most certainly NOT a “man”, and He explicitly says so in Numbers 23:19, “God [is] not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” Nonetheless, Jesus was born of a woman, and He Is our kindred, but without sin with no need of repentance. Moreover Jesus, the Son of God and Son of man, will be the Conquering Warrior on Judgment Day (Revelation 17:14).

But as for those God claims as His own, the true eternal Israel (those whom God “redeemed” (Exodus 15:13) and “purchased” (Exodus 15:16)), we read further on in Exodus 15:17&18, “Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, [in] the place, O LORD, [which] thou hast made for thee to dwell in, [in] the Sanctuary, O Lord, [which] thy hands have established. The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.“

We should also remember that God explicitly stated the following in what is known as the second “Song of Moses” in Deuteronomy 32:1-43, of which the following verses are found Deuteronomy 32:39-42, where God makes clear that He is the only True God, and He is completely Sovereign, and that He Alone has the power over life and death, and that goes beyond the physical, it includes eternal life in Heaven and eternal death in Hell:

Deuteronomy 32:39-42, “See now that I, [even[ I, [am] he, and [there is] no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither [is there any] that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. If I whet my glittering sword (“Barak”, in the original Hebrew, please see the study of Deborah and Barak ), and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.”  

Another verse from the Song of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:35, “To me [belongeth] vengeance, and recompence; their foot shall slide in [due] time: for the day of their calamity [is] at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.“

Additional confirmation can be found in Hannah’s Song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, “¶And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the LORD, mine horn is exalted in the LORD: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. [There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let [not] arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the LORD [is] a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men [are] broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. [They that were] full have hired out themselves for bread; and [they that were] hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The LORD killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, [and] lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set [them] among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.“ (Please also note that the “king” is referring prophetically to the Lord Jesus Christ)

Proverbs 22:2, “The rich and poor meet together: the LORD [is] the maker of them all.“

6: God’s Sovereign Actions are Explained in Romans Chapter 9:“Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.“

To prove that the above commentary is not simply this teacher’s opinion, and that it is indeed true, we have only to see what is written in Romans 9:13-26, where Paul, as the scribe being guided by the God, The Holy Spirit, wrote:

13. “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

15. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

17. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

19. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

20. Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Note that this specifically points us back to God’s warning in Isaiah 45:9, “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! [Let] the potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?“

21. Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

22. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:“

23. “And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,“

24. Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

25 “As he saith also in Osee (Hosea in Greek), I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.” [Note that this verse hearkens back to Hosea 2:23, “And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God.“]

26. “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.”

So there we have it!…God explains that He will have compassion on those who He wills and He will harden whom He wills. This is the REAL “Inconvenient Truth”! And in John 14:6 we read, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” You see, Jesus is The Truth, and whether anyone likes it or not, Jesus is the very substance of that real “Inconvenient Truth.” Moreover, while the Bible also says in Matthew 22:14 that “For many are called, but few are chosen.” [Note that it is NOT the few who “choose” God, but rather those “few” are the ones who are solely “chosen” by God].  

This is also in keeping with what we read in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” And please do not forget that Jesus clearly stated in John 6:44 that, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Salvation is ENTIRELY God’s Sovereign work!  This is exactly what we read in Jonah 2:9, “…Salvation [is] of the Lord.“

We can also see this clearly in Psalm 65:4, “Blessed [is the man whom] thou choosest, and causest to approach [unto thee, that] he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, [even] of thy holy temple.“

Remember also that in 1 Peter 2:9, we read, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Finally, let’s look again at John 6:44, where Jesus very plainly states: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”  God is making it that He Is entirely sovereign, and, yes, we are all nothing more than mere pieces of clay molded by the potter.  Although we are “physically alive”, we are all “spiritually dead” by nature because we are “dead in our trespasses and sins” by nature and it must be God who makes us alive and capable of responding.  Theses verses make that clear for all believers:

Ephesians 2:1, “And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead in trespasses and sins;“

Colossians 2:13, “And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (made alive) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;”

John 5:21, “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them (makes them alive); even so the Son quickeneth (makes alive) whom he will.”

Romans 4:17, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth (makes alive) the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.”

And God also makes clear that this quickening (making alive) is by the Power of God the Holy Spirit for we also read in John 6:63, “It is the spirit that quickeneth (makes alive); the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.“

7: Another Example of God’s Sovereignty Over Life and Death: Lazarus Raised From the Dead

Remember when Lazarus was called by Jesus to “Come forth“? Let’s take a close look at that account: In John 11:39-44, we read were Jesus comes to the grave of Lazarus where Lazarus’s sister (Martha) explained that it was too late to do anything, as her brother, Lazarus, was dead for four days, laying in the grave and by now his body was so decayed that it would stink if they rolled back the stone over the grave.  We read that Jesus was honored by God, The Father in Heaven, and then Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth“, and Lazarus arose from the dead and came forth!  Did Lazarus exercise his “free will” to respond to Jesus’s call, or, rather, did God first draw him, and then enliven and empower him to respond?  How can a dead thing “choose” life?  You be the judge.

John 11:39-44, “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.“

Yes, this also means that there is “predestination” (another aspect of the real inconvenient truth).  Does that mean we should throw up our hands in despair as though we have no hope?  God Forbid!

8: Dealing with the Real “Inconvenient Truth”: Predestination Does Not Inhibit Anyone from Crying Out to God for Mercy Through Jesus Christ

Nonetheless, the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that, according to the Bible, if anyone becomes convicted in his or her heart of his or her sins and hence his or her need of a Saviour…Who Is, and can only Be, The Lord Jesus Christ…then it is still possible for anyone to cry out to God for mercy and God will show mercy. In Matthew 7:7, Jesus says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:“

If anyone becomes at all concerned about the above, and does not want to be one of those whom God destroys, and would rather be a vessel of mercy (and honor), then that is already a great evidence that God is working in that person’s heart!  And with regard to such amazing salvation, although Philippians 2:12  “¶ Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”, we must remember that the very next verse tells us,“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” God Is Entirely Sovereign! And as additional comfort, Romans 8:28 tells us, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.“

Dear reader, if you are not already at peace with God through Jesus Christ, please just cry out to God in prayer and He will hear you and show you that mercy. But when He does show mercy, it will only be because of the inconvenient truth that it had always been God’s intention from the beginning, and even before the Universe was even created.  Ephesians 1:5 says regarding the believers… “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” and Ephesians 1:9 , “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:” Finally, as Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write in 2 Thessalonians 1:11&12, “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our Godand the Lord Jesus Christ.”

9: God ‘s Sovereignty Knows No Bounds. God Even Has the Power to Send Evil Spirits to Serve His Purposes

The following verses are hard to be understood if we fail to understand that God is Sovereign and in control of everything, and that we are continually (every moment) at His mercy alone, and that we should honor and worship Him appropriately. Remember, in Ecclesiastes 12:13&14 we read, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Similarly, in Proverbs 21:1, we read how God extends His Sovereignty over the world… even among the kings of the earth, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.“

Judges 9:23, “Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech:“

1 Samuel 16:14-16, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evilspirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul’s servants said unto him, Behold now, an evil spirit (ra-ah) from God troubleth thee. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man, who is a cunning player on an harp: and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well.“

1 Samuel 16:23, “And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.“

1 Samuel 18:10, “And it came to pass on the morrow, that the evil spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house: and David played with his hand, as at other times: and there was a javelin in Saul’s hand.“

1 Samuel 19:9, “And the evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand.“

1 Kings 22:23, “Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.“

2 Chronicles 18:22, “Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets, and the Lord hath spoken evil against thee.“

Isaiah 54:16 includes this passage where God is speaking and He says, “Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.”  Pretty scary stuff, but it is entirely in keeping with what we read in 2 Corinthians 5:11 “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;” and in Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

God Punishes the Wicked with a Strong Delusions

These three verses show more of the intricacies of God’s Sovereignty. It cannot only leave people in their determined blindness, but he can also send them delusions because they hate the Truth!

Isaiah 66:4, “I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose [that] in which I delighted not.

2 Thessalonians 2:11, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Isaiah 9:13, “For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the LORD of hosts.“

The Believers are Blessed, Comforted, and Protected by God

We may be tormented by evil and perplexed (think back to Joseph and his tribulations), but do not despair, because God will preserve us (the believers) in the end if we trust in Him.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.“

10: Conclusion

The real inconvenient truth is that The Triune God, as Self-described in the Bible, Is Real, and That God Is Almighty and Is Alone completely Sovereign! God is the One Whom we should fear. In Matthew 10:28Jesus tells us, “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.” And God is the One Who will Judge the world at the end of time (in all likelihood, VERY soon), and if Jesus is not a person’s substitutional sacrifice, then that person will have to suffer an eternity in Hell for sin on that Judgment Day. Jesus is the only Way of escape from the just penalty for our sins. As inconvenient as this truth may seem, it is the truth nonetheless, because all other ways that man can devise will lead only to Hell.  Please pray to God for mercy through Jesus Christ and He will show you mercy.

Isn’t it interesting that in Matthew 6:6-13, when Jesus instructed His disciples to pray, Jesus said thus:”But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.But when ye pray, use not vain repetitlike unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.“

And let us never forget what God tells us in Isaiah 66:1, ¶Thus saith the LORD, The heaven [is] my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those [things] hath mine hand made, and all those [things] have been, saith the LORD: but to this [man] will I look, [even] to [him that is] poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Which leads us to Ecclesiastes 12:13,  “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.“

Postscript: Some Additional Verses to Ponder Regarding God’s Sovereignty

Proverbs 16:4, “The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” (and that “day of evil” is Judgment Day)

Matthew 5:45, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.“

Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the nations that forget God.”

BUT…. always remember that for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is this hope that we read in Psalm 121:7&8, “The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.“

Romans 11:33-36, “¶O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable [are] his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? ¶For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.“

Christians may be tormented by evil and perplexed (think back to Joseph and his tribulations), but do not despair, because God will preserve the believers in the end, if they trust in Jesus as The Savior.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.“

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.“

Isn’t it interesting that, Matthew 6:6-13, when Jesus instructed His disciples to pray, He said thus: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitlike unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as [it is] in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.“

Revelation 4:11, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, [and] all the nations that forget God.” BUT…. always remember that for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, there is this hope that we read in Psalm 121:7,8:

“The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.“

We may be tormented by evil and perplexed (think back to Joseph and his tribulations), but do not despair, because God will preserve us (the believers) in the end if we trust in Him.

 2 Corinthians 4:8-11: “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.“

Psalm 115:3, “But our God [is] in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.“

Matthew 10:26, “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.“

Job Speaks of the Almighty Power and Total Sovereignty of God

The Book of Job, particularly Chapter 12 provides some key insights on Who God Is, and His Almighty Sovereignty over all of creation.

Job 12:9&10, “Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this? In whose hand [is] the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.“

Job 12:13-25, “With him [is] wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding. Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up: also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth. With him [is] strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver [are] his. He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools. He looseth the bond of kings, and girdeth their loins with a girdle. He leadeth princes away spoiled, and overthroweth the mighty. He removeth away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged. He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty. He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them: he enlargeth the nations, and straiteneth them [again]. He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causeth them to wander in a wilderness [where there is] no way. They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like [a] drunken [man].”

Job 23:13, “But he [is] in one [mind], and who can turn him? and [what] his soul desireth, even [that] he doeth.“

Job 34:21&22, “For his eyes [are] upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. [There is] no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.“

Note the similarity with the previous verse in Proverbs 15:3, “The eyes of the LORD [are] in every place, beholding the evil and the good.“

Job 34:29, “When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth [his] face, who then can behold him? whether [it be done] against a nation, or against a man only:” God protects and comforts His saints, but if God withdraws Himself from the wicked, whether a whole nation or a single person, woe to them!

Also in Job 9:12, “Behold, he (God) taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?

For more on how and why God creates evil rulers to become tools in God’s Hands, please see this study on the Book of Nahum.

Bereansearching is simply intended to serve as a vehicle to lead the reader to safety and security from the just wrath of God for sin (one sin is enough to send any of us to Hell). And Jesus made clear this warning in Matthew 10:28, “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him (God) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

This last statement by Jesus is key to understanding that Hell is not just the “grave”, as killing the body only sends a person to the grave, but God destroys BOTH Body and Soul in HELL!

Only through the substitutionary sacrifice for that sin by Jesus Christ , Who as God and Savior served as the supreme sacrificial Lamb of God, can we be free from that punishment. Hence this Bereansearching blog is simply seeking to persuade all to put their trust for their eternal souls in Jesus Alone.

The detailed expositions of  a few portions of Old Testament scriptures provide the proofs that the Bible is the Word of God and is the vehicle that God uses to bring us to that Truth and the saving faith in that Truth. (Romans 10:17, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.“)

For more on this singular motivation, please review the Introduction to the Bereansearching Blog.