“The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came…and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth…the redemption is thine…Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.” (Jeremiah 32:6-8)
The reason it was so important for Jeremiah to recognize the word of the LORD was because Jeremiah’s response to this event was absolutely contrary to common sense. In the first place, Jeremiah knew that Judea would shortly be captured by Babylon, so it would seem he was throwing his money away. In the second place, the priests in his home town of Anathoth were conspiring to kill him, so even if he could figure he would be one of the people left behind by Babylon to maintain the land, as did indeed happen, Anathoth would be the last place he would want to go.
However, against his common sense and weak faith, Jeremiah being the good servant of God that he is, obeys the word of the LORD.
“And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it…And I charged Baruch before them, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days…
Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase…I prayed unto the LORD, saying, Ah LORD God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee…the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name, Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men…
- Behold the mounts / siege towers, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it,
- And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses;??? for / even though the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans???
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, [You said it!] I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?…fields shall be bought in this land…for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the LORD” (Jeremiah 1:1, 32).
In other words, Jeremiah was being told to put his money where his mouth was. Action speaks louder than words.
Jeremiah – and all true followers of God – win more people over to trust in YHVH’s promises by his actions than by words.
YHVH’s Savior does not reclaim dominion single-handedly.
Ever since God gave dominion to humanity in Genesis chapter 1 the battle has been for humanity to get back what humanity gave away. The God-man YHVH’s Savior redeemed mankind, but that was just the beginning of the fight.
The redeemed of the LORD fight with him! How? Using the same weapon – God’s Word!
“Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy…they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psalm 107:2
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee…I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do… I have manifested thy name /way unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world…For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them…As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world…Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:1-21)
“walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called…Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit…One Lord…One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all…For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones…This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church…Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might… For we wrestle…against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 4-6)
The battle against spiritual wickedness in high places is the background for the first mention of “the end”, found in Deuteronomy 32, and conveniently includes a reference to “seal”, providing all the background we need to understand what is happening in Revelation 6.
Who / Characters:
- “I will publish the name / ways of the LORD:
- ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 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.
- The nation of Israel, YHVH’s ambassador nation to the other nations,
- have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children:
- they are a perverse and crooked generation.
- Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
- Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
- For the LORD‘s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance…As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock...“
What / Action:
- “But Jeshurun waxed fat…fat…fat…
- then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
- They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods,
- with abominations provoked they him to anger.
- They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up…
As with all covenants, not just the Lord’s Supper, this is confirmed by a shared cup of wine.
- And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. And he said…
- I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.
- They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities:
- I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
- For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
- I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
- They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction:
- I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
- The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs…
O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!…
their Rock had sold them.
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- For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah…
Clearly a reference to being grafted into the hybrid paganism of wicked Sodom and Gomorrah.
“I am the true vine…ye are the branches…If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and…burned.” (John 15:1-5)
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- Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
As detailed in an earlier post, every sale among ancient peoples was struck through bargaining. God is forced to turn over possession of his people to the gods they chose to serve, but he strikes a hard bargain to minimize his loss and ensure the opportunity to reclaim them. Think militarily. During war, what is more strategic in a parley than weapons?
A straightforward reading of the text states that, in exchange for his people, God gets the poison of dragons and venom of asps.
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- Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
- To me belongeth vengeance and recompence;” (Deuteronomy 32)
When these weapons are “sealed up” they are locked up, safeguarded, in the treasure house / armory along with the other weapons of war like hail.
“thou has heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered…? king of Babylon sent letters [requesting an alliance]…unto Hezekiah…And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them…all the house of his armor and all that was found in his treasures [demonstrating his military might]...
And weapons shared with allies of convenience are inevitably turned / reversed against the giver when alliances shift.
The [Taliban’s] blindingly fast sweep through most of Afghanistan netted it billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. military equipment and weaponry given to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, which collapsed in the 11 days before the Taliban seized Kabul, the capital, on Aug. 15[2021]…
“This is ghanima,” said one uniformed Taliban fighter: war booty. With a gloved hand, he snapped up the night-vision goggles on his ballistic helmet, looking like the very model of an Afghan soldier the U.S. had tried to help create to eliminate people like him.
Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners have transferred American-made weapons to al Qaeda-linked fighters, hardline Salafi militias, and other factions waging war in Yemen,in violation of their agreements with the United States…
The weapons have also made their way into the hands of Iranian-backed rebels battling the coalition for control of the country, exposing some of America’s sensitive military technology to Tehran and potentially endangering the lives of US troops in other conflict zones.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, its main partner in the war, have used the US-manufactured weapons as a form of currency to buy the loyalties of militias or tribes, bolster chosen armed actors, and influence the complex political landscape, according to local commanders on the ground and analysts who spoke to CNN…
The revelations raise fresh questions about whether the US has lost control over a key ally presiding over one of the most horrific wars of the past decade…
Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah…Hear the word of the LORD. Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon [as war booty].” (II Kings 19:11, 20:12-18)
There is another aspect of God’s ID that is often overlooked, but is a key that will open up Revelation.
“The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth:
the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” (Psalm 9:16)
This practice is reported early on in scripture as detailed in the post Days of Thunder.
Night vision goggles – viewing action through lens that pierce the darkness – will help discover the workers of darkness.
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye…yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh…in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” (I Thessalonians 5:1-5)
What should we be expecting? Why, a repeating pattern, like wallpaper.
The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands = coalitions turning against each other.
“It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle…And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD…And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD…
O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever? And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help…we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
Then upon Jahaziel…a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s…Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD…And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem;
- Believe in the LORD / YHVH your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper…
- Public Acts of Faith – And when they began to sing and to praise,
- United We Stand! – the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
- For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against
- the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them:
- and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.
And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.” (II Chronicles 20)
- America joining forces with Islamic militants is a highly unstable and combustible mix.
- Lucifer joining forces with his competitive Seed of the Serpent is a highly unstable and combustible mixture.
“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us!
- He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh:
- the LORD shall have them in derision.
- Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,
- and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Yet have I set MY king [not YOURS] upon my holy hill of Zion.
- I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto ME, Thou art my Son [not YOU who call yourself by my name of Christ/Messiah One]; this day have I begotten thee.
- Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
- Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
- Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son [NOT the false, deceptive, lying betraying Antichrist]…Blessed / empowered / enlivened are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psalm 2)
This is just as applicable today to the Son of David as it was when his father David was fighting for his throne.
“And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.” (John 14:29)
Kingdom Come 