Life Walk Lesson 11: God is Trustworthy
13 "But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through the sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, Who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace, 17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word."
Micah 2:12-13
12 "I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in a fold; like a flock in the midst of its pasture they will be noisy with men.
13 The breaker goes up before them; they break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. So their King goes before them, and the Lord at their head."
Cross reference: John 10:4
Micah 4:1-8
1 "And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, and the peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say, 'Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths.' For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 And He will judge between peoples and render decisions for mighty distant nations. Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war.
4 Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5 Though all peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
6 'In that day,' declares the Lord, 'I will assemble the lame and gather the outcasts, even those whom I have afflicted.
7 I will make the lame a remnant and the outcasts a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on and forever.
8 As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come -- even the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.'"
Micah 4 LXX slightly different wording, however, significant in meaning in light of what occurred historically, according to the Ancient Book of Jasher, with reference to the absconding of the clothing God made for Adam and Eve by Ham, who gave it to his son, Canaan, who gave it to Nimrod, who established himself as king after the Flood, of the region, and as Amraphel, fought against Abraham. The territory God promised to Abraham was from the Nile to the Euphrates, and it will once again belong to the people God chose to occupy it, the sons of Abraham, through the genealogical line of Isaac and Jacob.
The Septuagint brings this out in the translation of Micah 4:8
"And thou, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Sion, on thee the dominion shall come and enter in, even the first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem."
Micah 4:10-13 (LXX)
10 "Be in pain, and strengthen thyself, and draw near, O daughter of Sion, as a woman in travail: for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and shalt lodge in the plain, and shalt reach even to Babylon: thence shall the Lord thy God deliver thee, and thence shall He redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies.
11 And now have many nations gathered against thee, saying, We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Sion.
12 But they know not the thought of the Lord, and have not understood His counsel: for He has gathered them as sheaves of the floor.
13 Arise, and thresh them, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thine horns iron, and I will make thine hoofs brass: and thou shalt destroy many nations, and shalt consecrate their abundance to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth."
The genealogical line of Cain, son of Adam and Eve, is recorded in Genesis 4:17-24 among whom we find the first instructor of every artificer of iron and brass, in verse 22, Zillah's son, Tubalcain.
According to the Ancient Book of Jasher, Zillah, the second wife of Lamech, son of Methusael (v.18), was barren because she was loved by Lamech, whereas his wife who bore children was despised, as it changes the figure of a woman to bare children. It was the first time birth-control was instituted so that a man could have one wife who remained beautiful, and still have children with another. In her old age, Zillah prayed to the Lord and asked to be able to bare a child, and God granted her heart's desire. It was Tubalcain, who was walking with blind Lamech and hunting for food, who told him that there was an animal in the distance and to draw his bow, and it came about that it was not an animal, but Cain their grandfather. In his emotional trauma, Lamech also slew his son Tubalcain by accident, and this is why it states his response in the Book of Genesis in the manner it does, in verses 23-24.
23 "And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold."
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall."
Cross references: those who sin against God will experience:
Leviticus 26:18-20 (KJV)
18 "And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits."
Of Behemoth, God describes to Job, in 40:18-19, limbs of bronze and iron:
"His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are like bars of iron. He is the first of the ways of God; let his Maker bring near His sword."
And of Leviathan, God describes to Job in 41:27, "He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood."
And in Job 41:33-34, God describes the character of Leviathan:
"Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride."
God makes the distinction, then, between God-given dominion and pride. In verse 15, God describes, "His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal."
Yet, by contrast, righteousness also is knit together, and sealed, without room for anything evil to penetrate it, in Psalm 139:13-16, and in 2Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 1:13 and Ephesians 4:30, and Revelation 21:27.
Deuteronomy 28:22-24
22 "The Lord shall smite thee with consumption, and with a fever, and with an inflammation and with an extreme burning, and with the sword, and with blasting, and with mildew; and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
23 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that us under thee shall be iron.
24 The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust: from heaven shall it come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed."
By contrast, as promised in Micah 4:13, to the righteous:
Deuteronomy 33:24-26
24 "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.
25 Let thy shoes be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.
26 There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in His excellency on the sky."
Psalm 107:15-17
15 "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron asunder.
17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted."
And God promises, again, in Isaiah 45:2
"I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.”
The Divine Exchange
Isaiah 48:4-5 "Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass I shewed it thee: lest thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath done them, and my graven image, and my molten image, hath commanded them."
Isaiah 60:16-18
16 "You will also suck the milk of nations and suck the breast of kings; then you will know that I, the Lord, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your administrators and righteousness your overseers.
18 Violence will not be heard again in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise."
Cross reference: Jeremiah 6:28 "They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters."
Jeremiah 15:12 "Can a man break iron -- iron from the north -- or bronze"
Jeremiah 16:14-16 KJV
14 "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be said, 'The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt;
15 But, the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands wither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.
16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes in the rocks.”
Cross references: Matthew 4:19, Matthew 28:19-20
Matthew 18:21-22
21"Then came Peter to Him, and said, 'Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?
22 Jesus saith unto him, 'I say nor unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
Luke 17:4 "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times turns again to thee, saying, 'I repent; thou shalt forgive him.'"
Daniel 2:35 "Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.
Daniel 2:45
"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof is sure."
Key: 1Enoch 62:1-9, for the vision of the seven metal mountains, which will be in the presence of the Elect One as wax which melts before the fire, and as a stream, and powerless before His feet.
Quoted by Micah the Prophet, in Micah 1:3-5
3 "For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of His place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 "And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters are poured down a steep place."
And in Psalm 68:1-3
1 "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before Him.
2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.
3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice."
The Powers, Authorities, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, Shepherds, Administrators, etc., -- all who misused their God-given power and brought humanity to wickedness will melt like wax before the Flame, but all who are anointed by the Flame, shall speak to one another of the glory and gospel of Christ our King, and Savior, and multitudes shall be saved, healed, and delivered for the glory of God, and the expansion of the Family Kingdom of God. [Acts 2].
Matthew 17:1-8 -- Jesus is Transfigured on the Mountain
Matthew 17:14-18 -- The Disciples' authority to cast out demons is challenged
Matthew 17:19-21
19 "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not drive it out?'
20 "And he said to them, 'Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
21 [But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.']"
Certainly throughout Scripture we have ample evidence of the importance God places upon fasting and prayer, with charity and chastity. However, in his explanation of 2Baruch 9, R.H. Charles, in his Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament, Volume 2, states, (p.485) that:
"Fasting was the usual preparation for supernatural communications."
Baruch, secretary to the Prophet Jeremiah, received much revelation during his time with Jeremiah.
2Baruch 9:1-2
1 "And I, Baruch, came, and Jeremiah, whose heart was found pure from sins, who had not been captured in the seizure of the city. And we rent our garments, we wept, and mourned, and fasted seven days."
2Baruch 10:1-2 "And it came to pass after seven days, that the word of God came to me, and said to me: 'Tell Jeremiah to go and support the captivity of the people unto Babylon. But do thou remain here amid the desolation of Zion, and I will show to thee after these days what will befall at the end of days.'"
Baruch goes on to share his experiences with the Lord during this time, where each time He meets with the Lord to ask Him questions, he is told to eat only vegetation, and no meat, in order to come before the Lord. There is a hint of this in the writings of Enoch, where the angels do not like the scent of a human, because of what they eat. I can surmise that it must have been a belief that to eat only vegetation, as in the beginning, made a human purer before God, for to eat flesh was to have killed God's creation, and the blood was required of whoever killed His creation.
When Jesus says, however, "This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting," this means to me that one must have an intimate relationship with God, and have been given the same authority Jesus was given on that Mount of Transfiguration, when our Father spoke over the region, "This is My Son. Listen to Him!" For when He came down the Mountain, the demon listened to Jesus, and the demon left the boy, and Jesus raised him up, and gave him to his father, just as later the Holy Spirit would so powerfully raise Jesus from the dead, and present Him to the Father, for the forgiveness of our sins, and the deliverance of our souls from the kingdom of darkness, transferring us to the Kingdom of Light. All Glory be to God Most High.
IV Ezra also mentions "fasting" in order to speak with God. It has been a common practice, as we know from Scripture, for men to fast so that they can hear an answer to prayer from God. We know that Moses waited seven days to hear from God, on the Mountain, and Daniel waited 3 weeks to hear from God, in fasting and prayer. Isaiah 58 declares the kind of fasting God desires, rather than ritual fasts which accomplish nothing, or manipulative fasts which hope to accomplish man's will, and not God's.
Chastity and Fasting among the ascetics in the early Church was highly valued, for they believed they would hear from God. This is brought to bare in The Paradise of the Fathers, as they describe their lifestyle in the early days of the persecuted Church.
By contrast, Jesus fasted 40 days, and was tempted by the devil while He was there, and came back with power, and might, and authority, to quench every attempt of the devil to usurp power once again from the Second Adam.
This is the kind of fasting, I believe, Jesus is speaking of here -- according to Scripture as mentioned, in Isaiah 58, which He rewards in Matthew 25:31-40; the kind where we once again take the dominion given originally to take care of earth and one another, even human, plant and animal, so that all would know the love of God, and the forgiveness, and salvation by grace which He lavishes upon us in the Beloved.
It is not only the abstinence of foods of various kinds, or complete fasting, which God only requires if He asks for it specifically, for a purpose, but the love imparted, as Jesus did, as a lifestyle, to all to whom He was sent.
In this we can have confidence, that He Who began a good work in us, will also complete it. The Summation of all things will bring it to proof. The Consummation of all things will bring to bare His Word fulfilled.
Trust in God
Exodus 15-18
God supplied clean water, manna, quail (meat), and fresh water from a rock. These miraculous events were sandwiched between the vindication of God's people, through the eradication of the enemies of God wherever they went.
These things prepared them for the promises of God, which through God-given direction, and proper earthly government, empowered them to prosper wherever they went, when they obeyed God.
These principles are as valid today as they were for ancient Israel, for Jesus teaches us to stay in Him, obey His commands, and we can ask for whatever we desire, according to His will, and it will be done for us.
The ancient peoples called the Israelites, were the extended family and descendants of Jacob, his four wives and children, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, the founder of this people group. Abraham had several more sons who all moved to various areas in the Middle East.
God made a covenant with Abraham to bless him and also to bless those who bless him. As believers in Jesus Christ, we have been grafted into that covenant family, and have inherited the same blessings as were promised to his earthly family.
In our journey with God, we also then can expect to have our spiritual, physical, emotional, needs met by an All Powerful God, Who gives lavishly to those who trust Him, and who ask, believing He will answer every prayer, without partiality — just as He did for Jesus, is just as He will be and do for us.
God destroys the enemies behind us (from our past), drowning them in their own methods of attacking us; God goes ahead of us to create the best ways to enjoy life with Him, and He destroys the enemies laying in wait for our arrival at the fulfillment of His promises to us.
Trust in God to take care of your every need, for He cares for you.
In Jesus' Name.
