2023: April 2: Shekinah Glory - Review + Haggai and into NT
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Shekinah Glory
Shekinah Glory
Now if you recall, when we reviewed the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, we saw that the visible manifestation of God’s Glory of His presence as it had been seen throughout the history of Israel, what the Rabbis call the Shekinah Glory of God, was sent to fill the Holy of Holies of the Temple and indeed the whole Temple forcing the priests to stop their “ministering” to the Lord. The Shekinah Glory has differing forms, but It primarily appears as a flame by night and a cloud by day.
Purpose of the Shekinah
Purpose of the Shekinah
So last week, we reviewed the purpose of the cloud. I think this is worth revisiting.
Now the purpose of the cloud, we have been told is that the people might believe
9 And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
To Proclaim the name of the LORD.
5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
To mark the location of the Mercy Seat
Lev. 16:2 ;
2 and the Lord said to Moses: “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die; for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat.
To represent the LORD’s awe and magesty
11 “Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
To make visible the appearing and presence of the LORD.
15 Now the Lord appeared at the tabernacle in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood above the door of the tabernacle.
2023 — 2nd Sunday
2023 — 2nd Sunday
Sunday January 8, 2023
Sunday January 8, 2023
Shekinah Glory (Continued)
Shekinah Glory (Continued)
Last week we continued on into the New Year, even as we learned about the Shekinah Glory. It came naturally to our review of Hanukkah from December 18th, and Christmas on December 25th, and into our New Years Day Sunday services all of which were connected to the dedication of the temple (which Hanukkah is based on) where the original dedication of the Solomonic Temple was visited by the Shekinah Glory flooding the Temple in front of all of Israel.
Now if you recall, when we reviewed the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, we saw that the visible manifestation of God’s Glory of His presence as it had been seen throughout the history of Israel, what the Rabbis call the Shekinah Glory of God, was sent to fill the Holy of Holies of the Temple and indeed the whole Temple forcing the priests to stop their “ministering” to the Lord and to join with the rest of Israel in looking on , in Awe, at God’s Glory expressed.
We learned that the birth of Christ, was God with us, Elohim, a profoundly uniquely born child who was the express manifestation of God, not just in a place, but into humanity - perfectly human, yet wholly God: undiminished in humanity and undiminished in deity. The first Adam, image bearer of God, failed in the perfect environment of Eden, cursing us all with the woes of sin; whereas the 2nd Adam, image representative to fallen man of God expressed in perfect humanity succeeded in a fallen and cursed realm to destroy and reverse the curse of woe, and provide the blessing of righteousness to all who would lay down all of their works on their own behalf in exchange for His work alone on their behalf. On Christmas we found the precedence to, and then dedication of Christ in the temple, and on New Year we continued to focus on He who is the Glory.
Note what the author of Hebrews tells us about He who is the Glory in Hebrews 1:1-3.
2/13/2023
2/13/2023
Behind the veil
Behind the veil
We are looking at that which is behind the veil today.
Now the Holy of Holies was never entered into, except once per year at the feast of Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement - and then only by the High Priest,
The High Priest represents whom?
We have drawn some connections to that place that is representative of the person and work that is accomplished on behalf of mankind by YHWH as the Meshiah of Israel.
Note Psalm 99:1 and Isaiah 37:16 - we will look at each of these separately.
When we look over these passages, I want you to try to keep in mind that there is a reality that i in heaven - in the realm of God. There is that which is on earth that symbolizes or makes reference to that which is in heaven. Then there is that which is real on earth.
An example might be Zion - which is real in heaven, and is represented by what is on earth, but is also real on earth. So when we have a reference to Zion - which are we talking about? One view? Two views? Three views? It is always a matter of context - this is where we need to do the work.
To help gather our minds with a biblical context for what we are reviewing about God - We are going to work through some passages in Hebrews - which will instruct us.
Hebrews 6:19-20
Hebrews 6:19-20
First, let’s see what we are told in Hebrews 6:19-20
19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil,
20 where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
We see then that Yeshua-Jesus entered behind the veil - therefore we have hope that is the Anchor of the Soul - sure and steadfast.
Many teach that our hope is a compass of the vast sea - tossed and adrift. That is not what the text teaches.
Hebrews 8:1-2
Hebrews 8:1-2
1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.
The God-man has returned in His role as Messiah to the throne-room of God. While He is the High Priest, He is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens
Hebrews 8:3-6
Hebrews 8:3-6
3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer.
4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law;
5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
The Earthly Sanctuary is further explained in
The Earthly Sanctuary is further explained in
Hebrews 9:1-5
Hebrews 9:1-5
1 Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.
2 For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary;
3 and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All,
4 which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant;
5 and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
Hebrews 9:6-10
Hebrews 9:6-10
6 Now when these things had been thus prepared, the priests always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services.
7 But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;
8 the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the Holiest of All was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing.
9 It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience—
10 concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
Hebrews 9:11-15
Hebrews 9:11-15
11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
Now in verse 22 we learn that without the shedding of blood there is no remission or cleansing.
Our final view is in the passage that speaks of the greatness of Christ’s Sacrifice
Hebrews 9:23-28
Hebrews 9:23-28
23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another—
26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.
Now we move to the Old Testament to observe some passages, with our having been informed by the writer of Hebrews.
Do the Old Testament believers know about this you might ask?
Well, yes.
Exodus 25:9
Exodus 25:9
9 According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it.
God is speaking to Moses. God shows Moses on Mt. Sinai a pattern for the tabernacle which is the heavenly standard. Now it’s not clear whether he has a picture. He has a vision …how it is accomplished, but what Moses sees on Mt. Sinai is a pattern based on the heavenly archetype.
This is repeated again in Exodus 25:40.
Exodus 25:40
Exodus 25:40
40 And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.
These are not random things that are in the tabernacle. They all fit into a broader perspective and a broader plan.
Psalm 11:4
Psalm 11:4
4 The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.
The LORD is in His holy temple, The LORD's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. So there is a dwelling place in heaven. That’s ultimately the idea in the temple or tabernacle – a dwelling place that is where the Lord’s throne is located.
We go on to
Psalm 18:6
Psalm 18:6
Calling on the Lord in His Temple.
6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
He calls to the Jews to listen to him in
Micah 1:2
Micah 1:2
2 Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.
Habakkuk 2:20
Habakkuk 2:20
20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Psalm 99:1
Psalm 99:1
1 The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!
Let’s read this Psalm through with minimal commentary, and then come back and break it down a bit.
Psalm 99:1-9
Psalm 99:1-9
1 The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved!
2 The Lord is great in Zion, And He is high above all the peoples.
3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name— He is holy.
4 The King’s strength also loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
5 Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His footstool— He is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called upon His name; They called upon the Lord, and He answered them.
7 He spoke to them in the cloudy pillar; They kept His testimonies and the ordinance He gave them.
8 You answered them, O Lord our God; You were to them God-Who-Forgives, Though You took vengeance on their deeds.
9 Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the Lord our God is holy.
Note that the mixture of concepts we have studied is at work here. We have the expression of God as the sovereign of creation, who dwells in Zion in heaven, but whose feet rest in Zion on earth. Who dwells in the midst of the Cherubim in Heaven, but who dwells at the point of the Cherubim surrounding the mercy seat on the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies which is His footstool. This may be hard for us to grasp.
Everyone should tremble:
Psalm 47:8 ; 93:1 ; 96:10 ; 97:1 ; 146:10
8 God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.
1 The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved.
10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; The world also is firmly established, It shall not be moved; He shall judge the peoples righteously.”
1 The Lord reigns; Let the earth rejoice; Let the multitude of isles be glad!
10 The Lord shall reign forever— Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
Between the Cherubim
God dwells, in terms of man’s approach between the Cherubim.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You who dwell between the cherubim, shine forth!
2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, Stir up Your strength, And come and save us!
3 Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!
Worship at His footstool
The place of bowing low, where we come to His footstool, is the place of connection to God. All of creation is low before His Holiness, His perfection and Justice - which can only be satisfied by the Righteous provision of the God-man Yeshua-Jesus who gives the approach of man to God via grace alone.
Footstool
Footstool is רֶגֶל הֲדֹם (hǎḏōm rě·ḡěl) = the low seat for feet to rest upon. We see it mentioned in 1 CH 28:2, Psa 99:5, PS 110:title-1, Ps 132:7, Is 66:1, La 2:1 .
2 Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Hear me, my brethren and my people: I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God, and had made preparations to build it.
5 Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His footstool— He is holy.
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
7 Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool.
1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. Where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest?
1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion With a cloud in His anger! He cast down from heaven to the earth The beauty of Israel, And did not remember His footstool In the day of His anger.
End of 2/12/2023
End of 2/12/2023
2/19/2023
2/19/2023
Today we will talk of revival.
I want to start with the words of Peter in 2 Peter 1:3
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
I brought the
As you may or may not know - there is something going on in a little college in Kentucky called Asbury College that people are calling a revival. You may or may not be familiar with the term revival. Many who grew up in certain denominations have gone to revival camps every year in order that they might grow “closer” to the Lord.
I brought up the “Revival” at Asbury for our Friday pastor meeting. The Asbury "Revival" is gaining momentum and attention. I have been fielding questions and wanted to address the issue in our Sunday morning service.
As you are probably aware that the 1950 and 1970 revivals were characterized by so called waves of repentance in response to the strong sense of the Holiness of God followed by days of unbiblical cathartic confession of sin in public. The revival was characterized by so called references to repentance, to the presence of God, to soul searching, to the body of students who responded, to the moving of God in the student body not in the leadership of the school, of the contagion of the movement, of the resulting calls to missions, etc..
In short there was no significant or central lifting up of Christ, pointing to the substitutionary atonement work of the God-man who provided divine righteousness and His provisional salvation package for all who might believe in His personal work. There was not a strong return to the study of scripture and growth in biblical knowledge and the doctrine of the apostles.
Jesus said, He would send the Spirit, but per John 16:14, "He will glorify me." That is the Holy Spirit will glorify not himself but Yeshua alone. In a move of God I expect that the the Holy Spirit will exalt Jesus. The name of Jesus will be exalted. The work of Jesus will be front and center. I think a true revival will leave people speaking of the God-man Jesus Christ and of His substitutionary atonement. I think it will result in a call to study, and find depth of knowledge of Christ in His divine word. It won't leave people speaking of missions, of revival, of repentance through named sins, of student movements.
There are denominations and churches that hae week long revivals at their church to revive the people and restore “something” that is needed in the walk of those believers. Sometimes Revival Preachers are brought in to draw in a new crowd, and kick off a hoped for “move of God.”
We had the “Great Awakening” in our American history that drew many to a knowledge of faith in Christ, and those who were already saved, to a deeper devotion. Most consider this a true revival, even in our circles.
Jonathan Edwards was a young preacher at that time, and his congregation has long been considered to be at the center of the great awakening - the match that lit the nation on fire.
To this day, we have those who have envisioned a congregation that squirmed as Edwards preached the famous “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”
It has been called fire and brimstone sermonizing that incited emotional and hysterical responses in the minds of the hearers.
Let me share some of that sermon with you:
"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is a famous sermon preached by the American theologian Jonathan Edwards on July 8, 1741, in Enfield, Connecticut. Here is the text of the sermon:
"Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741.
Their foot shall slide in due time - Deut. 32:35
In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people, and who lived under the means of grace; but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained (as ver. 28.) void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit; as in the two verses next preceding the text. The expression I have chosen for my text, Their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following things, relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.
That they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction."
It implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction. As he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall, he cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning: Which is also expressed in Psalm 73:18-19. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!"
Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another; as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.
That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time is not come. For it is said, that when that due time, or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide. Then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go; and then, at that very instant, they shall fall into destruction; as he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone, when he is let go he immediately falls and is lost.
The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. "There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God." By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment.
The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.
There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel who has found means to fortify himself in a city, or castle, or stronghold. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand, and vast multitudes of wicked men combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaff before the whirlwind; or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames. We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth; so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we that we should think to stand before him, at whose rebuke the earth trembles, and before whom the rocks are thrown down?
They deserve to be cast into hell; so that divine justice never stands in the way, it makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" Luke 13:7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy, and God's mere will, that holds it back.
They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness that God has fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them; so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3:18, "He that believeth not is condemned already." So that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is, John 8:23. "Ye are from beneath:" And thither he is bound; it is the place that justice, and God's word, and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign to him.
They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, that is expressed in the torments of hell. And the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment, is not because God, in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them; as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth; yea, doubtless, with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell. So that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such a one as themselves, though they imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them; their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared; the fire is made ready; the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him; he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion. The scripture represents them as his "goods" (Luke 11:12), and the devils are called "the rulers of the darkness of this world" (Ephesians 6:12). The devils watch them; they are ever by them at their right hand; they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey, and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.
There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea (Isaiah 57:20). For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.
Thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell; and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.
The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of: there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it; but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it.
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock.
Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment; for you are a burden to it; the creation groans with you; the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies.
God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out, were it not for the sovereign hand of him who hath subjected it in hope. There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder; and were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays his rough wind; otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like the chaff on the summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose. It is true, that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto; the floods of God's vengeance have been withheld; but your guilt in the mean time is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath; the waters are constantly rising, and waxing more and more mighty; and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, that holds the waters back, that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.
The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls; all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin, to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but his mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction.
However unconvinced you may be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them; for destruction came suddenly upon most of them, when they expected nothing of it, and while they were saying, "Peace and safety:" now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety, were nothing but thin air and empty shadows.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to sing it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
And consider here more particularly,
Whose wrath it is: it is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were of the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 20:2. "The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: Whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul." The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates, in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, and when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth before God, are as grasshoppers; they are nothing, and less than nothing: both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings, is as much more terrible than theirs, as his majesty is greater. Luke 12:4,5. "And I say unto you, my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that, have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom you shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed, hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him."
It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God; as in Isaiah 63:3. "I will tread them in mine anger, and will trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment." So Isaiah 66:15. "For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire." And in many other places. So, Revelation 19:15, we read of the "winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, "the wrath of God," the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful: but it is "the fierceness and wrath of God." The fury of God! the fierceness of Jehovah! Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them! But it is also "the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." As though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged, and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh! then, what will be the consequence! What will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it! Whose hands can be strong? And whose heart can endure? To what a dreadful, indefinite state of misery and ruin must those be reduced that shall fall into the hands of an angry God!
Consider the uncertainty of your escaping this wrath. This is what that arch-enemy of mankind is so much concerned about - the uncertainty of your escaping this wrath. It is impossible to conceive of any more deplorable condition than to be exposed to the wrath of God, with nothing to protect you, nothing to shield you, nothing to keep off the flames of divine wrath. You stand naked, exposed, and defenseless before the great and terrible God. Indeed, we know not how soon God may call us to pass through the gates of death and enter into the eternal world. We know not how many opportunities we may have to hear the gospel of Christ, or whether we will have any opportunities at all. We know not how soon God may withdraw his Spirit, and leave us to our own hearts' lusts, and let us perish in our sins. We know not what a day, an hour, or a moment may bring forth.
Let this thought strike your mind with terror, that there is nothing between you and hell but the mere pleasure of God. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.
O sinner! consider the fearful danger you are in. It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
Therefore, let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let everyone fly out of Sodom: "Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed."
The sermon of Jonathan Edwards sought to unsettle the unsaved and to encourage them to take their occasion to turn to the grace of God and be saved.
Isaiah 37:16
Isaiah 37:16
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
The Context
First we must understand some of the wider context of this event.
2 Kings 18:9-12
2 Kings 18:9-12
Starting in 2 Kings 18:9-12
9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes,
12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.
First Map
Map of Gozan, Nineveh, Babylon, Israel
Map of Media - Home of the Medes
2 Kings 18:13-16
2 Kings 18:13-16
13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them.
14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house.
16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.
Fuller’s Field
2 Kings 18:17-36
2 Kings 18:17-36
17 Then the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field.
18 And when they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them.
19 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust?
20 You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?
21 Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’
23 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them!
24 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
25 Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”
26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”
27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”
28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand;
30 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’
31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;
32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.”
33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”
36 But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
Hezekiah
2 Kings 19:1-7
2 Kings 19:1-7
1 And so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
2 Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.
4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
6 And Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me.
7 Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
2 Kings 19:8-19
2 Kings 19:8-19
8 Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “Look, he has come out to make war with you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
16 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
17 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands,
18 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone.”
2 Kings 19:20-37
2 Kings 19:20-37
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard.’
21 This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin, the daughter of Zion, Has despised you, laughed you to scorn; The daughter of Jerusalem Has shaken her head behind your back!
22 ‘Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.
23 By your messengers you have reproached the Lord, And said: “By the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, To the limits of Lebanon; I will cut down its tall cedars And its choice cypress trees; I will enter the extremity of its borders, To its fruitful forest.
24 I have dug and drunk strange water, And with the soles of my feet I have dried up All the brooks of defense.”
25 ‘Did you not hear long ago How I made it, From ancient times that I formed it? Now I have brought it to pass, That you should be For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
26 Therefore their inhabitants had little power; They were dismayed and confounded; They were as the grass of the field And the green herb, As the grass on the housetops And grain blighted before it is grown.
27 ‘But I know your dwelling place, Your going out and your coming in, And your rage against Me.
28 Because your rage against Me and your tumult Have come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back By the way which you came.
29 ‘This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year such as grows of itself, And in the second year what springs from the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
30 And the remnant who have escaped of the house of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
31 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.’
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord.
34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Isaiah 37:8-20
Isaiah 37:8-20
8 Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”
End of 2/19/2023
End of 2/19/2023
Sunday 2/26/2023
Sunday 2/26/2023
Sunday April 2, 2023
Sunday April 2, 2023
Now we had to rush to put it together last week, but we ended up seeing how the great Assyrian King who threatened Hezekiah and Jerusalem and the remnants of Judah, dared to breathe demeaning threats towards YHWH - the God of Israel. Hezekiah cried out to God. Isaiah responded to Hezekiah on behalf of God.
We had to fast forward, move quickly through that section last week, so I want to replay that discussion, that history, as it is captured in Isaiah.
Isaiah 37:8-20
Isaiah 37:8-20
So let’s rewind to Isaiah 37:8-20
8 Then the Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish.
9 And the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, “He has come out to make war with you.” So when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
11 Look! You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by utterly destroying them; and shall you be delivered?
12 Have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed, Gozan and Haran and Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying:
16 “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
17 Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God.
18 Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands,
19 and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”
The end of the matter? We see this in ...
2 Kings 19:32-37
2 Kings 19:32-37
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: ‘He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
33 By the way that he came, By the same shall he return; And he shall not come into this city,’ Says the Lord.
34 ‘For I will defend this city, to save it For My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.
37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Now Hezekiah ushered in a revival of the land, and called upon the name of the Lord but then fathered one of the most evil Kings of Judah - Manassah, with three more evil kings following until Josiah restored worship - but the people of Judah never did return to the Lord. We have Jehoahaz, then Jehoiakim, then Jehoiachin, then is uncle Mattaniah was renamed Zedekiah … and then the captivity of Judah occured. Zedekiah resisted, but was caught, blinded and taken to Babylon in captivity.
Now I want to review that final chapter of captivity, because it is seldom taught. And it takes us forward to connect to where we are going in our study.
2 Kings 25:1-21
2 Kings 25:1-21
1 Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
4 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king went by way of the plain.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.
6 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him.
7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.
10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude.
12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.
13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
14 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered.
15 The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away.
16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure.
17 The height of one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.
18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers.
19 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, five men of the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
20 So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
21 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.
Thus the end of the 1st Temple built and dedicated by Solomon.
The Second Temple
The Second Temple
After the return of the Jews from Babylon, the Second Temple was built. But the Glory was not in the Second Temple as it was in the First Temple, according to Haggai 2:3.
Haggai 2:3
Haggai 2:3
3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing?
However a promise is given in Haggai 2:9.
Haggai 2:9
Haggai 2:9
9 ‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
In this verse, Haggai the Prophet promised that the glory that had departed would come in some different and greater way to that Second Temple. Unlike the Tabernacle and the First Temple, the Second Temple did not begin with a manifestation of the Shechinah Glory. But the promise was made that the glory that once departed would come in a greater way to that very same Second Temple. They would again see the manifestation of God’s presence in the Shechinah Glory. The fact that this Temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 necessitates the fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecy to be prior to that time.
The Shekinah of the Second Temple
The Shekinah of the Second Temple
Where could this be fulfilled? Is God a liar? Did He fail to send the Shekinah Glory to the 2nd Temple?
I had a question that came in, that is an almost spot on match up for what we need to see next.
John 1:12-13
John 1:12-13
What are your thougts on John 1:12-13
12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:
13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Hey @Swordsman of God//יוֹנָתָן🌹 John or יוֹנָתָן,
Thanks for the Question. Seeing as you have learned from some Messianic Jewish teachers, you are likely aware that John 1:12-13 is preparative for John 1:14.
John 1:14
John 1:14
14 And the Word became 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.
where we learn that the DVAR (word) which is God's express promise of grace to mankind has come to "dwell" or literally tabernacle. Unfortunately, every western reader misses what is right in the face of every Jewish Messianic believer, or the readers at the time that John wrote his Gospel - that God's Shekinah Glory has come to earth to take residence as the Messiah of the Jews via the MONOGENES - the uniquely born Yeshua-Jesus. The Shekinah of God was brought to appear among mankind in the person of Jesus Christ.
Arnold Fruchtenbaum in his Footsteps of the Messiah, points out: "The word translated “dwelled” is the Greek word skeinei, which parallels the Hebrew, Shechinah, and Hellenized (Greek does not have an “sh” sound). But literally, the Greek word skeinei, does not mean “to dwell,” for which there is a different Greek word. Skeinei means “to tabernacle.” Verse 14 literally reads: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” In other words, it was a new visible manifestation of the presence of God dwelling among men. The result of this “tabernacling” was that men were able to behold the glory in the form of a man: the God-Man. This was a fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2, which spoke of the coming of the light:
Isaiah 9:2
Isaiah 9:2
2 The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.
All of this points to what every Jewish believer in the time of John would understand: That Jesus is EMANU-EL, God with us, and specifically is the Shekinah Glory of God that has taken up residence, literally tabernacled with us through human flesh as the God-Man.
This is what John the Baptist attests to ... that Jesus is God tabernacling (pitching a tent) with man - and specifically with Israel as the Messiah. All who accept the attestation of John are born of God (not by being Jewish, not by self will, not by nature of human achievement). God promised that He would hear (SHMH or Shemah) Israel. This is a hearing that is never separated from doing. Which is what James communicated in James 1:21-25- that true hearing always involves doing. God in contrast to man always hears-and-does. Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (Hear O Israel) reveals that Israel indeed heard and then does-not. But God hears and does, as is understood by Solomon in his dedication prayer of the Temple seen in 1 Kings 8:22-53. Notice how many times Solomon invokes the SHMH -Shemah of God, to both HEAR and to DO. This God now does as is recorded in John chapter one.
Yeshua-Jesus as the Messiah, the God-Man, is the Shekinah-Glory of God, the source of salvation, and the reflection of the Integrity of God who does both HEAR and DO.
END
Now continuing with our story ...
The Shechinah Glory reappeared in a completely new form in the fulfillment of the Haggai prophecy. This is the point of John 1:1–14. This passage proclaims the coming of the Shechinah light in a new visible manifestation. Verse 14 focuses on the new form of the Shechinah Glory:
14 And the Word became 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.
Again Fruchtenbaum hits it on the head:
“The many times that Jesus walked in the Temple Compound during His ministry fulfilled the prophecy of Haggai. His glory was manifested by His cleansing of the Temple of the money changers and sellers of sacrifices, and by His teaching in the Temple Compound, especially during the Feasts of Passover and Tabernacles.
The parallel with the Old Testament should not be missed. In the beginning of its history, the Shechinah Glory appeared and disappeared before making a more permanent abode in the Tabernacle and Temple. It then departed from the Mount of Olives. In New Testament history, it first appeared and disappeared, and then came in a more permanent form in the Person of the Messiah, abiding with Israel for an extended period of time. Later, it too departed Israel from the Mount of Olives, after a public ministry of three and a half years.”
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah : A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events, Rev. ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 608–609.
The Transfiguration
The Transfiguration
Many consider the Transfiguration as the greatest manifestation of the Shekinah Glory of the person of Jesus. Four passages record the event, two of them flow from Peter as he mentions the event in his own epistle, and is considered a strong influence on Mark who wrote the Gospel according to Mark. Note that the books of the Bible were all given authority based on proximity to the Lord Yeshua-Jesus Himself or to the Apostles. Thus Mark and Luke and Acts get their authority by association, as do James and Jude as epistles in the canon of the New Testament.
When put together the four passages give us a more full view of what occurred at the Transfiuration.
Matthew 17:1–8 ; Mark 9:2–8 ; Luke 9:28–36 ; and 2 Peter 1:16–18 .
Matthew 17:1-8
Matthew 17:1-8
1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.”
8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
In the Matthew passage, His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. A bright cloud overshadowed Him, and the Voice of God spoke out of the cloud, authenticating the Messiahship of Jesus. The appearance of the cloud and the Voice of God speaking out of the cloud was the very same thing that had occurred at Mount Sinai.
This description clearly reflects the Shechinah manifestations of the Old Testament developed further in the New Testament, as they are fulfilled in the Person of the Messiah.
While the shining of the face of Moses was that of a reflected glory, the shining of the face of Jesus was the shining of the Shechinah Glory itself. Moses was like the moon, but Jesus was like the sun.
Mark 9:2-8
Mark 9:2-8
2 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.
3 His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.
4 And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
5 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—
6 because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.
7 And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
8 Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves.
The Mark passage states that his garments became glistening, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them, and a cloud overshadowed Him.
Luke 9:28-36
Luke 9:28-36
28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.
29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.
30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.
33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.
In the Luke passage, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling. They saw His glory while the cloud overshadowed Him.
2 Peter 1:16-18
2 Peter 1:16-18
16 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
In the 2 Peter passage, Peter proclaimed what he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration and claimed to be an eyewitness of His majesty. The Messiahship of Jesus was authenticated by this majestic glory.
Jesus was the visible manifestation of God’s presence in a new form. At the Mount of Transfiguration, the glory that was veiled by the human body shone through, and three of the Apostles were able to behold the Shechinah Glory in its brightness and in a form greater than what had appeared in the Old Testament. For besides the repetition of the Old Testament manifestations, there was also the unique Shechinah manifestation of Jesus Himself as the God-Man.
Messiah as the manifestation of God’s presence is taught in the later New Testament as well:
2 Corintians 4:5-6
2 Corintians 4:5-6
5 For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The writer to Hebrews tells that through Jesus, light shines out of darkness, and the light is that of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Clearly, then, the glory of God was manifested in the Person of Jesus, and Jesus was indeed a new manifestation of God’s presence.
Hebrews takes us further
Hebrews 1:1-3
Hebrews 1:1-3
1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Verse one says that in the past God had revealed Himself in a number of different ways, but in verse two, He has now revealed Himself through the Son. But then verse three describes the Son, and the description is that of the Shechinah Glory. The Son is described as the brightness of the Father’s glory and the very image of His substance.
John the revelator tells us of the Glorified Son of Man from his vision
Revelation 1:12-16
Revelation 1:12-16
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;
15 His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters;
16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.
Note that the end of verse 16 says "And his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength." The outward appearance of Jesus exuded such brightness that the glory of the shining is comparable to that of the sun. The physical body of Jesus no longer veils the shining brightness of the glory.