The Body of the Flesh ( Paul's 'Body of death'? ( Romans 7 ) the metaphorical nature of the term 'flesh' )

Traditionally, I believe, most Christians have taken Paul's yearning question near the end of Romans 7 to be indicative of Paul's supposed ( Gnostic? ) wish to be free of his physical body so that he could be 'present with the Lord' ( II Corinthians 5:8 ). Although Paul's question may be applied in some sense to the Christian life today; in no way should it be applied in the traditional sense that many, I fear, have applied it. 'Flesh', as a metaphor, was nothing new to the first-century believers ( Jews in particular ); even in the Hebrew Scriptures ( Ezekiel 36:26 ) we read statements like God's promise that 'I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh': obviously, when God 'turned' the hearts of His people, He didn't literally remove their physical heart ( of stone? ) from their physical body and replace it with a real, beating, 'flesh and blood' heart. This was an obvious reference to the 'tearing down' of the Mosaic covenant 'written in stone' ( II Corinthians 3:3 ).

In the first six chapters of his letter to the Romans, Paul's usage of the term 'flesh' seems to very likely, even most probably, refer to just that, physical human flesh. Even throughout the Gospels, except for a few instances, which we'll get to later, and in the book of Acts, this seems to be the case. His statement in verse 5, for instance, 'when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death', is clarified by a previous one, where he writes 'you also have become dead to the law'. According to Paul here, being 'in the flesh' is equivalent to being 'under', or 'bound by the law' ( Galatians 5:3 ), although in verses 18 and 25, he seems to return to a referral to his own physical body. In the next chapter ( 8 );  Paul begins to clarify even further, writing that '[ There is ] therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.' ( Note that the latter half of the verse does not appear in some texts,  although, I believe, it is a scriptural addition to Romans 8:1, appearing 3 verses later in our text. ) From both the covenantal and historical context of Paul's writings, we should be able to readily see that he is talking, not so much of the physical nature of our literal 'flesh' ( although some would argue that this is more than applicable in today's 'day and age' ), but of the sinful nature of Adam, portrayed nowhere more clearly than in the Pharisaical actions of apostate first-century Israel. As we continue to study Paul's usage of the term 'flesh' in the ensuing chapters of his letter to the Romans, we see that, although in some cases, Paul seems, again, to refer to the actual, biological body ( 9:3 & 5 ), he is really referring to the same 'fallen' nature of Adam, the nature of the 'natural man', as 'under' the old covenant ( Romans 9:8, Galatians 4:23 ). As we continue to study the writings of Paul; we may notice statements that seem to speak in a biological sense, like when he wrote in his 1st letter to the Corinthians that 'not many wise according to the flesh' were called, or chosen of God, 'that no flesh should glory in His presence' ( 26-29 ), and his instructions in the same letter ( chapter 5 ) to 'deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh'. Paul's references to 'the flesh', in the next couple chapters ( 6:16, 7:28 ), are fairly 'obviously' ( plainly? ) biological, but when he asks his readers to muse on 'Israel after the flesh' ( 10:18 ), he makes an obvious reference back to Romans 9, as well as to Galatians 4:23, where he wrote, speaking of the ( two ) covenants, 'But he [ who was ] of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise'. One might say that chapter 15, Paul's famous treatise on the resurrection, is a 'mixed pot', when it comes to 'the flesh', but as we saw earlier, when read in the covenantal and historical context, we can see that he was really referring to that same fallen, sinful, Adamic nature ( Romans 7:9 ) that he had 'complained' about before. Even the phrase 'flesh and blood' is seen to be metaphorical ( though in a somewhat physical sense ), as Paul explains, in Galatians 1:16, that when 'startled' by the Holy Spirit of Christ ( God ), he writes, 'I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood', relating that he did not seek the counsel of his brethren in the Sanhedrin, or to confirm what he had 'seen', or rather heard, with the religious leaders of his day.

To be fair; we can well say, even today, with Paul, things like 'put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to [ fulfill its ] lusts' ( Romans 13:14 ), and 'Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh' ( Galatians 5:16 ), or with Jesus, 'The spirit indeed [ is ] willing, but the flesh [ is ] weak' ( Matthew 26:41b ). There are many other references throughout the Scriptures that seem to indicate biology, and others which clearly indicate the wisdom of man ( 'fleshly' ), but often, even those which seem to indicate a biological body can be seen to be used metaphorically ( in a spiritual sense ), as in the case of marriage, where 'the two shall become one flesh' ( Mark 10:8 ( Genesis 2:24 ) Matthew 19:5 & 6, I Corinthians 6:16 ), or of a corporate 'body', as 'all flesh shall see the salvation of God' ( Luke 3:6 ( Isaiah 40:5 ) Romans 3:20 ), and 'it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh' ( Acts 2:17a ( Joel 2:28 ).

One of the biggest 'problems', pertaining to our study here, facing a strictly ( 'wooden' ) literal interpretation of the word 'flesh', is found in Romans 8:8, where Paul wrote that 'those who are in the flesh cannot please God'. If we are to take this at 'face value', and out of the covenantal context; one might think that Paul is saying that human beings, Christian or not, have no hope of pleasing God, until, as I quoted in a previous article, we 'shuffle off this mortal coil': I must say, though, I don't really think that any respectable theologian out would posit this idea, and the principle that Paul espouses here can be applied to a 'fleshly', or 'lustful' attitude, even in today's 'day and age'; it is clear that he is referring, in both the historical and covenantal contexts, to the religious practices of Paul's day, in which the Pharisees  'bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay [ them ] on men’s shoulders; but they [ themselves ] will not move them with one of their fingers' ( Matthew 23:4 ), which itself is a metaphor for a fact which occurs today, they preached, but did not practice. There is a sense in which we can posit, as some do, that such things as 'carnal Christians' exist, that live 'according to the flesh', in the selfish lusts of their own 'hearts', doing whatever they want, because 'once saved, always saved', or something like that, but there is a greater sense in which Christians can never be in the 'flesh', at least not the 'flesh' that Paul had in mind, the 'flesh' of Adam, and the 'death' which was proved under the old covenant.

The Greek Scriptures, and maybe to an even greater extent, the Hebrew Scriptures, contrast the Spiritual nature of the new covenant, as opposed to the fleshly ( some might say 'physical' ) nature of the old. Ezekiel recorded this promise of God; 'Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them,^[a] and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh' ( Ezekiel 11:19- almost sounds like 'the two shall become one flesh' ), As we saw above; God promised, through the prophet Joel that 'I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh', speaking of the new covenant, which He planned to reveal 'in the latter days' ( Isaiah 2:2, Hosea 3:5, Micah 4:1 ). Back now, to Romans 8; Paul wrote that 'what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God [ did ] by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh'; the first covenant ( Hebrews 8:7 ) was made 'null and void', because those 'fleshly' beings with whom He covenanted could not keep it, so He made a covenant with Himself ( Hebrews 6:13 & 14 ( Ezekiel 36:25-27, Jeremiah 31:31-34, etc ).

Continuing to contrast 'the flesh' and 'the Spirit'; Paul writes, in II Corinthians 10:3: 'For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh'. In the same sense as above, we can apply this to our lives today, in that we most often, even as Christians, must fight our own inclinations, our selfish desires, in order to do what we know is right. Paul wrote this statement in a time though, when one of the biggest 'problems' facing the baby church was the Judaizers, who were not willing, because of the tradition, to let go of their fleshly ordinances 'written in stone', but 'warred' to preserve the way of life handed down to them by their fathers, for generations.

To the Galatians; Paul wrote, 'For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish' ( this seems akin to Paul's 'diatribe' in the midst of Romans 7 ). Now again; taken at 'face value', you can see how we today, might apply this to ourselves because we, in our natural selfishness, often wish to do ( in many cases do ) things that our Spirit tells us that we shouldn't, but I believe that, read in the context of Paul's writing, we can see that he was talking about the Mosaic law, for in the very next verse, even, he wrote 'But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law'. Going back to Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan 'woman at the well', in John 4; Jesus told her, 'Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father', in other words, as the writer to the Hebrews revealed, in Hebrews 12, that the true worship of God was not relegated to a physical ( fleshly ) 'place' anymore ( at least not to one made with humans hands ), but that 'true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth' ( 23 ). Speaking of Himself, 'the Living Word' ( as opposed to the fleshly ordinances 'written in stone ); Jesus told His disciples, in John 6:63, 'It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [ they ] are life' ( John 5:39 ). As we read in the following verses, 'From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more', not being ready for the truth, but accustomed ( comfortable with ) to the traditions of their fathers, having a fleshly mindset, and focused on the physical ordinances which had been delivered to them.

'The Works of the Flesh.'

I believe that we are all to familiar with 'the works of the flesh', as Paul described them, in Galatians 5:19b-21a; 'adultery,^[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders,^[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like'. I daresay that we can all admit to bearing at least one of these 'fruits', at least once a day, if not in deed, at the very least, in thought. Paul wrote earlier, in Romans 7:7, 'I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”' ( Exodus 20:17 ) I believe that we may safely assume that this was the case with other 'works of the flesh'. The written ordinance brought with it, as in the 'day' that Adam & Eve partook of the wrong 'tree', a consciousness of sin.

Later, in his letter to the Galatians ( 6:8 ); Paul wrote 'he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life', a statement that most of us still try to apply to our lives today, but we must remember the situation that Paul was addressing here, particularly with the Galatian church. As we can tell from reading the earlier parts of his letter, where he asked them, in Galatians 3:3, 'Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?', Judaizers had infiltrated the church, and were trying to tell them that they must keep the law ( Mosaic ) with all of its 'elements', like circumcision, and blood sacrifice, etc., in order to be acceptable in God's presence; but, as Paul had told them earlier ( 2:16 ), 'by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified'. This was not to say that they should not obey, or keep God's law, but not in the letter, in principle, the spirit of the law, which was to 'love the LORD your God', and 'your neighbor as yourself' ( Luke 10:27 ( Deuteronomy 6:5, Leviticus 19:18 ), which was the whole point of the law.

'The Thorn in the Flesh'

'And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.' ( II Corinthians 12:7 ) Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that God had given him a challenge ( traditionally, poor eyesight ) to keep him humble. He also praised the church in Galatia, because, 'my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, [ even ] as Christ Jesus' ( 4:14 ). Most think that, because of the information in the following verses, that Paul's eyesight never quite recovered from the blinding light that 'startled' him on the road to Damascus, which may or may not be the case, but whatever the case may be ( and I wonder now, if it didn't have something to do with him being a Jew, and especially a former Pharisee ); it is clear that Paul did not have an actual thorn sticking out of his body ( although I'm sure he got a splinter in his finger, once or twice :), and this 'thorn in the flesh' was simply a 'hurdle' (there's another metaphor ) for Paul to overcome, and, like I said, 'to keep him humble'. You might say that we all have one ( at least ) of these metaphorical 'thorns in the flesh', something that God has given us, or placed in our path, not only to see if we'll overcome, but to use for His Kingdom and for His glory. This 'thorn in the flesh' could be a physical or mental disability, or sometimes God places a certain person, or group of people in our path to whom we grant the esteemed 'term of endearment' 'thorn in the flesh'.

The 'Flesh' of Christ


There is no doubt in my own mind, and I am not trying to create doubt or raise questions in anyone else's mind, of the fact that God did empty Himself of Glory, and sent His only begotten Son to this earth, to be super-naturally born of a woman, to suffer a normal ( more or less ) human existence, and to die for the sins of His people, delivering them from the 'death of death' by raising Him from the grave, thus conquering it for and through them. When Scripture speaks of the body, or 'flesh' of Jesus, it most often means just that, His actual, literal 'flesh and bones' ( Luke 24:39 ) body, the biological mass that He walked, talked, and lived in, while on this earth, this human 'plane' of existence, but even when His body, or 'flesh', is referenced, it is, as often meant in a metaphorical sense. Jesus, as recorded in John 6:51, said 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world'. Jesus did give His physical body over to the torturers, and then, to death ('He gave up His spirit'-John 19:30 ), but, before He did, He revealed in one of His 'hard sayings', that He was the fulfillment of the typical 'bread from heaven' ( Exodus 16 ( Revelation 2:17 ), that God had fed their 'fathers' with in the wilderness. The Pharisees ( and even some of His disciples ) made the same mistake that some still do today, in ascribing to Jesus' following words ( 'unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood' ) a fully physical meaning. While Jesus did refer to His actual, biological Body here; I believe that He referred to His corporate Body, His collective ( and collected ) people, as Paul did in I Corinthians 11. Pretty obviously; Jesus did not expect them, and does not expect us, to eat His actual literal 'flesh', but actually had two things in mind here, I believe; He reminded them not to neglect fellowship, most importantly, with Him, 'in spirit and in truth', and other members of His Body, the Church, but to 'feast' upon His law, His command to 'love one another, as I have loved you' ( John 15:12 ( 13:34 ). In Acts 2:25-28; Peter, quoting David, in Psalm 16:8-11, referred to the corporate Body of Christ, who wrote, 'For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption', first and foremost, alluding to the actual, biological 'flesh' of Jesus, which, from all accounts, did not suffer decay, during its three days in the tomb ( the resurrection of Lazarus in John 11 was a picture of this ), but also to the fact that, through Christ and the new covenant, His people would be set free from the 'corruption' ( I Corinthians 15:42 ) of the 'death of Adam', and the power of the grave.


'According to the Flesh'

Paul begins his letter to the Romans, by revealing to them that he was a minister of the Gospel which had been prophesied 'in ages past', 'concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh' ( John 1:14 ). By referring to Jesus as being born 'according to the flesh', he obviously means something different by the phrase than he does in other places, some of which we've already noted. Peter also refers to Jesus' birth as 'according to the flesh', in Acts 2:30. We know that, by using this phrase of the physical nativity of our Lord; they are saying just that; He was born as a human being ( though supernaturally ), of the physical line of David.

'What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?' Paul goes on to explain, in this passage ( Romans 4 ), how Abraham was not justified by his works, or deeds done in 'the flesh', but by faith, in the Spirit. In chapter 8 of this book; Paul reminded his readers that Christ came  'that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit' ( note, that Paul made the statement previously ( verse 3 ), not that Christ came to condemn 'the flesh', but that He condemned 'sin in the flesh' ). Paul further said, regarding the works, or deeds of 'the flesh', that 'if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.' This message was given primarily to the Roman church, and should thus be understood in the historical and covenantal context, but also relays much the same admonition today: if we rest in our works ( 'works righteousness' ) to get us through, we have made the same mistake as the Pharisees of old. As Paul wrote, at the end of the previous passage; 'I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!' Because of Jesus and the new covenant in His blood, we no longer must suffer in our ignorance!

Jesus, in defending His witness, His authority, told the Pharisees, 'You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one' ( John 8:15 ( Romans 2:28 ). The Pharisees, like so many today, were quick to judge 'a book by it's cover'. As we know, the 'cover' does not make the 'book', but because they judged, as we so often do, by how things looked; they were condemned by the very Law they claimed as their own ( John 5:45 ). Not only were the Pharisees guilty of passing judgment according to their perception, they also made the fatal mistake ( II Corinthians 3:6 ) of following the letter, rather than the spirit, or principle of the law ( Matthew 23:23 ( I John 2:7 & 8 ).

'For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble'. When Paul wrote these words, he had in mind, I'm sure, the same wisdom of men that we have experience with today, and which James wrote about in his letter, contrasting 'the wisdom that is from above' from an 'earthly wisdom', which is 'sensual, demonic', but primarily, I believe, he referred to those Pharisees, the religious leaders of God's covenant people, who had become wise in their own eyes ( Luke 16:15, I Corinthians 3:18 & ( I Corinthians 1:18-25 ), forsaking the wisdom that is from above, from God, the Father of spirits.

As we have seen from this study of the usage of the word 'flesh' in the ( mostly ) Greek Scriptures; 'the flesh' while often denoting just that, physical, biological, flesh, the human body; it often is used metaphorically, even in the instances where it does reference an actual physical body. This being the case; in many of the cases where people may try to apply phrases such as 'flesh and blood' or 'according to the flesh', while the phrases may not have quite the same import today as they had to the original audience, is it fair today, to say that they do not apply at all? Are we making the same Pharisaical mistake, and following the 'letter', rather than the spirit?

Mulling it over,
Charles Haddon Shank

The Bravehearts' of Freedom

In the greatest sense; Freedom is a gift that is given, not a reward earned!

Now, before someone wishes to find me in a dark alley and teach me a few things about freedom; let me just say that I am not making light of those, in the past who have fought, and given their lives for the 'freedoms' that we enjoy today. I acknowledge that there are still those who fight and give their lives to preserve 'the American way' of life. The freedom that I am speaking of, and which I wish to exalt today, is the freedom, both spiritual and physical, that we have because of what Christ did. In that sense, then, the statement above might better read, 'freedom is realized, not earned'. I say 'spiritual and physical' because I believe that one can naturally leads to the other, though maybe not in our timing, or in the way we'd prefer, but in God's timing, and in His Will and Way. Our spiritual freedom is the result of the salvation that Christ brought to His people about 2,000 years ago, freeing them from the 'shackles' of the the old covenant economy. When freed from these spiritual 'chains', which freedom we realize today, they also began to enjoy more physical freedom, as well. Once we realize this freedom ( in Christ ), our physical freedoms begin to present. I'm not trying to say that, even though we have realized that we are free to do certain things that all our lives we have been taught were wrong, we should do them; we should always be tactful about it Before we act upon our 'freedoms', particularly in font of a brother or sister that still thinks it's wrong, or a sin; we should ask ourselves 'why?' Why are we doing this certain thing, even though we are free, and even have the 'right' to do it, at this particular time, in front of this particular person, or people? Are we acting in love, even though we only wish to show them that it is not wrong? This is something that we all must 'face'; are we brave enough?

The Ministry of Reconciliation ( the River of Life )

Therefore, if anyone [ is ] in Christ, [ he is ] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things [ are ] of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. ( II Corinthians 5:17-19 )


Therefore may not be the greatest place to begin, but we have to start somewhere, and I would probably run into copyright difficulties and space problems, if I tried to quote more. Please; read the context, and judge for yourself, whether or not I am wresting it.

The quote above, I believe, stands firmly on its own, and is fairly self-explanatory. In the first century, and due to the ministry of God's own Son; Paul, in particular, but the people of God, in general, were given, after the Christ ascended to the Father, and to His former glory; the continued mission, through ministry, the responsibility of broadcasting the good news of the Kingdom. The Church today, the Body of Christ, has been entrusted, as stewards, the very same mission today. We have failed miserably, in many areas, and for far too long. I am not speaking of the institutional church, although that too shares in the blame, but in focus here are individual ( please don't get me wrong: I believe that we are all one corporate Body, in Christ ) members of that Body, the Church, for which the Christ died ( Ephesians 5:22-25 ). There are certain individual members of the Body, and even those who have not yet truly reconciled with God, who live according to the law of love, the ministry of reconciliation, doing what is required of us, in actively receiving and reflecting the love that God showed us ( John 3:16 ), but for the most part, the Church, whether because of purposeful ignorance, or through of mis-interpretation of Scripture, has, I believe, failed, in large, to truly broadcast the message of the good news of God's Kingdom!

I believe that it is 'high time' for us, who claim the name of Christ, to begin, if we have failed in the past, to do that which God has called us to; the ministry of reconciliation. As above; though it is One corporate Body of Christ; insofar as it is made up of individuals, we, as individual members of that Body, must take up the gauntlet, and begin to share in our ministry, not only with those we deem outside the Body, but with those as well who share membership with us in the family of God. This would include not only those that we may not see outside of a 'church' setting, but of immediate family as well, husbands, wives, and children. ( I must, at this point, interject here, that I have failed in many areas, to follow this ministry; I am not trying to excuse myself, just to point out that I am not superior to anyone else in my 'walk' )

As having been recruited, turned around in the most glorious way, being startled by a brilliant light from heaven, by God Himself, speaking to our Lord, face to face, if you will; Paul was entrusted with a bit different mission, being born into the transition between the Old and New Covenant economies. His mission, though he may have chosen not to accept it at first, was to continue the Christ's ministry of reconciliation, in further breaking down the middle wall of separation ( Ephesians 2:14 ), smoothing the transition between the exclusivity of Judaism and the inclusivity of the Body of Christ. In today's Church, and thus most glaringly in the institutional church, we face much the same problem, though, as I have written of previously, in that many of us have failed to realize the true mission of the Church, which is not divide, but to bring together, to reconcile. Maybe one issue that keeps us apart is that a good understanding of what it means to be reconciled, or to reconcile, is lacking.

Reconciliation; what is it?

Dictionary.com defines reconciliation, first, as 'an act of reconciling  or the state of being reconciled', and secondly, as 'the process of making consistent or compatible'. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines it as, firstly, 'the action of reconciling : the state of being reconciled', and, interestingly enough, secondly, as 'the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance'. When we get down to the root though, it becomes a bit clearer; using the resource above, the number one definition given involves restoration, and secondarily 'to make consistent or congruous' ( reconcile an ideal with reality ). Merriam-Webster's also defines the verb 'reconcile' as 'to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant'. My other source also defines this term in much the same words, though in a different order.Though I reject the notion given by Merriam-Webster's, that 'reconciliation' involves 'the Roman Catholic sacrament of penance'; I agree with the other definitions, as I believe the Bible, or Scriptures, does as well. Our ministry, our mission, though glorious, is not always pleasant: we are often rejected, even to the point of blood-shed, real or imagined, and sometimes our ministry brings us into contact with the less-than desirable ( again; real or imagined ) of the world.

And he showed me a pure^[a] river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

I have striven to show, as I believe, that the very next half of the quote above, from Revelation 22 revealed that the people of God are called to be 'healing leaves', 'the leaves of the tree' that are, not just were, 'for the healing of the nations'. Although this book remains a mystery to many who scan its pages; I believe that much of the language is repetitious, to emphasize the point He is making; for instance, the 'tree of life' in verse 2 can be equated with 'river of water of life' in verse 1. As members of the Body of Christ, which I alluded to previously; we are called to take an active part in this ministry, not only to the 'world' around us, but to the corporate Body of Christ in which we have been placed.

This should be very sobering to us, realizing the responsibility that has been placed upon our feeble shoulders. Again; please don't get me wrong: I'm not advocating walking around with long faces, or trying to say that a Christian should never relax or have fun, only that he, or she, should take this responsibility seriously, treating the situations that God has placed before them with the gravity they deserve ( this goes for the people too ). As I hinted at earlier; I have failed miserably in my own 'ministry', and it remains to be seen, whether or not things will work out the way that I think they should ( God knows ), but regardless our acceptance of this mission, and whether we believe we're up to the challenge; this is the ministry that God has given to His people, for which He has also given us the strength and authority! Let us do His will, with the Strength He has given us!

Prayerfully and humbly,
Charles Haddon Shank

My Blue ( white & gray ) Heaven

For the past months; I've 'had my head in the clouds', so to speak. Some people have asked me why the sudden interest in taking pictures of clouds; almost kiddingly, I replied, 'because clouds don't talk back'. Several months ago, on one of my photographic expeditions; I had the thought that, like the rainbow in Noah's day,so the clouds can be a reminder that judgment, for good or ill, is in the past; at least, as far as God is concerned. Although 'clouds' in Scripture, are, in most cases, somehow related to God's judgment, we know that, as with the 'rainbow' they are simply a weather pattern. In Wyoming, especially where we live, here in south-east Wyoming, we've come to count on the fact that the presence of clouds doesn't mean a whole lot; even if the whole sky is clouded over, and it looks very threatening: we may or may not get rain out of them, that's still up to God!

Like I said, 'clouds don't talk back'; they don't judge you if you're having a bad day, and they're never having a bad day. I like to think of clouds being a good representation of the principles laid down in John 3, which Jesus gave in response to Nicodemus's questioning. Although human beings are a bit different in makeup than clouds ( though we are roughly 8o% water, and like a 'vapor' ), being created 'in the image of God', and thus rational souls; we're really not all that different. Depending on which Spirit/spirit controls us ( our own, or the Spirit of God ), we can be, in a figurative sense, be 'blown about by every wind of doctrine' ( Ephesians 4:14 ), though, as Christians, we are ( though some of us act like it, sometimes ) 'no longer..children'. Because clouds are so easily blown about by the wind though; they are the subject of much wonder, with the beautiful, though unpredictable patterns, that result, and even those are ever-changing ( you may have noticed that some of my photographs have chronologically centered in one part of the sky for several frames, or just several frames apart ). Although we have been taught that, once we reach a certain point in our doctrinal stance ( this may vary, according to the church you belong to, if you're affiliated with one ), you should 'dig your heels in' and defend the faith, and not waver; but we should always remember that since God is the determiner of true doctrine ( 'it is what it is' ), and referring back to John 3, is symbolized in the 'wind'; we should always be willing to be, and are, whether we like the results, sometimes, blown by that 'wind' into beautiful, wondrous, and ever-changing ( growing, 'morphing' ) patterns.

'Heaven' has been the subject of much of my thought, as well as many of my articles recently, and I've come to the conclusion that, in many ways, 'heaven is what you make it'; as something that we experience, not only on the spiritual plane, enjoying the presence of God forever, but in everyday life as well, in this physical plane of existence; 'Heaven', at least on the physical plane, can be a simple as experiencing the joy of gazing at, and photographing ( copying ) that amazingly beautiful example of His handiwork, the clouds!

By His grace, enjoying 'Heaven',
Charles Haddon Shank

Studies in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus the Christ the Son of God ( the Visions ( 'The Fall' ) part 15

Understanding the Book of Revelation.



After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily^[a] with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.




'And look, here comes a chariot of men [ with ] a pair of horsemen!” Then he answered and said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground.”' ( Isaiah 21:9 )

'Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me,^[a] “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”' ( Revelation 17:1 )

'Your dwelling place [ is ] in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, says the LORD.' ( Jeremiah 9:6 )

'But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there. The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces. Her time [ is ] near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.' ( Isaiah 13:21 & 22 )

'For [ it is ] the day of the LORD’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; no one shall pass through it forever and ever. But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none [ shall be ] there, and all its princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; it shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay [ eggs ]  and hatch, and gather [ them ] under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.' ( Isaiah 34:8-15 )

'Therefore the wild desert beasts shall dwell [ there ] with the jackals, and the ostriches shall dwell in it. It shall be inhabited no more forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.' ( Jeremiah 50:39 )

'Even the jackals present their breasts to nurse their young; [ but  ] the daughter of my people [ is ] cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.' ( Lamentations 4:3 )

'All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; all her idols I will lay desolate, for she gathered [ it ] from the pay of a harlot, and they shall return to the pay of a harlot.' ( Micah 1:7 )

'In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.' ( Ezekiel 6:6 )

A 'simple' messenger brought word to the prophet Isaiah, in a vision, that 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen!', but when John saw a similar vision, not only was the 'messenger' ( angel ) obviously a bit different ( 'the earth was illuminated with his glory' ), but His message was somewhat different; He told John 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen'. The historical fall of Babylon, recorded in the earlier parts of Isaiah's prophecy and toward the latter part of Jeremiah's, clearly was great, but when spiritual Babylon, symbolic and significant of the level of idolatry, harlotry, and spiritual depredation and apostasy that the physical 'children' of Israel had fallen to, was destroyed, both in reality and actuality; God sent His own Son to relay the news to John that 'her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned' ( Isaiah 40:2 ( Daniel 9:24 ), for 'she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins'.

Our last study revealed the identity of this 'harlot' who 'straddled' the 'scarlet beast': here, the angel uses near identical language to identify this 'Babylon the great', revealing that she is to be understood as referring to the same symbolic entity.

I have noted before that Israel had apostatized to the point that she was indistinguishable from, and even worse, in many cases ( Ezekiel 16:34 ) than the nations around her, most notably, Babylon ( going back to the days of 'the tower of Babel', in Genesis 11 ), and because of her apostasy, had been removed from the land of promise ( God's Presence ) and her 'land' had reverted to a barren wasteland, inhabitable only by unclean animals.




And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.



'Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’^[c] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.' ( Matthew 24:15 & 16 )

'Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be horrified and hiss at all her plagues.' ( Jeremiah 50:13 )

'I will make this city desolate and a hissing; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues.' ( Jeremiah 19:8 )

'Then, if you walk contrary to Me, and are not willing to obey Me, I will bring on you seven times more plagues, according to your sins.' ( Leviticus 26:21 )

'And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you^[b] are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.^[c][ Therefore ] Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.^[d]' ( II Corinthians 6:16 & 17 )

History will tell you, I believe, that many Jewish Christians heeded Jesus' warning and instruction to 'flee to the mountains' ( Luke 21:21, Mark 13:14 ), and those who escaped Jerusalem did not share in the 'hell' that the city must have been ( just read Josephus' account ), but were spared the horrific 'plagues' that God visited on the Old Covenant 'children' of Israel ( after the flesh ). Those 'children' who had not taken a lesson from their history, for instance, the plagues of Egypt, and the fact that those who obeyed God's covenant, were spared from those plagues, suffered through a literal 'hell on earth' a physical manifestation of the Lake of Fire, which engulfed Jerusalem and the Temple.


For her sins have reached^[b] to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you,^[c] and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.


'Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.' ( Exodus 2:23 )

'Now the LORD had told Samuel in his ear the day before Saul came, saying, Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him commander over My people Israel, that he may save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, because their cry has come to Me.' ( I Samuel 9:15 & 16 )

'Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies.' ( Psalm 106:44 & 45 )


'Let a cry be heard from their houses, when You bring a troop suddenly upon them.' ( Jeremiah 18:22a )

'O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than [ our ] heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.' ( Ezra 9:6 )

'But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden [ His ] face from you, so that He will not hear.' ( Isaiah 59:2 )

'O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people [ are ] a reproach to all [ those ] around us.' ( Daniel 9:16 )

'For in the hand of the LORD [ there is ] a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain [ and ] drink down.' ( Psalm 75:8 )

'Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.' ( Isaiah 1:22 )

'Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints?   Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine.' ( Proverbs 23:29 & 30 )

Throughout Israel's history; God always had His messenger, or messengers, to warn His 'children' of their follies and to mediate for them, like Moses, in Exodus 34:9, prayed, go among us, even though we [ are ] a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance',and when they did humble themselves and repent ( at least in deed ), God sent a deliverer among them, after which they followed God's covenant again for a while ( read the book of Judges, for more on this ), but then began to fill their 'cup of wrath' ( Deuteronomy 9: 7 & 8 )again, and God brought more adverse judgment upon them, until finally He revealed the 'new', and 'better' Covenant, His Son ( Isaiah 49:8 )!

Israel was to receive 'double according to her works', I believe, because she enjoyed the lofty position of 'firstborn among many brethren' ( Romans 8:29 ( Hosea 11:1 ), and according to tradition; the firstborn was to receive the double-portion, in this case though, a doubly adverse judgment!



In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit [ as ] queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges^[d] her.



'You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as^[b] in a day of slaughter.' ( James 5:5 )

'Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing [ as ] they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will uncover their secret parts.  In that day the Lord will take away the finery: the jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents; the pendants, the bracelets, and the veils; the headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands; the perfume boxes, the charms, and the rings; the nose jewels,  the festal apparel, and the mantles; the outer garments, the purses, and the mirrors; the fine linen, the turbans, and the robes.' ( Isaiah 3:16-23 )

'Therefore hear this now, [ you who are ] given to pleasures, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, ‘I [ am ], and [ there is ] no one else besides me; I shall not sit [ as ] a widow, nor shall I know the loss of children.' ( Isaiah 47:8 )

'Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their [ blood ] by the force of the sword; let their wives [ become ] widows and bereaved of their children. Let their men be put to death, their young men [ be ] slain by the sword in battle.' ( Jeremiah 18:21 )

'And I will make [ you ] cross over with^[a] your enemies into a land [ which ] you do not know; for a fire is kindled in My anger, [ which ] shall burn upon you.' ( Jeremiah 15:14 )

'His winnowing fan [ is ] in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.' ( Matthew 3:12 )

The quotation above, from Isaiah 47, is, true enough, in reference to Babylon, but, if for no other reason than I have outlined previously, that Jerusalem had become like other cities and nations around her, but it is also very clear, from Isaiah 3, that she had become 'haughty', and overly prideful, not only of her status as the so-called 'favored one' ( Psalm 44:3, Zechariah 2:8 ), and as the wife of God, having borne Him many children ( Genesis 29:31 & 32 ( 17:4-6 ), but of her 'place' among the nations.

 Prophesying of the judgment of Assyria; God spoke through Isaiah, 'the Light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.' ( Isaiah 10:17 ) Though this prophecy was spoken concerning another nation; I believe that it is applicable as well, to covenant-breaking Israel, those who had apostatized to the point of finally denying and killing their Messiah. 'Behold, I will command,’ says the LORD, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.' ( Jeremiah 34:22 ) Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures; God had made it very clear, that, as He had been the 'pillar of fire' during the Exodus, leading them out of Egypt ( Exodus 13:21, 14:24, Numbers 14:14, Deuteronomy 1:33, Nehemiah 9:12, Psalm 78:14, 105:39 ( Exodus 40:38, Numbers 9:15 & 16  ( Isaiah 4:5, Ezekiel 1:4, Joel 2:30 ) so He would be  a 'refiner’s fire' ( Malachi 3:2 ( Zechariah 13:9 ), not only to 'cleanse the land' ( Ezekiel 39:12 ), but also to 'purify the sons of Levi' ( Malachi 3:3, Titus 2:11-14 ), His 'chosen' ones ( Deuteronomy 21:5, I Chronicles 15:2 ( Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:12, Psalm 105:43, Isaiah 43:20 ( I Peter 2:4-9 ).




The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,  standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come'.



'Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and [ your ] joy to gloom.' ( James 4:9 )

'The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel, He has swallowed up all her palaces; He has destroyed her strongholds, and has increased mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah.' ( Lamentations 2:5 )

'[There shall be ] wailing in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘ Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning, and skillful lamenters to wailing.' ( Amos 5:16 )

'This [ is ] the lamentation with which they shall lament her; the daughters of the nations shall lament her; they shall lament for her, for Egypt, and for all her multitude,’ says the Lord GOD.' ( Ezekiel 32:16 )

'Cut off your hair and cast [ it ] away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.' ( Jeremiah 7:29 )

'And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing.' ( Isaiah 23:17 & 18 )

'Alas! For that day [ is ] great, so that none [ is ] like it; and it [ is ] the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.' ( Jeremiah 30:7 )

'Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD  [ is ] at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty.' ( Joel 1:15 )

'Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past.' ( Isaiah 26:20 )

 Jeremiah prophesied ( Jeremiah 51 ), at the word of the LORD, that Babylon, like national physical Israel, and Jerusalem much later, would meet it's final end at the hand of the Medes and Persians. As we know from history, even biblically, it was not the actual city that is in view here, although, like Jerusalem, it was burned with fire and destroyed ( verse 58 ), but later, rebuilt and inhabited once again, but it was a symbolic judgment, as in the case of Jerusalem, against the adversaries, even though sent by God ( verse 7 ), of His people 'Israel'. ( see also Isaiah 14:3-27 )

'But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven,^[e] but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. ( Matthew 24:36-39 )

While some were partakers in the plundering and destruction of the city with which they had shared their idolatrous practices, most of these 'kings' were content to receive the news from afar, and mourning the loss of such a great city ( more likely, the revenues that they made off her ),and showed the 'love' that they shared for this city, helplessly watching her burning, and wringing their hands, but doing nothing to help.

Jesus warned His people earlier in Matthew 24, in verses 15 & 16, 'Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’^[c] spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (whoever reads, let him understand),  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.' Those who heeded this warning escaped the destruction of the city but the destruction, when it came, although I daresay it was forecast by many, and was not much of a surprise when it did come; came at the exact 'hour' that the Father had decided, and no sooner and no later.



And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.


'Thus says the LORD my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do not pity them.' ( Zechariah 11:4 & 5 )


'If a man is found kidnapping any of his brethren of the children of Israel, and mistreats him or sells him, then that kidnapper shall die; and you shall put away the evil from among you.' ( Deuteronomy 24:7 )

'Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem.' ( II Chronicles 9:25 )

'Some [ trust ] in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.' ( Psalm 20:7 )

'Their land is also full of silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is also full of horses, and there is no end to their chariots.' ( Isaiah 2:7 )

'When anyone offers a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. And he shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.' ( Leviticus 2:1 )

'For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.' ( Jeremiah 6:20 )

'Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum^[a] wood and precious stones.' ( II Chronicles 9:11 )

'All King Solomon’s drinking vessels [ were ] gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon [ were ] pure gold. Not [ one was ] silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. For the king had merchant ships^[b] at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.^[c] So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.' ( I Kings 10:21-23 )


'The men of Dedan were your traders; many isles were the market of your hand. They brought you ivory tusks and ebony as payment. Syria was your merchant because of the abundance of goods you made. They gave you for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals, and rubies.' ( Ezekiel 27:15 & 16 )

'Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!' ( John 2:16 )

Because God had covenanted with 'house' of Israel ( Deuteronomy 29:14 ( Isaiah 51:2 ), and they had spurned His law ( Deuteronomy 17:16 ), and acted acording to their own desires, doing exactly what God had told them not to ( Genesis 2:17 ( 3:6 ); He had given them over ( Romans 1:18-32 ) to the very things in which they had trusted, so much so in fact, that they would drown in the 'flood' ( Daniel 9:26 ( Genesis 6:17 ) Nahum 1:8 ) 'of dissipation' ( I Peter 4:4 ) and 'ungodliness' ( Psalm 18:4 ), which they had unleashed upon themselves.

Isaiah wrote 'They [ are ] soothsayers like the Philistines, and they are pleased with the children of foreigners' ( Isaiah 2:6b ). Although Israel was to covenantally and typically separate themselves from the nations around them; as we have noted before, they had adopted the ungodly policies and practices of the nations around them, that they had become indistinct from them, and were actually found worthy of a more adverse judgment than those nations with who they had committed their spiritual harlotry!

As was the case with Cain's offering, in Genesis 4; I believe that it was not so much what was offered, as the attitude of those who offered. While we see in Leviticus 2, and other such passages, that God did require those kinds of sacrifices, we see in Jeremiah 20 that God was incensed with the 'children' of Israel, not because they were offering what He had prescribed, but because
'they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it' ( Jeremiah 6:19 ). As in Hebrews 8:8, where God had promised a 'new covenant' ( Jeremiah 31:31-34 ) 'Because finding fault with them' ( the 'children' ), and in Luke 11:42; Jesus told the leaders of these 'children', 'But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass by justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.' They were tithing ( offering ) as prescribed, according to the letter of the law, but they had neglected the principle, the whole point of it!




 The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you,^[e] and you shall find them no more at all.



'O vine of Sibmah! I will weep for you with the weeping of Jazer. Your plants have gone over the sea, they reach to the sea of Jazer. The plunderer has fallen on your summer fruit and your vintage.'  ( Jeremiah 48:32 )

'Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously.' ( I Chronicles 17:9 )

'They have said, “Come, and let us cut them off from [ being ] a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.' ( Psalm 83:4 )

'Then behold, at eventide, trouble! [ And ] before the morning, he [ is ] no more. This [ is ] the portion of those who plunder us, and the lot of those who rob us.' ( Isaiah 17:14 )

'Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them [ of children ].' ( Ezekiel 36:12 )

'Awake, O north [ wind ], and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, [ that ] its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.' ( Song of Solomon 4:16 )

'I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it.' ( Isaiah 1:6 )

God promised many blessings to His people, Israel (  Deuteronomy 28:1-14, et al ), and physical, national Israel ( after the flesh-Galatians 4:29 ) had been blessed ( Genesis 16:10, 17:6, 27:38 ( Deuteronomy 7:13 ) mightily, when they followed His laws, but when they failed to follow Him, seeking instead their own righteousness, they felt the effects of His curses  ( Deuteronomy 28:15-68 ). The blessings they should have received, were instead felt as curses.



The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’ They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.



'After this Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted very wickedly. And he allied himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezion Geber. But Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your works.” Then the ships were wrecked, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.' ( I Chronicles 20:35-37 )
 
'Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and Elath^[c] on the seacoast, in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.' ( II Chronicles 8:17 & 18 )

'For the day of the LORD of hosts [ shall come ] upon everything proud and lofty, upon everything lifted up— and it shall be brought low—upon all the cedars of Lebanon [ that are ] high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills [ that are ] lifted up; upon every high tower, and upon every fortified wall; upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all the beautiful sloops.' ( Isaiah 2:12-16 )

'The ships of Tarshish were carriers of your merchandise. You were filled and very glorious in the midst of the seas. Your oarsmen brought you into many waters, but the east wind broke you in the midst of the seas. Your riches, wares, and merchandise, your mariners and pilots, your caulkers and merchandisers, all your men of war who [ are ] in you, and the entire company which [ is ] in your midst, will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin.' ( Ezekiel 27:25-27 )

'Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. And he made himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and for all kinds of desirable items; storehouses for the harvest of grain, wine, and oil; and stalls for all kinds of livestock, and folds for flocks.' ( II Chronicles 32:27 & 28 )

We saw earlier in this chapter ( 18 ), that because of 'Babylon's' downfall, all the nations, both far and near, mourned and wept, not because they were truly saddened by her demise, but because they had been enriched by their relationship with her. This 'Babylon' is clearly significant of 'the great harlot' ( verse 9 ) of the previous chapter, with whom 'the kings of the earth committed fornication', and Jesus revealed these things to John, I believe, using a form of parallelism, something that we see much of, not only in John's record here, but throughout  Scripture, particularly in the 'poetic' books, for instance, the Psalms. In other words, the 'kings of the earth' that we read about earlier, both in this 'vision, and in the previous one, are the same as 'the merchants of the earth', because both had benefited greatly from their 'knowledge' of her, and neither had a real love for her, except as they gained from her 'acquaintance'.




Rejoice over her, O heaven, and [ you ] holy apostles^[f] and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!




'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under [ her ] wings, but you were not willing!' ( Matthew 23:37 )


'For this [ is ] the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that He may avenge Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; it shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.' ( Jeremiah 46:10 )

'But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her. For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.' ( Luke 21:20-22 )

'And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?' ( Luke 18:7 )

'Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and all its fullness.' ( Psalm 96:11 )

It has been shown that 'the heavens', particularly in the prophetic Scripture, often refers to the people of God, although this may not be as clear to some as it is  to others. David wrote, in Psalm 19:1a, 'The heavens declare the glory of God', and, while this could 'simply' refer to God's natural creation revealing His 'handiwork' ( Romans 1:20 ( ? ), another prophet wrote, 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!', in revealing God's complaint against His covenant 'children' ( Isaiah 1:2a ). Later ( 44:23 ( 49:13 ), God calls for 'the heavens' to sing, at the promise of the restoration, or redemption ( Romans 8:23, Ephesians 1:3-14, 4:30 ) of His true people, the Israel of God. Speaking of the formation, and foundation, of His special people, God declared 'That I may plant the heavens', as His reason for covenanting with them, or 'taking them under His wing' ( Isaiah 51:16 ). In language reminiscent of the creation account in Genesis 1; God, through the prophet Jeremiah, lamented that 'I beheld the earth, and indeed [ it was ] without form, and void; and the heavens, they [ had ] no light' ( Jeremiah 4:23 ). Speaking again, of the mercy that He would show His people; God spoke through the prophet Hosea 'I will answer the heavens', revealing that He would then answer the earth through them. Although many of the references to 'the heavens' indicate the sky, the abode of God, or even 'the powers that be', many of these can also be shown to point to the people of God.





Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw [ it ] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.



'You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.' ( Daniel 2:34 & 35 )

'Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.' ( Jeremiah 25:10 )

'Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' ( Matthew 18:6 )

'Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and spoke, saying: I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!' ( Exodus 15:1 )

'They shall throw you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the midst of the seas.' ( Ezekiel 28:8 )

'And He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel, which is broken in pieces; He shall not spare. So there shall not be found among its fragments
a shard to take fire from the hearth, or to take water from the cistern.' ( Isaiah 30:14 )

'And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.' ( Matthew 21:19 )

In prophetic usage, the term 'sea', or 'seas', as we have seen, often symbolizes 'the nations'. We can know, from histories such as Josephus' 'Wars', that several different 'nations' were actually involved in the destruction of Jerusalem, and in fact, Jerusalem had become so much like the nations around her, in many respects, through her 'harlotry', that, as we have noted before, she had become almost indistinguishable from 'the nations', or the 'sea'.

The 'stone like a great millstone' that this 'mighty' angel threw, symbolically, into the 'sea' was not the same ''stone' that Nebuchadnezzar observed destroying, or crumbling ( conquering ) all other kingdoms before it, but it was typical of this stone, and as we read about the withered fig tree in Matthew 21, this stone, which should have born fruit, rather than assimilating with the nations around her, was to conquer, to bring these nations under her Lord's 'banner', and, failing in her prescribed mission, was thrown into the midst of the sea, or 'nations'.




The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore.




'Then a herald cried aloud: 'To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, [ that ] at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, [ and ] psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up; and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.' ( Daniel 3:4-6 )


'Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service [ some ] of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who [ should ] prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals.' ( I Chronicles 25:1 )


'His brother’s name [ was ] Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and flute.' ( Genesis 4:21 )

'The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.' ( Isaiah 5:12 )

'And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.  Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all [ who were ] strong [ and ] fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.' ( II Kings 24:13-16 )

'Now they sin more and more, and have made for themselves molded images, idols of their silver, according to their skill; all of it is the work of craftsmen. They say of them, 'Let the men who sacrifice^[a] kiss the calves!' ( Hosea 13:2 )


'The people went about and gathered [ it ], ground [ it ] on millstones or beat [ it ] in the mortar, cooked [ it ] in pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil.' ( Numbers 11:8 )

The blessings of 'heaven' had been showered upon God's covenant 'children', and although there were those who received those blessings with joy, and rejoicing, made good use of them, correctly employing them in the praise of God, many made wrong use ( abuse ) of those gifts, the 'craftsmen' using their skills to produce wooden or metal idols, and 'musicians' employing their instruments in praise of their own works, rather than God's.

Many have looked at judgment, even an adverse one, such as this, as a bad thing, not realizing, or recognizing, that much of this is done to purify, to cleanse, to rid 'the land' of evil influences, something that Israel ( 'after the flesh' ) had failed to do, in disobeying God's command to 'utterly overthrow them' ( Exodus 23:24 ( Deuteronomy 7:1-5 ( Leviticus 26:6 ). God had commanded them to do this, in order that they might prove themselves His special people, separating themselves from the idolatry surrounding them.




The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.




'For the commandment [ is ] a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction [ are ] the way of life.' ( Proverbs 6:23 )


'You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.' ( Matthew 5:14 )

'For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, I will cause to cease from this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.'  ( Jeremiah 16:9 )

'And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.' ( Matthew 9:15 )

Marriage is a part of life. 'For as in the days before the flood', Jesus said, in Matthew 24:38, 'they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage': the time was upon them, as in the days of Noah, that they would no longer be blessed by the occurrence of marriage. Because they had squandered, even spurned, the gifts which God had blessed them with, even the simple pleasures that life held for them would be taken away ( Matthew 25:29 ).

'Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth—perhaps you will be able to profit, perhaps you will prevail.' ( Isaiah 47:12 )

'Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. [ There is ] a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses—they stumble over the corpses—because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries, and families through her sorceries.' ( Nahum 3:3 & 4 )

'And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.' ( II Kings 17:17 )

'Also he caused his sons to pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom; he practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.' ( II Chronicles 33:6 )

We have noted numerous times throughout this study that national, physical Israel had apostatized, especially their leaders, so far, that it was hard to distinguish, sometimes, between them and the nations around them; indeed, they had committed a worse offense, because, even though they had covenanted with Almighty God, they, in many cases, went further in their harlotry and idolatry than did those around them. Instead of being a 'light' to the nations, fulfilling God's promise to Abraham that he would be 'the father of many nations' ( Genesis 17:3-5 ); they had become 'darkness' ( Isaiah 5:20, 9:2 ( Matthew 4:16 ) Isaiah 42:16, 50:10, 58:10, 59:9, Luke 11:34, John 1:5, Acts 26:18, Romans 13:12, Ephesians 5:8, I Peter 2:9, I John2:8 ), blinding the eyes of the Gentiles, not revealing truth to them, and even worse, deceiving them through their sorceries, harlotries and idolatries.




And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.



'Therefore the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and [ some ] of them they will kill and persecute,’ that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah who perished between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.'  ( Luke 11:49-51 )

'You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.'  ( II Kings 9:7 )

'Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ [ guilt ].' ( Matthew 23:29-32 )

'I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.' ( Revelation 17:6 )

'And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.' ( Matthew 21:35 )

Later, in His lamenting condemnation of Jerusalem, in Matthew 23 ( 35 ); Jesus said, 'that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth'. Note the similarity to 'in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth'. As we've already noted, the word translated 'earth' here, is the Greek 'γῆ', perhaps better translated 'land' ( in the covenantal context, national physical Israel ): remeber also, that we read, back in Revelation 11:8 that 'their dead bodies [ will lie ] in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our^[c] Lord was crucified.'

We know, as I've said before, having 20/20 hindsight, that this was all God's plan for His People. Some have rebelled against this idea, that God would covenant with this people, knowing, as He must have, beforehand that some or most, would fall in the 'wilderness' ( Hebrews 3:16-19 ); 'God isn't that cruel', some might say; 'He doesn't act like that'. True enough; God is not cruel, but He is just! He is also merciful and gracious, but His covenant with Israel ( notice I didn't say 'national physical Israel' ), though misunderstood by many, and this was the cause of their final downfall, did require certain things of His people. Many, or most, with the 'bounds' of national physical ( racial ) admittedly did follow God's law ( the Law of Moses, anyway ), but paid more attention to the 'letter' rather than the 'spirit', or principle, of it, as witnessed by Jesus' rebuke of the Pharisees, also in Matthew 23 (23 ), 'you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith'. We can take a lesson from this today realizing that it is not in a wooden-literal understanding ( and doing ) of God's Law that we find fulfillment, but in realizing the deeper spiritual truth ( principle ) of His Law.

Continually realizing,
Charles Haddon Shank