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Back to where we left off in Isaiah 52; the terms “Zion” and “the daughter of Zion” refer to God’s Israel people in the latter days who have become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not mean they are perfectly righteous individuals. But they are believers, not deniers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I find it curious that just now in 2020, we are hearing much from (usually) the far Left about being “woke.” I am more interested in being “awake!” As in…
Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
Isaiah 52:2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
We agree that those of us living in the United States have been under a wooden yoke of bondage to Mystery Babylon (or as some people describe it, the New World order). So, what can we do while under this bondage?
Verse 2 also says: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion, which says to me that we are not to sit on our haunches and do nothing while we wait for deliverance. Loose thyself shows that we are to play an active role in shaking off this captivity!
The first thing to recognize is what our strength is. It is not in numbers. It is not in political organizing, although that will have its place and I am not against being involved in political activity. In fact, the title of the very first lecture in this series is Let’s Talk Politics and Religion.
That title was a take-off on the old, familiar saying where someone considers himself profoundly wise as he pontificates: “Well, as my pappy used to say, if you want to get along with people, just don’t talk politics and religion.”
Whereas the truth is: everyone who wants to retain their freedom to practice the religion of Christianity had better become a willing participant in discussing both politics and religion. Otherwise, when people refuse to get involved, when they ignore church and state—government and religion—they eventually lose their liberties to an all-powerful state.
The answer to throwing off our captivity is certainly not in armed rebellion unless you are interested in suicide. So, I am definitively opposed to armed rebellion. The answer, I believe, is given above.
Verse 1 told us the key when it says: put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments. So, what is our strength? ….Our strength IS the beautiful garments, and just a stray thought here.
The beautiful garment contrasts with the “rough garment to deceive” used by Nimrod and Esau. You can find that story in the book of Jasher which you can obtain from us. Along with the beautiful garment of salvation would come the rest of the whole armor of God found listed in Ephesians, chapter 6. We will not go there, because I want to go on to verse 3 here in Isaiah 52, which I did not take time to expound earlier in the series. It says:
Isaiah 52:3 For thus saith the LORD [Yahweh], Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
I have a thought on that. God says we have sold ourselves for nothing. Could that have anything to do with the Federal Reserve System and the so-called money which they have created out of thin air? Would that qualify as having sold ourselves for nothing?
Of course, I believe it does and I devoted lectures #8 & 9 to a spiritual work that some of us were led to do at the Federal Reserve Bank located in downtown Atlanta.
The amazing signs accompanying that work were simply mind-boggling and gave us so much encouragement from our Father. And now here, precisely ten years after, we are seeing our prayer coming to its fulfillment!
Here is another thought of how we sold ourselves for nothing. How many of you have heard of the so-called “cap and trade” scheme?
I do not have time to explain the details of how that will work, but I can tell you that it will be the most monumental scam and fraud to come down the pike since… well, since the Federal Reserve System came into being over a century ago.
Because whereas the Fed creates money out of thin air, the cap and trade scam will essentially consist of selling “air.” All to help save the planet from another gigantic fraud called climate change. Well, did not the Bible say that satan is the prince of the power of the air? And would that include the airwaves of the major broadcast media conglomerates?
In Micah 4, we find that verse 13 seems to follow the same theme we just read about in Isaiah 52. This is God’s command to us, end-time Israel in America and elsewhere.
Micah 4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Does that not sound a lot like “Awake, awake, loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion?”
We could literally spend an hour on that verse, but just notice this: it speaks of iron and brass, two of the four elements found in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel, chapter 2. Remember the image had a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron and finally feet of iron mixed with clay.
In our series to date, we have studied the kingdoms or empires represented by those elements, and we have come up to about the 1700’s and the 1800’s. We have not yet provided our interpretation of the iron mixed with clay, but I am sure it is clearly discernible to most of my readers.
Nonetheless, I know it is not clear at all to most Christians and so I intend in my next lecture to give that understanding. As we have concluded our study of papal Rome in lecture #13, we will in the next lecture focus our attention on The Rise of Financial Babylon.
Meanwhile, Micah prophesies how the people known as “the daughter of Zion,” that is, the people of Israel in the latter days, when they will have generally become followers of their God who became the divine man, Jesus Christ, that these people will not only conquer many people but they will do right by consecrating their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Does that sound like they will be like the hordes of Genghis Khan? Or the armies of Hitler or the secret police of Stalin? No! It sounds to me like the daughters of Zion spoken of here will be the manifested sons of God. (Of course, we understand that that term, sons of God, is generic in the sense that it includes both genders.)
In other words, this verse will be fulfilled when the sons of God are manifested on the earth as the overcomers who have been translated into immortal bodies and incorruptible souls. They will “conquer” in the sense of being true liberators of all of mankind.
But their first work, it seems to me, is that of liberating the captive daughter of Zion, Israelites and others in North America who will not have attained to be given immortality in the first resurrection.
I believe this will happen simultaneously in the British Isles and the other Israel nations around the globe, and after that to the rest of the non-Israel nations, because all their substance—the gold, the silver, the brass and the iron—will be brought into the treasury of the Lord. This is a parallel and fulfillment of the Old Testament story of the Israelites under Joshua conquering Jericho.
Joshua 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.
So, when it says in Micah that the daughters of Zion will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth, I believe it is talking about people. Because… is God interested in physical gold, silver, brass, and iron? Probably not so much.
Or is he more interested in having the people represented by those empires come into His treasury? God is interested in saving people, eventually all people. But this salvation of all is a process and it is all done in order and according to God’s timing. His special and chosen people Israel are programmed to be first.
Even among Israel, not all of them are called to hear His voice and become followers of Jesus Christ in this life. At the same time, there are those whom the Bible designates as strangers, that is, non-Israelites, who will hear the voice of the Savior, who will follow Jesus in this life. They are called to a higher calling than some Israelites.
Then, among the great body of Christian believers, we have the further distinction and separation between the overcomers and the non-overcomer Christians. The church misses this understanding almost entirely.
The evangelical and fundamentalist churches teach a doctrine called the rapture. They teach that all Christians will be raptured off to heaven as some great antichrist dictator comes to power and will rule the world.
We teach that the event they call the rapture is the first resurrection, an event which will see the dead overcomers from Adam to the recent past raised into immortal bodies. And very soon after that will come the translation of the living overcomers into immortal bodies.
Together they will be under the headship and direction of Jesus Christ the King, and they will commence the work of bringing all governments under Jesus Christ, and of course, along with that, setting all creation free. This is what Paul was describing in Romans chapter 8.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature [lit., creation] itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Our Father has a magnificent, mind-boggling and perfect Plan which is not only playing out before our eyes, but each one of us has been called to play a part. The wicked also, have been called to play their parts.
It is all part of the divinely designed “tension of opposites.” I see it everywhere I look. I see it in my own personal life. I see it in my circle of close friends. I see it in the church at large. I see it in our nation, in its culture, its government and in all the institutions of our society.
The tension of opposites is almost palpable now as we approach the climax of the ages. We whose eyes God has opened to understand Mystery Babylon can also see that we are now at that time which the prophets foretold, that the fall of Mystery Babylon occurs in one hour, one prophetic hour.
And as we are witnessing its fall, we are seeing this tension of opposites in our individual lives and on all levels of society. It is this tension of opposites that provides the conflict, the drama, the pain, suffering and sorrow which afflict us and all people who have ever lived.
But, as we just read in verse 18 above, it is all for such a grand and glorious purpose that we cannot possibly fathom God’s great and overwhelmingly good purpose while we yet dwell with these mortal minds and bodies.
I imagine that someday in the millennial kingdom, we will have cascading “aha” moments as we have illumination after illumination as it is taught to us how all the pain, suffering and sorrow were necessary to accomplish our loving Father’s great purpose of the Ages.
Think of the most heinous and barbaric atrocities that man has ever committed. It is hard for us to accept at this stage in our understanding, but they will all pale into nothingness when compared with the infinitely glorious outcome!
To be a witness and see God’s great plan being executed to letter-perfect and Word-perfect exactitude is one thing. But to be a participant is even more grand. This honor have all His saints! Thank you for your kind attention to this lecture. Amen.
