DIRKES WHAT'S IN A NAME: DINAH...

[ed. this is a reprint from Banner of Hope 7:3, September 2013]

“And afterwards she bare a daughter and called her name Dinah” (Genesis 30:21)

Nothing is revealed in the testimony of the scriptures as to the circumstances of the conception and birth of the seventh and last child of Leah and Jacob. Life had returned to a normal course between these two after the birth and weaning of Zebulun and another child was to be manifested in accordance with God’s most holy and perfect will. It is no coincidence that this seventh and final child was a female and should be named ‘judgment’ (Dinah). The fact that this child is female is not the judgment nor is it because she is the last child. Being last, she represents the completed work of God in His dealings with Leah. As a female she demonstrates the fact that sister wisdom, the kinswoman of understanding (Pro. 7:4), resides in all true judgment and as the last child of Leah and Jacob, she manifests that proper justice is a culmination of all the attributes of the house of Jacob.

The number seven appears many times in the accounts of scripture and normally is in reference to the completion of an act, episode or time period. God finished His work of creation on the seventh day and He rested from all His work. This is not to insinuate that He simply took a day off and resumed His work afterwards thus venerating a certain day but rather that He had concluded all His work, leaving nothing undone. He had created all things in heaven and earth. He had separated light from dark, dry land from the sea and His sheep from the goats of the world. He had created the good and the evil and had demonstrated His sovereign power over both as He performed all things after the good pleasure of His will. Thus whatsoever comes to pass was completed by the hand of God before the foundation of the world and manifested in the seven days of creation.

The number seven also represents an oath or covenant. God had from eternity loved His children of promise with an everlasting love and He equally hated the children of wrath from the beginning. He afore ordained the one unto life and predestinated them to be conformed to the image of His Son while properly outfitting the other for destruction and assigning them the work of their father, the Devil.

The sacrificial Lamb of God, who saved His people from their sin, stood, as it had been slain, from the foundation of the world, thus, He had already atoned for that sin. He had removed it as far as the east is from the west before a single act was committed and made reconciliation for His people with their God. Conversely, the righteous Judge of God condemned Adam, before he was created, and proclaimed his actual guilt on the day he was created. God placed man and woman in the garden, saying, “in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17).

“And God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good” (Gen. 1:31)

Equal to the love and mercy that God had for His people, not yet being born neither having done any good or any evil that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, was the judgment of God against the wicked. His perfect purpose decreed that a people should be brought forth from the seed of the serpent that should inhabit earthen vessels outfitted to be destroyed and that this group should be reserved for that Day of Judgment. They go forth from the womb speaking lies (Ps. 58:3), their lewdness is because of their wickedness (Ez. 24:13) and they know not the truth (Jer. 9:3). He has blinded their eyes from seeing the truth and made their ears thick lest they should hear and be converted and He must heal them (Matt. 13:15). He has from the beginning called them condemned and prevented them from believing the truth. His Word is not for them, He has offered them nothing and He is not anxiously awaiting their conversion so that He may bless them. Yet from the creation of the world these wicked ones were pronounced ‘good’ according to His will and they are a necessary element in His design of existence.

He separated these two groups and never shall any be transformed one to another. Sheep cannot become goats nor wheat become tare. The fool is incapable of making himself wise, the blind cannot see and the lame shall not walk. Light cannot be overcome by darkness and darkness cannot transform itself into light. This is God’s covenant of creation which testifies to His will, His oath and His purpose that cannot change.

That which is of the earth shall always be natural. The natural man is drawn away by the lusts of the flesh and delights in the things of this world. They which are born from above are spiritual. These are taught of the Spirit of God and they delight in the Law of God. It is according to this Law that the judgment of God is effectual and actuated from the beginning. There has never been a point in all of eternity when the Law preceded the judgment or the judgment lagged behind the Law. The Law of God is as eternal and ever present as He is. He never winked at imperfection and permitted evil to continue until He had had enough and could not stand another incident. He is not a respecter of persons and He does not react to the actions of man. He is the sovereign ruler over all flesh and there is nothing too hard for Him (Jer. 32:26).

The Law of God authorizes His judgment and His judgment compliments His Law for they co-exist in the singularity of the Godhead. His righteous law demands justice against sin and His judgment adjudicates that Law. His wrath is Holy and Just upon all for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Not that His wrath was upon His generation for then it would be against Himself as the first born of the house. This seed that should serve Him was never at any time guilty of sin and consigned to the lake of fire, for where the seed of God is there can be no sin. His wrath was and is against the sin of Adam who, not yet being created was ordained of God to disobey, eat the fruit of the tree and usher sin into the world. Adam was God’s designed means for this event to come to pass and so he was created with the inability to keep the commandment of God. This inability to keep the commandments of God is inherent in Adam and his seed thus in Adam all die. God created this and declared it to be exceedingly good. It was according to the purpose which He purposed throughout all the land, it was exactly according to the intents of His heart (Jer. 30:24) and as He has spoken and swore by Himself, so it surely came to pass (Ez. 24:14).

“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8)

The type of the memorial of the day is a continual reference to and a reminder of the perpetual holiness of God’s rest. It is not a day for man to get his holy on and feel righteous for his sacrifice; it is a day of memorial of the oath and finished work of God. All through the types and foreshadows of the law of commandments, the number seven appears to demonstrate the same importance. The commemoration of the day does not make the adherer righteous any more than the shedding of the blood of bulls and goats can purge the conscience from sin. The reoccurrence of the seventh day, week after week, shows forth the vision of the glory of God as a wheel inside of a wheel. It has no beginning and no end. It never veers off course or swerves from side to side. It goes straight forward as a testimony to the work of the Master of the Universe.

This example continues through the gospels as the revelation of Jesus Christ, in the things He both said and did, as given to His servant. There are seven candlesticks which are the seven churches and seven stars which are the seven Spirits of God in His right hand (the place of power, authority and protection). There are seven messages to the churches of the long-suffering and love of God, seven declarations of the omniscience of God who knows, ordains and performs all things and seven promises of the glory that shall be revealed in the saints who have overcome the world by faith. There are seven seals upon the book and the Lamb, who stood as He had been slain having seven horns upon His head and seven eyes (these are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth) and “no man in heaven nor in the earth, neither under the earth was worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereon” (Rev. 5:3). There are seven messengers of God which have seven trumpets. Seven thunders uttered their voices but the meaning thereof was forbid. The seven messengers of God again had seven plagues and seven vials which they poured out upon the earth and when these were all completed, then came the judgment of the great whore that sat upon many waters and a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns (Rev.17:3). The seven heads of the evil beast are seven mountains on which the woman sits (17:9). Thus the number seven, the completion and the oath, identifies and defines judgment and judgment inhabits eternity established and sure.

The first reference to Sabbath, as it pertains to man and his observance, is not the seventh day of the week. Most people will contend earnestly for the importance of this venerated day and the strict adherence to it but there is no record of the observance of the seventh day until after the deliverance from Egypt. The first type given of the import of the number seven is seen in the Passover. On the tenth day of the first month the Passover lamb was to be set apart for the sacrifice. This is done on the tenth day as a type of the remnant (tenth) according to the election of grace who were covered by the blood of the Lamb and protected from the wrath of the judgment of God. On the fourteenth day (two sevens) of the first month, the type of the mystery of God wherein there was a completed work for those redeemed of Israel and the numerous host of all nations (Rev. 7), the selected lamb was to be slain, eaten and the blood struck on the doorposts. Only if this type was performed in precise compliance with the Word given to Moses would the Righteous Judge see the blood on the house and pass over the house. The blood satisfied the requirements of the law and demonstrated that the chosen people of God dwelled within. The blood of the slain lamb stood in type for the precious blood of the Lamb of God who had been slain from the foundation of the world. This blood was for the sin of His seed, in Adam, who had not yet been created and the earthen vessels His children had not yet inhabited.

Then, after the messenger of death had passed over the tabernacles wherein Israel dwelt, for seven days as a symbolic representation of the fact that the sin of His people had been covered, no leaven was to be found in the house or eaten by anyone. The leaven was removed lest the type be polluted before the blood was shed and none was to remain in the house or in the borders of the land. This was the type of the all encompassing completed work of God, in judgment and forgiveness, given as a sign to the nation of Israel before the handwriting of ordinances was delivered on the mount. The Law existed before the tablets of stone were given which magnified the righteous demands of God. The wages of that sin is death which was upon Adam and his seed because of the inability of man to measure up to that standard and hit the mark of excellence.

The second demonstration of the work of God is manifested in the violation of His commandments in the wilderness. This type sets forth the never ending fact that, even though one is born from above of that incorruptible seed which cannot commit sin, yet after the flesh they can do nothing righteous. God had sent forth the type of the ‘Bread of life’ to the children of Israel when the provisions of Egypt had expired. He gave them an ‘unknown’ substance (manna- what is it?) that was small as the “hoar frost” on the ground (Ex. 16:14) and was ‘white as coriander seed and the taste of it like wafers with honey’ (16:31). They were told that they should gather what was needed for the day and on the sixth day gather twice as much for the seventh day was a day of rest. The wonderful power and majesty of Almighty God was manifest in His providing for His people in the wilderness yet Adam, who cannot receive the things of the Spirit and does not walk by faith, did not believe that the promise would ‘come to pass’. Therefore, some gathered more than needed and it bred worms and stank. Others did not gather twice the amount on the sixth and went without food on the seventh. The ever-present grace of God sustained His elect as the righteous judgment of God was exacted on all who did not believe, therefore was a testimony kept in a pot with the tables of stone in the Ark of the Covenant (16:34).

Within this beautiful type of Christ is the continual reference to the completed work of God. The people were to rest on the seventh day because God had finished His work and rested from ALL His work from the beginning, This was a day in which man was to do no work and thus not emulate God; for six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day, wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath (rest) day and hallowed it (20:10). Lucifer, that morning star, being filled with the pride of his beauty, has the desire to ascend into heaven and exalt himself and his throne above the stars of God and to sit upon the mount of the congregation in the side of the north and be like the most High God (Is. 14:13). Adam is carnal, sold under sin. He demonstrated in the garden from the beginning that he also desires to be like God, to know good and evil and live forever. Both Lucifer and Adam desire to be and to dwell in the north side (the ‘hidden’ side of judgment) and to do the work of the Most High. The creatures strive to be equal to the Creator and having their hearts lifted up they say; “I am God, I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God” (Ezk. 28:2).

The seed of the serpent does the works of their father, the devil, and there is no truth in them (John 8:44). Adam delights in the things of this world and his mind is saturated with great travail which God has assigned to them as a constant discipline (Ecc. 3:10). So any reference of rest, because of a finished work in testimony of the Anointed of Yehovah, is contrary to the natural man who is full of labour (1:8). Man’s assignment, given to him in the garden of God, still stands today as “in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken; dust thou art and unto the dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 2:19). This mindset and determination is “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God” and is in deference to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:5). Thus the Sabbath is a witness to the mercy of God upon His people and the judgment of God against all wickedness.

Much more could be written about the number seven and the appropriateness of the completed work in connection to the promises and oath of God. The seven churches, the seven stars and the seven candlesticks are all indication of his providential watch and care for His children while in the habitation of this dwelling. The seven seals, seven vials, seven plagues and the seven trumpets are indications of the final judgment of God against all wickedness as He sits upon the throne of His dominion. He has authority and power over all flesh, and rules over the kingdoms of this world (Dan. 4:17). When all these were made manifest then was the mystery of God finished and the kingdoms of this world were revealed as the kingdom of our God. So the seventh child of Jacob and Leah was, although neither of these people knew it, the last child of this union. She represents the completion of God’s promise, the demonstration of His love and protection for His people, She also is a manifestation of the judgment and victory of the Lamb over all His enemies.

“The king’s strength also loves judgment; thou executest judgment and righteousness in Jacob” (Ps. 99:4).

The birth of these seven children was the beginning of the nation of Israel. When the children of Israel emerged from the captivity of Egypt they were one nation. The twelve sons of one man went into Egypt in search of bread and came out as a mighty nation of 600,000 strong. But as for now, these seven children of Leah and the four of the handmaidens represent the fledgling beginning of this nation. When this seventh child was brought forth it was an indication that before the nation had received the law of God at Mount Sinai, judgment already existed. Before the murmurings and rebellions of the wilderness, before the deliverance across the sea, before the years of captivity and bondage and before the birth of the remaining children, God had already established the judge (Dan) and the judgment (Dinah). Judgment, then, is not based upon action any more than a judge only has the authority of the law if an offence were to occur. The Judge is for the adjudication of the Law and judgment is the wisdom of understanding the law and its application. No perpetrator is needed and no transgression must be performed. The Law of God existed from the beginning and where the Law is, there must needs be the Righteous Judge to properly interpret the Law and to execute the perfect judgment of the law. Therefore the child was born and the Son given and the government was upon His shoulder…upon the throne of David, upon His kingdom, to order and to establish it with judgment and justice from henceforth and forever. The zeal of Yehovah of Hosts performs this (Is. 9:6f).

Now Jacob did not have the handwriting of ordinances. God did not give him a prelude of the ministration of condemnation so that he, Rachel and Leah could properly raise their children in obedience to God’s Law. Over 500 years would elapse between the birth of Dinah and the giving of the law in the wilderness. Before Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, before Israel went down into Egypt, before they were incarcerated and enslaved, before they were delivered and Pharaoh's army destroyed and before they were given the two tables of stone, the ten words of God, judgment lived in the house of the children of promise. God did not bring judgment upon them in retaliation for their actions. The judge and judgment were their kinsman and they had already been judged, the wicked unto destruction and the righteous unto life.

“For Yehovah had said unto Moses, say unto the children of Israel, ye are a stiff-necked people. I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume thee, therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee that I may know what to do unto thee” (Ex. 33:5).

God knew this people from before they were formed in the womb. He had created them exactly as He intended and had properly equipped them so that they could not hear, understand nor obey His word in the flesh. He fed them with oppression knowing that they would desire to return unto bondage once He had delivered them and instructed them to live by faith. He knew that the signs and wonders that he performed at the hand of His servant Moses were not only to harden Pharaoh’s heart but to confound and harden the hearts of those that desire a sign. And so, before any good or any evil was performed, so that the purpose of God according to election might stand, He placed all necessary attributes and characteristics in the same family.

It is essential that both the judge and the judgment be of the same lineage. There can be no difference between the one who is authorized to and appointed as the judge and the judgment. In order for there to be accuracy and consistency these must be in accord with the Law. This is evidenced in the natural man. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch are all the judgments of the natural body and they are coordinated and cooperative with the judge, the human mind. Adam evaluates conditions according to his ability to ascertain evidence and comes to a conclusion based upon his level of understanding in the environment of his habitation. The law, the judge and the judgment are commensurate one to the other; therefore the natural man scrutinizes natural things and has a carnal understanding of his surroundings. If the conclusion is an agreeable one then the matter at hand proceeds on a proposed course to a desired destination.

Adam, as the judge, makes his judgments of the things of the earth and speculates upon those things he does not understand. Since his faculties are sensual and carnal, they are influenced by flawed linear reasoning and irrational passion. He postulates theories upon imagination, manufactures proof from limited resources and then proclaims these preposterous theories as fact. Then he interposes peer pressures and feigned intelligence substantiated by framed documents upon a wall and letters after his name, upon those who do not possess the ‘intellectual honesty’ to accept his conclusions and coerces the weak into following his wisdom. He was created weak, frail and impressionable; therefore his conclusions are, by nature, corrupt, mutable and perverted. Adam is drawn away after the gluttonous needs of the flesh, the covetous desires of the eye and the presumptuous pride of life, his judgment follows accordingly.

“A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people (natural Israel) love to have it so, and what will ye do in the end thereof?” (Jer. 5:30).

This is Adam by nature. So, if he is given to believe a lie by strong delusion sent to him by the Creator, his conclusions are as far from the truth as the east is from the west. If he has been restricted by the hand of God, who has put the world in his heart so that he cannot find out the work that God makes from the beginning to the end, then the limitations of his dwelling are completely subjective to the boundaries and obstacles of his habitation. Since his way is not in himself and it is not of his own will or volition that he walks (Jer. 10:23), then is he not made to go to and fro as the purpose of God dictates? Since the Sovereign ruler has assigned sore travail to the sons of man to be disciplined by, is he at liberty to go where he will and do as he pleases? And since the design for man has made him a stiff-necked and rebellious individual and God has made his heart fat, his ears heavy and has shut his eyes, not to mention that His Word is not for all men since all men have not faith, then how intelligent is man? In a comparative relationship to God, Adam is insignificant, ignorant and impotent yet he thinks he can bring God down to his level of understanding. He proclaims his customs and traditions as if they were the commandments of God and fancies himself a true adjudicator of God’s Law.

The difference between the ways of God and the ways of Adam are indeed as high and separate as the heavens are above the earth. That which God has decreed as the violation of His law, man calls ‘socially acceptable’ practices. The eyes of Adam and Eve were opened in the garden when they had sinned Then they saw that they were naked before the Lord, yet they were blind to the severity of their condition being separated from God. Man has ever since been blindly walking in the darkness not able to perceive the light because his deeds are dark. God had prepared a vessel for man, outfitted for destruction, wherein dwell “natural brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed which speak evil of things that they understand not” (II Pt. 2:12). These “lewd fellows of the baser sort” (Acts 17:5) are of the seed of the serpent. As they do the work of their father, the devil, they are elevated to a position of nobility in society, even though they speak wicked things, their hearts work iniquity to practice hypocrisy and they utter impiety and confusion against Yehovah (Is. 32:5). That which God has declared abominable, Adam highly esteems (Luke 16:15) and that which is the Truth, man profanes in pagan ritual and treats as common. The judgment, therefore, of man cannot be Holy and True for he himself is not Just and these belong to the things of God.

“I will publish the name of Yehovah, ascribe ye greatness unto our God the Rock, His work is perfect because all His ways are judgment; a God of truth, without iniquity, just and right is He” (Deut. 32:3f).

True judgment can only come from an infallible eternal law, enacted by a Sovereign Ruler and adjudicated by an unbiased, immutable and righteous judge. There can be no discrepancies between the law and the interpretation thereof for this would lead to an unequal application. There can be no shadow of turning in the Judge from the consistencies of the Law else He be changeable and His subjects stand in jeopardy of situational derivations. Most of all there can be no greater throne, dominion, power or authority above the King who has put forth His royal edicts. The Word has gone forth from His mouth and it is His Word. His Word announces His will and proclaims His right to rule and power to preside over all. His will is the intent of His heart and He has done all things after the good pleasure of the intents of His heart. As He has ordained from the beginning, without assistance or advice, so it has come to pass and whatsoever has come to pass is in accordance with His Most Holy will.

This will is all encompassing. There are no loose ends, hanging ‘chads’ or unresolved contingencies that may enter into the predestined course of all creation. There are no ‘free radicals’ that wander aimlessly about that accidentally come in contact with and adhere to another element to alter, in any way, the pre-ordained purpose, conduct or conclusion of the mater.

The intent of the mind and heart of Yehovah is demonstrated in the six sons of Jacob and Leah. The authority for proper judgment begins in the right of the first born (Reuben). He stands as the head of the house in the next generation and heir of all that the father has done. His wisdom is sought after by the remainder of the family. He is the primary representative of the family in business and stands as the policy maker in financial and social affairs. His word is final and the family follows his direction;

“And Reuben heard and he delivered him (Joseph) out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill him” (Gen. 37:21)

A righteous judge must hear His people as well as the law (Simeon). He must be attentive to the cries of those who are downtrodden and oppressed. He must know their frame, their circumstances and their plight to properly understand the situation that they are in. All too often the judges of man are bewildered and confused about how a person ‘got themselves into such a predicament’ or how a situation got to be so ‘out of control’. They struggle to find a proper application of the vain and impotent laws of the land.

But a judge who has been touched with the feelings of the infirmities of the accused can empathize with those out of the way, yet He cannot deny the law. He must hear the law as it speaks in spirit and truth. He must make a proper assessment of the issues at hand and be impeccable in his interpretation and application of justice. There must be complete equity between His knowledge of the law, the justice of application and the subjects that stand accused and condemned.

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities but was in all points tempted like as we, without sin” (Heb. 4:15).

He must not only hear the law but He must be inseparably joined unto the law so as to be one with the law (Levi). The perfection of Holiness must be the nature and essence of the Perfect Judge. He must be faithful to every jot and tittle so that to deviate in any way is equivalent to a denial of Himself. This union must of necessity be so absolutely complete and perfect that there can be no distinction of one from the other. As He is in the Law so the Law is in Him. As the Law is of Him so He is of the Law. The standards and principles of the Law are His essence and the truth of the Law is His name. His wisdom and His strength are the life of the statutes and precepts and the glory of His perfection is the city where He dwells.

“And the building of the wall was jasper (polished) and the city, pure gold, like unto clear glass” (Rev. 21:18)

Everything that this Judge does and all the judgment He decrees must be unto one purpose, the praise of God (Judah). There can be no inference of any self imposition of will or motives. The will is the same as the law and the law is according to the will. The motive is uniformed and consistent unto the same purposed that is purposed from the beginning. The law declares the standard of Holiness as demanded by the Sovereign ruler. The Word of the Judge compliments this declaration because of the perfect love for the subjects of the King and the truth of His ways, unto the praise and glory of His name.

“I have glorified thee on earth. I have finished the work which thou hast given Me to do, and now, Father, glorify thou Me with thine own self with the glory which I had in thee before the world was” (John 17:4)

There can be no introduction of a third party in the enactment of justice and there can be no delegation of authority and power. The Law and the Judge must be one and the same. The remediation for the guilt and trespass of the Law is the shedding of blood (Lev.17:11) and no son of Adam could ever properly fulfill the requirements and appease these strict demands. Even though Adam fulfilled the Word of God and in the day that he ate of the fruit of the tree, he died, so all his seed died in him, yet he cannot be justified by the deeds of the law. When his physical life was over, the curse was not lifted because the perpetrator of the heinous deed had died, each subsequent child of Adam must be able to present untainted blood for themselves in order for the remission of sin and an approved covering (atonement).

Messiah, the recompense (Issachar), was without spot or blemish. He willingly humbled Himself under the same Law, was of sufficient merit for His entire house and faithful in all that must be completed. Only the salvation of Yehovah is so adjudicated having the will, the wisdom, the power and authority to finish the work set before Him. He did not fail in that which He came to do. He needed no help and asked no one’s advise as He entered into that sanctuary, not made with hands once in the end of the world, and offered up that perfect sacrifice for sin. Therefore there remains no more sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:26).

“And Abraham said, My son, God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering, so they went both together” (Gen. 22:8)

The subjects of this great and all powerful Judge reside in Him. They are one with Him and abide in that exalted dwelling (Zebulun). This is not some separate building or structure made from the dust of the earth by the arm of the flesh. His habitation is justice and judgment and His kingdom is not of this world. Mercy and truth are always before His face (Ps. 89:14) as are the walls of that city not made with hands (Is. 49:16). He is the Law and the Law is one in Him. This inseparable unity is identical to His Bride who is One in Him as He is One in the Father (I Cor. 12:12).

The severity of the Law is equal upon all the fallen race of Adam for, in him, all have missed the mark and fallen short of the glory of God (Rms. 3:23). The wages of sin demand separation from God which Adam achieved in the garden when he became like unto God, to know good and evil, and God expelled him from His presence. Adam became the sin of his wife and, for they were one flesh, they became dead in that iniquity. Thus all flesh was polluted and stood without hope in this world.

The severity of the Law fell squarely upon the shoulders of Spiritual Adam also. He became a partaker of flesh and blood, just like each of His brethren, that He might endure the contradiction of sin against Himself. As Adam could not deny his wife and took her sin unto himself by commission. So likewise, the Beloved became the sin of His people, yet without sin. He satisfied the demands of the Law in all righteousness and by His faithfulness His Bride has peace with God (Rms. 5:1). Being justified by His faith, the letter of the Law having been properly adjudicated and the justice of God satisfied, the sting of separation (death) has no more power over His elect.

The Judge (Dan) and the troop (Gad) are of the same family and they reside in the same pasture. They eat the same spiritual bread of life and drink that spiritual water from the Rock. He is their habitation and while they travel in the wilderness of the valley of Achor (trouble), keeping the feast of Tabernacles, they each endure the same trials and tribulations (Naphtali). They have the fellowship in His sufferings, having been raised up in His resurrection and are confident and content in the finished work of deliverance that the Lamb has accomplished. The Lamb is now exalted with a name above every name in heaven and earth and the world to come and they dwell in Him. They have the testimony of the perfection of Holiness and they keep the Law of God in Him.

“I in them and thou in Me that they may be perfect in One” (John 17:23)

This seventh child is the representation of the culmination of all of the other sons of Jacob, the Wisdom of that One perfect Judge and His judgment. Dinah was as much a part of Jacob and Leah, from the beginning, as Jacob and Leah were a part of Adam and Eve. There was never a time when the fruit of the seed of Adam did not possess the components, genes, chromosomes, enzymes and DNA, that comprised this young girl, therefore she was in him from the beginning. So Wisdom is ever in the judgments of the Judge and as eternal as the Law He adjudicates. She leads in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that she may cause those that love her to inherit eternal life as she fills up their treasures in abundance (Pro. 8:20f).

Every child of grace, born from above, possesses the eternal love of the Father. They love Him because He first loved them. This love is in accordance with His eternal purpose which is in perfect harmony with His wisdom. Therefore that which is foreknown is with complete understanding of all things. This understanding is of every person, place, thing, thought, word and deed that has ever, can ever and will ever come to pass. His will, the intent of His heart, is congruent with His love and purpose, since He works all things after the counsel of His will. His evaluation and appraisal of the deeds of man, have been eternally decreed and judged from before the foundation of the world.

With this same foreknowledge He has predestinated His seed to be partakers of flesh and blood in an earthen vessel which has the curse of death upon it in Adam. Yet He afore prepared this vessel unto the glory of the birth from above by the shed blood of the Lamb who stood as He had been slain from the foundation of the world. The two, the seed of Adam and the incorruptible seed from above, struggle together in the womb, just as Esau and Jacob wrestled in Rebekah’s womb. They were brought forth together, almost appearing as one, yet as separate and distinct as the darkness and the light. His children, the sons of God born of the Spirit, are filled with all wisdom and spiritual understanding and in the fullness of time, when it pleases the Father; He reveals the Son tabernacling in His people. Therefore these have the mind of God in them as living stones hewn from that great Rock and they all speak the same thing being taught of the Spirit.

“For Yehovah loves judgment and cannot forsake His saints; they are preserved for ever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off” (Ps. 37:28)

This wisdom, understanding and judgment cannot be of the natural man (I Cor. 2:14). Wisdom must dwell in the inward man who delights in the law of God and lives by the faith of the Son of God who loved him and gave Himself for him. The reason why the mouth of the righteous speaks the precious, irrefutable Word of Wisdom and his tongue converses of justice is because the law of his God is in his heart. The Law, the Justice and the Judge are one and His faithful, Holy Ones are born of Him. They were one in Him from before the foundation of the world and their names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. This book is sealed and no man in heaven, neither in earth nor under the earth, can loose the seals and open the book, nor can any look upon thereon (Rev. 5:3).

This select group, venerated of God the Father, is preserved in Christ Jesus and called unto eternal life (Jude 1). They are venerated or sanctified because they are in Him from the beginning and nothing can separate them from God. He is One and He cannot deny or disrupt Himself in any way. Just as the type is given with Eve in Adam, so the saints of God are His bride who is in Him. There is no division, delegation or dissension in the Godhead and therefore there can be none in the Body for She is one as He is one (I Cor. 12:12). Adam and Eve are the same bone of bone and flesh of flesh. Each one had an identity, as male and female, but from the beginning it was not so. When Eve was manifested, being taken from the rib of Adam’s side, she did not receive anything different from him, she was the same. So then the Bride must be of living stones that are hewn from that great Rock and they are one in the same.

Therefore the saints of Yehovah God have always been His people. He has forever watched over them, guarded them and kept them from the evil one. He has delivered them from that which is not assigned unto them and delivered them into the corruption and vanity that is needful for them. He is responsible for their well being, their life and their continuance and since He is the same yesterday, today and forever, so they are preserved forever.

This attention to detail is an all encompassing arrangement. The time of habitation and the limitations of the earthen vessels are appointed of the Lord for good. This God of peace has completely consecrated His chosen race (Ps. 22:30) for the work that He has created and ordained them unto. He carefully attends to the entire being, spirit, soul and body, keeping them without spot or blemish until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (I Thes. 5:23). This sanctification of perfection is not of the earthen vessels which was taken from the dust and shall return there when the tabernacle of this dwelling is dissolved, it is of that Spiritual body wherein the child of grace keeps the Law of God loving Yehovah his God with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might (Deut. 6:5). And all of these things come to pass, by the will of God, according to His perfect judgments and justice because He is the perfect Judge.

The seed of the wicked one are cut off. There is a great gulf fixed between the eternal rest of the children of Abraham and the inhabitants of eternal torment. This is not annihilation for then the judgment would not be eternal but rather this is an eternal separation from the rest and joy of the deliverance of the redeemed. This also is in accord with the wise and perfect justice of an eternal and righteous Judge.

“And God said unto Moses, I am that I am, say to the sons of Israel I am has sent you unto them” (Ex. 3:14)

The ever present existence of God is a foreign subject to the natural mind of Adam. Adam was created a creature of time and cannot understand anything that does not ‘go a progress’ through time. God, however, is the creator and controller of that same time that encompasses man in his very existence. There cannot be time in eternity for the two are contrary one to the other and God, who alone inhabits eternity, is the sovereign ruler over time. His immutability is essential to His purpose and His will whereby all things come to pass in the fullness of time. He is the righteous Judge whose judgment is continual, therefore it is not created. His judgment is congruent with His Law because they are one and the same. He is ever seated upon that great white throne of justice, He has adjudicated all cases according to the perfection of His Holiness and His children are seated together with Him in the heavenlies. When the time of this habitation has completed its allotted course and duration, the responsibilities and disciplines of time are required no more, then is manifested both the saints of God and the seed of the wicked in the justice of ‘I AM’.

The rich man, in the realm of the dead, lifted up his eyes BEING in torments (Luke 16:23). He did not just arrive and begin serving his sentence, he was ever in torments. He was created and reserved to the day of destruction and shall be brought forth to the day of wrath (Job 21:30). This seed of the wicked one became a partaker of the flesh and blood of Adam in an earthen vessel of wrath fitted for destruction (Rms. 9:22). God was not waiting to see how he might act in his new Adam suit, formed from the dust of the earth, before He passed judgment upon him. Nor did He ‘look ahead’ in time because He is all knowing, to take a peek to see what the desires, actions and conclusions of man might be, if perchance he may do good or do evil. God hated Esau in the same righteous eternal magnitude as He loved Jacob and His judgment is commensurate to His eternal being.

The love of the seed that should serve Him and be accounted for His generation is also eternal and unchangeable. Lazarus had not just arrived and unpacked his belongings in anticipation of enjoying his vacation in Abraham’s bosom before he took his tour of heaven to greet family, friends and apostles. The rich man saw Abraham and Lazarus IN his bosom, in the eternal rest that the Bride has in Her Beloved. She is in Him in the beginning and at peace with Him because of the work that was finished before the foundation of the world (Heb. 4:3).

The Bridegroom did not become a suitor to win the affections of a woman to be His Bride any more than He became God. His seed is incorruptible and has always been without spot or blemish. When she, His Bride, became partaker of the flesh and blood of Adam, she had already been adjudicated as just and the sin of Adam was removed as far as the east is from the west.

The great white throne judgment of God is not an event that shall come to pass at a certain time. It is the glory of the righteousness of God, ever present and never changing. The Judge, the troop and the judgment (Dan, Gad & Dinah) are of Him, through Him and by Him against all wickedness and unrighteousness and for His people.

“And Dinah, the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land” (Gen. 34:1)

Many years before the giving of the Law of God unto Moses and the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai, Abraham instructed his servant that his son Isaac would not take a wife of the Canaanites. This was nothing personal against a certain ethnic group or an attempt to maintain racial purity. Abraham made his servant swear that Isaac would not be wed to the people of the ‘low land’ or ‘be humbled, subdued or brought into subjection’ to any foreign customs, traditions or mannerisms. The servant was instructed to “go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife for my son, Isaac” (Gen. 24:1-4). Abraham had the law of God written on his heart and he delighted after that law. He knew, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit within, that to be made subject to the ways of the land would result in the worshiping of the god of this world and the hosts of heaven. He did not need two tablets of stones written with the finger of God, he did not need the smoke, lightning, thunders, the sound of trumpets and many waters to persuade him of the difference between the ways of God and the ways of man. He walked after the statutes of God, by the Spirit of God and he knew that there was no fellowship between the indwelling Spirit and Adamic nature, therefore, he told his son and his servant to not be unequally yoked to the daughters of the land.

Isaac gave the same instructions to both of his sons, Esau and Jacob (Gen. 28:1). Esau saw that the daughters of the Canaanites displeased Isaac so he went to Ishmael, the enemy of Isaac, and took Mahalath (the name is a female derivative of a root word which means to be ‘wounded, sick or weak’), the daughter of Ishmael, to wife (28:9). Jacob returned to the native land of the house of Laban. Here in the field (Padan-aram) of the white (righteous) son (Laban) of the house of our God (Bethuel) he found Rachel (the ewe lamb) with her sheep and took her as his wife.

So it is evident that this principle of not going unto and being humbled by the people of the land was nothing new. In fact the legends of man’s existence before the flood told of the time when “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair and they took them to wives of all which they chose” (Gen. 6:1). This intermarriage between these people, which, contrary to myth, was not the angels of heaven visiting the earth to copulate with mortal women, resulted in mighty men which were old and renowned (6:4). This was a manifestation of the wickedness of Adam as children of grace were drawn away after the desires of the flesh and wed unto daughters of the inhabitants of the world. God saw this wickedness to be as great as He had ordained and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and so God destroyed the old heaven and earth with the flood (Gen. 6:5). Abraham knew this, Isaac was given this testimony and he told his sons the same account as it was rehearsed from generation to generation. So why did Dinah go out to consider the daughters of the land?

Dinah’s life shall forever remain a mystery from her birth until this day that she ventured into the land. She was, at this time, a young woman of a marrying age probably in her mid to upper teens. She was mature enough to be able to go off, into the land of the villages of the ‘life giving’ people, on her own and she was a fair ‘damsel’. She did not wander off one day and get lost and she was not abducted and taken to a strange land. She went out of her father’s house on a mission to ‘learn about by observation’ and to understand the ‘distinction’ of the daughters of the land. She was not looking for work or engaged in any business of commerce or trade. She was given to be concerned with, to look upon, to discern and distinguish the other women of the land. Dinah (judgment) was sent forth to evaluate and render a judgment.

This evaluation was of a specific people, the Hivites, and of a specific man named, Shechem, the son of Hamor. Dinah was not aware of this assignment. She had not been briefed and properly prepared to undertake this covert operation into the camp of the enemy. She had not finished her studies of ancient civilizations and was undertaking a field trip for clinical evaluation. She had not joined a foreign mission group, she was not involved in some philanthropic endeavour or civic outreach and this teen-ager was not out husband hunting. Her desire was to observe the daughters of the land, and so, the thoughts and intentions of her heart, intentionally given to her by the will of God, were not in consideration or anticipation of the path that God had ordained for her to walk.

“And when Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her and lay with her and defiled her” (34:2)

Oh, if this young girl had only stayed at home; Or that she had not gone into the land to see these strange people; Or that she had not wandered off the beaten track and stumbled upon such nefarious people; Or that she had arrived a few moments before or after Shechem had been on location, then this horrific catastrophe would have never happened. Surely God had not ordained that this young lady be abused and humiliated as she was! A God of love and kindness would have never brought this heinous crime upon such an innocent girl. After all, we have no record that she had done anything to warrant this atrocity. There are no crimes that she committed or evil ways that she had walked; “Remember I pray thee, who perished being innocent?” (Eli-phaz to Job 4:7). And as if this most disturbing, lewd and disgraceful conduct could even get worse, after Shechem had debased and defiled her, he said he loved her and wanted her for his wife, how pathetic! How can this be according to the will of God? Thus is the logic of Adam.

Jacob and his family had left the land of Laban in Padan-aram and traveled west. He manifested the Adamic nature as a coward before his brother Esau and then when he met him, he lied to him and left out another way. He had encountered his brother Esau with great fear and anxiety and took every imaginable precaution so as not to give Esau the vengeance that he sought. Yet when they met, they embraced and wept as dear brothers and Esau extended the hand of peace not anger. After sending his two wives and children across the brook in the middle of the night, Jacob, being left alone, wrestled with a man until the breaking of dawn at Peniel, ‘the face of my God’. The result of this encounter was that Yehovah changed Jacob’s name from the ‘heel holder’ or ‘the supplanter’ (Jacob) to ‘the man who has power with God’ (Israel). When Esau and his family broke camp and departed, Jacob continued his travels to a place where he exchanged his nomadic tents for an house and built booths for his cattle and he called the place Succoth (booths). Jacob had come to Shalem (peace), a city of Shechem, which was in the land of Canaan. Here he bought a parcel of a field at the hand of the children of Hamor for an hundred pieces of money (33:17ff).

Jacob and his family were brought from afar to a place along the Jordan River where there was presumed to be peace, prosperity and wealth. He arrived at the time appointed unto him with all members of his household exactly prepared to enact the next scene of the story of their existence. This is testified to in the naming of the altar that Jacob built, Al-elohe-Israel, The mighty God of Israel.

“Jacob held his peace until they were come” (34:5)

The extended travels and adventures of Jacob (Israel) and his family had halted, seemingly in peace, through a business transaction with a prominent member of the community of the land of Canaan. Jacob purchased a parcel of land from Hamor and there thought to establish himself in the land. When the news of Shechem’s cruel atrocity was made known to Jacob, the brothers of Dinah, Levi and Simeon, were with his cattle in the field. Upon hearing of the matter they were incised and immediately sought redress for Shechem had “wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter, which thing ought not to be done”. Shechem pleaded his cause to the two brothers in alleging that he now loved Dinah and wanted to take her to wife. In exchange for this arrangement, the house of Jacob would receive trading rights and be permitted to dwell with the perpetrators of villainy. God had brought them from the west and made them a large and growing family, now they were making alliances with the wicked. Truth and justice were sacrificed for prominence and wealth and a bribe was offered disguised as a dowry.

Simeon and Levi accepted the blood money, with great deception and shrewdly attached an addendum to the agreement. They would accept the bribe of commerce and merchandise in exchange for their sister’s honour if the men of the land would be circumcised. This pleased the men of Shechem for to them it was a small matter to observe some pagan ritual in exchange for strength in numbers and avert bloodshed. They attempted to become of Israel by the application of a covenant made with hands. This arrangement appeared proper to the men of Canaan who like the superstitious crowd on Mars hill thought it natural to attempt to appease every belief, even the unknown God (Acts 17:22).

Dinah went out to observe the daughters of the land and she was observed by the son of an ass (Hamor). She went into the land of the abased and humbled people of the low land (Canaan) and she became a Canaanite (abased and humbled). Shechem observed her in her innocence and abused her and when she was brought down to be like him, he loved her and desired her for his wife. The sons of Jacob made a confederacy with this lecherous fellow and offered him clemency if he became as one of them but as a cloke of deception shrouds the truth, so the offer of amnesty and co-existence was covered in lies. While the men lay sore from the circumcision, Simeon and Levi rose up, when these men were peaceable to them, and smote them with edge sword.

The pretense of peace was a prelude to murder. The men were incapacitated as they willingly submitted to the ritual of circumcision and the sons of Jacob spoiled the city, took their sheep, their oxen and asses and all that pertained to the city and the fields. Jacob increased in wealth by the hand of God through the defilement of Dinah, the deception of Simeon and Levi and the murderous fury of the remainder of the sons. And in all this Jacob held his peace.

“And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ye have made me stink among the inhabitants of the land” (34:30)

Jacob continued to demonstrate the nature and characteristics of Adam while walking the path that God had set for him. His concern for living deliciously through the merchandise of the land was more important to him than justice or truth. His only daughter had been forcibly abused and when his sons sought to take vengeance, Jacob rebukes them. He demonstrates no faith in God and his rebuke is not based upon the principles of holiness. He is more afraid of how he will look in the sight of the ‘inhabitants of the land’ than to uphold the honour of his name. He has more fear in the flesh for the men of the earth than for the God he has just finished wrestling with. He is held captive and petrified for the comparative size of his family with respect to the enormity of the Canaanites and the Perizzites. His judgment is according to sight and justice is altered because of the appearance of strength. He has forgotten the power of God and the many signs and wonders He has given to this child of promise and now cowers at the prospect of not being able to defend himself and his family. God gave him a promise of an inheritance and many types and foreshadows to serve as ever present witnesses to His faithfulness. Jacob heard the word of God with the ears of the flesh and saw the plethora of evidences with the naked eye of Adam, yet he could not understand the word, rest in the assurances or believe the testimonies for Adam does not live by faith.

Jacob was not upset that his sons had stood up for the family name and honour, avenging their sister’s abductor; he was upset because of how it appeared to others. He was afraid of their faces, how they would judge his actions and how this might affect his standing in society. Most would no doubt think Jacob completely justified in avenging this wrong and exacting a penalty that was commensurate to the crime. Had Jacob appealed to the local authorities, certainly he may have found redress in the court system, but none of this was according to the counsel of the good pleasure of Yehovah God. All of these events came to pass in the exact order and severity to demonstrate the judgment of God against the wickedness and weakness of man.

“...Shechem the son of Hamor...”

Shechem stands as a type of Adam. He was drawn away after the lusts and desires of his flesh and when the lust did conceive it brought forth sin and death by sin (Jam 1:15). He observed Dinah and in the lust of the eye he desired her. This produced a course of action that was beyond decency which resulted in his disgrace and the shame of a young woman. He was blinded by the pride of life because he was a ‘prince of the country’ to act above the law of mankind and the land and think himself entitled to the impulses of the carnal man. He saw that the young maiden was pleasant to the eyes and suitable as meat for the desires of the flesh. Hereunto was he created and ordained to walk as a manifestation of the nature and habitation of Adam.

He also represents Adam in his lineage. He is the son of Hamor (Heb. - Chamowr). His father’s name means the ‘he-ass’ and when used as an adjective it means ‘hairy’. This ‘hairy he-ass’ is a child of the ‘life giver’ (Hivite – Eve – “because she is the mother of all living” Gen. 3:20) and he dwells in the low land of subjection (Canaan). Shechem is the son of one who is like unto Esau because; “and the first came out red all over like an hairy garment and they called his name Esau” (Gen. 25:25). Now Esau is Edom (25:30) because he is red and sold his birthright for the red pottage of Jacob. Edom is Adam (man) who came forth red and ruddy out of the ground (Gen. 2:19) and Adam has been made subject to the sorrows of the cursed ground in that by the “sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till you return unto the ground, for out of it wast thou taken and unto the dust shalt thou return” (Gen. 3:19). He was made subject to the desires and the needs of the earthen vessel to feed, clothe and care for it for the duration of the time of his habitation. He must carry his burden as his father before him, upon the shoulder of his back, being full of labour (Ecc. 1:8). He is blinded to the truth. He cannot repent of his deeds for they are of his nature and he sees no wrong in them. When rebuked or shown the truth, he turns his back in stubborn rebellion rather than repent. This is the vanity of this world and man’s ways. He can only be turned when it pleases the Father to turn him (Jer. 31:18) and to cause him to walk, not according to the will of the flesh (Ez. 8:3). This is the nature that God has outfitted man with and when he is confronted with ‘judgment’, his passion, the lusts and anger of the natural man lead him to desire to abase and defile that very judgment. And so, justice is relative to society, honour is passé and truth is sacrificed for convenience.

This is evident in the theology and philosophy of man. He does not have the mind of God and has not the ability to comprehend the ways of the Almighty. Therefore, once he observes the wonder and brilliance of God, he must take and bring the beauty and perfection of God down to the level of the inhabitants of the land; “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the image made like to corruptible man, and birds, four footed beasts and creeping things” (Rom. 1:21). He sees the testimony of the invisible things of God, being clearly evidenced in the creation, and concocts an elaborate theory of evolution or ‘intellectual design’. Now that the magnificence of the power and majesty of the King is made low, it is defiled by the polluted hands and the corrupt mind of man which teaches every man to his neighbor, saying, ‘know ye the Lord’. Then, as this noxious brew is then purported to be the fountain of youth and the elixir of life, a call is made to whosoever has a taste for hemlock to come and drink.

This is that strange woman who stands on the street corner and calls to all who are foolish to come and lie with her. This common tramp and stained trollop is embraced as pure and holy and set upon a pedestal as the bride of Christ. All who oppose this strange woman and her ways are labeled as the enemies of the truth and those who ‘trouble all Israel’. When the dead flies of the works of the law are sprinkled upon the ointment of the apothecary, then the stench of death wafts forth and the nostrils of Adam perceive it as a delicate perfume.

Thus judgment is corrupted and defiled by Adam by his nature. Devoid of the knowledge of good and evil, Eve passed judgment upon the veracity of the words of the serpent when he said; “You shall not surely die; for God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:4f). She evaluated the logic of another created being (the serpent), who does not know the ways of God, does not possess the mind of God and is diametrically opposed to God in all His ways. Eve heard the accusations and the contentions and she doubted the words of God. She observed the fruit of the tree and concluded that it was ‘good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise”. Thus by a purely natural judgment, man rebelled against the Word of God, sin entered into the world and death by sin.

When Adam then ate of the tree in the garden and obtained the knowledge of good and evil, he applied judgment after the imagination of his heart, coupled together with his separation from God and according to his understanding. He correctly judged his condition as in need of a corrective action. He concluded his actions tenable and his remedy appropriate. He was guilty of transgressing God’s Law, ignorant to the only proper course of action and dead in trespasses and sin. Truth and judgment had been defiled and made like unto the Canaanite. Adam thought his resolution to the matter worthy of remission of sin and justification before God; but they fell short of the glory of God. Thus the cumulative works of righteousness which Adam and all his children can and ever shall perform, from generation to generation, are esteemed as abominable in the presence of God. They are as unclean as a ‘removed woman’ (Ez. 36:17), as comely as a leper (Lev. 13) and as acceptable as menstrual rags (Is. 64:6).

“Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face” (Ps. 89:14).

God created man incapable to keep His Holy law and therefore without eternal life. He will not share His glory with another and no flesh shall ever glory in His sight, so, even though Adam defiled the law in the garden he did not diminish truth. Judgment that is married to truth can only result in perfect justice. Adam was created devoid of the truth and therefore his judgment was flawed. As he sinned and his eyes were opened to the reality of his condition, Adam attempted to apply this carnal reasoning, in a state of reprobation before God, to appease what he understood as justice. Therefore, flesh and blood shall never inherit the kingdom of God.

However, the second Adam, when He became a partaker of flesh and blood, did so in the verity of His own will and power. The Creator took upon Himself the same earthen vessel, with every thought, emotion and desire, as those He had created that He might overcome sin and death in the flesh. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death that He might destroy him that had the power of death (that is the Devil) and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14).

The second Adam has a name upon His vesture and on His thigh written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is called Faithful and True (Rev. 19:11&16), therefore His judgment is One with Truth.

“His work is honourable and glorious and His righteousness is eternal. The works of His hands are verity and judgment and His commandments are sure” (Ps. 111:3,7).

When He prepared the vessel for His earthly manifestation, it differed not from the body of the first Adam for He “also Himself likewise took part of the same”. The difference was the inhabitant of the vessel and the power within. He is the power of God unto salvation, He has the mind of God being One in the Father and He alone is the Mighty God, therefore, He was the image of the perfect God in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. 8:3). He could not sin because He is God and He cannot deny Himself. He could not sin because He could never fail to complete that which He purposed to do. He cannot sin because He could never fall short of the design and intent of His heart or fail to measure up to the standard of His own Holiness. He cannot sin because He is the same now as He has been for all eternity and He is incapable of change. Since His will, His counsel and His ways are all in Him, through Him and by Him, they all must be in complete immutable harmony, for “every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and a house against a house falls” (Luke 11:17).

So it must be with those who are joined unto Him and who hear His Word. Simeon and Levi attempted to avenge their sister’s honour through carnal means and they obtained the wealth and fame of the world. The child of grace, being eternally united and one in the Godhead and having ears to hear the voice of the King; defend the honour of truth and Justice in an honourable and righteous manner. They delight in the Law of God and are deeply concerned when they see and hear the platitudes of man disgrace and abase His perfection. Yet the weapons of their warfare are not carnal. They have not been commissioned by the Lord of Hosts to vanquish the foe of this world or to seek out the evil beasts. They are not champions for the cause of God here on earth; they are ambassadors of the kingdom.

An ambassador represents the homeland and provides a haven of rest and protection for the citizens traveling in a foreign land. No country has an ambassador to its own land. These delegates serve in strange lands to ensure that their people are treated properly. They are not there to recruit new citizens, undermine the authority of the land or aid in the overthrow of the government of that people. So the ambassadors of the Kingdom of heaven are not here on the earth to change the course of history and convert the world for Jesus. When those posing as ‘would be’ ambassadors for Christ, enter into the land of Canaan to observe the daughters of the land, they are corrupted and defiled. They go forth without the testimony of Jesus Christ making an unsure sounding of the trumpet and they seek to tickle the itching ears and satisfy the craving natural man. Like the Pharisees, they make twice the children of hell as converts as they walk the wide streets of Rehoboth and live in the crowded city of Megiddo.

The true ambassadors of Messiah live in the Law of God and walk in the statutes thereof. The Spirit of God causes them to keep that law as Yehovah tabernacles with His people. They are ready at any occasion to give the account of the hope that is within and to rejoice with fellow citizens of Zion. The Spirit of God bears witness with their Spirits that they are the sons of God. They have the daily fellowship in the sufferings of Christ as they journey in the barren wilderness of this present evil generation. They know the King who sits upon the throne. They know that His will is performed on earth as it is in heaven and they know that the combined efforts of all of mankind cannot abase Him or tarnish the beauty of His judgments.

“This matter is by the decree of the watchers and the demand by the Word of the Holy Ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will and setteth up over them the basest of men” (Dan. 4:17).

“And the seventh messenger sounded and there were great voices in heaven saying; The kingdoms of this world are become of our Lord and of His Anointed and He shall reign forever” (Rev. 11:15).

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thunderings saying; Alleluia for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” (Rev. 19:6).

Your servant in Christ,
(Elder) Chet Dirkes

Banner of Hope
Volume 7, No. 3
September 2013