Colossians 2:10-12 "And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
The circumcision of a born again believer is “made without hands”. What about baptism? The word “baptism” is found exactly 22 times in the 1611 King James Bible, exactly the same number of times as “the will of God” is found in the same Holy Bible. Not too long ago, the LORD has laid it in my heart to study Job 33, and I have shared this with my family members. Job 33 is an amazing chapter of 33 verses. In this chapter of the book of Job, God has revealed to us his operation in the process of salvation, from the beginning to the end.
Job 33:13 "Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters."
This is the 13th verse of this chapter, and the word “strive” is found exactly 22 times in the 1611 King James Bible. Do you perceive the pattern of the number 13 and 22 together in the same verse? While both 13 and 22 is a reference to a mystery woman figure, the word "mystery" is found exactly 22 times in the 1611 King James Bible.
Mark 4:11 "And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:"
When a man strive against the truth, it will either cause him to repent and turn to God for salvation, or reject God's words and continue in his walk on the broad way which leadeth to destruction. It is mystery how people from different times and era and different walks of life around the world are separated into "saved" and "lost", according to how they react to the word of God in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Mark 4 and Luke 8.
Psalms 35:1 "Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me."
The word “strive” means “fight against”.
Genesis 6:3 "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years."
Who or what exactly was the Spirit of God striving against? According to Genesis 6:3, the LORD was striving against men, as much as men were also striving against the LORD. Notice, it was God's "spirit" that men were striving against.
Proverbs 1:23 "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you."
Words are the physical form of a spirit, invisible but discernible. According to Proverbs 1:23, it was the spirit of God embedded in the words of the LORD that sinful men were striving against.
2 Peter 2:5 "And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;"
Noah was a "preacher of righteousness". He was the mouthpiece for God speaking to men at that time before the Great Flood of Genesis, preaching God's righteousness. The spirit of the LORD strove with man through his preaching. It happened before the Great Flood, it happened in the generations after the Great Flood, and it is still happening today, likewise.
Titus 3:9 "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."
Many people have sought to re-interpret the words of the LORD. Instead of looking for the two or three witnesses, they strive with the words in the Bible. Many have turned to Hebrew and Greek instead of trusting in the words that God has preserved and interpreted for us in the English language. Many have turned to other bibles because they have found “a better translation” in these bibles.
2 Corinthians 11:4 "For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."
Noah was a "preacher of righteousness" i.e. he preached the real Jesus. But there is "another Jesus" according to Paul in this passage that is likewise preached unto men (in the form of words), and "another spirit" that is likewise received by them, words being the physical form of a spirit according to Proverbs 1:23.
2 Timothy 3:8 "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith."
The opposite of preachers of righteousness are people like Jannes and Jambres who withstood Moses. These are men of corrupt minds who "resist the truth" and reprobate concerning the faith. These are men who preach "another Jesus" instead of preaching faithfully from the pure word of God.
Job 33:14 "For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not."
Many churches today no longer stands in the pure word of God. A church that is not standing in the counsel of God is a church full of false converts. It is the work of the Devil. There are spiritual wickedness in high places working to blind the minds of men from the word of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
The reason why men perceiveth not is because the "god of this world" hath blinded their minds. Though unseen by the eye, there is a fierce battle raging on for the souls of men. But until our eyes are open to the written word of God, we will never perceive this reality which is more real than our physical existence.
Matthew 18:16 "... in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established."
With modern bible versions (NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV, etc.), they seek to silence the "two of three witnesses" whereby every word may be established.
Proverbs 14:5 "A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies."
A witness is someone who gives his testimony in attestation of a fact or event. In removing a "faithful witness", not only are they removing a piece of truth from the Bible, a false witness which utter lies will be also established in its place. That's why we will easily find huge discrepancies between modern bible versions and the 1611 King James Bible. Churches standing in the counsel of these false bibles cannot produce faithful believers of the word of God.
1 Peter 1:23 "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever."
Apart from every word of God, no man can be born again.
Proverbs 24:6 "For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Little by little, the two or three witnesses are taken away so that it is no longer safe to trust in any bibles.
Proverbs 11:14 "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety."
When the multitude of counsellors are quietly disbanded, the people fall. It is no longer safe. The word "fall" is a reference to:
2 Thessalonians 2:3 "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;"
According to Paul, there will be a "falling away" first before the man of sin be revealed, and these two events must happen in concurrent, one after another. The "fall", as we have seen earlier, will happen when the word of God is taken out of the way. This goes along with:
2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 "For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"
Previously I did a study on this passage, and I have established from scripture that the "he" in the highlighted part is the spirit of Jesus in the written word of God. For more information, go read this post:
Job 33:15-17 "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; 16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man."
King Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dream, wherewith his spirit was troubled and his sleep brake from him. The dream came from God, and his spirit was troubled to know the dream. Nebuchadnezzar knew the dream even though it was already gone from him, and he began to seek the truth about his dream with all his heart and might. He wanted the truth so badly that he called the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew him his dreams, which of course, they couldn’t.
Daniel 2:5 "The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill."
Nebuchadnezzar only wanted the truth and nothing else, and if they could not give him the truth, there is only but one decree for them. The dream came from God, and of course, it must be God who must make known the truth unto him. God used prophet Daniel for this task. The things of the Spirit of God can only be understood as interpreted by the word of God.
John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
King Nebuchadnezzar eventually found the truth, and the truth has made him free. Let it be known that Nebuchadnezzar contributed to part of the book of Daniel. He was born again after he received the knowledge of the truth, and the truth has made him free.
2 Peter 1:21 "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
Peter called brother Nebuchadnezzar a holy man of God. You may read his testimony in Daniel 4. It was God who opened the ears of brother Nebuchadnezzar according to Job 33:16 and did something in him. It was God who gave the king his heart’s desire, as in:
Psalms 21:1-4 "The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! 2 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah. 3 For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. 4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever."
Likewise, it must be God who open your ears and do something in you, and if your heart’s desire is nothing else but the truth, God will not withhold it from you.
Jeremiah 33:3 "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
By the way, did Nebuchadnezzar call upon a God which he knew not? Well, God did shew him great and mighty things which he knew not, and he eventually revealed himself to him as the one and true God, the Lord of heaven and earth. What exactly did God do when he opened our ears?
Job 33:16-17 "Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction, 17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man."
According to this passage, when God openeth the ears of men, he "sealeth their instruction". There is an instruction which will cause one to err from the words of knowledge, as in:
Proverbs 19:27 "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge."
In sealing off that "instruction", he withdrew man from "his purpose" and "hide pride" from man. Well, we see that in Nebuchadnezzar, a "king of kings" (Daniel 2:37), who had literally mobilized all the earthly wisdom available at his disposal, but still could not get to know the truth about the dream that God shewed unto him in a vision of the night. When Daniel revealed the dream and the interpretations thereof unto Nebuchadnezzar, watch what he did:
Daniel 2:46-47 "¶ Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odours unto him. 47 The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret."
In this, God humbled the man. Not only that, but the door of salvation was now opened to the whole kingdom of Babylon.
Daniel 2:48-49 "Then the king made Daniel a great man, and gave him many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. 49 Then Daniel requested of the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed–nego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel sat in the gate of the king."
God withdrew the man from his purpose, but he has another purpose for him. The whole incident has changed Nebuchadnezzar. He was no longer the same old man that he used to be. A good seed has been sown on the fertile ground of his “honest and good heart” (Luke 8:15), and in the process of time, will bring forth fruit. This is a necessary step that God must do in the life of a person in the process of salvation.
Amen ❤️🙏, thank you brother!