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THE BIG PICTURE AS I NOW SEE IT (I am evolving)

We who are born-again are manifesting like growing stalks of wheat, as “the children of the kingdom” (Mat 13:38), the chosen ones from the foundation of the world (Mat 25:33,34; Eph 1:4,5); but we have been given over to the custody of Satan, i.e. pawned in effect “to the God of this world” (2 Cor 4:4). We who are born-again are the wheat; we were in the loins of Adam and Eve, as were the tares, when they were expelled from out of the Garden of Eden (a type of Heaven) and into this world (a type of Hell). God’s purpose in expelling us from the Garden of Eden was to expose us to evil so that unlike Eve, we would learn to discern or to perceive THE DIFFERENCE between good and evil, and thereby become educated (Prov 22:6) to righteously reign in the Kingdom of God (Rev 1:6; 5:10) and judge His people (1 Kin 3:9). Perhaps the degree to which we ultimately learn to discern between good and evil in this life directly relates to the principle of applied spiritual authority in the next life, i.e. whether we shall be allocated authority over ten cities, five cities, or one city, within the eternal Kingdom of God? We have for the purpose of training been thrust out of Heaven (good) and into this world (evil). However, our sojourn is not permanent, for we have been bought back by God “with a price” (1 Cor 6:20; 7:23) who serves as an anchor in our soul (Jesus Christ). An anchor that is indestructible and eternally connects us, via the golden umbilical cord (the Holy Spirit: geographically symbolic of the river Jordan: Heb: descender), to the mother ship above. We receive this anchor in the form of an “earnest” (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14) or deposit of the Holy Spirit who guides us on a sound and correct course that we may learn about good and evil by contrasting the words (doctrines) of God (John 16:13) with the words (doctrines) of Satan. We hear and learn to discern between two opposing voices, one a “still small voice” (1 Kin 19:12), and the other an exceeding loud and boisterous voice (Goliath), while we navigate passage through the storms of this world. Our pilgrimage is clearly depicted and symbolized in the outer courtyard of the Tabernacle of Moses wherein we are exposed to and influenced by natural worldly elements (Satan), and at the same time, we are exposed to and influenced by the brazen altar (Jesus Christ) and the brazen laver (the Holy Spirit). Thereafter, either at our death or our Lord’s Second Coming, we shall be experientially ransomed in full (raptured).

1.       (Gen 3:22-24)  And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil [in the sense that one may “know” something but not “understand” it, i.e. a car, a computer, a horse, Jane or John whom I just met]: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat [and become immortal, and fixed in that state of non-understanding - like natural men], and live for ever: Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man [garash, gaw-rash'; to drive out from a possession; espec. to expatriate or divorce: cast up (out), divorced (woman), drive away (forth, out), expel, X surely put away, trouble, thrust out]; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

2.       (Gen 4:13,14)  And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out [garash, gaw-rash'] this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

3.       (1 Cor 5:5)  To deliver such an one [caught fornicating with his father’s wife] unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

4.       (1 Tim 1:19,20)  Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander [teachers of false doctrine]; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn [to train up a child, i.e. educate, or (by impl.) discipline (by punishment): chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach] not to blaspheme.

AND TAKE THEIR PLEDGE

(1 Sam 17:15-18)  But David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem. And the Philistine [Goliath] drew near morning and evening [times of the daily sacrifices in the Tabernacle], and presented himself [for their acceptance, symbolically as their false swine (pig) sacrifice upon the brasen altar (cross) in place of the Lamb of God] forty days [the number of testing, i.e. forty years “in the church in the wilderness” Acts 7:38]. And Jesse said unto David his son, Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; And carry these ten cheeses unto the captain [head person] of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge [i.e. fully redeem their pledge, pay in full].

“and take”

1. take = Heb: to take (in the widest variety of applications): accept, bring, buy, carry away, drawn, fetch, get, infold, place, receive (-ing), reserve, seize, send for, take (away, -ing, up), use, win.
2. Matthew Henry’s Commentary: “And he must take their pledge, that is, if they had pawned anything, he must redeem it.”
3. The American College Dictionary: redeem = 1. to buy or pay off; clear off by payment: to redeem a mortgage. 2. to buy back. 3. to recover (something pledged or mortgaged) by payment or other satisfaction: to redeem a pawned watch.

  “their pledge”

1. pledge = Heb: H6161 'arubbah, ar-oob-baw'; in the sense of a bargain or exchange; something given as security, i.e. (lit.) a token (of safety) or (metaph.) a bondsman:--pledge, surety.
2. (2 Cor 1:21,22)  Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest [pledge] of the Spirit in our hearts.
3. earnest = Gk: 728. arrhabon, ar-hrab-ohn'; of Heb. or. [H6162]; a pledge, i.e. part of the purchase-money or property given in advance as security for the rest: earnest /// H6162. 'arabown, ar-aw-bone'; from H6148 (in the sense of exchange); a pawn (given as security): pledge.
4. (2 Cor 5:5)  Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest [pledge] of the Spirit.
5. (Eph 1:13,14)  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise [an announcement (for information, assent or pledge; espec. a divine assurance of good): message], Which is the earnest [pledge] of our inheritance until the redemption [ransom in full] of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
6. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words = earnest: In general usage it came to denote “a pledge” or “earnest “ of any sort… it is said of the Holy Spirit as the divine “pledge” of all their future blessedness. In modern Greek arrabona is an “engagement ring.”

SUMMATION

At the end of the forty days of testing, Jesse (a type of God) sent David (a type of Jesus Christ) again into the camp, which was literally His Second Coming, with food symbolic of the word of God for “thy brethren” (three brothers) and “the captain of their thousand,” an ephah of parched corn (God the Father), ten loaves of bread (God the Son), and ten cheeses (God the Holy Ghost). (1 Sam 17:17,18). These three brothers (now types of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) and their captain (a microcosmic type of Jesus Christ: “Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Dan 3:25), were “among the thorns” (Mat 13:22) of the Israelite army. These three brothers had “root” but only microcosmic fruit. The Israelites “among the thorns” with whom the four men (now types of the three synoptic Gospels and one of love) would share their nourishing food of life were thereby saved, loosed from death (the three brothers now types of Lot and his two daughters among the thorns of Sodom, Lot’s wife being stony ground, now a type of judgment unto death). However, the vast remaining and majority of the Israelite army of God (congregation) were “on stony ground,” i.e. unsaved - Rev. Billy Graham estimates that 80% of the church is not saved, and after enduring a while of not being fed “the word of life” (Phil 2:16; 1 John 1:1), they shall commence to starve to their death, and then they shall wither and “fall away” (Luke 8:13), departing from the faith as chaff blown by the wind, as previously did their leader (created in their own image) Saul: “for he is turned back from following me.” (1 Sam 15:11).

1.       (Deu 8:2)  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove [test] thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Amen