THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE ARE OUR TONGUES

01-24-21 This message may be viewed live streaming video at youtube.com and tabernacleofmoses.org today Sunday at 11:00 am, and repeated 24/7 thereafter. The video, audio, and study notes are archived.

 

BE STRONG, BE A GOOD SOLDIER

(2 Tim 2:1-5) Thou therefore, my son, be strong [Gk: empowered] in the grace [Gk: the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life: benefit, gift, joy] that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou [teach, using your tongue (try to speak without using your tongue)] to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness [Gk: undergo hardness: be afflicted, suffer trouble] [in this military training boot camp], as a good soldier [Gk: warrior] of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth [who volunteers] [Gk: to serve in a military campaign, to go to war] entangleth himself with [Gk: entwines himself with, (becomes/remains) involved with] [the distractions of] the affairs [Gk: transactions, negotiations] of this [temporary] life [rather than focusing upon (practicing upon) your training concerning the next eternal life] [1]; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier [Gk: selected him as a warrior, enlisted in the army]. And if a man also strive for masteries [Gk: to contend in competitive games], yet is he not crowned [Gk: awarded the honorary wreath of victory (i.e., success)], except he strive [compete] lawfully [Gk: legitimately, agreeably to the rules of the list] [i.e., the Bible].

1.    (Prov 22:6) Train up [Heb: to narrow (their focus); fig. to initiate or discipline: dedicate] [teach] a child [a new recruit] in the way [Heb: a road; a course of life or mode of action] he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart [Heb: to turn off: withdraw] from it [i.e., from the Bible].

 

GOD’S THOUGHTS ARE TAUGHT BY HIS TONGUE, i.e., THE BIBLE,

WHICH IS A TWOEDGED SWORD (LOGOS/RHEMA)

(2 Cor 10:3-6) For though we walk [live] in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh [i.e., use man-made human weapons]: (For the weapons of our warfare [Gk: military service, fig. the apostolic career (as one of hardship and danger)] are not carnal [Gk: fleshly, temporal] [in the sense of being man-made], but mighty [spiritual] through God to the pulling down [Gk: demolition; fig. extinction] [“overthrow and destruction” Amplif.] of strong holds [Gk: fortifications; castles (fig. arguments)] [“arguments” are manifestations of tongues (weapons)];) Casting down [Gk: destroying] [enemy, adversarial, antagonistic, accusatorial] imaginations [Gk: thoughts], and every high [“proud and lofty” Amplif.] thing that exalteth itself [as clay to the potter] against the knowledge [Gk: understanding] of God, and bringing into captivity [capturing, as in warfare] every thought [i.e., every fallen angel, demon, devil, unclean spirit] to the obedience [1] of Christ [Gk: the anointing of the Messiah]; And having in a readiness [Gk: (being) prepared] to revenge [Gk: vindicate, retaliate, punish] all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled [Gk: accomplished, completed, perfected].

1.    obedience = Gk: attentive harkening, compliance or submission /// to hear under (as a subordinate); to heed or conform to a command or authority: obey.

 

THE BIBLE WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY AN ORAL TRADITION UNTIL THE KJV OF 1611.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE TONGUE OF THE LORD, AND

THE SWORD OF THE LORD, FOR BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS

(effectively, enabling us to discern the difference between good and evil)

(Judg 7:6-8) And the number of them [of the 10,000 saved Isrealite army soldiers/warriors] that lapped [using their tongue as a discerning/weapon)] [1], putting their hand [Heb: power] to their mouth [Heb: fig. speech: two-edged, word] [2] [manifesting the discerning/weapon (blessings/cursings) of the Lord, i.e., shepherds, warriors], were three hundred men [300]: but all the rest of the people [the remaining 9,700 soldiers] bowed down upon their knees [directly opposite to, on the other side of the stream of running water of the Holy Spirit across from 135,000 very angry Midianite (eternally lost) soldiers, thereby symbolizing subjection and obedience, i.e., sheep, enlisted soldiers who are support troops because they are saved] to drink water [of the Holy Spirit] [i.e., undiscerningly, they sucked or slurped up the water, not using their tongue as a discerning/weapon]. And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men [300 combat warriors, shepherds, commissioned officers] that lapped [using their tongue as a discerning weapon] will I save you, and deliver the Midianites [Heb: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] [unsaved peoples] into thine hand [Heb: power]: and let all the other people [the 9,700 support soldiers, sheep] go every man unto his [appointed] place. So the people [the 300 combat warriors, shepherds] took victuals [Heb: food] [from the supporting 9,700 soldiers, sheep (sacrificially), it was a time of famine: Judg 6:1-6)] in their hand, and their trumpets [symbolizing the voice (Word) of God, i.e., Bibles]: and he sent all the rest of [the army of] Israel [the 9,700 support soldiers, sheep] every man unto his tent [versus the 22,000 unbelieving soldiers (goats) that he had previously sent home], and retained [Heb: fastened upon, seized: caught (up)] [a type and shadow of “the rapture” 1 Thess 4:17] those three hundred men [300 combat warriors, shepherds]: and the host of Midian [Heb: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] [unsaved peoples] was beneath him in the valley [“of Jezreel” Judg 6:33 (Armageddon)].

1.    discern = Dict: 1. To separate (a thing) mentally from another or others; recognize as separate or different. 2. To perceive or recognize; make out clearly.

2.    (Heb 4:12) For the word of God [the Bible] is quick [Gk: alive] [as God is alive], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder [Gk: separation] of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner [Gk: decisive: judge] of the thoughts and intents of the heart [Gk: mind].

 

OUR HUMAN BODIES ARE THE SCABBARD (SHEATH) OF THE SWORD OF THE LORD

(Judg 7:16-18) And he divided the three hundred [300] men into three companies [under the command of the Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit], and he put a trumpet [symbolic of the voice of God, a Bible] in every man's hand [i.e., power to use], with empty [Heb: worthless: vain] pitchers [Heb: of earthenware] [of the dust of the earth, symbolic of their/our bodies], and lamps [Heb: to shine; a flame: firebrand, torch] [symbol of the Holy Spirit] within the pitchers [symbolic of being filled with the Holy Spirit, i.e., salvation]. And he [Gideon = Heb: feller (warrior) /// to fell a tree] [a type and shadow of Jesus Christ] said [prophetically] unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come [in the near future] to the outside of the camp [of the unsaved Midianites], it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do. When [in the near future] I blow with a trumpet [symbolic of the voice of God, a Bible: 1 Thes 4:16 & John 1:14], I and all that are with me [i.e., the “retained” 300 warriors: Judg 7:8], then blow ye the trumpets also [i.e., preach the Word of God] on every side of all the camp, and say [using your tongue as a discerning/weapon], The sword [(separator)] of the LORD, and of Gideon.

 

(Judg 7:19-22) So Gideon [Heb: feller (warrior) /// to fell a tree], and the hundred men [100] that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch [dark, about 10:00 pm]; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands. And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps [Heb: (flaming) torches] in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands [thereby each forming the image of a flaming cross] to blow withal [through the wind of the Holy spirit]: and they cried [Heb: (loudly) preached, proclaimed], The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon. And they stood every man in his [assigned] place [“Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7] round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried [Heb: split the ears, shouted for alarm], and fled. And the three hundred blew the trumpets [i.e., preached the Word of God], and the LORD set every [Midianite = Heb: brawling, contentious, discord, strife] man's sword [voice/weapon] against his fellow [to death, and “the abyss”], even throughout all the host: and the host [of the remaining 15,000 (Judg 8:10) Midianite soldiers, fallen angel spirits, rebellious thoughts] fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath [and into the thousand year Millennium].

 

 

Amen