2 Tim 2:15
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(KJV)
I want to try and help those interested in learning how to 'rightly divide' God's Word like Paul said there. The Greek word for "rightly dividing" means to dissect correctly, the way he used it. That's about grasping timing and events within prophetic Scripture especially. That's what I want help others with.
Before giving a prophetic Scripture example on that, I need to explain something that might be a help for some of you brothers and sisters here. It's of how we're taught to 'see' things, interpreting what we see.
One of the skills that an artist who does drawings and paintings must learn, is how... to see....
For example, if you put an apple in front of a young child and ask them paint a picture of it, what would they likely do? They would paint their picture of the apple a solid red color. Yet looking closer at the apple on the table, one will easily notice its shaded side is a darker color of red, and the applie might even have light blotches of red or even a patch of yellow or some small blemish, a lighter area where light in the room is bouncing off it, etc. In other words, the real apple is not just one color of red. When looking further at the apple, we may see several shades, and not just one local color of red.
This kind of thing can also be seen with a child that tries to draw a house. They know a house has a front, top and at least two sides, so they'll tend to draw the front, top, and show both sides at the same time. But in reality, we only see 3 sides of a house, like the front, top, and only one of the sides.
With the above example, that's about our mind influencing what we see with our physical eyes. In the child's mind, they know an apple is red, and they also know a house has more sides than just one. So instead of really drawing and painting what their eyes see, their mind is influencing how... they see. All professional artists know they must learn to overcome what their mind is telling them to paint and draw when trying to make a faithful copy of what their eyes see.
Did you know this concept applies when studying God's Word too?
When studying, it's important to realize that we are apt to put ideas and things we learned from this world into what we're reading. It's natural to want to do that, just as with the apple and house example above. Something as simple a drawing a house can wind up with more than three sides in the picture we're forming, if we allow our own ideas to get in the way.
Here's a prophetic example of how to 'see'...
Matt 3:1-3
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3 For this is He That was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
(KJV)
John the Baptist was quoting from Isaiah 40 with that, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." John was called to prepare the way for Christ's first coming at that time. John was showing how that then was being fulfilled in prep for Christ's first coming then. The "make His paths straight" is interpreted by many to mean a spiritual preparing for Christ coming to Jerusalem.
The Isaiah 40 Scripture where John the Baptist was quoting from reads a bit differently though...
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Instead of, "make His paths straight", we read, "make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Why does that read differently? And was that actually fulfilled at Christ's first coming, with John preparing the way for Christ's appearance? (Many say that isaiah 40 was then fulfilled by John the Baptist and Christ's first appearance on earth. I somewhat agree, only in part though.)
The answer for the full timeline of that verse is with accompanying Scripture it's written with in Isaiah 40, and the given timing is very specific...
Isa 40:1-5
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
God first speaks about comfort to His people, and about speaking comfortably to Jerusalem, because: 1) her warfare is accomplished. Let me ask you, has warfare in Jerusalem been accomplished today? Has it eneded yet there? We should quickly realize the answer to that is no. So just when... will warfare in Jerusalem be accomplished and end? We have to ask ourselves those questions to find out how to rightly divide the timeline for God's Message here. Jerusalem through its history has been sieged something like 27 times, and even now God's people do not possess all that city. By asking ourselves those questions we know this warfare ending is for sometime in our future, simply because it's never yet happened for Jerusalem during this world.
Is determining that gonna' help us to know when the time of that making straight a highway in the desert for our God is for? Yes.
How 'bout the next phrase: 2) "that her iniquity is pardoned"? Has that happened for Jerusalem yet today? No, especially if you know what iniquity of the "abomination of desolation" that's getting ready to happen there in our near future prior to Christ's second coming. Moreover, the majority of the people in Jerusalem today don't even recognize Jesus Christ as The Messiah. So no, Jerusalem's iniquity has not been pardoned yet today. And if the orthodox Jews build another temple there and start up Old Covenant sacrifices there again as they plan, then you should definitely know great iniquity for Jerusalem is just around the corner today.
But when will iniquity in Jerusalem be pardoned by our LORD? At Christ's second coming when He returns there to take rule. Is that also helping us to put the "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" prophecy into a certain timeline? Yes, it should.
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Notice the next 4th verse. Ask yourself, has every valley been exalted (raised), and every mountain and hill made low (lowered), and the rough places turned into a flat plain of land? The area of Jerusalem today is a hilly country, with mountains around it. Have those places been lowered, and the lower valley areas raised up to create an area of flat plain? No, not yet. In Zech.14 we're shown when Christ's feet touch down upon the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem that mount is going to split in two and be moved, literally, with a great valley being formed there. God uses this idea of hills and moutains being lowered and valleys being raised in the spiritual sense about haughty men being abased, and the humble being exalted. Yet is this going to happen literally too?
Yes...
Isa 35:4-8
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
(KJV)
A "highway"? Waters breaking out in the wilderness and streams in the desert, literally? Yes.
Isa 35:1-2
1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
(KJV)
Isa 19:23-25
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.
(KJV)
That's about God's future Kingdom on earth. Did you know there's going to be a literal highway running from Egypt through the land of Israel all the way up into Assyria? Did you know that Egypt, Israel, and Assyria are each going to be a third in God's future Kingdom?
Isa 11:16
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
(KJV)
Just as God made a path for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea when leaving Egypt, He is going to make literal earth changes in that area of the middleast, but when? Well, that certainly did not occur with Christ's first coming to Jerusalem, so when will it happen? At Christ's future second coming.
And the next isaha 40 verse...
Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(KJV)
That's going to happen when Christ is revealed at His second coming to this earth. That's when He shall be revealed on this earth.
So all that timeline is given to help us determine just when that "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" is to occur. We can easily look at the holy lands today and know that has yet to happen. It is not at all difficult to determine. Those streams running into the desert is about God's River of Ezek.47 and Revelation 22, the "pure river of the water of life". It's going to literally emit out from the Millennium sanctuary per Ezekiel 47, and flow out eastward into the desert, and heal all waters it comes in contact with. Wherever the Waters flow into other waters, it will contain many fish. And on either side the River will grow the tree of life, it's leaf never fading, with producing fruit that cannot be consumed, giving its fruits each month throughout the whole year!
So how do we reconcile John the Baptist quoting of Isaiah 40 for Christ's first coming?
Like our Lord Jesus told His disciples about John the Baptist, he would have fulfilled the role of God's promise to send His prophet before the day of the Lord, IF... the people of Jerusalem had accepted Him and His Kingdom at His first coming. They didn't accept Him, nor John the Baptist, but intead John was beheaded and they had our Lord Jesus crucified. That put His Kingdom to come into abeyance, still waiting to manifest today. That's how the Isaiah 40:1-5 Scripture would have... been completely fulfilled as written, IF... God's people in Jerusalem had accepted Jesus of Nazareth as The Christ with His first coming.
But now, we await Christ's second coming to completely fulfill this Isaiah 40 prophecy, for it's timeline is still yet future to us today, and it's about earth changes He will bring on this earth with His second coming.
Did you notice how referring to other relevant Bible Scripture about that "highway" and waters flowing in the desert, helped discover the timeline for the Isaiah 40:1-5 events? And we also had to be careful about the idea of Jerusalem's iniquity being pardoned, and her warfare being ended. None of that was really difficult. It just took time and bit of Bible cross-referencing to do it. Asking ourselves whether or not the Scripture event itself had been fulfilled already was also important to rightly divide the timeline of the Scripture.
15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
(KJV)
I want to try and help those interested in learning how to 'rightly divide' God's Word like Paul said there. The Greek word for "rightly dividing" means to dissect correctly, the way he used it. That's about grasping timing and events within prophetic Scripture especially. That's what I want help others with.
Before giving a prophetic Scripture example on that, I need to explain something that might be a help for some of you brothers and sisters here. It's of how we're taught to 'see' things, interpreting what we see.
One of the skills that an artist who does drawings and paintings must learn, is how... to see....
For example, if you put an apple in front of a young child and ask them paint a picture of it, what would they likely do? They would paint their picture of the apple a solid red color. Yet looking closer at the apple on the table, one will easily notice its shaded side is a darker color of red, and the applie might even have light blotches of red or even a patch of yellow or some small blemish, a lighter area where light in the room is bouncing off it, etc. In other words, the real apple is not just one color of red. When looking further at the apple, we may see several shades, and not just one local color of red.
This kind of thing can also be seen with a child that tries to draw a house. They know a house has a front, top and at least two sides, so they'll tend to draw the front, top, and show both sides at the same time. But in reality, we only see 3 sides of a house, like the front, top, and only one of the sides.
With the above example, that's about our mind influencing what we see with our physical eyes. In the child's mind, they know an apple is red, and they also know a house has more sides than just one. So instead of really drawing and painting what their eyes see, their mind is influencing how... they see. All professional artists know they must learn to overcome what their mind is telling them to paint and draw when trying to make a faithful copy of what their eyes see.
Did you know this concept applies when studying God's Word too?
When studying, it's important to realize that we are apt to put ideas and things we learned from this world into what we're reading. It's natural to want to do that, just as with the apple and house example above. Something as simple a drawing a house can wind up with more than three sides in the picture we're forming, if we allow our own ideas to get in the way.
Here's a prophetic example of how to 'see'...
Matt 3:1-3
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3 For this is He That was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight."
(KJV)
John the Baptist was quoting from Isaiah 40 with that, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." John was called to prepare the way for Christ's first coming at that time. John was showing how that then was being fulfilled in prep for Christ's first coming then. The "make His paths straight" is interpreted by many to mean a spiritual preparing for Christ coming to Jerusalem.
The Isaiah 40 Scripture where John the Baptist was quoting from reads a bit differently though...
Isa 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Instead of, "make His paths straight", we read, "make straight in the desert a highway for our God." Why does that read differently? And was that actually fulfilled at Christ's first coming, with John preparing the way for Christ's appearance? (Many say that isaiah 40 was then fulfilled by John the Baptist and Christ's first appearance on earth. I somewhat agree, only in part though.)
The answer for the full timeline of that verse is with accompanying Scripture it's written with in Isaiah 40, and the given timing is very specific...
Isa 40:1-5
1 Comfort ye, comfort ye My people, saith your God.
2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD's hand double for all her sins.
God first speaks about comfort to His people, and about speaking comfortably to Jerusalem, because: 1) her warfare is accomplished. Let me ask you, has warfare in Jerusalem been accomplished today? Has it eneded yet there? We should quickly realize the answer to that is no. So just when... will warfare in Jerusalem be accomplished and end? We have to ask ourselves those questions to find out how to rightly divide the timeline for God's Message here. Jerusalem through its history has been sieged something like 27 times, and even now God's people do not possess all that city. By asking ourselves those questions we know this warfare ending is for sometime in our future, simply because it's never yet happened for Jerusalem during this world.
Is determining that gonna' help us to know when the time of that making straight a highway in the desert for our God is for? Yes.
How 'bout the next phrase: 2) "that her iniquity is pardoned"? Has that happened for Jerusalem yet today? No, especially if you know what iniquity of the "abomination of desolation" that's getting ready to happen there in our near future prior to Christ's second coming. Moreover, the majority of the people in Jerusalem today don't even recognize Jesus Christ as The Messiah. So no, Jerusalem's iniquity has not been pardoned yet today. And if the orthodox Jews build another temple there and start up Old Covenant sacrifices there again as they plan, then you should definitely know great iniquity for Jerusalem is just around the corner today.
But when will iniquity in Jerusalem be pardoned by our LORD? At Christ's second coming when He returns there to take rule. Is that also helping us to put the "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" prophecy into a certain timeline? Yes, it should.
Isaiah 40:3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
Notice the next 4th verse. Ask yourself, has every valley been exalted (raised), and every mountain and hill made low (lowered), and the rough places turned into a flat plain of land? The area of Jerusalem today is a hilly country, with mountains around it. Have those places been lowered, and the lower valley areas raised up to create an area of flat plain? No, not yet. In Zech.14 we're shown when Christ's feet touch down upon the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem that mount is going to split in two and be moved, literally, with a great valley being formed there. God uses this idea of hills and moutains being lowered and valleys being raised in the spiritual sense about haughty men being abased, and the humble being exalted. Yet is this going to happen literally too?
Yes...
Isa 35:4-8
4 Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; He will come and save you.
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.
7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
(KJV)
A "highway"? Waters breaking out in the wilderness and streams in the desert, literally? Yes.
Isa 35:1-2
1 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
2 It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
(KJV)
Isa 19:23-25
23 In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance.
(KJV)
That's about God's future Kingdom on earth. Did you know there's going to be a literal highway running from Egypt through the land of Israel all the way up into Assyria? Did you know that Egypt, Israel, and Assyria are each going to be a third in God's future Kingdom?
Isa 11:16
16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
(KJV)
Just as God made a path for the children of Israel to cross the Red Sea when leaving Egypt, He is going to make literal earth changes in that area of the middleast, but when? Well, that certainly did not occur with Christ's first coming to Jerusalem, so when will it happen? At Christ's future second coming.
And the next isaha 40 verse...
Isaiah 40:5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(KJV)
That's going to happen when Christ is revealed at His second coming to this earth. That's when He shall be revealed on this earth.
So all that timeline is given to help us determine just when that "make straight in the desert a highway for our God" is to occur. We can easily look at the holy lands today and know that has yet to happen. It is not at all difficult to determine. Those streams running into the desert is about God's River of Ezek.47 and Revelation 22, the "pure river of the water of life". It's going to literally emit out from the Millennium sanctuary per Ezekiel 47, and flow out eastward into the desert, and heal all waters it comes in contact with. Wherever the Waters flow into other waters, it will contain many fish. And on either side the River will grow the tree of life, it's leaf never fading, with producing fruit that cannot be consumed, giving its fruits each month throughout the whole year!
So how do we reconcile John the Baptist quoting of Isaiah 40 for Christ's first coming?
Like our Lord Jesus told His disciples about John the Baptist, he would have fulfilled the role of God's promise to send His prophet before the day of the Lord, IF... the people of Jerusalem had accepted Him and His Kingdom at His first coming. They didn't accept Him, nor John the Baptist, but intead John was beheaded and they had our Lord Jesus crucified. That put His Kingdom to come into abeyance, still waiting to manifest today. That's how the Isaiah 40:1-5 Scripture would have... been completely fulfilled as written, IF... God's people in Jerusalem had accepted Jesus of Nazareth as The Christ with His first coming.
But now, we await Christ's second coming to completely fulfill this Isaiah 40 prophecy, for it's timeline is still yet future to us today, and it's about earth changes He will bring on this earth with His second coming.
Did you notice how referring to other relevant Bible Scripture about that "highway" and waters flowing in the desert, helped discover the timeline for the Isaiah 40:1-5 events? And we also had to be careful about the idea of Jerusalem's iniquity being pardoned, and her warfare being ended. None of that was really difficult. It just took time and bit of Bible cross-referencing to do it. Asking ourselves whether or not the Scripture event itself had been fulfilled already was also important to rightly divide the timeline of the Scripture.
