A Shelter in the Time of Storm
Those who choose to follow God in this life are buffeted by devils who come eagerly to try us: as they persecuted Jesus they also do us. In II Esdras 13:1-11 is the prophecy of the Son of God, how he was taken from many waters as Moses was. Multitudes of devils came to subdue him, but this man flew up on a mountain which is heaven, and from there he burned them. At that time also he gathered a multitude in peace. This vision is exactly the same as Revelation 12. In another sense it is Revelation 20:8-9 where Satan was let loose against the beloved city compassing the whole breadth of the earth for possession of the children of God. In this sense, you are the "lively stones" making up the walls from I Peter 2:5, and you, that is, your bodies are the "buildings" or houses of that city, spiritual Jerusalem, as Paul said in Matthew 12:43-45; I Corinthians 3:9.
The role of devils against the children of God and the whole world was expressed in Revelation 13:6-7, "And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and his tabernacle and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints (and the hurtful part) and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations". Daniel also wrote how long this demonic captivity would be, saying, "I beheld the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; Until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom," Daniel 7:21-22. This kingdom is not in Palestine where devils are still wrecking the Jews and the Arabs. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this earth," in John 18:36. So Daniel has said that devils will prevail against the saints until God moves to gather the elect on the last day.
Satan and his children were observed by the spirit in WISDOM of Solomon 2:10-20, plotting against the righteous man, using the law of God to their advantage and condemning him with it. Paul also wrote that devils will use the Book against us when he wrote in -I3, "Sin taking occasion by the commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence; I was alone without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. Was that which is good made death to me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be exceeding sinful".
Jesus as a prophet used his disciples as actors in what I call a living prophecy to show us the struggle to come. In each case the disciples were out in troubled waters and storms came, and they were in danger of perishing. The waters are defined with the two edges of the Word of God: (1) The first edge defines the waters as the children of men under demonic captivity whom devils use to work much violence. This definition is in Revelation 17:15 where the waters are multitudes of nations, kindreds, and tongues, and people under control of the knowledge of evil whose name is properly called Babylon. (And she called the ancient nation she controlled by her own name). (2) The second definition of the waters is from Revelation 12:15 where Satan cast water out of his mouth like a flood to sweep away the woman and her children. Isaiah wrote "the wicked are like a troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God to the wicked," Isaiah 57:20-21. We are wrestling Satan's floods, principalities and powers of darkness.
Now using those two- edged definitions, let us look at (1) how devils alone and (2) how devils using possessed men under their control can make a saint's life miserable. You are now in a "little ark" and not drowning as some are, but you are disciples rowing on the sea- Read Matthew 8:23-27. When the floods of trouble are over you both from (1) devils in your fellow men, (2) from devils plaguing you, keep praying even if it seems that Jesus is not hearing. He is not asleep, but God will often let us undergo trials like Job did. You might appear to be receiving punishment for sins and even your fellow saints may accuse you wrongly, but God wants you to sparkle and shine with His glory before Satan's eyes. Don't give up and sin. Shine on even though pressure has become your cross. If you need help, just call Simon. God caused him to help Jesus bare the weight of the cross when he was crucified. Today, all of you are named Simon as Paul wrote in I Corinthians 9:22 "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some." Also, "The strong ought to bare the infirmities of the weak," Romans 15:1.
Read Matthew 14:22-31. While you are wrestling with principalities and powers of darkness, God can come to you in the form of this scripture, "He that receiveth you, receiveth me, He that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me," Matthew 10:40. Do not call your brother Beelzebub, if he can tread Satan's floods. When the twelve could not cast out devils, one man whom they forbade because he did not follow with them was given that power by God which they did not receive until Pentecost. But notice how Jesus reproved them in Luke 9:50, "Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us." God is using the wounded and bruised to smite Babylon. Remember, Samson might have been a lover of harlots, but he used the jawbone of an ass to destroy God's enemy. An ass is an unclean animal, and an ox is a clean minister as Paul said of God's chosen ministers. "Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth the corn," I Corinthians 9:9. What about the ass? Read Matthew 21:1-11. Ministers not following with you are carrying the name of Jesus, lifting up his name before Heavenly Jerusalem, Isaiah 1:2-4, while some Jews are worse off than a stubborn ox. But God has blessed both kinds of ministers chosen and man-made as it is written, Isaiah 32:20.
Just like the Holy Ghost showed Peter about the animals when he was told to rise, slay, and eat, see that you refrain from forbidding them to work because they do not follow you. Cornelius might have been like a stag, but he was a clean and a good man. Now let us see where the asses of Israel are from. Read Genesis 49:14-15. Some of your brethren are strong asses but do not forbid them to cast out devils and clean up a few lives because they do not follow you. Remember, there were two covenants, and Christ will not do away with one jot or tittle of the law or the prophets until EVERYTHING is fulfilled, Matthew 5:17-18. Here is how God fights His enemy. Read Jeremiah 37:9-10. I tell you if Satan should smite the whole world of mankind and leave wounded men, God would make them blast devils with fire in His word. Under the Holy Ghost, "a bruised reed He will not break and a smoking flax he will not quench until he brings judgment unto truth," Isaiah 42:1-4. Notice this is the Holy Ghost and not Jesus who preached in the streets. This is a work that believers can believe without wondering as a despiser and perishing, Acts 13:41. It is a work, a strange work, and an act, a strange act, Isaiah 28:21. Jephthah was a harlot's son, and Samson loved Harlots, but God chose both to judge Israel. Learn the message in Matthew 12:41-42; John 16:11; Ephesians 6:12.
Now if you see your brother overtaken in a fault, win him with meekness, Galatians 6:1. "That they may recover themselves from the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will," II Timothy 2:26. "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, and devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy, and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace, James 3:14-18. Salt your words and have peace with one another.
Now we will test the receptiveness of your ears to the Spirit of God according to the scripture in I Corinthians 2:12, "Which things we also speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost speaketh comparing spiritual things with spiritual". Now only the Word of God is spiritual as Jesus said in John 6:63. Therefore "precept must be on precept, precept on precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little there a little," as Isaiah wrote in chapter . But to learn doctrine, you must be weaned from milk and taken off the breast as Isaiah testified in the same chapter and verse John. Grow up into a man quickly and finish this letter, I Corinthians 14:20; Hebrews 5:13-14.
To begin "the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth shows His handiwork, Psalm 19:1.
Read Psalm 104:10-12
God is the one who gives food and drink to the beasts and birds both clean and unclean. Read Matthew 5:44-45.
Read Psalm 49:20
Your fellow man whom God honored by creating him in His image who is ignorant and bound in sin is parabolized as beasts. Read Acts 11:5-17.
God has made a perpetual covenant with Men of Israel and ignorant men like beasts which He signified with a rainbow. He remembers it. How about you?
All men are God's offspring whose spirits He created first in heaven and placed in bodies of clay in this earth. He let them down from heaven and will draw them up again. "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world," Acts 15:18. Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this earth," John 3:13.
Read Isaiah 45:9-12
No man is qualified to teach the Father not to draw all His animals back to heaven from whence they came, Isaiah 40:13-14,28. Although the "dragon's floods" sweep them and "the Beast" possesses their bodies, God has them in His sheet-like net, Matthew 13:47-48. God is their shelter although Satanic winds are blowing and casting up dirt and mire troubling the sea, Isaiah 57:20-21.
Isaiah asked how long the duration of Peter's vision would last before being drawn back to heaven. Since mankind is netted in God's sheet, they will be removed to heaven in the desolation of the world. There they will be taught of God and transformed to remove the ways of the "Beast" learned in this life on earth. This whole thing was summed up in a vision shown to Enoch in chapter . In particular, teaching and transformation are expressed in Enoch 90:33-38.