Hubris
"Hubris" is over-weening pride or self-confidence as when a man like the Khazar Jew, oligarch and traitor Yevgeny Viktorovich Prigozhin, or a state shows itself to be God. We will be looking at some well-known examples from the Old Testament which foreshadow a soon-coming event. With the future in mind we acquaint ourselves with the historic figures of the prophecies we so often study while we are asking God to draw out their import to Israel of old and the world today, noting how He warned those ancient people often over many centuries in advance, yet they failed to recognize their day and its Message. With the benefit of history and hindsight, these prophecies should have been obvious to Israel back then, and more so to us 2,700 years later.
"Grace, grace the Capstone cried" (Zechariah 4:7). This end-time Bride is the Capstone that finishes the Building for we are one with Christ the fullness of the Word. Though we shout the Message from the rooftops, churchmen and women scoff and declare, "We are rich and have need of nothing, we have all of Christ!" They know not that spiritually they are blind, bankrupt and naked of the blood of the Word."
Khazar Jew Sir Klaus Schwab mimics, "You will own nothing, and you will be happy"! God's prophecy should be absolute to people in THIS day.
First the prophecy of Isaiah 14:1-23 dated about 712BC, "For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers (Heb. 'ger' foreigners) shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob [as proselytes]. And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. [Speaking of their return from the Babylonian captivity almost 200 years in the future].
And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve, That you shall take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, [upon his death and the fall of his empire. A contrast between his proud estate in life and his ignominious condition in death. It might be more accurate historically to identify the prophecy with the kingdom rather than the king of Babylon. The same spirit was manifest in each of four successive world empires which destroyed each other yet remained substantially the same]. The taunt says:
"How has the oppressor ceased! the insolent city ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked [by which he oppressed], and the scepter of the rulers. [Ironically, the Pope carries this symbol of office]. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders.
The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing, [even nature rejoices]. Yea, the fir trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since you were laid low, no feller has come up against us [because Babylon no longer requires timber for engines of war, ships and construction].
Hell from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come: it arouses the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; raises all the kings of from their thrones." [As the world of the living begins to enjoy repose by the departure of the Babylonian king, so the world of the dead is disturbed by his arrival. Notice, death does not change our station or our attributes; we possess the same nature and honour there as we do here in this life. Remember when the witch of Endor summoned Samuel from the grave? Saul recognized him by her description and although dead, he was still a prophet. The ancient pagan kings took food, servants, clothing, ships, and warriors with them to the grave as they imagined might be required in the afterlife. We can see the rationale behind the terra cotta warriors buried in the tomb of the Chinese Emperor, and elaborate accouterments with the pharaohs].
"All the dead shall speak and say to you, Even you are as weak as we [to the ancients, the dead were considered just "the weakened"]? You have become like unto us?" [The dead, who preserve conscious memory of the PAST (Revelation 6:9-11) are astounded at the fall of one so great].
The Narrator says, "Your pomp is brought down to the grave, and the music of your harps: the maggots are spread as your bed under you, and the worms are your covering." [The state of the king's corpse being left to corruption instead of being cared for and embalmed, is thought to affect the condition of his spirit in the underworld (Isaiah 14:19). It was considered derisive to scatter the bones, or cremate and scatter to the four winds the ashes of the deceased, and analogous to destroying his spirit. So the importance of funerary rites, with careful mummification, elaborate tombs properly situated, and offerings FOR the dead is requisite among the heathen.
Now we can understand how Ezekiel 39 and Revelation 19 which portray the unburied state of the godless: devoured by wild beasts to become dung on the field, their bones scattered to the winds, the weapons being burned seven years as fuel for cooking and warmth are HYPERBOLE emphasizing the ignominy of their defeat and not to be understood literally. If this study achieves one thing, it is to draw this point to our attention as an aid in our understanding of the apocalypse].
"How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [Day Star or radiant one. Stars were believed to be celestial powers, exercising great influence over human fortunes, and the metaphor extends not only to the brilliant estate and dazzling career of this Babylonian king but to his aspirations to equal or surpass these heavenly potentates such that his fall is likened to the fall of Satan (Luke 10:18)] how you are down to the ground, you who weakened the nations" [or cut to the ground as corpses]!
"For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven," [it was Nebuchadnezzar's ambition to rise above the sidereal powers and equal God, you will recall Daniel 4 where he attributed the greatness of his kingdom solely to his own ability and for his own majesty, when in fact God raised him up as His servant to punish Judah's idolatry. On account of hubris, God caused the king to be insane so that he lived as an animal and ate grass in the field for seven years until he returned the glory to Him.
"Babylon is given to pleasures, and dwells carelessly, saying in its heart, I AM, AND NONE ELSE BESIDE ME; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children" (Isaiah 47:8). Seven hundred years later almost the same words are used by Jesus in Revelation 18:7 of MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT].
I will exalt My throne above the STARS OF GOD [or highest stars] I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, [the Babylonians believed there existed a mountain, Arula, where the gods dwelled together] in the sides of the north. [The Babylonians placed this sacred Mountain in the north, possibly because the polar star as the highest point was considered the abode of deity].
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High (Heb.) 'Elyon.' Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit (or depth of Sheol, as the Babylonians imagined it, below the waters under earth's crust under the mount of the congregation thus intensifying the contrast between the king's ambition and his real fate.
Verses 13-15 seem to have been in the mind of Christ when He indicted Capernaum. Luke 10:15-16, "And you, Capernaum, which is exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell. He that hears you hears Me; and he that despises you despises Me; and he that despises Me despises Him that sent Me" (Matthew 11:23).
These Words of Jesus were inspired to Brother Branham when he indicted Los Angeles ". . . you don't know what time that this city one day is going to be laying out here in the bottom of this ocean. "O, Capernaum," said Jesus, "you who exalted into Heaven will be brought down into hell . . . for if the mighty works which have been done in you, had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah, it would be standing to this day." And Sodom and Gomorrah lays at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and Capernaum is in the bottom of the sea.
"Thou city, who claims to be the city of the Angels, who has exalted yourself into Heaven and sent all the dirty filthy things of fashions and things, until even the foreign countries come here to pick up our filth and send it away, with your fine churches and steeples, and so forth the way you do—remember, one day, you will be laying in the bottom of this sea! You're great honeycomb under you right now. The wrath of God is belching right beneath you. How much longer He will hold this sandbar hanging over that, when that ocean out yonder a mile deep will slide in there plumb back to the Salton Sea. It will be worse than the last day of Pompeii. Repent, Los Angeles! Repent the rest of you and turn to God! The hour of His wrath is upon the earth. Flee while there is time to flee and come into Christ" (65-0425E, Choosing a Bride, par. 229-232).
Hubris!
The men on earth that see you shall narrowly look upon, and consider thee, saying, "Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?"
All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, everyone in the tomb he prepared during his lifetime [because Babylon's fall permitted them to go home from the fields of battle].
But you are cast out of your grave like a severed branch [or an aborted child who has never existed] and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit [or lowest parts of Sheol because their bodies have not received proper burial]; as a carcass trodden under feet. You shall not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, and slain your people: the seed of evildoers shall never be esteemed. [The sense is that the king of Babylon was left on the field of battle with the slain and did not receive the burial due his rank. The loss of proper burial was accounted as producing humiliation for the king in Sheol. There was a correspondence with what happened to the dead person in or outside the grave and what took place in the underworld. And someone who remains unburied lacks even that little peace death can bring men].
Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities [to control subject populations. His offspring too are slaughtered, since from the seed of the tyrant one could expect further crimes and a renewed attempt to seize world power with all its terrible consequences for the inhabitants of the earth, his sons too have to be slaughtered. This was the case with Dathan and Koreh (Numbers 16:23-35), and denominational believers in the end-time will be left "neither root nor branch" (Revelation 2:21-24; 20:5; Malachi 4:1).
It was Cain the Serpent seed who first built cities. A city is a place guarded by waking or a watch. And there were seven watches through the Gentile dispensation, typing cities of refuge for manslayers established under the Old Testament wherein the guilty were protected but could not venture out until after the death of the high priest (Numbers 35:25) who typed the "angel" or messenger to each Church Age. So long as believers abode in the place God had chosen to place His Name, the Word for their Age, they were walking in the Light and the Blood of Jesus Christ cleansed them from all unbelief. But those who settled in denominational walled cities impersonating the Word for a day gone by, being ignorant of "the present Truth" are souls imprisoned now by "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT".
Even as God was prophesying slaughter for the children of Babylon who one hundred years in the future would take Judah captive seventy years, He was setting a pattern for Rome and her denominational children now being bound by the Holy Spirit as tares into the World Council of Churches for the burning (Matthew 3:12; 13:24-30, 36-43; Revelation 2:20-24; 14:9-13; 19:20).
"For I will rise up against Babylon, says the LORD of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name, and remnant, and son, and nephew, says the LORD.
I will also make it a possession for the bittern [hedgehog or porcupine] and pools of water: and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the LORD of hosts." [Babylon was surrounded by marshes and the country was often inundated by floods, whose violence was reduced by a system of canals. The neglect of these works after the destruction of the city would naturally turn the area into a swamp].
Now Satan is not called the god of any other age but this age, for it is in our day that he truly takes control not only of the governments but of the hearts of men. For when we reject God's revealed Word for our own reason, we accept Satan's word which is the hiss of the Serpent. We make Satan our god. To whom we yield ourselves servants to obey, whose servants we are (Romans 6:16).
Hubris plays a focal part in the cosmic battle, yet we didn't know what the word meant. From the very beginning it was Satan's ambition to be like God. Let's read that again. We will just take our time.
Isaiah 14:12-15, "How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! You have been cut down to the ground, you who have weakened the nations! For you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: [nicolaitanism which God hates, forming a hierarchy of clergy above the Sons of God, taking God's power and the Authority of His Word unto themselves as mediators and dispensers of the Holy Spirit and His goodness and gifts]. I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the side of the north".
It was Satan's ambition to be worshipped like God. He took one third of the stars of Heaven, Shem's children, preached to them, and cast them to earth by the lie he told (Revelation 12:4). He's now deceived the other two-thirds of Adam's race, Ham and Japheth; the churches are apostate, and they know it not.
Now he is ready with a bride by his own knowledge, all painted up in his deceit of big buildings, big denominations and knowledge of theology to deceive the whole world and become a god, heading up into the person of the antichrist. He is already crowned the vicar of God by his scientific worldly bride, dressed up in pomp of intellectual, religious education. She is religious like Satan and by his interpretation of the Word of God just as Eve was. Carnal understanding like Cain didn't want a blood sacrifice. He thought God dwelt in beauty. He offered beauty upon his altar, the fruit of the field. Cain fell before God in worship, offered a sacrifice, obedient in every way, exactly like Abel. Very religious, but without revelation of the Word which was God's requirement from the beginning. God revealed that it was not religion, not an altar, not belonging to church, not making a sacrifice, not being sincere, but by the revelation of His Word. Notice what this fellow will do shortly. He'll sit in the temple of God, the church, revealing himself to be God (II Thessalonians 2:3-4).
Revelation 13:4-8, 11-12, "And they WORSHIPPED the dragon [Satan] which gave power unto the beast: and they WORSHIPPED the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given him to continue forty two months. And he opened his mouth in BLASPHEMY against God, to blaspheme his Name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven [stars]. And it was given him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And ALL that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the power of the first beast before him, and causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed".
We are living in the day of man, man's day. This is not God's day. God is not the god of this earth; the Bible says He's the God of Heaven. This is not God's day; this is choosing day by free moral agency. Either live for today and die; or choose God and live; God is the Word and eternal Life.
In I Corinthians 4:1-5, Paul spoke of being judged by man in man's day: "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and STEWARDS OF THE MYSTERIES [or secret purposes] of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful [or worthy of trust].
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be put on trial by YOU, or MAN'S JUDGMENT, yea, I judge not mine own self. [JUSTIFICATION is all of FAITH, the life I live I live by the faith of Jesus Christ and if you have It you will not be contentious. And no man can judge the faith except he who has it. If you don't have it, you're not equipped to be my judge. He that is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is judged of no MAN]. For I know nothing AGAINST myself; yet am I not hereby justified on that account: but he that judges me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, Who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God".
Now Paul is speaking of what Daniel called the time of the end when worldly "KNOWLEDGE would increase, and men would be ever learning, and never able to come into the faith." In the days of the Voice of the seventh angel the mystery of God was finished" and he introduced the second or (Gk.) "parousia" Coming of Christ the fullness of the Word in the office Son of man and "the spirit of wisdom and revelation of Christ entered into us." For the Word is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart to prepare us for the day of the Lord, the translation, and eventually, the Great White Throne Judgment when we will judge the world.
Nevertheless, we live in man's day when the works and knowledge of men is glorified. The world today is dedicated to Satan's intellectual knowledge by learning without understanding. Man's day is glorified, not by the revelation of God's Word, but by hubris!
His works are exalted above God's manifested Word. Like the wisdom Satan gave Eve at the beginning, the wisdom of Satan is exalted to the throne of worship in man above the vindicated Word of God for the hour. Churches prove that by their seminaries. Doctor So-and-so, teacher So-and-so, and professor So-and-so have exalted their own knowledge (so-called) from Satan, far above the VINDICATED promises of God for THIS day made clear before them.
Jesus said, "You hypocrites, by your tradition (that's their interpretation) you've made the Word of God of no effect to the people." And they've done the same thing today. It doesn't have any effect.
Notice, the people believe the denomination more than they believe God, and God is the Word. They'll believe their denominational creed above the Word, which exalts Satan above all that's called God. And there's only one God, and He is the Word. So he as God sits in the church proving that he is God, because he's got the people worshiping him.
The god of this age has exalted himself above the true, vindicated Word of God; and he is praised for it. Oh, see that deception. He is praised for it and solemnly believed by the people of this evil age. Now, do you see the god and his servants of this evil age?
According to Malachi Martin, in his book, "The Keys of This Blood" (page 259), Pope Paul VI addressed the departing bishops of the Council of Vatican II on December 5, 1965. "He said, that their church had decided to opt for MAN; to serve MAN, to help him build his home on this earth. MAN with his ideas and his aims, MAN with his hopes and his fears, MAN in his difficulties and sufferings—that was the CENTERPIECE of the Roman church's interest".
Before his untimely death in 1999, Jewish Jesuit Malachi Martin, who was with Vatican intelligence assessing things in Israel and an adviser to three popes told Uri Dowbenko, "I think that from the very start John Paul II for whatever reasons has sought after one thing and one thing only. The formation of what now appears to be in his mind, a universal assemblage of Catholics at the core; grouped with them the Protestant denominations, sects and churches; grouped around them believing Jews, believing Muslims, believing Hindus, believing Buddhists. And that would be a universal religious assembly that could have a powerful dynamic kick in civilization and in solving the problems of men and women today. That is the only thing you can really say this man has sought heart and soul and body with all his traveling. . ." (Uri Dowbenko, Bushwhacked: Inside Stories of True Conspiracy, p. 213). World religions are uniting against Christ the Word.
He says he is making a better world for them to live in by his knowledge APART from the never-failing Word of God. By uniting denominations, and creeds, and science and so forth, he is making a better world for men to live in, and IGNORING the promise of God that the ONLY time the world will be fit to live in is in the Millennium. In my opinion he's made a better world to SIN in.
In Australia, Satan has legalized sin. He's legalized alcohol, adultery, fornication, no fault divorce, homosexuality, illegitimacy, abortion, idleness, transgenderism, miscegenation, blasphemy, pornographic movies, juvenile delinquency, gambling, cigarette smoking and marijuana. And the churches legislated that women can belong with short hair, wear shorts, cosmetics, jeans, preach and even pastor, which is absolutely contrary to the Word of God. They say it's all right. The SAME lie he told Eve in the Garden. God loves you so much Eve, He surely will not mind if you reject just one little Word. And she believes him, she loves him for it. She hates God. Her own actions PROVE she does. She says she loves Him, but she loves Satan. She worships the god of fashion, the god of the world, Hollywood goddesses.
She loves him, but she HATES the true Word of God, which is the ONLY true God there is. Legalizes it: "In the churches our women can do this, that, or the other." But she's not even permitted to come into the Presence of the Living God unless she repents. Satan is the god of WORLDLY beauty. She wants to look beautiful, and he is the god of beauty from the beginning. By his knowledge in science and materials he can create an illusion of beauty for this modern age.
In the beginning, Seth and his children never went the scientific way. They were humble herdsmen, farmers, and so forth. But Cain's children did, inspired by their vicarious father, the devil. Soon he will take his intellectual bride and exalt this great one which is the antichrist, and set him upon a throne, and the whole world will wonder after him. Then Christ will come, for and two cannot exist in the same time. His kingdom will be taken and he will be destroyed, and Christ shall take the throne of His father David and reign on earth for a thousand years, then present the Church to God without spot or blemish (65-0801M, God of This Evil Age, par. 77-110, 121-126, 159).
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God. Finally, the king of Babylon came to his senses and gave glory to God. Daniel 4:37, "Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, Whose works are all truth, and His ways judgment: and THOSE THAT WALK IN PRIDE HE IS ABLE TO ABASE".
Now let us examine the hubris of the king of Tyre:
Isaiah 23:1-18, "The burden of Tyre. Lament, ships of Tarshish; for Tyre is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in [harbour]: the rumors you heard in the land of Chittim [Cyprus] were true. Be still, [Silence!] you inhabitants of the isle; you whom the merchants of Sidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished [or filled]. And by great waters the seed of Sihor, [a canal grain port in Egypt] the harvest of the river, is Tyre's revenue; and she is a mart of nations.
Be thou ashamed, O Sidon: [the mother city of Tyre now bereaved of her children] for the sea has spoken, even the strength of the sea, saying, I travail not, nor bring forth children, neither do I nourish up young men, nor bring up virgins.
When the report reaches Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the news of Tyre. Pass over to seek safety in Tarshish as refugees; howl, you inhabitants of the isle. [Tyre was originally a series of colonies on the coast of Palestine but the king joined two islands on which he built a fortified city and harbours linked to the mainland by a three quarter mile long causeway].
Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days? her own feet carried her afar off to sojourn or colonize different lands. WHO has taken this counsel against Tyre, the CROWNING city [empire builder], whose merchants are princes, whose merchants were the honoured of the earth?
THE LORD OF HOSTS has purposed it, to defile the PRIDE of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honoured of the earth. Pass through your land as a river, [sail on], O daughter of Tarshish: there is no more strength [to force you to pay tribute]. He stretched out his hand over the sea, He shook the kingdoms: the LORD has given a commandment against the merchant city, to destroy the strong holds thereof. And He said, you will no more rejoice, O you oppressed virgin, daughter of Sidon: arise, escape to Chittim; there also you will have no rest.
Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people was not, till the Assyrian [your traditional enemy] founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness: They will set up the siege works, they [not Assyria your traditional foe] will overthrow the palaces; and bring it to ruin.
Lament, you ships of Tarshish: for your home port of Tyre and your strength is laid waste. And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the reign of one Babylonian king: after the end of seventy years shall Tyre sing as a harlot. Take a harp, go about the city, you harlot that has been forgotten; make sweet melody, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.
And it shall come to pass after the end of seventy years, that the LORD will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her hire, and shall play the harlot [resume her commerce] with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the LORD: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for quality clothing".
In 841, 803 and 730BC, Assyria received tribute from Tyre, by means of which the city retained a large measure of autonomy but fell to Assyria in 722BC.
In about 715BC, Isaiah prophesied that Babylon would defeat Tyre, as we have just read, and for the reign of one Chaldean king, (70 years from the Battle of Carchemesh to the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus), "Tyre shall be forgotten." Afterward the Lord would assist Tyre to renew her commercial intercourse with all the countries of the earth, which is compared with the amorous solicitations of a harlot. But her gain was to be "holiness to the Lord." Paul ministered to the Church in Tyre, who prophesied he should not go up to Jerusalem (Acts 21:3-6). For centuries they generously applied their wealth to the work of the Lord.
Let's read Ezekiel's prophecy of almost 130 years later, just before Nebuchadnezzar II commenced his thirteen-year long siege of Tyre.
Ezekiel 28:1-19, "The Word of the LORD came again to me, saying, Son of man, tell the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet you are a man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God:
[The ruler of Tyre has been led to imagine himself as more than human, and his island city impregnable, like the seat of the gods which was imagined to be a mountain. To the Israelites this was Mount Horeb and later Zion (Exodus 3:1; I Kings 19:8; Psalm 48:2), to the Canaanites it was Mount Zaphon in Syria, to the Greeks Mount Olympus, to Romans a certain one of seven hills on which Vatican City State is built. The pagans often built artificial mountains or ziggurats as the focus of their worship.
All of these holy mountains were patterned after mountain of God in Eden whence flowed ONE river and source of all life, which parted into four heads symbolized by the four Cherubim. These "lively creatures" exhibit the fourfold nature of God's own Life which He is imparting to His Family. The physical attributes of these four are amalgamated and combined with emphasis upon the property of life peculiar to each: the majesty and strength of the lion, the patient and productive labour of the ox (or calf), the rational and moral nature of man, and the far sight and winged velocity of the eagle.
The kind of Life symbolized by the cherubim was Life most nearly and essentially connected with God—Life as shall be held by those who dwell in His immediate Presence and form the very covering of His throne whether His peculiar dwelling place were in the Garden of Eden, the Holy of Holies made by men's hands, the 144,000, or Christ and His Bride. God requires of all who are about Him, the property of Life, and the beauty of holiness in connection with it].
"Behold, you are wiser than Daniel (Ezekiel 14:4; Daniel 6:3); there is no secret that they can hide from you: with your wisdom and with your understanding you have gotten riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures: by your great wisdom and by your traffic you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches":
[Tyre's "wisdom" was clearly commercial. Her desire for profit went far beyond acceptable bounds as evidenced by the city's reaction to the fall of Jerusalem, her former ally: "Aha, Jerusalem is broken that was the controller of the north/south trade routes along the coast to the Jordan River: I shall fall heir because she is laid waste" (Ezekiel 26:2). Ironically Tyre's pursuit of greater achievement, greater glory, and greater profits caused her total loss].
"Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; because you have set your heart as the heart of God [to the Hebrews the heart is the intelligence]; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon you, the terrible of the nations [Babylon]: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom [Tyre's beauty was her physical wealth, "beauty of your wisdom" meant her prosperity attained through wisdom], and they shall defile your brightness.
They shall bring you down to the pit, and you shall die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. [The "seat of the gods" in the midst of the sea shall become the grave of Tyre].
Will you yet say before him that slays you, I am God? but you shall be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that slays you. You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers [a term of contempt to the Philistines]: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD".
Ezekiel 28:10, the plural "deaths" (Ezekiel 28:8, 10) should be rendered violent death although clearly it indicates he will die the second death of the uncircumcised. The Phoenicians practiced circumcision whilst the Babylonians did not, so not only would his vaunted power fail him, he would die a dishonorable death outside God's Covenant by those he despised religiously.
Ezekiel 28:1-19 is a prophecy in two distinct parts, an address to the Prince of Tyrus, Ittobalus, and a lamentation upon the King of Tyrus, Satan. Of the prince it is said that he will be slain by the hand of strangers, and the word translated "slain" means "thrust through" with sword or spear: but the king is to be devoured by fire, and brought to ashes upon the earth. In the first ten verses Ittobalus is represented as exulting in the strength of his sea-girt city, and likening himself, in proud reliance upon his inaccessible dwelling, to the God that sits above the heavens: he is ironically told that he is wiser than Daniel, whose fame was evidently world-wide at the time: his presumption is ascribed to his commercial wisdom, and the vast riches he had acquired. But because he had set his heart as the heart of the Most High, therefore the terrible of the nations, that is, the Chaldeans, should come against him; and, when about to be slain by a man, he should at length discover that he was no god. He is a prototype of Paul's "man of sin who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the Temple of God, showing himself that he is God" (II Thessalonians 2:4.)
The king of Tyrus is Satan.
"Moreover the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; You seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty [a signet or seal used to ensure a document is genuine or complete.
Lucifer was the signet to confirm or seal that which was complete: God's finished creation, with man in his image and after His likeness. He was to guard and guide man into the Presence. Unlike the naked innocence of Adam, he was beautifully adorned sealing up the whole measure of perfection, full of wisdom (knowledge), and perfect in beauty. God was speaking to Satan who was in the king of Tyrus circled by beauty, as he had been in the beautiful Serpent in the Garden of Eden. A beautiful seal is echoed in the description of its setting. Brother Branham said "even the curse didn't take away all of his beauty" (58-0928E, Serpent's Seed, par. 146-148)].
You have been in Eden the Garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created".
[Tyre, which abounded in material luxuries, is idealized and likened to the earthly paradise created by God. Like Rome, the "eternal city" built on seven hills—the Bible says the riches and luxuries of the world are found in her. And Los Angeles in California with its blue skies and warm climate attracts the wealth and luxuries of the world together with the most beautiful people in the mecca of those who aspire to touch the hem of its illusions.
The word "covering" should be defense or protection, as in a wall or the hedge in a garden. This connection between temple and garden is quite obvious to the Eastern mind, for a temple in the ancient East was not a building but a sacred enclosure surrounding a small shrine. The earliest Semitic sanctuaries were gardens planted in oases where the unexpected fertility of the soil suggested to them the presence of a beneficent deity.
An ancient sanctuary was protected against profanation by an enclosing wall; to this Ezekiel 28:13 alludes in the words "every precious stone was thy defense (or protection)." That the wall is said to be built of precious stones is, of course, hyperbole, signifying the preciousness of that within its enclosure. The description has parallels in Isaiah 54:11 "and I will make all your wall of precious stones" and Revelation 21:18-21. For the connection of temple and garden, one may point to Psalms 116:19; 135:2 and 92:12-13 where the courts and house are analogous. The Tabernacle of Witness and Solomon's Temple preserved the meaning of Eden, the garden-sanctuary: their walls were adorned with figures of guardian cherubim (Genesis 3:24), palm trees and flowers (I Kings 6:29, 32). Out of this wall of stones the serpent was cast.
Some pagan religions have snakes to guard their temple; the association between Lucifer and the serpent is "so close" as deceived the non-elect. Chinese and the Australian Aborigines worship that old Serpent, the Dragon and the standard of the Roman legions was a red or purple dragon. Many church people can't distinguish between them.
In the Book of Numbers we find the four cherubim represent the Tribes of Israel under Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan which camped about the Ark of the Covenant and defended the Place of the Presence. In Revelation 22 this same symbolism represents twelve gates in the jeweled walls of New Jerusalem on which are written the names of the Twelve tribes. They are the servants and defense of the Presence which is Christ and His Bride].
You are the anointed cherub that protects; and I have set you so: you were upon the holy mountain of God; you have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
[As the cherubim spread their wings over the ark in the temple on the holy mountain, a type of the Garden of God, so the king is described as the protector of this garden of God—Tyre, rising like a mountain from the deep. Lucifer was the "son of the morning." "Satan had the earth, the very rocks that he once walked up and down on the earth, burning brimstones. Lucifer was the son of the morning, and he walked on the earth when it was a burning volcano. Those same rocks that had cooled off, when Jesus died at Calvary, belched forth out of the earth. The price was paid and the bondage of Satan was broke" (60-0923, That Day on Calvary, par. 59)].
You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you. [The king of Tyre's perfection was outward only. Vast wealth filled him with conceit and proved it a false show. And it was not until Satan entered into the beast in the Garden of Eden and deceived Eve that he was profaned (Genesis 3:14-15.)
[The Pope is the antitype of Lucifer's initial office as the anointed cherubim that protects. Claiming the keys of Saint Peter and wearing the triple crown of authority over heaven, earth and purgatory, he claims to guard and lead men into the Place of the Presence. The Pope's claim is the grossest nicolaitanism. The keys of Peter is the faith of Jesus Christ which is the baptism of the Holy Ghost or new birth which unlocks the Kingdom of God. Cast down, Satan will incarnate the Pope in his final impersonation of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who has "the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18). The "keys of hell and death" are resurrection power, or grace to bring the Bride under such preeminence to the Word that the Holy Spirit can again be waived for the resurrection of the sleeping saints in the manifestation the sons of God, to give her translation faith.
This twofold address to the king and the spirit in the king parallels Eve's first encounter with Satan, symbolized as the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil per medium of the Serpent's body. The Serpent was a man-like creature—great handsome giant of a fellow, reminiscent also of Holy Spirit's call to the churches (plural) in each Age. For the Message was Life and peace to the little elect and separated church, but condemnation to Satan's great worldly church].
"By the multitude of your slander they have filled your midst with violence [against My revealed Word], and you have sinned: therefore I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.
[The lamentation upon the King of Tyrus (Ezekiel 28:11-19) contains expressions which cannot be applied to any mortal and only Satan was upon the Holy Mountain of God, and walked in the Garden of Eden, up and down in the midst of the Stones of Fire].
Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness: I will cast you to the ground; I will lay you before kings, that they may behold you. [The prince here personifies Tyre, which being profane, can no longer inhabit this island "mountain of God".
His wisdom and wealth are not denied. But he also claims to be wise as a god, and more—he claims to be a god. And when a human being is not satisfied with the preceding and wants to deify himself, God intervenes. States do have god-like powers over their subjects but when the state refuses to acknowledge that there may be any power greater than it, anything to which the state itself may be held responsible, that it begins to deify itself and becomes a devil and not a god, and the One God. The UN with its NWO is moving rapidly toward this state of hubris].
You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from your midst, it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you.
[The prince of Tyre has profaned his sanctuary as Lucifer profaned Eden. This fire is the antitype of the flaming sword that kept the way of the Tree of Life in Eden. The evil in the midst of Tyre will be the flame which reduces her to ashes as by their own evil God permitted man to destroy the world in the days of Noah, As the evil within Rome and the USA will kindle the atomic spark in Russia which burns the Vatican, and the USA from the face of the earth, and ignites Armageddon, destroying all life on earth.]
All they that know you among the people shall be astonished at you: you shall be a terror, and never shall you be any more".
The "prince of Tyrus" was Ittobalus, or Ethbaal II, priest-king of Tyre which was originally settled as a colony of Sidon (Isaiah 23:12) and later founded colonies of its own, including Carthage. This king made many alliances to protect and extend Phoenician trade.
His claims centered on the impregnability of his island city and the survival of his power. The self-confidence of the king, who functions as a symbolic figure for the city state of Tyre, had an attitude of proud defiance against Nebuchadnezzar, and therefore Jehovah.
Jeremiah had proclaimed to Ethbaal among others that Jehovah had set Nebuchadnezzar as king over him (Jeremiah 27:3-8). His defiance of the king of Babylon based on the strength of Tyre was a defiance of Jehovah as well.
Stunned at Jerusalem's fall, the Jewish exiles imagined Tyre's resistance to Nebuchadnezzar might turn the tide for them. Ezekiel's prophecy is intended to counter this false optimism which opposed God's will revealed through Jeremiah: "after seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform My good work toward you, in causing you to return to Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 29:10). The "Times of the Gentiles" had begun with Nebuchadnezzar's captivity of Jerusalem and the old order had to go.
This hubris (pride) when the state becomes god types Rome and the beast. In the final hubris, the King of Tyrus types Satan incarnate in the "pope out of the USA." Brother Branham said, "I believe one of these days when the united confederation of church goes together and the new pope is brought out of the United States and put over there according to prophecy, then they'll form an image like unto the beast [Revelation 13]. And I tell you, the true Church of God will be drove together. The real true believers OUT of Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Pentecostals, Nazarene, Pilgrim Holiness, whatever they'll be, will go together, cemented by the love of God, that'll make the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, all the believers [Revelation 18:4]. And agnostics and shallow-minded will be cast to one side; they'll go right on into the confederation of churches" (54-1219E, Acts of the Holy Spirit, par. 87).
Reviewing the seven consecutive visions which came to him one morning in 1933 he said, "Women, given the right to vote, elected President-elect Kennedy—the woman's vote. The wrong man, which will finally be to full control of the Catholic church in the United States; then the bomb comes that explodes her . . . No wonder the vision of the Lord says here that I saw it finally come to a spot where she was just one big smoldering heap. She was blown up . . ." (60-1113, Hybrid Religion, par. 42, 146).
Brother Branham took as his Bible type, Pharaoh Raamses in the days of the Exodus, who didn't know the blessings of Joseph. And the antitype of this natural man who understood politics and military power but was not spiritual, was President Kennedy who, being Roman Catholic, knew not our Joseph, the Lord Jesus Christ. When he took office, could not swear that he believed in freedom of religion (63-0630M, Third Exodus, par. 116-145; An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 322:2).
Corrupt politics through the UN and a confederacy of apostate Protestant churches, will cause the United States by military might and her dollar (once it has been refinanced by alliance between International Jews and the Vatican) to exercise all the power that the beast had before it, and FORCE the mark of the beast—the will and religion of Rome upon the world.
According to Revelation 17:3, Rome is controlling this last world power. "So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns." Another union of church and state as John explains in the remainder of the chapter by expounding the mystery of the seven heads and ten horns, in perfect correspondence to Daniel 2: 40-45 and 7:20-24, which describe the NWO union of East and West—the two legs of the image Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream in this day of the ten toes of iron and clay.
According to John 13:27, when the hour of the Prince of Darkness had come, Satan himself entered into Judas, and directed him to his fearful crime. So when the last great masterpiece of the Adversary shall appear, the Antichrist, whose coming, as Paul tells us, is after the working of Satan, and to whom the Dragon shall through organization, give his power, and his throne, and great authority (Revelation 13:1-18), it will be led by Satan incarnate. The beast spreads his influence through the image that was built for him—the World Council of Churches (ibid, 192:4-195:1; 234:2 - 237:3).
The King of Tyre is the Anointed Cherub that covers; he will incarnate the Pope as he incarnate the Serpent. After he is cast out from heaven, Satan incarnates this pope from the United States (Daniel 7:20-21; Revelation 12:9-17; 11:7; 13:7-10; 17:8-11). The Gentile dispensation ends with the earthquake of Revelation 16:18 sinking Los Angeles and much of California (Revelation 18:21-23).
This will sink the dollar. California contributes around 25% of America's GNP. Business throughout the world is based upon the US dollar and the wealthiest nations have their capital invested in US assets whose value is dependent upon the strength of the US military, economy and dollar, so they cannot afford to allow it to collapse and be replaced by a new debt-free currency. It would break them. Therefore there will be an alliance reached between Rome, the International Jews and the USA to refinance the US dollar. As Jacob had to make an alliance with Esau when he was returning to the Promised Land, the International Jews will need to make an alliance with the Gentiles after they reach a place of no more repentance and 144,000 Israelites begin to repatriate the Land of their Covenant.
After the earthquake strikes America, Russia will invade mainland USA, secure Israel's nuclear stockpile and energy assets. Through the UN, of which Vatican City State is a member, the Pope (now incarnate by Satan), will bring peace. Revelation 13:4 says, "And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him"? Revelation 17 explains how she rules all the nations of the earth and holds the wealth of the world through her alliance with the world's bankers. Eventually she will control the world's commerce and they'll worship and serve the beast, "own nothing, and be happy".
"The church has NOT recognized her day. National will force put Israel in her homeland. National force will put the church in the World Council of Churches. But the Power of God . . . "My Word is Spirit and Life" will put the Bride in her place, "cause she will recognize her position in the Word; then she's in Christ" (64-0725M, Recognizing Your Day and its Message, par. 192).
"Revelation 13 shows the power of the Roman Catholic Church and what she will do through organization. The whore riding on the scarlet beast distinctly shows her power is the god of force (Satan) and not our God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 17 shows emphatically how Rome will gain absolute control of the commerce of the earth, for no man can buy or sell apart from her. This is borne out in Revelation 18:9-17 which shows her involvement with kings, princes, merchants, all of whom have to do with Rome and commerce.
In Revelation 13:14, we learn that the beast spreads his influence through the image which was built for him. The image that is made is a world-wide ecumenical council, wherein all the organized churches will get together with the Roman Catholics (they are doing it even now). It is quite possible this union will come in order to stop the power of communism. But since communism like Nebuchadnezzar has been raised up to burn the flesh of the harlot, Rome will be overcome and destroyed. Take note that everywhere the Romish church went, communism followed (ibid., 236:1-3).
The spirit that motivated the four dominant world empires—Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Imperial Rome during the times of the Gentiles, is the same spirit that now motivates FALSE Christian Rome. The hegemony of the Roman Catholic church is brought to pass by organization. That is by intellectual reasoning, not by Spiritual revelation. That's why God has always cursed organization (Isaiah 8:9-22; Amos 3:3; Matthew 25: 1- 13; I Corinthians 6:14-18; Revelation 2:21-23; 18:4). Organization is man-led, not Spirit-led. God has always worked outside organization. As Eve brought death to mankind naturally by exchanging obedience to the revealed Word for intellectual reasoning, so now organization has brought spiritual death, as organization is the product of nicolaitanism and Balaamism—separating the people from God by a religious hierarchy and substituting man-made reasoning by adding to and taking from the Word by creed and tradition.
Recall the vision of Daniel. The last part of the image, the last world power was in the feet. That was iron and clay. See the iron is the Roman Empire. But now it is no longer solid iron. Clay is mixed in it. Yet it is there and running world affairs in both the democratic nations and the more despotic ones. The Romish church is in every nation. It is mixed up in it all.
Hubris, "How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judges her" (Revelation 18:7-8). Exactly parallel to Ezekiel 28:18, "You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your traffic; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of you, it shall devour you, and I will bring you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold you." And the Bible foresaw that after the White Throne Judgment Satan and all of his people, "will go up on the breadth of the earth, and compass the camp of the saints, and the beloved city: and fire from God out of heaven will come down and devour them. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:9-10, 14-15).
God will not share His glory with another.bb950219.htm
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