Jesus’ Parable

of the Leaven is found in two of the Gospels.


It is a very simple story--

a snapshot of life, really:


“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough”
​ (Matthew 13:33; cf. Luke 13:20-21).

Jesus uses this story as an object lesson to illustrate the kingdom of heaven.
​A woman takes yeast (leaven) and mixes it into dough.
Eventually, the whole of the dough is leavened.

​

​What does it mean?
​
​
First,

it’s important to define “kingdom of heaven.”

By this, Jesus is referring to His domain as the Messiah.
​
In the current age, the kingdom of heaven is
spiritual, existing within the hearts of believers
(Luke 17:21).
​
​
Later, the kingdom will be
​
manifest physically,

when the Lord Jesus
establishes His throne on this earth
(After the tribulation, at the End of Jacob's Trouble).
 (Revelation 11:15).
​
​

In the Parable of the Leaven,
​
we learn several things about the
working of the kingdom in our present age.
Each of these lessons stems from the nature of yeast.

First, the kingdom of God
may have small beginnings, but it will increase.

Yeast is microscopic in size (like an apple seed),
and only a little is kneaded into the dough.
Yet, given time, the yeast will spread through all the dough.
In the same way, Jesus’ domain started with twelve men
in an obscure corner of Galilee,
but it has spread throughout the world.
​
​The gospel makes progress.



Second,
the kingdom of God exerts its influence from within,

not from without.


Yeast makes dough rise from within.
God first changes the heart of a person,
and that internal change has external manifestations.


The gospel influence in a culture works the same way:


Christians within a culture

​act as agents of change,

slowly transforming that culture from within.


we praise ​the joy found in the living God!

Our identity is found in the living God!
​
Jesus changed culture through contagious love



Third,

the effect of the kingdom of God will be comprehensive.
Just as yeast works until the dough has completely risen,
the ultimate benefit of the kingdom of God will be worldwide
(Psalm 72:19; Daniel 2:35).

"The earth will be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the LORD,
as the waters cover the sea”
(Habakkuk 2:14).



Fourth,

although the kingdom of God works invisibly,
its effect is evident to all.

Yeast does its job slowly, secretly and silently,
but no one can deny its effect on bread.


The same is TRUE 

of the work of grace

in our hearts.


The nature of yeast is to grow and to change whatever it contacts.
When we accept Christ,
His grace grows in our hearts and changes us from the inside out.



As the gospel transforms lives,

​
it exerts a pervasive influence in the world at large.
As we “reflect the Lord’s glory, [we] are
being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,

​which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”

(2 Corinthians 3:18).
​

​
Unleavened bread is bread that is made without leaven,
which is another word for yeast.

Yeast makes bread rise,

so when bread is unleavened, it remains flat and dense.
The Israelites ate unleavened bread as part of the Passover celebration.
It was symbolic of the haste
with which the Israelites fled Egypt during the Exodus--

they left so quickly that the bread did not have time to rise.

God instructed them to commemorate the event
by eating unleavened bread:

"You shall eat no leavened bread with it.
Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread,
the bread of affliction—for you came
out of the land of Egypt in haste—that
all the days of your life you may

remember the day when you

came out of the land of Egypt"
(Deuteronomy 16:3).

Other verses that command the eating of unleavened bread are

found in 

Exodus 12:8; 29:2; and Numbers 9:11.

Leaven is also a symbol of separation from God. Even a small amount of leaven is sufficient to affect an entire lump of dough, and likewise, a little sin-or separation, will hurt the church, nation, or the whole of a person's life
(Galatians 5:9).
wandering from God starts out small, in the thoughts, and then affects the will and the actions (James 1:14-15).
Paul warns the Corinthians that "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" and is using this analogy to refer to our need for God's sovereignty, spiritual unity, and repentance. 


For Christ, our
Passover lamb, has been sacrificed"
(1 Corinthians 5:6-7).
​

Now, once a lump has been leavened, it is not possible to cleanse out the leaven, because it has permeated the dough.
What Paul is asking the Corinthians to do in "cleansing out the old leaven" is impossible,

for sin cannot be eliminated by
​human effort or obedience to the law-
but through 

Repentance in Yeshua

The law was given
to make us aware of sin

(Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7).



The law is not meant to discourage us,

but to encourage us

toward Christ,

​

who is the propitiation for our sins.
His sacrifice on the cross paid for our sin and made it possible for us to remove the leaven from the lump, as Paul puts it.
Another word for this is sanctification
(Hebrews 10:10, 14).


As we come into the light,
and confess that we are indeed stained by sin,
He is "faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"
(1 John 1:9). 


Thankfully, unleavening is

His work, not ours

 (Ephesians 2:8-10).


The Bible teaches that
we do not have the power
to remove sin.

It has permeated us completely, from birth, because—despite future good or evil actions—every person is born in sin simply because we are members of Adam.

The first Adam brought separation from God,

but the second Adam (Jesus Christ)
​

❤️ brought life ❤️
​

(1 Corinthians 15:22).

Why is only Peter mentioned out of the twelve?

Why is he singled out?
It is because Jesus thrust upon Peter the responsibility of strengthening the other disciples after he repented.

We have to understand that Satan desired to sift them all, but Jesus only addresses Peter, giving him the responsibility to buck everybody else up.
​
Why Peter? Why did He not say, "John, you son of thunder, I want you to be a rod of lightning to these men and encourage them after these things happen." No, he says this to Peter. He does not say to John, "I want to you to work with your brother and strengthen him." He says it to Peter because Jesus had given him the responsibility to be the bulwark of strength (humanly speaking) amongst the Twelve.
​
Jesus was crucified on Passover (Mark 14—15). The Passover, itself, is not a Sabbath. It was to be celebrated in the evening, and in the morning people were allowed to go home (Deuteronomy 16:7). The day after Passover is the first day of the weeklong Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:4–8). The first and last days of the feast are high days, that is, holiday-Sabbaths, during which no normal work may be done. Legally, the disciples could have started for home the morning of Passover, but the trip was several days long, and Jesus was on trial and then being crucified. That evening the Sabbath started, and they could not travel again until it was over. 

Saturday evening, at dusk, the Sabbath is over. Sunday morning, the women find the empty tomb. They return to the disciples and give them the angels' message. Shortly after, Peter and John check for themselves (John 20:1–9). 

In the forty days Jesus ministers between the resurrection and the ascension (Acts 1:3), Jesus will meet the disciples in Galilee (John 21) as He promised before the crucifixion (Mark 14:28). Later this day, however, He travels with two disciples on the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus, inspiring them to return to Jerusalem (Luke 24:13–34). This evening, He meets with ten of the remaining Twelve, as Thomas will be absent (John 20:19–24). He will also see a few others in Jerusalem (Luke 24:36–49). 

Peter is mentioned as one who specifically needs to be told the angel's message.
Once the Twelve's self-appointed spokesman (Matthew 15:15; Mark 8:32; 9:5; 11:21; Luke 8:45; 9:20; 18:28), he has been hiding in shame since he denied Jesus at the trial before the Sanhedrin (Mark 14:66–72). Peter had a very strong idea of who Jesus was and what Jesus would do for him. Now, Peter thinks himself a cowardly traitor, that Jesus is dead, and all is lost. 

Jesus will take the time to reconcile with Peter in particular, evidently both privately directly following the resurrection
(Luke 24:34; 1 Corinthians 15:5)
and more publicly sometime later (John 21:15–19). Jesus will come to seven of the disciples while they are fishing at the Sea of Tiberias. After providing a miraculous catch of fish, reminiscent of His calling of some of these same disciples described in Luke 5, He feeds them breakfast. Jesus then asks Peter twice if he loves Him with full, self-sacrificial love (agape). Peter will humbly respond that he loves Jesus with the lesser love of affection (phileo). Jesus will accept that answer, asking Peter the third time if he loves Jesus with phileo love and then proceeding to commission Peter after he responds in the affirmative. Peter finally acknowledges that he cannot give Jesus all He deserves, and he does not deserve what Jesus gives to him.

Still, Jesus gives Peter the commission of "feeding His sheep,"
knowing Peter finally has the humility to
accept the Holy Spirit who will fill what Peter lacks
(Acts 2:1–4, 14–41).

Mark 16:1–8 proclaims that Jesus is alive!
After telling the disciples, several times over three years, that He will die and rise again, Jesus' work is finally done.

​
Throughout their history in the Promised Land,
the children of Israel struggled with conflict among the tribes. The disunity went back all the way to the patriarch Jacob, who presided over a house divided. The sons of Leah and the sons of Rachel had their share of contention even in Jacob’s lifetime (Genesis 37:1-11). 

The enmity among the half-brothers continued in the time of the judges. Benjamin (one of Rachel’s tribes) took up arms against the other tribes (Judges 20). Israel’s first king, Saul, was of the tribe of Benjamin. When David was crowned king—David was from the tribe of Judah (one of Leah’s tribes)—the Benjamites rebelled (2 Samuel 2–3). After a long war (2 Samuel 3:1), David succeeded in uniting all twelve tribes (5:1-5). 

The frailty of the union was exposed, however, when David’s son Absalom promoted himself as the new king and drew many Israelites away from their allegiance to David (2 Samuel 15). Significantly, Absalom set up his throne in Hebron, the site of the former capital (v. 10). A later revolt was led by a man named Sheba against David and the tribe of Judah (20:1-2). 

The reign of David’s son Solomon saw more unrest when one of the king’s servants, Jeroboam, rebelled. Jeroboam was on the king’s errand when he met the prophet Ahijah, who told him that God was going to give him authority over ten of the twelve tribes of Israel. God’s reason for the division of the kingdom was definitive: “Because they have forsaken me . . . and have not walked in my ways.” However, God promised that David’s dynasty would continue, albeit over a much smaller kingdom, for the sake of God’s covenant with David and for the sake of Jerusalem, God’s chosen city. When Solomon learned of the prophecy, he sought to kill Jeroboam, who fled to Egypt for sanctuary (1 Kings 11:26-40).

After Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam was set to become the next king. Jeroboam returned from Egypt and led a group of people to confront Rehoboam with a demand for a lighter tax burden. When Rehoboam refused the demand, ten of the tribes rejected Rehoboam and David’s dynasty (1 Kings 12:16), and Ahijah’s prophecy was fulfilled. Only Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to King Rehoboam. The northern tribes crowned Jeroboam as their king. Rehoboam made plans to mount an assault on the rebel tribes, but the Lord prevented him from taking that action (vv. 21-24). Meanwhile, Jeroboam further consolidated his power by instituting a form of calf worship unique to his kingdom and declaring that pilgrimages to Jerusalem were unnecessary. Thus, the people of the northern tribes would have no contact with the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

“So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (1 Kings 12:19). The northern kingdom is called “Israel” (or sometimes “Ephraim”) in Scripture, and the southern kingdom is called “Judah.” From the divine viewpoint, the division was a judgment on not keeping God’s commands, specifically the commands prohibiting idolatry. From a human viewpoint, the division was the result of tribal discord and political unrest. The principle is that sin brings division (1 Corinthians 1:13, 11:18; James 4:1).

The good news is that God, in His mercy, has promised a reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms. “He will raise a banner for the nations / and gather the exiles of Israel; / he will assemble the scattered people of Judah / from the four quarters of the earth. / Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish, / and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed; / Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, / nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim” (Isaiah 11:12-13). When the Prince of Peace—Jesus Christ—reigns in His millennial kingdom, all hostility, jealousy, and conflict among the tribes will be put to rest.
​

Then all the trees of the field will know
​
that I am Yahweh.
I bring down the tall tree,
and make the low tree tall.
I cause the green tree to wither
and make the withered tree thrive.
I, Yahweh, have spoken
and I will do it.

Ezekiel 22:14
Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will act.

Amos 9:11
“In that day I will raise up the fallen booth of David,
And wall up its breaches;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the days of old;

Ezekiel 24:14
I, the Lord, have spoken; it is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry; according to your ways and according to your deeds I will judge you,” declares the Lord God.’”

1 Samuel 2:7-8
“The Lord makes poor and rich;
He brings low, He also exalts.

Job 5:11
So that He sets on high those who are lowly,
And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

Job 40:12
“Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him,
And tread down the wicked where they stand.

Psalm 75:6-7
For not from the east, nor from the west,
Nor from the desert comes exaltation;

Psalm 89:38
But You have cast off and rejected,
You have been full of wrath against Your anointed.

Psalm 89:45
You have shortened the days of his youth;
You have covered him with shame. Selah.

Psalm 96:11-12
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
Let the sea roar, and all it contains;

Isaiah 2:13-14
And it will be against all the cedars of Lebanon that are lofty and lifted up,
Against all the oaks of Bashan,

Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 11:1-9
Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

Isaiah 26:5
“For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city;
He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

Isaiah 55:12-13
“For you will go out with joy
And be led forth with peace;
The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,
And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Ezekiel 12:25
For I the Lord will speak, and whatever word I speak will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it,” declares the Lord God.’”

Ezekiel 21:26
thus says the Lord God, ‘Remove the turban and take off the crown; this will no longer be the same. Exalt that which is low and abase that which is high.

Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

Luke 1:33
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

Luke 1:52-53
“He has brought down rulers from their thrones,
And has exalted those who were humble.

Luke 21:33
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

1 Corinthians 1:27-28
but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,



Parable Of Two Eagles And A Vine

7 “But there was another great eagle with great wings and much plumage; and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him and sent out its branches toward him from the beds where it was planted, that he might water it. 8 It was planted in good soil beside abundant waters, that it might yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine.”’ 9 Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers—so that all its sprouting leaves wither? And neither by great strength nor by many people can it be raised from its roots again.


Numbers 14:41
But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed?

2 Kings 25:4-7
Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

2 Chronicles 13:12
Now behold, God is with us at our head and His priests with the signal trumpets to sound the alarm against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

2 Chronicles 20:20
They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.”

Isaiah 8:9-10
“Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered;
And give ear, all remote places of the earth.
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered;
Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.

Isaiah 30:1-7
“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the Lord,
“Who execute a plan, but not Mine,
And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit,
In order to add sin to sin;

Isaiah 31:1-3
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the Lord!

Jeremiah 21:4-7
‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to turn back the weapons of war which are in your hands, with which you are warring against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the center of this city.

Jeremiah 24:8-10
‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the Lord—so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt.

Jeremiah 29:4-7
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

Jeremiah 32:5
and he will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and he will be there until I visit him,” declares the Lord. “If you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed”’?”

Jeremiah 37:10
For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’”

Jeremiah 52:7-11
Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled and went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls which was by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah.

Ezekiel 17:10
Behold, though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it—wither on the beds where it grew?”’”

Ezekiel 17:15-17
But he rebelled against him by sending his envoys to Egypt that they might give him horses and many troops. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Can he indeed break the covenant and escape?




River Of The Temple,
Division Of The Land And Its Boundaries

11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. 12 By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” 13 Thus says the Lord God, “This shall be the boundary by which you shall divide the land for an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel; Joseph shall have two portions.

English(KJV) Strong's Root Form Definition Usage
And the remnant H7604 שׁאר 
Sha'ar  leave , remain , remnant , let , rest , 134
that is escaped H6413 פּלטה פּליטה 
P@leytah  escape , deliverance , remnant 28
of the house H1004 בּית 
Bayith  house , household , home , within , temple , prison , place , family , families , dungeon , 2053
of Judah H3063 יהוּדה 
Y@huwdah  Judah , Bethlehemjudah 648
shall yet again H3254 יסף 
Yacaph  more , again , add , increase , also , exceed , put , further , henceforth , can , continued , give , 208
take root H8328 שׁרשׁ 
Sheresh  root , bottom , deep , heels 33
downward H4295 מטּה 
Mattah  beneath , downward , underneath , very , low , under , down , less 19
and bear H6213
do , make , wrought , deal , commit , offer , execute , keep , shew , prepare , work , do so , perform , get , dress , maker , maintain , 0
fruit H6529 פּרי 
P@riy  fruit , fruitful , boughs , firstfruits , reward , fruit thereof 119

English(KJV) Strong's Root Form Definition Usage
And God H430 אלהים 
'elohiym  God, god, judge, GOD, goddess, great, mighty, angels, exceeding, God-ward , godly 2600
said H559
said, speak, answer, command, tell, call, promised, . 0
Let the earth H776 ארץ 
'erets  land, earth, country, ground, world, way, common, field, nations, wilderness 2504
bring forth H1876 דּשׁא 
Dasha  spring, bring forth 2
grass H1877 דּשׁא 
Deshe'  grass, herb, green 15
the herb H6212 עשׂב 
`eseb  herb, grass 33
yielding H2232
H6213 זרע 
Zara` 

sow, yielding, sower, bearing, conceive, seed, set 
do, make, wrought, deal, commit, offer, execute, keep, shew, prepare, work, do so, perform, get, dress, maker, maintain, 56
0
seed H2233
H2233 זרע 
Zera` 
זרע 
Zera`  seed, child, carnally , carnally, fruitful, seedtime, sowing time 
seed, child, carnally , carnally, fruitful, seedtime, sowing time 229
229
and the fruit H6529 פּרי 
P@riy  fruit, fruitful, boughs, firstfruits , reward, fruit thereof 119
tree H6086 עץ 
`ets  tree, wood, timber, stick, gallows, staff, stock, carpenter , branches, helve, planks, stalks 329
fruit H6529 פּרי 
P@riy  fruit, fruitful, boughs, firstfruits , reward, fruit thereof 119
after his kind H4327 מין 
Miyn  kind 31
whose H834
which, wherewith, because, when, soon, whilst, as if, as when, that, until, much, whosoever, whereas, wherein, whom, whose 0
is in itself, upon the earth H776 ארץ 
'erets  land, earth, country, ground, world, way, common, field, nations, wilderness 2504

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Genesis/1/11



The Creation

10 God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

According to Its Kind
Bear Fruit
Let There Be
Put Forth
Cross References

Hebrews 6:7
For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God;

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;

Genesis 2:5
Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

Genesis 2:9
Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:16
The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

Job 28:5
“The earth, from it comes food,
And underneath it is turned up as fire.

Psalm 1:3
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.

Psalm 65:9-13
You visit the earth and cause it to overflow;
You greatly enrich it;
The stream of God is full of water;
You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth.

Psalm 104:14-17
He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,
And vegetation for the labor of man,
So that he may bring forth food from the earth,

Psalm 147:8
Who covers the heavens with clouds,
Who provides rain for the earth,
Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

Jeremiah 17:8
“For he will be like a tree planted by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

Matthew 3:10
The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthew 6:30
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Matthew 7:16-20
You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

Mark 4:28
The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.

Luke 6:43-44
For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit.

James 3:12
Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.



Isaiah Brings A Prophetic Response
​
29 ‘Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 31 For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord will perform this.


Bear Fruit
House of Israel
House of Judah
Israel
Judah

2 Chronicles 32:22-23
So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.

2 Kings 19:4
Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

Psalm 80:9
You cleared the ground before it,
And it took deep root and filled the land.

Isaiah 1:9
Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left us a few survivors,
We would be like Sodom,
We would be like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 10:20-22
Now in that day the remnant of Israel, and those of the house of Jacob who have escaped, will never again rely on the one who struck them, but will truly rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah 27:6
In the days to come Jacob will take root,
Israel will blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the whole world with fruit.

Isaiah 37:31-32
The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward.

The Branch's Righteous Reign
1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and strength,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Bear Fruit
Stem of Jesse
Stump Of Jesse
David
Jesse
Messiah

Isaiah 11:10
Then in that day
The nations will resort to the root of Jesse,
Who will stand as a signal for the peoples;
And His resting place will be glorious.

Isaiah 4:2
In that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel.

Isaiah 53:2
For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

Jeremiah 23:5
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And do justice and righteousness in the land.

Zechariah 3:8
Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.

Zechariah 6:12
Then say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord.

Revelation 5:5
and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

Isaiah 9:7
There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

Revelation 22:16
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Ruth 4:17
The neighbor women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi!” So they named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David.

1 Samuel 17:58
Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

Jeremiah 33:15
In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth.

Matthew 1:6-16
Jesse was the father of David the king.David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.

Luke 2:23-32
(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),

Acts 13:22-23
After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’

Romans 15:12
Again Isaiah says,
“There shall come the root of Jesse,
And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles,
In Him shall the Gentiles hope.”

fruit bear branch shoot spring roots stem

And there shall come forth H3318 יצא 
Yatsa'  ....out, ....forth, bring, come, proceed, go, depart, 1068
a rod H2415 חטר 
Choter  rod 2
out of the stem H1503 גּזע 
Geza`  stock, stem 3
of Jesse H3448 אישׁי ישׁי 
Yishay  Jesse 42
and a Branch H5342 נצר 
Netser  branch 4
shall grow H6509 פּרה 

Parah  fruitful, increased, grow, beareth, forth, bring fruit, make fruitful 29


Jeremiah's Complaint

1 Righteous are You, O Lord, that I would plead my case with You;
Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:
Why has the way of the wicked prospered?
Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?
2 You have planted them, they have also taken root;
They grow, they have even produced fruit.
You are near to their lips
But far from their mind.
3 But You know me, O Lord;
You see me;
And You examine my heart’s attitude toward You.
Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter
And set them apart for a day of carnage!

Isaiah 29:13
Then the Lord said,
“Because this people draw near with their words
And honor Me with their lip service,
But they remove their hearts far from Me,
And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,

Jeremiah 11:17
The Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me by offering up sacrifices to Baal.

Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Jeremiah 45:4
Thus you are to say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Behold, what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to uproot, that is, the whole land.”

Ezekiel 17:5-10
He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow.

Ezekiel 33:31
They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain.

Matthew 15:8
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.

Jeremiah 3:10
Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the Lord.

Ezekiel 19:10-13
‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,
Planted by the waters;
It was fruitful and full of branches
Because of abundant waters.

Mark 7:6
And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
​
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.


Thou hast planted H5193 נטע 
Nata`  plant, fastened, planters 58
them, yea, they have taken root H8327 שׁרשׁ 
Sharash  ...root, root out 8
they grow H3212 ילך 
Yalak  go, walk, come, depart, ...away, follow, get, lead, brought, carry, bring, 0
yea, they bring forth H6213
do, make, wrought, deal, commit, offer, execute, keep, shew, prepare, work, do so, perform, get, dress, maker, maintain, 0
fruit H6529 פּרי 
P@riy  fruit, fruitful, boughs, firstfruits , reward, fruit thereof 119
thou art near H7138 קרב קרוב 
Qarowb  near, nigh, at hand, neighbour, next, kin, approach, short, kinsfolk, kinsmen, 77
in their mouth H6310 פּה 
Peh  mouth, commandment, edge, according, word, hole, end, appointment, portion, tenor, sentence, 497
and far from H7350 רחק רחוק 
Rachowq  off, far, long ago, far from, come, afar, old, far abroad, long, space 85

In Genesis 11 
we read the account of the tower of Babel, where the people, attempting to build a tower that reaches to heaven, have their language confused and are scattered across the whole face of the earth by God.
The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

Jeremiah 2:27
Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to Me,
And not their face;
But in the time of their trouble they will say,
‘Arise and save us.’

Jeremiah 13:24
“Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw
To the desert wind.

Job 27:21
“The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,
For it whirls him away from his place.

Psalm 48:7
With the east wind
You break the ships of Tarshish.

Jeremiah 32:33
They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen and receive instruction.

Jeremiah 46:21
“Also her mercenaries in her midst
Are like fattened calves,
For even they too have turned back and have fled away together;
They did not stand their ground.
For the day of their calamity has come upon them,
The time of their punishment.

Hosea 13:15
Though he flourishes among the reeds,
An east wind will come,
The wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will become dry
And his spring will be dried up;
It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

Deuteronomy 28:25
“The Lord shall cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways before them, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:64
Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known.

Deuteronomy 31:17
Then My anger will be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will come upon them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have come upon us?’

Deuteronomy 32:35
‘Vengeance is Mine, and retribution,
In due time their foot will slip;
For the day of their calamity is near,
And the impending things are hastening upon them.’

Judges 10:13-14
Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer deliver you.

Proverbs 7:25-26
Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths.

Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/Jeremiah/18/17

I will scatter H6327 פּוּץ 
Puwts  scatter, scatter abroad, disperse, spread abroad, cast abroad, drive, break to pieces, shake to pieces, dash to pieces, retired 67

Ezekiel 19:12
‘But it was plucked up in fury;
It was cast down to the ground;
And the east wind dried up its fruit.
Its strong branch was torn off
So that it withered;
The fire consumed it.

Ezekiel 17:10
Behold, though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not completely wither as soon as the east wind strikes it—wither on the beds where it grew?”’”

Genesis 41:52
He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Genesis 49:22
“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a spring;
Its branches run over a wall.

Jeremiah 4:11
In that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness in the direction of the daughter of My people—not to winnow and not to cleanse,

Genesis 48:19
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

Deuteronomy 33:17
“As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his,
And his horns are the horns of the wild ox;
With them he will push the peoples,
All at once, to the ends of the earth.
And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And those are the thousands of Manasseh.”

Job 18:16
“His roots are dried below,
And his branch is cut off above.

Psalm 1:4
The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

Psalm 109:13
Let his posterity be cut off;
In a following generation let their name be blotted out.

Isaiah 14:21
“Prepare for his sons a place of slaughter
Because of the iniquity of their fathers.
They must not arise and take possession of the earth
And fill the face of the world with cities.”

Isaiah 17:13
The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,
But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away,
And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind,
Or like whirling dust before a gale.

Isaiah 41:16
“You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will rejoice in the Lord,
You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Jeremiah 20:5
I will also give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce and all its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give over to the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.

Jeremiah 51:36
Therefore thus says the Lord,
“Behold, I am going to plead your case
And exact full vengeance for you;
And I will dry up her sea
And make her fountain dry.

Daniel 11:8
Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold he will take into captivity to Egypt, and he on his part will refrain from attacking the king of the North for some years.

Hosea 4:19
The wind wraps them in its wings,
And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Hosea 9:11
As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird--
No birth, no pregnancy and no conception!

Hosea 10:1
Israel is a luxuriant vine;
He produces fruit for himself.
The more his fruit,
The more altars he made;
The richer his land,
The better he made the sacred pillars.

Nahum 2:9
Plunder the silver!
Plunder the gold!
For there is no limit to the treasure--
Wealth from every kind of desirable object.



​The Tower of Babel

was built to prevent the people from scattering across the earth. Because the people would not scatter themselves, God scattered them. 

The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל‎, Migdal Bavel) narrative in Genesis11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages.[1][2][3][4]
According to the story, a united human race speaking a single language and migrating eastward, comes to the land of Shinar (שִׁנְעָר‎). There they agree to build a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Yahweh, observing their city and tower, confounds their speech so that they can no longer understand each other, and scatters them around the world.


Various Dialects

In the account of the Tower of Babel the text seems to indicate that the various dialects had not appeared yet and that everyone on earth had one language and vocabulary. The Lord understood the motive and ambition of the people. Because the people had built a tower in defiance of Him, God then caused the one language on the earth to be confused. Once the languages were confounded the people scattered. Many questions arise concerning this account. 

One Language?

Did they all speak the same language? There are some people who feel the biblical text does not demand that there was only one language at the time. They point to the preceding chapter, Genesis ten, which divides the table of nations based upon the various languages. However, we must not assume a chronological sequence here. Allen P. Ross writes: 

At the beginning of chapter 11 the whole world is of 'one language' and one vocabulary. But chapter 10 has already divided the nations according to peoples and tongues. . . Probably 11:1-9 explains how the arrangement in chapter 10 came about. Genesis often goes outside the chronological order to arrange the material thematically (Allen P. Ross, in The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Editors John Walvoord and Roy Zuck, Wheaton, Illinois: Victor Books, 1985, p. 44).

How did God scatter them? Was it a change in their organ of hearing? Was it a change in their speech? Or was it a deeper change in the mind itself? We simply do not know. 

Babel And Pentecost

There is an obvious contrast between Babel and Pentecost. At the tower of Babel the languages were confused and the people were scattered. At Pentecost God supernaturally allowed the people to speak languages and dialects they had not previously learned to testify to the glory of God. Pentecost was the reversal of Babel. 

Final Uniting Of Languages

The prophet Zephaniah speaks of a final uniting of the languages. 

For then I will restore to the peoples a pure language, that they all may call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my worshipers, the daughter of My dispersed ones, shall bring my offering. In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds in which you transgress against Me for then I will take away from your midst those who rejoice in your pride, and you shall no longer be haughty in My holy mountain (Zephaniah 3:9-11).

​1 Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as they migrated from the east,[a] they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." 5 The LORD[b] came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6 And the LORD said, "Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore it was called Babel,[c] because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth, and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
— Genesis 11:1–9 NRSVUE[7]

The phrase "Tower of Babel" does not appear in the Bible; it is always "the city and the tower" (אֶת-הָעִיר וְאֶת-הַמִּגְדָּל‎) or just "the city" (הָעִיר‎). The original derivation of the name Babel (also the Hebrew name for Babylon) is uncertain. The native, Akkadianname of the city was Bāb-ilim, meaning "gate of God". However, that form and interpretation itself are now usually thought to be the result of an Akkadian folk etymology applied to an earlier form of the name, Babilla, of unknown meaning and probably non-Semitic origin.[8][9] According to the Bible, the city received the name "Babel" from the Hebrew verb בָּלַ֥ל (bālal), meaning to jumble or to confuse.[10]

The narrative of the tower of Babel[11] is an etiology or explanation of a phenomenon. Etiologies are narratives that explain the origin of a custom, ritual, geographical feature, name, or other phenomenon.[12]: 426  The story of the Tower of Babel explains the origins of the multiplicity of languages. God was concerned that humans had blasphemed by building the tower to avoid a second flood so God brought into existence multiple languages.[12]: 51  Thus, humans were divided into linguistic groups, unable to understand one another.
​
Deuteronomy 29:22-28

The last phrase of verse 28, “as is clear today” (New English Translation [NET]) is an important time marker. The GNT renders it, “where they are today.” The New Living Translation [NLT] has it, “where they still live today.” Translator Robert Alter puts it, “as on this day.”

In the light of that phrase, consider that the people to whom Moses spoke were not then scattered, not uprooted. Their land was not one of “brimstone, salt, and burning debris.” Nor does that description fit the lands to which the Assyrians exiled the ancient House of Israel, for the areas south of the Caspian Sea are reasonably well-watered. Further, the terminology of the passage cannot describe the lands to which Israel migrated, lands that are among the most favored on earth: the productive lands of Northern Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

By using this short phrase, Moses indicates that he speaks of a “generation to come” (verse 22), one in the distant future, even beyond Israel's circumstances today. He is seeing into the time of Jacob's Trouble, when Israel's land, ravaged by war, would become environmentally degraded in the extreme. Only then, in this period of extreme distress, will the lands Israel occupies come to resemble ancient Sodom, destroyed by God long ago (Genesis 19).

Those of the “generation” of which Moses speaks, whether Israelite or Gentile, understand that the vast desolation they witness is the result of Israel's idolatry, in violation of the covenant (verses 25-26). Moses describes a time beyond our present circumstances when God will have “uprooted” apostate Israel from the lands to which He scattered her centuries before, the lands to which ancient Israel migrated. In short, Moses sees a land that has “vomited out its inhabitants” (Leviticus 18:25).

The verb “uprooted” (verse 28) evokes the striking image of pulling up plants from their roots. It virtually always appears in contexts of God's wrathful action against a sinning people, as in Ezekiel's lamentation for the princes of Israel, recorded in Ezekiel 19:10-14:

Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water. Its strong stems became rulers' scepters; it towered aloft among the thick boughs; it was seen in its height with the mass of its branches. But the vine was plucked up in fury, cast down to the ground; the east wind dried up its fruit; they were stripped off and withered. As for its strong stem, fire consumed it. Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. And fire has gone out from the stem of its shoots, has consumed its fruit, so that there remains in it no strong stem, no scepter for ruling. (English Standard Version [ESV])

In verse 12, God angrily plucks up the vine whose stems have grown into “rulers' scepters,” towering above others. The image of the highly productive, well-watered vine—perhaps “influential” might fit as well—transplanted into a “dry and thirsty land” (verse 13), is reminiscent of the Sodom-like land Moses mentions in Deuteronomy 29:23.
​
It is clear, then, that Deuteronomy 29 describes God's future scattering, His uprooting of Israelites from their burned-out land during the time of Jacob's Trouble.

​https://biblehub.com/ezekiel/36-19.htm

The Bible’s first mention of blindness involves the restraining of physical eyesight, but in the environment in question, spiritual sight is also absent:
But the [angels] reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. (Genesis 19:10-11)

In this instance, the violent Sodomites, determined to assault Lot and his angelic guests sexually, were physically blinded. God used the two angels He had sent to deliver Lot as instruments to take the men’s sight.

Angels are not the only servants of God used to blind those who oppose Him. On occasion, His human servants have prayed for Him to restrain the sight of enemies, and He has answered. For example, Elisha asked for God to blind the Syrian army, and He did so temporarily (II Kings 6:18-20). In Acts 13:11, Paul called on God to blind Elymas the sorcerer for a time, which He did. Famously, Christ Himself struck Paul blind on the road to Damascus, and the apostle’s temporary blindness potently portrayed the spiritual blindness in which he walked to that point (Acts 9:3-9).

Exodus 4:11 underscores God’s sovereignty over human physical and spiritual abilities: “So the LORD said to [Moses], ‘Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?’”
In responding to Moses’ resistance to His summons to service, God declares that He is responsible for the organs that work and those that do not. Whatever speech difficulties Moses had were entirely in God’s hands. Moses had claimed he was “slow of speech,” and if so, God counterclaims to be the source of that impediment and also the potential solution to it. Such a minor problem could not impede God’s ability to work through him.

Likewise, whether one sees or is blind is in God’s hands. Although God refers directly to physical capabilities here, His sovereignty certainly extends into spiritual ones as well. He governs humanity’s ability to see (and hear) spiritually. As Solomon observes in Proverbs 25:2, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.”
​
​John 9 records Christ’s healing of the man born blind, and the story teaches that blindness can be a result of sin, but at other times, blindness happens because God has willed it for another purpose He is working out. This principle applies to both physical and spiritual blindness.

As part of God’s warning to the Israelites against sin, He promises to hobble their ability to understand, reason, and think things through:

The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of heart. And you shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness; you shall not prosper in your ways; you shall be only oppressed and plundered continually, and no one shall save you. (Deuteronomy 28:28-29)
​
God promises madness, blindness, and confusion of heart for disobeying His voice and failing to observe His commandments and statutes carefully (Deuteronomy 28:15). This curse shows the other side of the principle, that understanding comes with following His commandments (Psalm 111:10). Conversely, breaking the commandments destroys understanding.

The physical curses in Deuteronomy 28 are painful enough, but the mental blindness in verse 28 creates a dreadful situation. Amid the other curses, a person can at least analyze what is happening and perhaps find a way to deal with it. But this blindness—an inability to discern rationally—makes the person’s plight far worse! He cannot even understand what is occurring, let alone identify a real solution like repentance and returning to God.

The nations of Israel are suffering under quite a few curses right now, yet because they are blind to the cause-and-effect relationship, there is little—if any—thought that national immorality is the cause of their problems. Those God curses with “madness and blindness and confusion of heart” can only grope aimlessly for solutions, and those they choose cannot work because they exclude God. God’s willingness to take away understanding and wisdom makes many uncomfortable. They do not believe He would actually do such a thing. They do not believe He means what He says.

Some people have a similar and related disbelief regarding scattering, another curse of God (Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27; 28:64). God scattered the post-Flood people at the Tower of Babel because of their rebellion against Him (Genesis 11:8-9). He likewise scattered the children of Israel for the same reason, just as He had promised (Deuteronomy 30:3; I Kings 14:15; Psalm 44:11; 92:9; Jeremiah 9:16; etc.).

Yet, it is God who promises and claims scattering. Because of His sovereignty, He is the only One who can bring about what happened to Babel, to Israel, and to His church. On the other hand, Satan can only do what He allows him to do (see, for instance, Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7).

Do we believe that God will respond today to immorality, presumption, and spiritual neglect as He did in the past? True, God’s chastening of His saints is of a different quality than His punishment of Israel, but the principle of cause-and-effect has not disappeared. God’s scattering of the church differs from Israel’s in that it has been organizational rather than geographical and catastrophic. Yet, we are still scattered because God is faithful to His Word. Rather than being immune to God’s chastening, the church is even more accountable because of its privileged position (see Luke 12:48; also the principle in Amos 3:2).

Scattering relates to blinding in that it illustrates why it is so critical to have a correct concept of God so that we can recognize the respective actions of God and Satan. God’s actions do not always match our assumptions. He says that He will cause madness, blindness, and confusion of heart when His people walk contrary to His way. We might think Satan would be the source of these works, yet God claims responsibility for them.

The New Testament also demonstrates God’s willingness to blind the mind. As mentioned earlier, John 9 contains the story of the man born blind. After healing the man, Jesus says, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind” (John 9:39). The Pharisees and others of the Jewish leadership were confident that they could see, yet Jesus declares that part of His ministry was to make some blind while opening the eyes of others.

John claims for Jesus the same prerogative in John 12:37, 39-40:
But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him. . .. Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.”

After three-and-a-half years and countless miracles, the Jews maintained a high level of disbelief, particularly among the religious leadership. Notice that the source of their doubt was God Himself! Isaiah’s prophecy says He had blinded their eyes, and He had hardened their hearts. The reason for this is that if they turned to Him, He would heal them, which may also strike us as odd if we assume that it is alwaysHis will to heal.

Perhaps His actions seem unkind or mean-spirited to us, but this passage shows that it was not His will to heal the nation at that time (see also Matthew 13:11-15). The people were still disobeying His commandments and statutes and thus still under a curse. To heal them without repentance would reward their wickedness. God’s curse of blindness was so effective that, though Jesus declared them to be blind, they were confident that they saw clearly (John 9:40)! They had no reason even to consider repenting, and therefore, the blindness and other curses continued.

In his letter to Roman Christians, the apostle Paul explains more about Israel’s blinded condition:

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a recompense to them. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always.” . . . For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:7-10, 25; emphasis ours throughout)

Paul explains the fundamental reason for God’s current blinding of Israel: God is working with the elect in a way He is not working with Israel yet. Thus, He has blinded Israel until He calls those Gentiles that He has determined to convert. Israel was disobedient, so He scattered and blinded her, intending to regather her and restore her understanding in the future. Then she will recognize her Savior and learn what a relationship with Him truly entails.


The God of This Age

The following passage, II Corinthians 4:3-4, is commonly quoted with little consideration as to who it is truly describing:

But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Considering the verses and principles we have already seen, who did this blinding? Because the translators use a lowercase g, we assume that Satan receives the title of “god of this age” or “god of this world.” But could this be another case of mistaken identity?

On a technical note, many translations use the phrase “god of this world,” but the NKJV is more accurate with its rendering of “god of this age.” The word is aion, which refers more to time (for example, “eon” or “age”) than to place.
We have seen clear and definitive scriptures in which God declares that He will blind and that He has blinded. The Bible contains additional scriptures on blindness, as well as ones about eyes being closed, that consistently show that the true God closes and opens eyes (see Deuteronomy 29:4; Job 17:4; Matthew 11:25-26; Luke 10:21; 19:41-42). He blinds, and He also heals the blindness that either He has caused or that men have chosen. But in no other place in Scripture is Satan said to blind or is shown blinding or closing eyes. If II Corinthians 4:4 is about Satan, it is a significant anomaly.

Rather than blinding, Satan deceives. He works to distort vision (rather than take it away) to influence people to sin, but the Bible never shows him opening or closing eyes, physically or metaphorically. Some may argue that this is a distinction without a difference. However, deceiving and blinding are indeed distinctive. Satan’s deceptions are active oppositions to truth, while God’s blinding is usually a temporary state in which He chooses to withhold complete understanding. God embodies truth, but He does not give all truth all at once. He is under no obligation to do so. He blinds, either temporarily or for judgment, but Satan actively opposes and distorts the truth.

In addition to God blinding men, numerous verses show that people can blind themselves, as Part Three will examine. As we have all experienced, the truth can be discomforting, and if we are not resolutely devoted to it, we will close our eyes to those parts to which we do not want to submit.

II Thessalonians 2:10-11 speaks of those who lack love for the truth and God sending them strong delusion. In other words, these people prefer a state of blindness, and God gives them what they want. So, while we cannot open our eyes to greater truth without God’s involvement, we can close our eyes to what truth is available to us and thus blind ourselves.
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“No God Besides Me”

A second reason Satan does not fit in II Corinthians 4:4 is that nowhere else is Satan referred to as the god of anything. Undoubtedly, Satan fits within the general classification of false gods, referring either to idols or the demons behind them, or both (see I Corinthians 10:19-20). However, even though people may worship those idols and demons as gods, Scripture also maintains that these so-called gods are not truly gods:
» “. . . so that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams may be a priest of things that are not gods?” (II Chronicles 13:9)
» “Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory for what does not profit.” (Jeremiah 2:11)
» “Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by those that are not gods.” (Jeremiah 5:7)
» “Will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods?” (Jeremiah 16:20)
» “But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.” (Galatians 4:8)

In I Corinthians 8:5, God inspired Paul to call the demons—which would include Satan—“so-called gods”: “For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords) . . ..” He then clarifies his description with a contrast in the next verse: “. . . yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” In other words, even though people worship demonic principalities—whether deliberately or inadvertently—the perspective of God and His servants is that they are not gods.

Paul tells the Gentile Galatians in Galatians 4:8 that, prior to their conversion, they served “those which by nature are not gods.” He immediately describes them as “weak and beggarly elements” to which they were again turning (verse 9). Did this same apostle then bestow upon Satan the title “god of this age” when writing to the Corinthians? God answers this in Isaiah 45:5: “I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.”

Of course, Isaiah 14:14 records Satan as saying that he wants to “be like” (or even “to be”) the Most High. The translators of II Corinthians 4:4, perhaps uncomfortable with God’s attributes and guided by Reformation tradition, may have given Satan his desire to be called a god. Similarly, Ezekiel 28 is about the prince of Tyre, a type of Satan, and God’s controversy with the prince is that he had set his heart as the heart of a god (verse 2). He is far greater in his own estimation than he is in reality.

But the true God never names the Devil as a god of anything. If II Corinthians 4:4 is about Satan, it is a highly significant exception to the pattern, and exceptions invite us to dig deeper. So, how does Scripture characterize him?
Instead of calling Satan a “god,” the gospel accounts consistently call him a “ruler.” He is “the ruler of the demons” (Matthew 9:34; 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15; see Ephesians 6:12), and three times in the book of John, Jesus calls him “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Paul calls him “the prince [or ruler; it is the same Greek word] of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). The Devil has authority, intelligence, and capabilities far above man, and we should never underestimate him (see Matthew 24:24). Yet, he in no way approaches God’s level, except in his own mind! While God rules supremely, the highest title Satan can legitimately claim is “ruler” over something but never “god.”

As mentioned, the word aion in II Corinthians 4:4 refers to this age rather than this world. God has not made Satan a god over this age—only a ruler with limited authority. Ephesians 1:21 declares that Christ is far above all principality and power, which includes Satan. Contrariwise, as we saw, Satan could only afflict Job with God’s permission, and likewise, he had to ask Jesus if he could sift Peter like wheat (Luke 22:31).

Luke 22:31