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Rising of the Ready

 

This article is the 22nd in a series of articles dealing with the spiritual events --- as prophesied by the Lord in Matthew 24 --- that are already taking place prior to the coming of the Son of Man. This article will share on the words spoken by the Lord in Matthew 24:44.

 

Index

Readiness to wage war and avenge

Readiness to expand

Readiness for discovery

An individual readiness

Solitary soul rising

Unready many times over

Distantly unready

The unready strangers

The taxing strangers

Ready to understand who the Son of Man is

Ready to see the line blurred

The unexpectedly-ready weak




Readiness to wage war and avenge

In Matthew 24:44, the Lord declares,

 

"Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh" (Matthew 24:44)

 

The word "ready" was translated from the Greek word hetoimos, which is used 17 times in Scripture. The first time that it appears outside of the 4 Gospels is in Acts 23, where it appears twice, in the following verses:

 

"Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to morrow, as though ye would enquire something more perfectly concerning him: and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him" (Acts 23:15)

 

"But do not thou yield unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee" (Acts 23:21)

 

Notice how hetoimos is used in the context of people in a state of readiness to pounce on a person in order to carry out their "justice" on him and kill him. Even though this is a case of unrighteous people ready to kill a righteous man (Paul), it illustrates the connection between hetoimos and the willingness to carry out definitive judgements on spiritual enemies. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the word hetoimos appears in verse 6 of the following passage, translated as "readiness":

 

"1 Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2 But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10:1-6)

 

Notice how the passage starts with a subtle word of spiritual confrontation from Paul, as if to say, "Don't make me be aggressive with you when I see you in person on account of those who boldly accuse us of walking in the flesh just because they realise my weakness in the natural." The tone of spiritual confrontation continues as Paul then speaks of spiritual warfare to pull down strongholds in high places. The passage then concludes with the call to be ready to avenge all disobedience contrary to God righteousness. The word "revenge" in verse 6 was translated from the Greek verb ekdikeo, which is derived from the prefix ek meaning "out" and the noun dike meaning "right, justice". Therefore, it speaks of an overt application of justice against what has remained unjudged for one reason or another. A matriarchal soul may be quick to point out that verse 6 above ends with the phrase "when your obedience is fulfilled", thereby concluding that such an application of judgements and justice is only appropriate until we are "perfect" (i.e. until we are "without sin", as a popular but apocryphal passage would say). Such a conclusion, however, would deny the rest of the passage, especially when Paul starts the passage with a subtle threat to judge those with a spirit of disobedience there. If judging disobedience was to be postponed until we are completely obedient in the "after-life", why would Paul threaten such a judgement on his next visit? And why would he speak of believers waging spiritual warfare against every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and of imprisoning every thought of disobedience (v5)? Therefore, much as it may dismay the matriarchals reading this, verse 6 above is actually speaking of a culmination of judgements, not a beginning. In other words, the Spirit's emphasis is on the word "all" in the phrase "all disobedience", meaning that, as we remain obedient to the call of judging disobedience through our spiritual warfare (fulfilling it to its plenitude), all disobedience will then be judged in the Earth and subjugated unto obedience to God.

 

From the above, we can therefore conclude that the word hetoimos used by the Lord in Matthew 24:44 includes a connotation of readiness to wage spiritual warfare at any moment against any entity or act of disobedience towards God. Just like the enemies of Paul were ready against Paul, we are to be ready to spiritually "pounce" on any thought, tendency, or stronghold that promotes disobedience to God. This is part of the readiness required by God in Matthew 24:44. Those abiding in a state of war shall have the readiness of Matthew 24:44. Those inclined towards spiritual leisure shall not have the readiness of Matthew 24:44, even if they are externally busy performing many church activities.

 

As a parenthesis, it is worth noting that it is no coincidence that it is in chapter 23 of Acts that God uses the word hetoimos to denote the enemy's readiness to destroy His chosen at the slightest opportunity. As we have shared before, the number "23" points to the pastoral ministry, and it is those who are entrenched in the pastoral-matriarchy spirit who are the most ready and willing to attack and destroy the remnant due to the remnant's audacity to disobey and challenge the matriarchal system. It is sad to consider that, while those who oppose God have no qualms about squelching God's people at the slightest opportunity, those whose heart leans towards God's truth are generally hesitant about applying God's legitimate judgements on those who promote the soul. This correlates with how liberals in America are so quick to smear and destroy any non-liberal who dares to rise up against them, whereas "conservatives" are so cautious about being too "harsh" on liberals for fear of sounding "intolerant" and "un-Christian".

 

Readiness to expand

Interestingly, the word hetoimos also appears in verse 16 of the following passage, translated as "things made ready to our hand":

 

"14 For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ: 15 Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, 16 To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand." (2 Corinthians 10:14-16)

 

The phrase "preach the gospel" in verse 16 was translated from the Greek verb euaggelizo, which literally means "to evangelise". This correlates with the spiritual tone of the passage, since it speaks of expanding the Gospel's area of influence, and the endowment most directly related to conquest and expansion is the evangelistic endowment. Given that the evangelistic endowment is also the one most directly related to a "warrior" nature (due to its quest for expansion), it is not surprising that the word hetoimos is used in verse 16 of the passage, since, as we saw above, the word hetoimos points to "warfare readiness".

 

Readiness for discovery

Besides emphasising hetoimos' connection to warfare readiness, the appearance of hetoimos in 2 Corinthians 10:14-16 above also reveals another important principle. In verse 16, Paul speaks of not wanting to make use of things that have been made ready or prepared by others. This points to a desire to be a producer of new things and not just a consumer of existing things. Therefore, we can say that hetoimos readiness entails a deliberate decision not to live in a state of conformity that simply accepts the current state of things and lives off of it, with no interest in forging anything new. Without this deliberate predisposition to change the environment rather than just exist in it, readiness for the Lord's Coming is not possible.

 

As we have shared before, 2 Corinthians 10:16 illustrates the apostolic endowment's innate desire to break ground in new territories, which leads to its propensity for discovering new principles and new laws ("new" in the sense of being previously unknown, for those laws are always in effect even before they are discovered). Hence, we can say that the word hetoimos is spiritually related to both the evangelistic and apostolic endowments, thus turning it into a very "angelic" word, since, as we have shared before, "angels" are apostle-evangelists.

 

We can conclude from what we have seen so far that the word hetoimos applies to believers who are ready to execute angelic actions on Earth. Those who lack this predisposition for angelic actions due to their hatred of apostolic judgements and true, "male" evangelistic warfare (a hatred fed by the soul-centric matriarchal system) shall not be ready for the Lord's manifestation, and shall therefore be visibly branded with eternal shame by God and banished from His Direct Presence for eternity.

 

An individual readiness

The word "think" in the phrase "in such an hour as ye think not" of Matthew 24:44 was translated from the Greek verb dokeo, which is related to the concept of "opinion". Hence, dokeo refers to a certain type of natural-man opinion that prevents discerning the time of the coming of the Son of Man. To better understand the nature of this type of opinion, we must consider the verses where dokeo appears in the New Testament.

 

The first time that dokeo appears in Scripture is in verse 9 of the following passage:

 

"4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, 6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. 7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: 9 And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham." (Matthew 3:4-9)

 

Notice how John the Baptist declared that the Pharisees and Sadducees were not ready for the coming visitation and judgement. This is because they were associating readiness with being part of the "right group of people" in the natural. Yet, the Lord was declaring to them that being part of a certain group of people did not enable the readiness that He was expecting. In the same way, most Christians today believe that they are more or less "ready" for the Lord's coming because they are active members of a respectable "Christian" church. Some of the Christians who recognise the staleness of mainstream "Christianity" go out and find "avant-garde" congregations that stretch traditional Christianity beyond the comfort zone of most believers but without going far enough to truly challenge the matriarchy of the pastoral ministry (for that would automatically doom such congregations to total depopulation). Sadly, believers in these avant-garde congregations think that their participation in these less-traditional congregations guarantees their readiness for the Lord's coming. They are initially attracted to these congregations because they espouse an important "new" truth (that was being rejected by most), but, as time goes by, that initial attraction turns into a natural allegiance that results from deriving a personal sense of identity from belonging to the "avant-garde" congregation per se. Having proved themselves more perceptive to "unpopular" truths than most, they believe that they have done enough to ensure their readiness for the Lord's coming. However, these believers fail to realise that they have made "non-conformity" synonymous with belonging to a non-traditional group instead of understanding that it is actually a constant state of mind.

 

Notice how the people had to come out of Jerusalem and into the wilderness in order to be baptised by John. This speaks of a willingness to separate oneself from groups or places, even if those groups or places have been established by most as being "acceptable" or "approved". Hence, the merit in their approaching John for baptism lay in them separating themselves from a group rather than joining one. This meant that each of these persons had to go out into the wilderness as individuals who had independently decided that the current state of things could not prepare them for what was coming. By contrast, the Pharisees and Sadducees came as a group. Instead of arriving before John as separate individuals seeking God's transformative understanding, they arrived in clusters, wearing the external labels that identified them before everyone as members in good standing of the "Pharisee" or "Sadducee" religious group. This unwillingness to discern the individuality of God's readiness prevented them being truly ready for the visitation that was coming upon them. Even though others around us may help us and enable us to be "ready", God's readiness remains a constant, individual state of mind that cannot be inherited by osmosis through membership in a group.

 

The word "stones" in the phrase "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" of Matthew 3:9 above was translated from the Greek noun lithos. Interestingly enough, lithos appears 3 times in the following passage:

 

"1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! 2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." (Mark 13:1-2)

 

The phrase "left one stone upon another" in verse 2 appears to contain the word lithos ("stone") only once, yet, in the original text, the phrase actually reads "there shall not be left stone over stone". Notice, therefore, how the passage starts with a disciple emphasising the stones that were together, as a group, forming the magnificent religious buildings before them, and notice how the passage ends with the Lord separating these stones from each other so that not one stone would be able to rest upon another to validate its legitimacy. It is also worth noting that, in the passage above, the Spirit of God emphasises that it was one from the group of disciples with the Lord that day who commented on the buildings' stones. It is when this individual disciple (internally separated from the rest of the group) meditated on the validity of the buildings (i.e. "groups") that he received a direct revelation from God as to their true validity. Let him who has ears hear what the Lord is saying.

 

Solitary soul rising

The words "raise up" in the phrase "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" at the end of Matthew 3:9 above were translated from the Greek verb egeiro, which appears multiple times (in 135 verses) throughout the New Testament. Outside of the Gospels and the book of Acts, egeiro appears in 38 different verses. Interestingly enough, egeiro is used almost exclusively to refer to rising from the dead, in 35 out of the 38 verses. Out of those 35 verses, it is used in 25 verses to refer directly to Yeshua's resurrection, in 2 verses to refer to both Yeshua and us rising from the dead, and in the other 8 verses, it is used to refer to resurrection in general. Therefore, when the Spirit of God speaks of "raising up children unto Abraham" from these stones, He is speaking of raising them from the ground after they have been willing to go through the death of being separated from the rest of the temple stones. As the stone breaks away from the structure and lies on the ground by himself, apparently powerless and useless, the Spirit of God promises to raise him from the ground and make him a useful stone in God's spiritual temple. It is worth noting that the words "is able" in the phrase "God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" were translated from the Greek verb dunamai, which is the verb form of the noun dunamis meaning "power". As we have shared before, Scripture makes a strong emphasis on the central role of "power" in producing resurrection (as in 1 Corinthians 15:43, for example, where egeiro is used). Hence, breaking away from the temple stones requires an awareness of God's extraordinary resurrection power. Those who focus on the natural power of the visible temple structures (and who do not realise the transcendentally superior power of God) will be too fearful to break away and die alone, choosing instead to remain in the midst of the ephemeral power and glory of the current temple.

 

As we said above, after the book of Acts, egeiro is only used in 3 verses without making an explicit reference to rising from the dead. The first of these 3 verses is the following verse, where egeiro is slightly mistranslated as "awake":

 

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." (Romans 13:11)

 

Notice how egeiro is used to refer to rising from a state of slumber rather than death. As long as a believer chooses to remain amongst the "powerful" temple stones, he is a person lying on the ground, totally asleep and spiritually motionless, indistinguishable from all the cadavers lying around him. The longer he remains there, the less time he has left to enter into his calling, with his calling eventually dying, at which point he is no longer asleep and has officially become a member of the club of cadavers he so foolishly clung to. This is why the Lord speaks in Romans 13:11 of "knowing the time" and being aware that our salvation is nearer than when we believed. As we have shared in detail before, the "salvation" referred to in Romans 13:11 does not refer to the saving of one's soul from literal hell. Instead, it refers to the fulfilment of everything that God intended to restore in us when He sent Yeshua to die at Golgotha for us. Notice also how Romans 13:11 speaks of "our" salvation rather than "your" salvation. This emphasises an ironic reality: The longer you cling to the group, the less useful you are in forging a collective salvation that goes beyond your own. By contrast, the more quickly you are willing to separate yourself from the temple stones, the more opportunity you will have to forge spiritual work that will enable the fulfilment of God's calling for myriads of others in the Body of Christ.

 

The 2nd verse (after Acts) where egeiro is not used to refer explicitly to "rising from the dead" is the following verse where it is once again mistranslated as "awake":

 

"Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." (Ephesians 5:14)

 

Notice that Paul is not writing thee words to a group of "heathens" but rather to the already "saved" believers in Ephesus. This means that being "active" in the midst of the temple does not necessarily mean that you are spiritually "awake". Otherwise, why would Paul say to the Ephesian churchgoers, "Arise, thou that sleepest"? Also, being an established member of the temple stones does not necessarily mean that you are not living in spiritual darkness. Otherwise, why would Paul say to the Ephesian churchgoers, "and Christ shall give thee light"? When believers choose to stay within the realm of the stone temples, they begin to enter into the darkness of the spiritual "Middle Ages", becoming dependent on intermediaries to have any "interaction" with God. Just like the stuck-at-38 Israelites who came out of Egypt, "Middle-Age" believers can only see the light of God when they behold the afterglow of His light in the face of their "Moses". They cannot see it directly, for they are unwilling to die alone. Yet, the Lord is promising in Ephesians 5:14 above that, if you are willing to die alone, the light of Christ will shine directly on you.

 

The 3rd and last verse where egeiro is not used to refer explicitly to "rising from the dead" is Revelation 11:1, which interestingly enough, is the last verse in Scripture where egeiro appears:

 

"And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein." (Revelation 11:1)

 

Notice how the Spirit tells John to "rise" (egeiro) and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship within it. This emphasises the spiritual connection between egeiro and the temple's stones. If you read through Revelation 11, you will see that the temple and what is within it is spoken of from a very negative context, thereby revealing God's disapproval of it. When a believer arises from the "group mentality" and stops being dazzled by the temple's power and glory, he will begin to "measure" it (i.e. judge it) from God's perspective, and he will find the temple to be very lacking. He will see the writing on the wall, written with the rod he is measuring with, and he will see that the writing reads "Mene, mene, tekel, upharsim".

 

As a parenthesis, it is worth noting that the word "reed" in Revelation 11:1 above was translated from the Greek word kalamos, which, interestingly enough, is translated as "pen" in 3 John 1:13. Thus, it is spiritually related to writing, as when an inspector writes up a report on the entity that he has examined. The word "rod", on the other hand, was translated from the Greek word rhabdos, which is used in various verses (such as 1 Corinthians 4:21, Revelation 2:27, Revelation 12:5, and Revelation 19:15) to denote a rod of punishment. Hence, the reed that is "like unto a rod" of Revelation 11:1 does not denote a pen that writes a cold, academic, and emotionally detached report on the state of things. Instead, it is a pen that unleashes the judgement of God on that which is being examined. Because of its "reporting" and "recording" nature, the kalamos reed of Revelation 11:1 points to the teacher endowment, whereas the rhabdos rod points to the apostolic endowment of judgements. Thus, Revelation 11:1 points to someone rising up as a teacher-apostle to evaluate the temple, which points to the "division-inducing" red-horse rider, since red-horse riders are teacher-apostles (gone prophetic).

 

Unready many times over

As we shared above, the word "think" in the phrase "an hour as ye think not" of Matthew 24:44 was translated from the Greek verb dokeo, which literally means "to opine". After Matthew 3:9, the second verse where dokeo appears is Matthew 6:7, where it is again translated as "think":

 

"But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." (Matthew 6:7)

 

Therefore, we can infer that those who compensate quality with quantity will develop a type of opinion that will prevent them discerning the coming of the Son of Man described in Matthew 24. Quantity-centric people do not mind uttering the same thoughts over and over again, without ever adding or producing something new (for out of the abundance of a heart with nothing new the mouth speaks nothing new).

 

Distantly unready

The type of person described in Matthew 6:7 above also speaks of someone who perceives God as a very distant person who may or may not have heard what he has said, since a person who can see the other person's acknowledgement of his request will not feel the need to repeat it. In other words, the person described in Matthew 6:7 is like a person shouting into the wind in the middle of a deserted place, hoping that someone out there will hear his plea. Such a person will not stop to wait for God's response or "opinion" regarding his request, since he does not see anyone near him who may respond, meaning that his communication will remain one-directional, speaking and voicing his desires without expecting or caring for the other person's reactions or thoughts. Thus, it is no coincidence that the word "heard" in Matthew 6:7 above was translated from the Greek verb eisakouo, which only appears 5 times in all of Scripture, the 4th time being in the following verse, where Paul quotes Isaiah 28:11:

 

"In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord" (1 Corinthians 14:21)

 

It is interesting to consider that, in the other 4 verses where eisakouo appears, it is used to explicitly refer to God hearing our prayers (Matthew 6:7, Luke 1:13, Acts 10:31, Hebrews 5:7). Hence, 1 Corinthians 14:21 actually portrays man as not hearing God when God prays towards him! The natural man cannot understand the "personal" nature of our New-Covenant relationship with God. This is why he usually degenerates into a one-way relationship with God where he is constantly talking and repeating his desires without waiting to hear the thoughts from God's hearts. Such a person will therefore be totally unprepared as God prepares the spiritual scenario for His manifestation, a manifestation that will be completely different from all of his (dokeo) opinions and expectations.

 

{As a parenthesis, it is important to emphasise that, when we pray to the Lord, we must expect a response from Him, and we must be willing to be silent long enough to hear that response. Instead of simply repeating our opinion over and over again, we must long to learn His opinion and align our hearts accordingly. We must allow the Lord to pray His desires into our hearts.}

 

The unready strangers

The third time that the verb dokeo (to "think" or "opine") appears in Scripture is in verse 25 of the following passage, translated as "thinkest":

 

"24 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? 25 He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? of their own children, or of strangers? 26 Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. 27 Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for me and thee." (Matthew 17:24-27)

 

The word "strangers" in verses 26 and 27 was translated from the Greek adjective allotrios, which appears for the first two times in Scripture in the passage above. The third time that allotrios appears is in the following verse, translated as "another man":

 

"And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 16:12)

 

Notice how this verse, as in other passages that we studied throughout the previous posting, once again speaks of someone being faithful with someone else's goods even when the owner seems to be distant enough to diminish our apparent accountability. In other words, the Lord is speaking of being faithful with a distant person's goods as if he were immediately present. This is the type of projecting faith required to have a true communication with God and to be spiritually ready, sharing in His "opinion" of all things. Said another way, even when the natural man in you may "think" (dokeo) that God is very distant, you must act and think as if He is right next to you. You must communicate with Him as if He heard every single word you just uttered (as a man standing next to you), and you must take the time to hear His response, just as you would with someone you care about who is standing right next to you and who just heard everything you said to Him. This is the type of attitude required to dokeo as He dokeos and be hetoimos (i.e. "ready") for His manifestation.

 

The unreadiness of most believers during these latter days results from them engaging the Lord as if He were a distant stranger. Most believers would reject such an assertion about them, only to turn around and utter prayer after prayer that consists of them telling God what they want and need, without ever investing significant time opening their hearts to God's thoughts about everything they constantly speak to Him about. Even when they may visualise God as a "loving" person who cares deeply for them, He remains like a distant stranger who is only known to them through the repetitive and shallow sermons that they hear Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Even when they know in their heads that "His ways are not their ways", they only become excited about this realisation when they perceive those ways taking them to the places that they want to go to. The moment that the destination of those "mysterious ways" becomes strange and contrary to their traditionally-accepted opinions, they quickly walk away, leaving God talking to Himself. The next day, they simply come back to where God is and start repeating the same words that they had been uttering the day before, all as if the previous day had never happened. It is sad how the Church is littered with so many of these unready strangers.

 

The taxing strangers

Notice that dokeo is used in Matthew 17:25 above in the context of the disciples being demanded a certain type of tax, which in the original Greek text of Matthew 17:24 is called a didrachmon, a coin worth 2 drachmas that was demanded of people as a sort of "temple tax". To better understand the spiritual meaning of this tax, we must first consider the word translated as "custom" in Yeshua's question "of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute?". The word "custom" was translated from the Greek word telos, which, as we have studied before, refers to the debt of prophetic sacrifice that we owe to our brethren in love, a debt whose payment helps to complete the prophetic sacrifice that they are called to pay in their lives (as established in Romans 13:7). This explains why the money that Peter retrieved from the fish was 4 drachmas, which covered the 2-drachma tax for both Peter and Yeshua. Through His spiritual work and sacrifice, Yeshua had wrought the manifestation of the 4 drachmas inside the fish that Peter would pull from the sea, covering not only the debt that was being imposed on himself (Yeshua) but also the debt being imposed on someone else. The fact that the 4 drachmas were not simply found under a rock or by the side of the road but, instead, inside a fish also has spiritual significance. In order for the 4 drachmas to arrive where Peter was, a living creature, the fish, took upon himself the burden of swallowing the 4 drachmas and carrying them inside of him all the way to the place where Peter would catch him; and, in order for Peter to get his hands on the 4 drachmas, the fish had to be pulled out of the water and die so that the coin could be retrieved from his mouth. Scripture does not explicitly say whether Peter threw the fish back in the water after retrieving the coin from his mouth, but, regardless of whether he did or did not, the fish definitely experienced a temporary death as he was pulled out of the environment that he was comfortable in and onto an environment where he could not survive for long. All of this points to the prophetic endowment that is willing to sacrifice its life for the sake of others. The fact that the coin would be in the first fish that Peter pulled from the water also points to the prophetic, since the endowment most directly related to randomness is the prophetic endowment.

 

Whereas "custom" was translated from telos, the word "tribute" in the phrase "of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute" in Matthew 17:25 above was translated from the Greek word kensos, which literally means "census" and refers to the registration and valuation of property for property-tax purposes in the Roman system. Interestingly, the word kensos only appears 4 times in Scripture, 3 times in Matthew and once in Mark. Outside of Matthew 17:25, it is only used in the context of the Pharisees asking Yeshua whether it was right to pay "tribute" (i.e. kensos) to Caesar. This emphasises kensos' connection to the taxing of strangers, as when the Romans taxed the Jews whom they had conquered. Therefore, when the temple representatives approached Yeshua's disciples to demand a kensos from them, they were treating them like strangers, like spiritual foreigners who were completely unrelated to them, aliens whose only purpose was to support the spiritual work of the "truly enlightened". Those who embrace the pastoral matriarchy system dokeo (i.e. think) that such a system of taxation is just and acceptable. They believe in a system that divides the Body into a group of conquering Caesars (the pastors) and a group of conquered Jews (the laymen) who must obey Caesar "just because" of the Caesars' name and position. The conquered Jews are there to uphold and finance the spiritual exploits of the Caesars, whose only obligation towards the Jews is to provide them with a stable environment where they can perform their religious duties and feel right with God. Other than that, the relationship between the Caesars and the conquered Jews is minimal, for they belong to different and unequal castes that reflect the Old-Covenant separation between God and mankind that the Caesars so fiercely endeavour to protect. This contrasts with how Yeshua provided a prophetic sacrifice from His own life that enabled the payment of both his tax and Peter's. Whereas the matriarchal Caesars extort taxes from their Jews, the spiritual Yeshuas prophetically pay the taxes of the brethren under their care. Whereas the matriarchal Caesars in Rome stand far, far away from the foreign Jews in Jerusalem, the spiritual Yeshuas walk alongside their brethren (just like Yeshua and Peter in Matthew 17), never treating them like strangers unless they choose to act as such. To the natural man, however, the taxing Caesar possesses a "quality" that the spiritual Yeshua does not: a humanly recognisable name and image that is plastered in the circulating coins handled by everyone. To the natural man, that is more than enough to sell his dignity to Caesar, regardless of all the kensos that he demands.

 

Those who dokeo that the taxing, matriarchal system is the way to go will have a misguided opinion regarding the Lord's return. Those who dokeo that such a system is contrary to God's perfect will (and is actually the result of natural man's stubbornness) will be better prepared to have their natural opinion overridden and thereby discern the true nature of the Lord's coming. They will therefore be readier for His manifestation. The Caesar-honouring matriarchals, on the other hand, will be ready to murder the spiritual Yeshuas whenever the subject of His manifestation surfaces:

 

"64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 65 Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy. 66 What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death." (Matthew 26:64-66)

[The word "think" in Matthew 26:66 was translated from the word dokeo]

 

"And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a King." (Luke 23:2)

 

"And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." (John 19:12)

 

"They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service" (John 16:2)

[The word "think" was translated from dokeo]

 

Ready to understand who the Son of Man is

The word dokeo also appears in verse 49 of the following passage, translated as "supposed":

 

"46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray. 47 And when even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. 48 And he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. 49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: 50 For they all saw him, and were troubled. And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. 51 And he went up unto them into the ship; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure, and wondered." (Mark 6:46-51)

 

The word "spirit" in the phrase "they supposed it had been a spirit" of verse 49 above was mistranslated from the Greek word phantasma, which literally means "phantom" and is NOT the word used in the original Greek text when referring to the spirit per se (as when speaking of the "Holy Spirit"). In fact, phantasma is only used twice in Scripture, both times when describing the incident when Yeshua walked on the sea. The word phantasma is derived from the verb phantazo meaning "to cause to appear, expose to view, show", which only appears once in Scripture, in verse 21 of the following passage, translated as "sight":

 

"18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Hebrews 12:18-24)

 

Notice how phantazo is used in the context of something that was so "spiritual" and foreign to the naturally-minded, Old-Covenant Israelites that it utterly terrified them, just as the disciples were terrified when they beheld the "phantom" walking on the sea. This explains why natural, matriarchal believers have such difficulty understanding the Second Coming. Such an event is an event so foreign to them due to its spiritual nature (as opposed to their soul-centric nature) that it acquires the nature of an unexplainable apparition, a manifestation with no link to reason or causality that magically happens "just because". Yet, to the believer operating in the New Covenant who constantly lives in the Spirit and not the soul, the phantazo of the Fierce God of Judgements, the God of Consuming Fire (Hebrews 12:29) is in no way a "foreign" sight but rather the sight of a God with whom they have engaged on a constant basis. Also, the phantazo of supernatural manifestations through a son of man will not seem so foreign, for they will be very familiar with the sons of man also being the sons of God as they walk in their Spirit nature that Yeshua died at Golgotha for. All of this is why both passages above include the Spirit's exhortation not to react to the Spirit's manifestation with soulish fear or incredulous amazement.

 

Ready to see the line blurred

Fittingly enough, the last appearance of dokeo in the Gospels is in verse 15 of the following passage, translated as "supposing":

 

"11 But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, 12 And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. 14 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." (John 20:11-15)

 

Notice how, to Mary's natural opinion, the resurrected Yeshua seemed like no more than a "gardener". This reveals the natural mind's inability to understand how, as the true nature of man is manifested, the line between the supernatural and the natural becomes blurred. This is why the pre-resurrection Yeshua seemed like a phantom (Mark 6:49) and the post-resurrection Yeshua seemed like a "gardener". This blurry separation is also evident in the first appearance of dokeo outside of the Gospels, in verse 9, where it is translated as "thought":

 

"5 Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6 And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8 And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9 And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision." (Acts 12:5-9)

 

As indicated in Acts 12:12, the supernatural rescue of Peter from Herod's prison was forged by the prayers of "many" believers (unknown to us by name). So supernatural was the nature of what they spawned that most of those same believers thought that whoever Rhoda heard knocking on the door of their prayer meeting was Peter's angel, and not Peter in the flesh (Acts 12:15). All of this reveals a deep spiritual problem within matriarchal believers. Due to their fixation on Old-Covenant paradigms, they have drawn a very clear and distinct line between heaven and earth, between this life and the afterlife, between the current state of things and God's latter "Kingdom". As a result, they are not ready to understand how God intends to blur all these lines as His Second Coming begins to manifest itself, and they will disdainfully reject anyone who speaks of any such blurring. This is why, as the Lord's Kingdom consolidates its hold on the Earth, God will ironically draw a clear and distinct line of eternal separation between Himself and the "blurriness"-rejecting matriarchals.

 

The unexpectedly-ready weak

The incident in Acts 12 above illustrates a reality about prayer that many of us tend to ignore, a reality that we shared on earlier. As the believers mentioned in Acts 12:12 gathered to pray, they fervently made known to God their desire for Peter's liberation. Yet, in the midst of their fervent petitioning, they mostly forgot to quiet down for a second to hear God's reply to their pleas. That is why the Spirit declares the following in Acts 12:13:

 

"And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda" (Acts 12:13)

 

As everyone was praying, the Lord sent His response in the form of a knock on the door, and only one person, a damsel named Rhoda, bothered to hear that response and react to it. Fellow believer, when the men and women of Acts 12:12 gathered to pray for Peter's liberation, they had no way of knowing how that liberation would be manifested. Yet, as they continued in prayer, the awareness of what God would do should have begun to surface in their hearts and minds, to the point that Peter's knock on the door would have had an air of "familiarity" about it, as when you have a feeling that something is about to happen, even if you are unclear about all the details. Instead of familiarity, however, the believers gathered there reacted with scepticism, attributing a mystical quality (at best) to something that God was making happen in the natural. This is why the Spirit is sadly forced to narrate the following in the next 2 verses:

 

"14 And when she knew Peter's voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. 15 And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. 16 But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished." (Acts 12:14-16)

 

Notice how Rhoda did not need to open the door and physically see Peter to confirm (eido) in her mind that it was indeed Peter who was standing at the door. Her heart, which was open to God's reaction to their petitions, knew (ginosko) without a shadow of a doubt that the man knocking at the door was the same man who had been arrested by Herod the king and who had been put under strict guard, for her heart was not only hearing the voice of the physical Peter but the voice of God Himself. Upon hearing Rhoda's victorious announcement, however, the rest responded by insulting her, calling her "mad" (a "maniac" in Greek). In doing so, they insulted the very God whom they were petitioning, the very God who lovingly responded to their prayers in an awe-inspiring fashion. This is why God left them as nameless asterisks in Scripture, choosing to name Rhoda only (yes, the Spirit does mention Mary, the mother of John Mark in Acts 12:12, but only to indicate the spiritual location of their prayers; the Spirit makes no mention of Mary rising to Rhoda's defence when she joyously announced Peter's presence at the door; hence, she is never mentioned again after verse 12).

 

When one reads Acts 12, the most common natural reaction is to chuckle at Rhoda leaving Peter outside as she went back to tell everyone that Peter was there. However, upon further review, it becomes evident that her action of leaving Peter outside was actually motivated by the Holy Spirit. It was God's desire for those praying there to finally shut up for a second and hear His response, which was coming in the form of a knock on the door. At that point, it was more important to go back and confront the praying crowd. Neither were they spiritually ready to see Peter, nor did they deserve to see him. It was important to first confront their attitude and cause their incredulity to be evidenced and documented for posterity.

 

It is worth mentioning that the word "damsel" in Acts 12:13 was translated from the Greek noun paidiske, which appears in 5 verses prior to Acts 12:13. With the exception of Luke 12:45, all those verses use paidiske to refer to the young woman who confronted Peter and exposed him as a follower of Yeshua after He had been arrested, prompting Peter to deny the Lord 3 times. This writer does not have a full understanding of the meaning behind this, but it is this writer's opinion (i.e. I dokeo) that this is the Lord's wonderful way of redeeming Peter for his previous denial of Him. Where once a paidiske had been used by satan and the Amorite spirit to intimidate Peter and coerce him into denying the Lord, it was now a paidiske who was announcing to the world that God loved Peter so much that He supernaturally redeemed him from the hands of the Amorite Herod, a man whose spirit Peter had previously feared even though he was a conquering, evangelistic king in God's eyes. How wonderful God's love is! How great and merciful is the Lord our God!!!

 

The Lord's use of paidiske in relation to the evangelist Peter also points to the following passage:

 

"The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it" (Psalm 68:11)

 

The above verse is one of the most poorly translated verses in the King James Version, doing a great disservice the verse (and to the Lord) by the way they translated it. As indicated on godvine.com, a more correct translation of the original Hebrew text would read "Of the female preachers there was a great host". The word translated as "preachers" in the godvine.com commentary is actually a form of the Hebrew verb basar, which literally means "to bear news", and is, in essence, the Hebrew verb form of "evangel", "gospel" or "good news". This is why the Holy Spirit uses the Greek verb euaggelizo (i.e. to "evangelise") in Luke 4:18 when quoting Isaiah 61:1, where basar is used in the original Hebrew text. Thus, a more exact translation would read "The Lord gave the word: great was the army of women who evangelised it."

 

Therefore, we can safely say that Psalm 68:11 is a prophecy about the rise of powerful "women" evangelists in the latter days. Even though this prophecy does refer to literal women, it goes much deeper than that, for it speaks of the rise of weak-to-the-natural-eye believers who will walk in the conquest anointing of the most "male" of all the endowments, the evangelistic endowment. This is why it was not one of the well-known apostles who is highlighted in Acts 12, but rather a till-then unknown young woman named Rhoda, a "girl" who appeared so "weak" to the natural mind that her good-news proclamation was dismissed as madness by the "established" believers there. In a sense, the "weak young woman" figure also applied to Peter, for, to the eyes of the religious establishment of his day, he was nothing more than an illiterate (Acts 4:13) fisherman who was, in their opinion, delving in things that were way above his pay grade.

 

Considering the above, it makes great spiritual sense that the KJV translators did such a disservice to Psalm 68:11, since, as we have shared before, the King James translators were, as their name indicates, unconditionally loyal to King James, writing their translation in great part to honour him. This means that their hearts harboured a subtle disdain for the humanly weak, at least as related to the performing of kingly duties. The evangelistic endowment is the one most directly related to the spiritual kingship. Hence, it makes sense that they would hesitate to associate it to powerless "women".

 

To gain a better understanding on where these "powerless women" will emerge from, we must consider a passage where the word egeiro is used. As we shared above, egeiro (meaning to "rise") is strongly related to resurrection. This word is used by the Lord when He commands Jairus' daughter to rise from the dead:

 

"49 While he yet spake, there cometh one from the ruler of the synagogue's house, saying to him, Thy daughter is dead; trouble not the Master. 50 But when Jesus heard it, he answered him, saying, Fear not: believe only, and she shall be made whole. 51 And when he came into the house, he suffered no man to go in, save Peter, and James, and John, and the father and the mother of the maiden. 52 And all wept, and bewailed her: but he said, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. 53 And they laughed him to scorn, knowing that she was dead. 54 And he put them all out, and took her by the hand, and called, saying, Maid, arise. 55 And her spirit came again, and she arose straightway: and he commanded to give her meat. 56 And her parents were astonished: but he charged them that they should tell no man what was done." (Luke 8:49-56)

 

The word "arise" at the end of verse 54 was translated from egeiro, and the word "maid" was translated from the Greek noun pais. Interestingly enough, paidiske is a diminutive form of pais. Thus, the passage above is a prophetic figure of how the evangelistic paidiskes are to emerge. As we studied in detail in a posting from over 11 years ago, the resurrection of Jairus' daughter is inextricably intertwined with the healing of the woman with the blood issue. As we shared then, this speaks of how the matriarchal soul contamination must be removed before "women" can manifest the fullness of their spiritual calling, both in a literal and a figurative sense. In a figurative sense, it refers not only to the rise of "female" souls (pais) as "male" spirit beings, but also the rise of weak "female" souls (paidiskes or "little" paises) as spirit beings, i.e. souls that look weak to the surrounding weak souls.

 

Notice how the Lord "put them all out" (Luke 8:54) before raising the young woman. Even though the KJV translators tried to put a more "diplomatic" spin on what Yeshua did, the original Greek text literally says that Yeshua "threw them all out", meaning that it was a rather violent and agitated ejection of people with whom the Lord was very disgusted. All of this emphasises the need for the soul to be isolated from the (matriarchal) group in order to experience a true spiritual rising from God. Even when it is further weakened by its separation from the soul's "life" force, that deliberate and non-harmonious separation is what actually enables the infusion of spirit strength into the soul's existence. This is why the next verse (Luke 8:55) declares that the "spirit" (pneuma in Greek) came back to her, meaning that her weak soul was now operating in the rock (i.e. petros) strength of the Spirit. She had finally entered into the process of becoming ready for the Lord's manifestation. Now she needed to be strengthened even more through spirit food (Luke 8:55), i.e. through "angels' food" (Psalm 78:25) or "strong bread" for valiant warriors, as the Hebrew text declares in Psalm 78.

 

"22 And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. 23 Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:" (Acts 13:22-23)

[The word "raised" in both verses 22 and 23 were translated from egeiro. Notice how this passage speaks about the rising of an evangelistic king and saviour of multitudes who, before that, was a "shepherd boy", the youngest child in a family that dismissed him as mostly irrelevant.]

 

{The next article is called "Angelic service"}