Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #14 in Genesis 38, and we will begin reading in Genesis 38:20-26:

And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive his pledge from the woman's hand: but he found her not. Then he asked the men of that place, saying, Where is the harlot, that was openly by the way side? And they said, There was no harlot in this place. And he returned to Judah, and said, I cannot find her; and also the men of the place said, that there was no harlot in this place. And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be shamed: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her. And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. When she was brought forth, she sent to her father in law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and bracelets, and staff. And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She hath been more righteous than I; because that I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.

In our last study we spent some time discussing this historical situation and its spiritual implications, and we saw that this does tie in with Judgment Day.  Judgment was proclaimed: “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.”  That totally ties in with the final judgment of the world.  We could go to many verses where God links together “fire” and “judgment,” or fire and His wrath.

As we have seen in the previous studies, Judah is a type of Christ as the “kinsman redeemer,” and Christ is God.  Christ is also the Judge.  The One who is the Saviour is the same One who is the Judge.  And Christ is the Word, and Jesus said, “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” 

In Revelation 19 Christ comes to tread the winepress of the wrath of God, and He rules the nations with a rod of iron.  Remember that passage we read of Christ as the Judge in Revelation 19:11-13:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

It is very clear.  God calls Him “The Word of God” because the Bible is judging the world at this time and over the course of this extended Judgment Day period that started on May 21, 2011, and which will go all the way to the end.  The Bible is bringing forth the revelation of God’s righteous judgment program as God opens the Scriptures to reveal this truth.  He revealed that Christ comes in the clouds immediately after the Tribulation, and the clouds identify with the commandments of God.  Christ comes in the commandments, or the Scriptures, and we have learned all these things from the Bible, just as we learned about the judgment on the churches, as judgment began at the house of God.  And judgment on the churches was carried out by the Bible as well.  The Word judged the churches. 

Why do you not go to church?  Why do I not go to the church at this time?  It is because the Bible reveals that judgment begins at the house of God, and we know that the Spirit of Christ departed out, and the spirit of Satan entered in, and  God ended the church age.  Then He commanded His people to get out, and so forth.

How do you and I know these things?  It is only from the Bible.  The Bible revealed these things.  It was the revelation of God’s judgment on the churches, and we understood it.  We saw it with “eyes of understanding.”  Likewise, how do we know that May 21, 2011, was the beginning of Judgment Day?  How do we know that the door of heaven was shut and the Light of the Gospel was put out all across the earth?  How do we know the Gospel waters were dried up, and that He is no longer actively saving people, and that He is now actively  pouring out His wrath on all the world?  How do we know?  It is because God has revealed it through His Word.  It is the identical process we went through when the Lord revealed the spiritual judgment on the churches through revelation in His Word that He was opening up at the time of the end.  And it was proven by comparing Scripture with Scripture, confirming it to the “eyes and ears,” spiritually speaking, of God’s elect.  We would not even think of going back to church because we know the churches are a spiritual wasteland and a desolation, just as we know that the same thing has happened to the world. 

Christ has begun to carry out the judgment, and the fire of God’s wrath is going across the face of the earth.  If you recall, it says in Joel 2:1-5:

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of JEHOVAH cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.  The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

(The word “land” here is the word for “earth.”)  God’s Word is as a flaming fire, as it says in Isaiah 30:27:

Behold, the name of JEHOVAH cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:

And what does the tongue of JEHOVAH relate to?  It is His Word, or what comes forth from His mouth, like we see in Revelation 19 where Christ is declared to be “The Word of God.”  Then it says in Revelation 19:15:

And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations…

Out of the mouth of God comes that which shall kill the nations.  Likewise, out of the mouth of JEHOVAH is a “devouring fire.”  Then it says of Him in Isaiah 30:28:

And his breath, as an overflowing stream…

The “breath” of God is an overflowing stream.  The Bible says, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God,” and the word “inspiration” is a compound word in the Greek which means “God breathed.”  So when we read that His breath is as an overflowing stream, it is really referring to a stream of brimstone.  Then we read in Isaiah 30:30:

And JEHOVAH shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.

That is the “devouring fire” of Joel 2.  It is coming forth from God’s mouth.  It is His Word, the Bible, that is burning up the earth and everything in its path with “the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.”  Then, finally, it says in Isaiah 30:33:

For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of JEHOVAH, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.

God’s Word is going forth.   Christ judging the world.  And we, the saints, are judging the world with Him in the sense that we are carrying the message of the truths of the Word of God at this time.  It is just like God’s people have always carried the truths of the Word of God in their particular time and season.  We are carrying the truth of the Word of God in this time of final judgment, and that Word is going forth like a “devouring fire,” and the unsaved will hear it, in one way or another.  Already many had heard it leading up to May 21, 2011, but they will continue to hear it throughout this whole period of time.

And what happens when the Word of God (this furious anger and wrath of God) reaches the ears of someone He had saved before He shut the door?  There is that great multitude somewhere out there in the world.  We are indiscriminately teaching these things to all.  We do not know who out there is saved, or not, as it is not for us to know, but we are bringing the message that May 21, 2011 was Judgment Day, and the door was shut, and so forth.  It is the time of the world’s judgment, and we are just sharing it far and wide. 

Is it a danger to the great multitude when they hear of God’s wrath in Judgment Day?  Will they be harmed?  No, absolutely not, because the same message that spiritually burns up the wicked will also be nourishment to the souls of those God has saved.  That is what is “feeding the sheep.”  And the spiritual fire that is coming forth from the Bible and burning everything in its path will not harm the elect.  Will they feel the impact?  We are all left on the earth, and the earth is being troubled by the wrath of God, so we are all experiencing the judgment.  However, the final result in our case is that we are made better.  I do not know how that is possible, but the Bible says that when you put gold and silver to the fire, it comes out purer, or better.  And that is what is happening to God’s people, the elect.  They are not burned, as it says in Isaiah 24:6:  “…the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.”  We can also go to Zechariah 13:8:

And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith JEHOVAH, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.

Again, the Hebrew word translated as “land” is translated hundreds of times as “earth.”  The “two parts” that are cut off and die are the ungodly, but the “third,” the elect, shall be left.  Or as it says of Christ’s coming in 1Thessalonians 4: “Then we which are alive and remain,”  and that word is used twice in that passage.  To be left is to remain. 

Again, it says in Zechariah 13:8-9:

…but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, JEHOVAH is my God.

God will bring us through the fire, just as it says in 1Corinthians 3 says.  It is not hard to find these Scriptures because the Bible has so much to say about it, but it says in 1Corinthians 3:11:

For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

We will return to this passage, but remember what we read in Joel 2:3:

A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth…

Then it said in Joel 2:5:

Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.

The “stubble” is being burned up in Judgment Day because it is not a lasting material when put to the fire.  When you put fire to stubble, it will burn up quickly.  And that is how it is when the fire is put to a sinner that remains in his own sins without a Saviour.  He will burn up quickly; he has no ability to endure the flame.

But if you have the foundation of Christ, all that is laid upon it are “gold, silver, precious stones,” and we read about gold and silver in Zechariah 13, and God will bring them through the fire.

But “wood, hay, stubble” all have the same characteristic: fire destroys them.  They cannot abide the fire.  They cannot go through a fire.  If you put fire to them, they are done.  They are finished.  They have no ability to endure.  But God says of His elect, “…but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.”  That is, those that He saved before He shut the door, and those to whom He gave the “pledge” of His Spirit before He brought the world into judgment, are the “gold, silver, precious stones,” and they will go through the fire to the end of the world.  Then we read in 1Corinthians 3:13:

Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

Again, we get a very good picture of why Judah declared, “Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.”  Historically, she produced the pledge, so no fire was put to her.  But spiritually, it is teaching us of God’s people who will produce the pledge that wards off the fire and causes them to go through the fire.  Certainly they feel the heat and the flames, but like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they come out of the fire.  How does that happen?  It is because there is “one like unto the Son of man,” the Son of God, was among them.  So too, God left One like unto Himself (His Spirit) in His people, and as God’s people go through the fire, there among us is the Spirit of God Himself.