Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #19 of Revelation 2, and we are currently looking at Revelation 2:14:

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

After reading this verse, we went to the Old Testament book of Numbers, and we read of Balaam and how he was hired by Balak to curse Israel.  We saw how God allowed Balaam to go with the princes of Moab, and to attempt to curse Israel.  Even though the Lord permitted him to go in the sense that God permits men every day to go on their sinful courses that are against Him, it was not according to His commandments.  It was contrary to His commandments.

So the Lord (the angel of JEHOVAH) encountered Balaam in the way and came against him in this very unusual historical account.  It is something that actually happened one day in history long ago, and God opened up the eyes of Balaam’s donkey three different times so that the donkey was able to see the angel of JEHOVAH standing in the way against Balaam to slay him.  As a result of seeing Him, the donkey turned out of the way the first two times, and the third time she fell down under Balaam, refusing to go any further.  The fact that the donkey saw the angel of JEHOVAH is incredible enough, which means that the donkey was given “spiritual eyes” because Balaam and his servants did not see the angel of JEHOVAH against them in the way.  It had to be a spiritual thing that the donkey saw because God is Spirit.  That would have been incredible in itself, but then God opened up the mouth of the donkey, and the “dumb ass” spoke to the prophet, as we read in 2Peter 2:

…the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.

The ass had a conversation with Balaam, pointing out that she had been a faithful animal to Balaam, not having done anything like this before.  Finally, the Lord revealed Himself to Balaam, and tells him Numbers 22:33:

And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive.

From all that language, it is not too difficult for us to see the spiritual meaning of the “ass.”  The ass was given spiritual eyes to see, and the ass was given a mouth to speak, and the Lord said He had intended to save her alive, but to slay Balaam.  All those things point to the donkey being a type and figure of the elect, while Balaam represents someone that has a professed relationship with God.  He said a lot of good things, and he would go to the Lord in prayer, in a sense, desiring to know the Lord’s will: “Should I go, or should I not?”  He even appeared to obey to a certain degree by not going the first time, but the true nature of his heart was revealed.  He was an unsaved man who desired the glory and riches promised him from the king of Moab for cursing the people of God.

In our last study, we saw that Balaam and his donkey had a close ongoing relationship for a long time, and this was the first time that the donkey had refused to obey his commands.  We saw how this relates to the wheat and the tares that had grown together in the midst of the churches and congregations.  They also had a close relationship, and you could not tell one from the other because they both professed to be Christians, and yet some were truly saved, and many were not.  Normally, the Lord’s people were in a very humble condition, and for the most part were not the leaders of the congregations.  Many times the leaders would be emissaries of Satan, unsaved individuals, as typified by Balaam. 

But finally at the end of the church age, God opened up the eyes of His people to understand that we could not travel any more in the direction the churches were taking us, as typified by Balaam who wanted to continue down “that way.”    God opened the Scriptures, and He revealed that we were not to go any further down that road of the churches, and that He had come to judge the churches.  And it was only the Lord’s true people that could see the truth that the “way” the churches were headed was a way we could no longer go, so we turned out of that way.  But most in the churches and congregations refused to hearken to those few lowly members that were God’s elect in the churches, and they attempted to force us back into the way of destruction.  The true people of God were very humble, and we wanted to be submissive to the will of God, so we first tried to work within the congregations to correct the path the churches were taking, and turn them to the true task of sharing the truths of the Word of God to save sinners.  That was the task we had received of the Lord, but we were turned out of that way into a way where the Lord was standing against the churches to destroy them.

Finally, the elect could go no further in the company of the unsaved people in the churches.  It had come time to separate the wheat from the tares, so God issued forth the command from His Word, and opened the eyes and ears to His people that we must leave the churches and congregations.  We must come out of the midst, and depart out of “Jerusalem,” spiritually, and flee to the mountains (to God and His Word).  In a sense, God’s people then “fell down,” in a sense, refusing to go any further, and those that stayed in the churches were exceedingly angry with these people who had always “done what they were told.”  We were the ones in the congregations that gave the pastors and elders the proper respect due to their positions of authority, but now these same lowly people were refusing to continue on the path that the churches had set.  We dared to say to the pastors, elders, and deacons, “You must not go on as a church.  Do you not understand that the Lord is set against you?  The Lord has His sword drawn to slay you if you continue down that road.”

The Lord’s people would no longer continue in that way.  As we read this story of Balaam, we no longer read about the donkey.  The donkey did not continue to stay with Balaam, and she apparently went off by herself, and the last we heard of her was that the Lord was commending her for turning out of the way, and He said He would save her alive.  And that is exactly what God did as He saved His people alive, but He permitted Balaam and those he typified to continue on that road where they would meet their end, as the Lord destroyed all those in the churches and congregations as tares bundled for the fire.  And that “fire” came on May 21, 2011, once Judgment Day got under way.

So we have been looking at this account in Numbers 22 and relating it to Revelation 2.  It is interesting.  And we wonder, “What was this doctrine of Balaam that he taught Balac that was so grievous to the Israelites?”  We cannot seem to find it here in Numbers 23.  It says in Numbers 23:27-28:

And Balak said unto Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee unto another place; peradventure it will please God that thou mayest curse me them from thence. And Balak brought Balaam unto the top of Peor, that looketh toward Jeshimon.

Here, he offered sacrifice again.  Then it said in Numbers 24:1:

And when Balaam saw that it pleased JEHOVAH to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face toward the wilderness.

Then in the following verses, we read that he again blesses Israel, as it says in Numbers 24:9-10:

He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. And Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.

And, once again, we see God’s purpose in view with the number “three.”  First the ass turned out of the way three times, and then the three times that Balaam had attempted to curse Israel, but God turned it to a blessing.

As we continue on in this chapter, it says in Numbers 24:23-25:

And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever. And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place: and Balak also went his way.

It seems that Balaam was unable to curse Israel, and instead he pronounced blessings as the Lord arranged.  But we do not read of him giving counsel to Balak.  It is not there, and then Balaam rose up and returned to his place.  However, the Bible says that he counseled Balak.  And as we continue on in chapter 25, I will read several verses so we can see what the Lord was referring to in Revelation 2.   It says in Numbers 25:1-9:

And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of JEHOVAH was kindled against Israel. And JEHOVAH said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before JEHOVAH against the sun, that the fierce anger of JEHOVAH may be turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

Perhaps you are familiar with a verse we find in the New Testament in 1Corinthians 10.  I am going to read it so that we understand something God is doing here.  In Numbers 25, it says that those that died in the plague were 24,000.  But God warns in 1Corinthians 10:8:

Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.

Here, God is certainly referring to the same historical event we just read in Numbers 25.  They began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, to eat things sacrificed to their gods, and to bow down to their gods.  As a result, God brought a plague that killed 24,000, not the 23,000 mentioned in 1Corinthians.  And this is another example of how God wrote the Bible in order to allow those careless people (who want to find errors and to prove that the Bible is not really from God and is just like any other book) to find fault, and to say, “The Bible is not without error.  This is an obvious mistake.  In one place it says 23,000, and in another place it says 24,000.  So how can you trust that book?”

But when we pray for wisdom and God’s guidance as we look at everything that has to do with what is in view, it actually leads us to greater trust in the Bible.  God is so exact and precise with numbers, as well as everything He says in His Word.  The explanation is that 24,000 died in the plague, and that is a fact.  But when we read 1Corinthians 10:8, it tells us that there fell in one day 23,000, and that is also a fact.  So that means that 23,000 died the first day, while others were ill, and they died the next day, or some day after that first day.  We can say that absolutely, and now we have the “full story,” and we understand why the Lord can say correctly that 23,000 died in one day, but 24,000 was the overall sum total of all those that died in that plague.  This allows God to give us two different numbers, while also giving us a spiritual picture with the number “23,000,” which points to the Great Tribulation.  The number “23” has a great deal to do with the Great Tribulation.  God speaks of 2,300 evening mornings which relates to the first part of the Great Tribulation, and then God worked it out so that the entire length of the Great Tribulation would be exactly a full 23 years. 

So this is letting us know that due to fornication with the daughters of Moab and Israel falling into idolatry by worshipping the gods of Moab, the Lord brought a plague that resulted in killing 23,000 people in one day.  In other words, it is the warning that God was giving to the churches that we read in Revelation 2:14:

But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

Then it warns in Revelation 2:16:

Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

There was the warning to the churches.  They were to repent of this, or they would be judged.  Then look at Revelation 2:20:

Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

These are the same two things mentioned in verse 14.  Then it says in Revelation 2:21-22:

And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.

In both of these places we can see that God is warning the churches.  “If you involve yourselves in spiritual fornication and idolatry, unless you repent in the designated space of time (the 1,955 years of the church age), I will cast you into great tribulation, and I will end the church age and bring judgment upon the house of God.”  And that is exactly what God did.  And as a result of Israel’s fornication and bowing down to idols in the matter of Baalpeor, God killed 24,000 Israelites (23,000 in one day) to teach us that this is what would happen to the New Testament churches and congregations for their spiritual fornication and idolatry.

So we see that Balaam was in view in Numbers 22 through 24, but then he went his way.  In Numbers 25, it does not say that he did anything further.  Actually God does teach us something about Balaam a little later in the book of Numbers.  The Lord gives us more details in Numbers 31, a chapter in which God says to Moses in Numbers 31:2:

Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

Spiritually, this would point to God taking vengeance on those who destroyed His people during the Great Tribulation.  Another way to look at this is to consider how the Babylonians were used to destroy Judah, and then God wrought vengeance upon Babylon.  Midianites brought harm and damage to Israel, and the Lord is indicating that He wanted that avenged, and this would point to the time after the Great Tribulation when during Judgment Day God would bring vengeance upon Satan and his emissaries whom He had used to bring judgment on the churches.  It says in Numbers 31:6-8:

And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. And they warred against the Midianites, as JEHOVAH commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

There is no question that this was the end Balaam, the false prophet.  This was the end of he who was against God and His kingdom.  Balaam was not a child of God, especially when we see that the Lord caused him to be slain at a time when He commanded Moses to seek vengeance.

Let us read Numbers 31:13-16:

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against JEHOVAH in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of JEHOVAH.

There we see it, as it says in verse 16: “Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against JEHOVAH in the matter of Peor…”  That was what had brought the plague, so this lets us know that while Balaam was on the mountaintop with Balak, and even though Balaam could not curse Israel, that he did get together with Balak, as he was probably trying to appease Balak because of how angry the king of Moab was about the matter.  And Balaam was probably still trying to lure some of those riches from Balak, and he said to him, “Here is what you do.  Get your women to mingle with their men.  You have very beautiful women, so just have them go down and be very nice to the men of Israel, and get them interested in your gods.  And this will help you to overcome them.”  He followed the counsel of Balaam.  This is what Balaam counseled Balak to do, and Balak told his people to do this.  And it was working to the point of what we read earlier that one man brought a Midianitish woman into his tent in the sight of Moses and all the congregation, which is why Phineas, the son of Eleazar, took a javelin and thrust them through.  They were a symbol of the great rebelliousness of Israel.