The
description here given of the leviathan, a very large, strong,
formidable fish, or water-animal, is designed yet further to convince
Job of his own impotency, and of God’s omnipotence, that he might be
humbled for his folly in making so bold with him as he had done.
I.
To convince Job of his own weakness he is here challenged to subdue and
tame this leviathan if he can, and make himself master of him (v. 1-9), and, since he cannot do this, he must own himself utterly unable to stand before the great God (v. 10).
II. To convince Job of God’s power and terrible majesty several
particular instances are here given of the strength and terror of the
leviathan, which is no more than what God has given him, nor more than
he has under his check, (v. 11, v. 12). The face of the leviathan is here described to be terrible (v. 12, v. 14), his scales close (v. 15-17), his breath and neesings sparkling (v. 18-21), his flesh firm (v. 22-24), his strength and spirit, when he is attacked, insuperable (v. 25-30), his motions turbulent, and disturbing to the waters (v. 31, v. 32), so that, upon the whole, he is a very terrible creature, and man is no match for him (v. 33, v. 34).
Verses 1-10 Whether
this leviathan be a whale or a crocodile is a great dispute among the
learned, which I will not undertake to determine; some of the
particulars agree more easily to the one, others to the other; both are
very strong and fierce, and the power of the Creator appears in them.
The ingenious Sir Richard Blackmore, though he admits the more received
opinion concerning the
behemoth, that it must be meant of the
elephant, yet agrees with the learned Bochart’s notion of the
leviathan, that it is the
crocodile,
which was so well known in the river of Egypt. I confess that that
which inclines me rather to understand it of the whale is not only
because it is much larger and a nobler animal, but because, in the
history of the Creation, there is such an express notice taken of it as
is not of any other species of animals whatsoever (
Gen. 1:21 ,
God created great whales
), by which it appears, not only that whales were well known in those
parts in the time of Moses, who lived a little after Job, but that the
creation of whales was generally looked upon as a most illustrious proof
of the eternal power and godhead of the Creator; and we may conjecture
that this was the reason (for otherwise it seems unaccountable) why
Moses there so particularly mentions the creation of the whales, because
God had so lately insisted upon the bulk and strength of that creature
than of any other, as the proof of his power; and the
leviathan is here spoken of as an inhabitant of the sea (
v. 31), which the crocodile is not; and
Ps. 104:25,
Ps. 104:26 ,
there in
the great and wide sea, is that leviathan.
Here in these verses,I. He shows how unable Job was to master the
leviathan. That he could not catch him, as a little fish, with angling,
v. 1,
v. 2.
He had no bait wherewith to deceive him, no hook wherewith to catch
him, no fish-line wherewith to draw him out of the water, nor a thorn to
run through his gills, on which to carry him home. 2. That he could not
make him his prisoner, nor force him to cry for quarter, or surrender
himself at discretion,
v. 3,
v. 4. "He knows his own strength too well to
make many supplications to thee, and to
make a covenant with thee
to be thy servant on condition thou wilt save his life.’’ 3. That he
could not entice him into a cage, and keep him there as a bird for the
children to play with,
v. 5.
There are creatures so little, so weak, as to be easily restrained
thus, and triumphed over; but the leviathan is not one of these: he is
made to be the terror, not the sport and diversion, of mankind. 4. That
he could not have him served up to his table; he and his companions
could not make a banquet of him; his flesh is too strong to be fit for
food, and, if it were not, he is not easily caught. 5. That they could
not enrich themselves with the spoil of him:
Shall they part him among the merchants,
the bones to one, the oil to another? If they can catch him, they will;
but it is probable that the art of fishing for whales was not brought
to perfection then, as it has been since. 6. That they could not destroy
him, could not
fill his head with fish-spears, v. 7.
He kept out of the reach of their instruments of slaughter, or, if they
touched him, they could not touch him to the quick. 7. That it was to
no purpose to attempt it:
The hope of taking
him is in vain, v. 9.
If men go about to seize him, so formidable is he that the very sight
of him will appal them, and make a stout man ready to faint away:
Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? and will not that deter the pursuers from their attempt? Job is told, at his peril, to
lay his hand upon him, v. 8. "Touch him if thou dare;
remember the battle, how unable thou art to encounter such a force, and what is therefore likely to be the issue of the battle,
and do no more,
but desist from the attempt.’’ It is good to remember the battle before
we engage in a war, and put off the harness in time if we foresee it
will be to no purpose to gird it on. Job is hereby admonished not to
proceed in his controversy with God, but to make his peace with him,
remembering what the battle will certainly end in if he come to an
engagement. See
Isa. 27:4,
Isa. 27:5 .II. Thence he infers how unable he was to contend with the Almighty.
None is so fierce, none so fool-hardy,
that he dares to
stir up the leviathan (
v. 10), it being known that he will certainly be too hard for them; and
who then is able to stand before God,
either to impeach and arraign his proceedings or to out-face the power
of his wrath? If the inferior creatures that are put under the feet of
man, and over whom he has dominion, keep us in awe thus, how terrible
must the majesty of our great Lord be, who has a sovereign dominion over
us and against whom man has been so long in rebellion!
Who can stand before him when once he is angry?
Verses 11-34 God,
having in the foregoing verses shown Job how unable he was to deal with
the leviathan, here sets forth his own power in that massy mighty
creature. Here is,I. God’s sovereign dominion and independency laid
down,
v. 11.
That he is indebted to none of his creatures. If any pretend he is
indebted to them, let them make their demand and prove their debt, and
they shall receive it in full and not by composition:
"Who has prevented me?’’
that is, "who has laid any obligations upon me by any services he has
done me? Who can pretend to be before-hand with me? If any were, I would
not long be behind-hand with them; I would soon repay them.’’ The
apostle quotes this for the silencing of all flesh in God’s presence,
Rom. 11:35 .
Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?
As God does not inflict upon us the evils we have deserved, so he does
bestow upon us the favours we have not deserved. 2. That he is the
rightful Lord and owner of all the creatures:
"Whatsoever is under the whole heaven, animate or inanimate,
is mine
(and particularly this leviathan), at my command and disposal, what I
have an incontestable property in and dominion over.’’ All is his; we
are his, all we have and do; and therefore we cannot make God our
debtor; but
of thy own, Lord, have we given thee. All is
his, and therefore, if he were indebted to any, he has wherewithal to
repay them; the debt is in good hands. All is his, and therefore he
needs not our services, nor can he be benefited by them.
If I were hungry I would not tell thee, for the world is mind and the fulness thereof, Ps. 50:12 .II. The proof and illustration of it, from the wonderful structure of the leviathan,
v. 12.1.
The parts of his body, the power he exerts, especially when he is set
upon, and the comely proportion of the whole of him, are what God will
not conceal, and therefore what we must observe and acknowledge the
power of God in. Though he is a creature of monstrous bulk, yet there is
in him a
comely proportion. In our eye beauty lies in that which is small
(inest sua gratia parvis —
little things have a gracefulness all their own)
because we ourselves are so; but in God’s eye even the leviathan is
comely; and, if he pronounce even the whale, event he crocodile, so, it
is not for us to say of any of the works of his hands that they are ugly
of ill-favoured; it is enough to say so, as we have cause, of our own
works. God here goes about to give us an anatomical view (as it were) of
the leviathan; for his works appear most beautiful and excellent, and
his wisdom and power appear most in them, when they are taken in pieces
and viewed in their several parts and proportions. (1.) The leviathan,
even
prima facie —
at first sight, appears formidable and inaccessible,
v. 13,
v. 14. Who dares come so near him while he is alive as to discover or take a distinct view of
the face of the garment,
the skin with which he is clothed as with a garment, so near him as to
bridle him like a horse and so lead him away, so near him as to be
within reach of his jaws, which are like
a double bridle? Who will venture to look into his mouth, as we do into a horse’s mouth? He that
opens the doors of his face will see
his teeth terrible round about, strong and sharp, and fitted to devour; it would make a man tremble to think of having a leg or an arm between them. (2.)
His scales are his beauty and strength, and therefore
his pride, v. 15-17. The crocodile is indeed remarkable for his scales; if we understand it of the whale, we must understand by these
shields
(for so the word is) the several coats of his skin; or there might be
whales in that country with scales. That which is remarkable concerning
the scales is that
they stick so close
together, by which
he is not only kept warm, for no air can pierce him, but kept safe, for
no sword can pierce him through those scales. Fishes, that live in the
water, are fortified accordingly by the wisdom of Providence, which
gives clothes as it gives cold. (3.) He scatters terror with his very
breath and looks; if he sneeze or spout up water, it is like a light
shining, either with the froth or the light of the sun shining through
it,
v. 18. The eyes of the whale are reported to shine in the night-time like a flame, or, as here,
like the eye-lids of the morning; the same they say of the crocodile. The breath of this creature is so hot and fiery, from the great natural heat within, that
burning lamps and sparks of fire, smoke and a flame, are said to
go out of his mouth, even such as one would think sufficient to set coals on fire,
v. 19-21.
Probably these hyperbolical expressions are used concerning the
leviathan to intimate the terror of the wrath of God, for that is it
which all this is designed to convince us of.
Fire out of his mouth devours, Ps. 18:7,
Ps. 18:8 .
The breath of the Almighty, like a
stream of brimstone, kindles Tophet, and will for ever keep it burning,
Isa. 30:33 . The wicked one shall be
consumed with the breath of his mouth, 2 Th. 2:8
. (4.) He is of invincible strength and most terrible fierceness, so
that he frightens all that come in his way, but is not himself
frightened by any. Take a view of his neck, and there remains strength,
v. 22. his head and his body are well set together.
Sorrow rejoices (or
rides in triumph) before him,
for he makes terrible work wherever he comes. Or, Those storms which
are the sorrow of others are his joys; what is tossing to others is
dancing to him. His flesh is well knit,
v. 23.
The flakes of it
are joined so closely
together, and
are so firm, that it is hard to pierce it; he is as if he were all bone.
His flesh is of brass, which Job had complained his was not,
ch. 6:12 .
His heart is as firm as a stone, v. 24.
He has spirit equal to his bodily strength, and, though he is bulky, he
is sprightly, and not unwieldy. As his flesh and skin cannot be
pierced, so his courage cannot be daunted; but, on the contrary, he
daunts all he meets and puts them into a consternation (
v. 25):
When he raises up himself like a moving mountain in the great waters even
the mighty are afraid lest he should overturn their ships or do them some other mischief.
By reason of the breakings he makes in the water, which threaten death,
they purify themselves, confess their sins, betake themselves to their prayers, and get ready for death. We read
ch. 3:8
) of those who, when they raise up a leviathan, are in such a fright
that they curse the day. It was a fear which, it seems, used to drive
some to their curses and others to their prayers; for, as now, so then
there were seafaring men of different characters and on whom the terrors
of the sea have contrary effects; but all agree there is a great fright
among them when the leviathan raises up himself. (5.) All the
instruments of slaughter that are used against him do him no hurt and
therefore are not error to him,
v. 26-29.
The sword and
the spear, which wound nigh at hand, are nothing to him; the
darts, arrows, and
sling-stones, which wound at a distance, do him no damage; nature has so well armed him
cap-a-pie—at all points, against them all. The defensive weapons which men use when they engage with the leviathan, as
the habergeon, or breast-plate, often serve men no more than their offensive weapons;
iron and brass are to him
as straw and rotten wood,
and he laughs at them. It is the picture of a hard-hearted sinner, that
despises the terrors of the Almighty and laughs at all the threatenings
of his word. The leviathan so little dreads the weapons that are used
against him that, to show how hardy he is, he chooses to lie on the
sharp stones, the sharp-pointed things (
v. 30),
and lies as easy there as if he lay on the soft mire. Those that would
endure hardness must inure themselves to it. (6.) His very motion in the
water troubles it and puts it into a ferment,
v. 31,
v. 32. When he rolls, and tosses, and makes a stir in the water, or is in pursuit of his prey,
he makes the deep to boil like a pot, he raises a great froth and foam upon the water, such as is upon a boiling pot, especially
a pot of boiling
ointment; and
he makes a path to shine after him, which even
a ship in the midst of the sea does not,
Prov. 30:19
. One may trace the leviathan under water by the bubbles on the
surface; and yet who can take that advantage against him in pursuing
him? Men track hares in the snow and kill them, but he that tracks the
leviathan dares not come near him.2. Having given this particular
account of
his parts, and his power, and his comely proportion, he concludes with four things in general concerning this animal:—(1.) That he is a non-such among the inferior creatures:
Upon earth there is not his like, v. 33. No creature in this world is comparable to him for strength and terror. Or the earth is here distinguished from the sea:
His dominion is not upon the earth (so some), but
in the waters.
None of all the savage creatures upon earth come near him for bulk and
strength, and it is well for man that he is confined to the waters and
there has
a watch set upon him ch. 7:12
) by the divine Providence, for, if such a terrible creature were
allowed to roam and ravage upon this earth, it would be an unsafe and
uncomfortable habitation for the children of men, for whom it is
intended. (2.) That he is more bold and daring than any other creature
whatsoever: He
is made without fear. The creatures are as they
are made; the leviathan has courage in his constitution, nothing can
frighten him; other creatures, quite contrary, seem as much designed for
flying as this for fighting. So, among men, some are in their natural
temper bold, others are timorous. (3.) That he is himself very proud;
though lodged in the deep, yet
he beholds all high things, v. 34.
The rolling waves, the impending rocks, the hovering clouds, and the
ships under sail with top and top-gallant, this mighty animal beholds
with contempt, for he does not think they either lessen him or threaten
him. Those that are great are apt to be scornful. (4.)
That he is a king over all the children of pride,
that is, he is the proudest of all proud ones. He has more to be proud
of (so Mr. Caryl expounds it) than the proudest people in the world
have; and so it is a mortification to the haughtiness and lofty looks of
men. Whatever bodily accomplishments men are proud of, and puffed up
with, the leviathan excels them and is a
king over them. Some read it so as to understand it of God:
He that beholds all high things, even he, is King over all the children of pride; he can tame the behemoth
ch. 40:19
) and the leviathan, big as they are, and stout-hearted as they are.
This discourse concerning those two animals was brought in to prove that
it is God only who can
look upon proud men and abase them, bring them low and
tread them down, and
hide them in the dust ch. 40:11-13 ), and so it concludes with a
quod erat demonstrandum—which was to be demonstrated; there is one that
beholds all high things, and, wherein men deal proudly, is above them; he is
King over all the children of pride, whether brutal or rational, and can make them all either bend or break before him,
Isa. 2:11 .
The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and thus
the Lord alone shall be exalted.
Psalm 74: verses 12-17 (2)
.2. He had destroyed Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Pharaoh was the leviathan; the Egyptians were the dragons,
fierce and cruel. Observe, (1.) The victory obtained over these
enemies. God broke their heads, baffled their politics, as when Israel,
the more they were afflicted by them, multiplied the more. God crushed
their powers, though complicated, ruined their country by ten plagues,
and at last drowned them all in the Red Sea. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, Eze. 31:18
. It was the Lord’s doing; none besides could do it, and he did it with
a strong hand and an outstretched arm. This was typical of Christ’s
victory over Satan and his kingdom, pursuant to the first promise, that
the seed of the woman should break the serpent’s head. (2.) The
improvement of this victory for the encouragement of the church: Thou gavest him to be meat to the people of Israel, now going to inhabit the wilderness.
The spoil of the Egyptians enriched them; they stripped their slain,
and so got the Egyptians’ arms and weapons, as before they had got their
jewels. Or, rather, this providence was meat to their faith and hope,
to support and encourage them in reference to the other difficulties
they were likely to meet with in the wilderness. It was part of the
spiritual meat which they were all made to eat of. Note, The breaking of
the heads of the church’s enemies is the joy and strength of the hearts
of the church’s friends. Thus the companions make a banquet even of
leviathan,
Isaiah 27: verses 1-6
The prophet is here singing of judgment and mercy,I. Of judgment upon the enemies of God’s church (
v. 1),
tribulation to those that trouble it, 2 Th. 1:6 . When the Lord
comes out of his place, to punish the inhabitants of the earth ch. 26:21 ), he will be sure to punish
leviathan, the
dragon that is in the sea, every proud oppressing tyrant, that is the terror of the mighty, and, like the leviathan, is
so fierce that none dares stir him up, and
his heart as hard as a stone, and
when he raises up himself the mighty are afraid, Job. 41:10,
Job. 41:24,
Job. 41:25
. The church has many enemies, but commonly some one that is more
formidable than the rest. So Sennacherib was in his day, and
Nebuchadnezzar in his, and Antiochus in his; so Pharaoh had been
formerly, and is called
leviathan and
the dragon, ch. 51:9 ;
Ps. 74:13,
Ps. 74:14 ;
Eze. 29:3 . The New-Testament church has had its leviathans; we read of a great red dragon ready to devour it,
Rev. 12:3
. Those malignant persecuting powers are here compared to the leviathan
for bulk, and strength, and the mighty bustle they make in the
world,—to dragons for their rage and fury,—to serpents,
piercing serpents,
penetrating in their counsels, quick in their motions, and which, if
they once get in their head, will soon wind in their whole body,—
crossing like a bar (so the margin), standing in the way of all their neighbours and obstructing them,—to
crooked serpents,
subtle and insinuating, but perverse and mischievous. Great and mighty
princes, if they oppose the people of God, are in God’s account as
dragons and serpents, the plagues of mankind; and the Lord will punish
them in due time. They are too big for men to deal with and call to an
account, and therefore the great God will take the matter into his own
hands. He has a
sore, and great, and strong sword, wherewith to do execution upon them when the
measure of their iniquity is full and their
day has come to fall. It is emphatically expressed in the original:
The Lord with his sword, that cruel one, and that great one, and that strong one, shall punish this unwieldy, this unruly criminal; and it shall be capital punishment:
He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea;
for the wages of his sin is death. This shall not only be a prevention
of his doing further mischief, as the slaying of a wild beast, but a
just punishment for the mischief he has done, as the putting of a
traitor or rebel to death. God has a strong sword for the doing of this,
variety of judgments sufficient to humble the proudest and break the
most powerful of his enemies; and he will do it when the day of
execution comes:
In that day he will punish, his day which is coming,
Ps. 37:13
. This is applicable to the spiritual victories obtained by our Lord
Jesus over the powers of darkness. He not only disarmed, spoiled, and
cast out, the prince of this world, but with his strong sword, the
virtue of his death and the preaching of his gospel, he does and will
destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil,
that great leviathan, that old serpent, the dragon. He shall be bound,
that he may not deceive the nations, and that is a punishment to him (
Rev. 20:2,
Rev. 20:3 ); and at length, for deceiving the nations, he shall be
cast into the lake of fire, Rev. 20:10
.II. Of mercy to the church. In that same day, when God is punishing
the leviathan, let the church and all her friends be easy and cheerful;
let those that attend her sing to her for her comfort, sing her asleep
with these assurances; let it be sung in her assemblies,1. That she is
God’s vineyard, and is under his particular care,
v. 2,
v. 3. She is, in God’s eye,
a vineyard of red wine.
The world is as a fruitless worthless wilderness; but the church is
enclosed as a vineyard, a peculiar place, and of value, that has great
care taken of it and great pains taken with it, and from which precious
fruits are gathered, wherewith they honour God and man. It is a vineyard
of
red wine, yielding the best and choicest grapes, intimating
the reformation of the church, that it now brings forth good fruit unto
God, whereas before it brought forth fruit to itself, or brought forth
wild grapes,
ch. 5:4 . Now God takes care, (1.) Of the safety of this vineyard:
I the Lord do keep it.
He speaks this as glorying in it that he is, and has undertaken to be,
the keeper of Israel. Those that bring forth fruit to God are and shall
be always under his protection. He speaks this as assuring us that they
shall be so:
I the Lord, that can do every thing, but cannot lie nor deceive,
I do keep it; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
God’s vineyard in this world lies much exposed to injury; there are
many that would hurt it, would tread it down and lay it waste (
Ps. 80:13
); but God will suffer no real hurt or damage to be done it, but what
he will bring good out of. He will keep it constantly, night and day,
and not without need, for the enemies are restless in their designs and
attempts against it, and, both night and day, seek an opportunity to do
it a mischief. God will keep it in the night of affliction and
persecution, and in the day of peace and prosperity, the temptations of
which are no less dangerous. God’s people shall be preserved, not only
from the
pestilence that walketh in darkness, but from the
destruction that wasteth at noon-day, Ps. 91:6 . This vineyard shall be well fenced. (2.) Of the fruitfulness of this vineyard:
I will water it every moment,
and yet it shall not be overwatered. The still and silent dews of God’s
grace and blessing shall continually descend upon it, that it may bring
forth much fruit. We need the constant and continual waterings of the
divine grace; for, if that be at any time withdrawn, we wither, and come
to nothing. God waters his vineyard by the ministry of the word by his
servants the prophets, whose doctrine shall drop as the dew. Paul
plants, and Apollos waters, but God gives the increase; for without him
the watchman wakes and the husbandman waters in vain.2. That, though
sometimes he contends with his people, yet, upon their submission, he
will be reconciled to them,
v. 4,
v. 5.
Fury is not in him
towards his vineyard; though he meets with many things in it that are
offensive to him, yet he does not seek advantages against it, nor is
extreme to mark what is amiss in it. It is true if he find in it briers
and thorns instead of vines, and they be set in battle against him (as
indeed that in the vineyard which is not for him is against him), he
will tread them down and burn them; but otherwise, "If I am angry with
my people, they know what course to take; let them humble themselves,
and pray, and seek my face, and so
take hold of my strength with a
sincere desire to make their peace with me, and I will soon be
reconciled to them, and all shall be well.’’ God sees the sins of his
people and is displeased with them; but, upon their repentance, he turns
away his wrath. This may very well be construed as a summary of the
doctrine of the gospel, with which the church is to be watered every
moment. (1.) Here is a quarrel supposed between God and man; for here is
a battle fought, and peace to be made. It is an old quarrel, ever since
sin first entered. It is, on God’s part, a righteous quarrel, but, on
man’s part, most unrighteous. (2.) Here is a gracious invitation given
us to make up this quarrel, and to get these matters in variance
accommodated: "Let him that is desirous to be at peace with God take
hold of his strength, of his strong arm, which is lifted up against the
sinner to strike him dead; and let him by supplication keep back the
stroke. Let him wrestle with me, as Jacob did, resolving not to let me
go without a blessing; and he shall be
Israel—a prince with God.’’ Pardoning mercy is called the power of our Lord; let him take hold of that. Christ is the
arm of the Lord, ch. 53:1 . Christ
crucified is the power of God (
1 Co. 1:24
); let him by a lively faith take hold of him, as a man that is sinking
catches hold of a bough, or cord, or plank, that is within his reach,
or as the malefactor took hold of the horns of the altar, believing that
there is no other name by which he can be saved, by which he can be
reconciled. (3.) Here is a threefold cord of arguments to persuade us to
do this. [1.] Time and space are given us to do it in; for
fury is not in God;
he does not carry it towards us as great men carry it towards their
inferiors, when the one is in a fault and the other in a fury. Men in a
fury will not take time for consideration; it is, with them, but a word
and a blow. Furious men are soon angry, and implacable when they are
angry; a little thing provokes them, and no little thing will pacify
them. But it is not so with God; he considers our frame, is slow to
anger, does not stir up all his wrath, nor always chide. [2.] It is in
vain to think of contesting with him. If we persist in our quarrel with
him, and think to make our part good, it is but like setting briers and
thorns before a consuming fire, which will be so far from giving check
to the progress of it that they will but make it burn the more
outrageously. We are not an equal match for Omnipotence.
Woe unto him therefore
that strives with his Maker!
He knows not the power of his anger. [3.] This is the only way, and it
is a sure way, to reconciliation: "Let him take this course to make
peace with me,
and he shall make peace; and thereby good, all
good, shall come unto him.’’ God is willing to be reconciled to us if we
be but willing to be reconciled to him.3. That the church of God in the
world shall be a growing body, and come at length to be a great body (
v. 6):
In times to come (so some read it),
in after-times, when these calamities are overpast, or in the days of the gospel, the latter days,
he shall cause Jacob to take root,
deeper root than ever yet; for the gospel church shall be more firmly
fixed than ever the Jewish church was, and shall spread further. Or,
He shall cause those of Jacob that come back out of their captivity, or (as we read it)
those that come of Jacob, to take root downward, and bear fruit upward, ch. 37:31 . They shall be established in a prosperous state, and then they shall
blossom and bud, and give hopeful prospects of a great increase; and so it shall prove, for
they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.
Many shall be brought into the church, proselytes shall be numerous,
some out of all the nations about that shall be to the God of Israel for
a name and a praise; and the converts shall be fruitful in the fruits
of righteousness. The preaching of the gospel
brought forth fruit in all the world (
Col. 1:6 ), fruit that remains,
Jn. 15:16 .
Yeshua is asking us today, right now, in what areas of your life have you allowed the spirit of Leviathan to dominate? The spirit of Leviathan's most crucial work is in the area of
keeping people from receiving and understanding the mysteries of God and of the Holy Spirit
and from moving into the very presence of our Father God. Leviathan's
primary method of operating is to block all true moves of the Holy Spirit,
and all spiritual growth in the lives of believers. Leviathan desires to
stop the flow of the Anointing and keep us from operating in His divine will for our lives. Our modern day church is largely extremely unaware of who this spirit is and how effective he is in operating amongst believers today. This spirit is a counterfeiter. He stands in the way of the Holy of Holies, preventing our entrance. He will snuff out the flow of the Spirit by making us spiritually deaf and blind to the Truth. Leviathan will deceive people into believing they are operating under the power of the Holy Spirit when actually they have nothing but a counterfeit spirit controlling them. The Bible tells us that if we don't love His truth, He will cause us to believe the lie! This spirit will lull people to sleep, stagnate their spiritual growth, confuse and frustrate them, all the while it will have them believe they are operating in the Spirit and in His divine will. The Leviathan heart is spoken of as hard and stone-like, as a millstone. This represents the coldness and hard-heartedness of the believer under the influence of this spirit. In this person, you will not find much compassion, mercy, or grace. Job 41:22-"In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him". Leviathan is stubbornness and stiff-necked pride. Job 41:23-"The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved." This speaks once again of the tightness of the scales, so that no air, no Holy Spirit can flow through this person. He or she will be over-confident in him/herself, unmovable, and oftentimes unteachable as they feel they know it all.
How many of these characteristics do you recognize in yourself? In what area(s) of your life has this spirit entered into? Where is the foothold? The stronghold? How deep is the bondage you are under? I encourage you to take the time to really search your spirit and ask for the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the areas of bondage in your lives, ask for forgiveness, and lead you in the steps needed to seek the Truth and His will in all things. Always rebuke any spirit as this one in the precious name of Jesus/Yeshua our Messiah, and pray for His blood covering. The enemy must flee! May our Father in Heaven greatly encourage and bless each of you in this journey as you draw closer to Him. Amen, Hallelujah King Yeshua.
Proverbs 16:18
18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Matthew 5:5
5 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.
