High Places

Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This verse is the only reference to the high places in the New Testament. The Old Testament practice of worshipping idols occurred in the high places, and now it occurs in the hearts of men who are lifted up in greed and serving the dark spiritual forces of wickedness. The Lord will deal with all those who have heaped up treasures for the last days, while they defraud the laborers. As the day of the Lord approaches, it is especially important to focus on the spiritual wickedness that is the object of our struggle, and not to get caught up with the flesh and blood battles that are intended to ensnare us with offence. The Lord is listening to the cries of the righteous, and He is taking note. As it is written,

The cries of them which have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

See also Be Made Righteousness In Him; Withstand in the Evil Day; Elijah and Restoration

Related Scriptures: James 5:1-12; 1Thessalonians 5:1-28; Psalm 34:1-22

The Treader of Grapes

Amos 9:13

Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.

In order for the LORD to bring this prophecy to pass, He must first deal with rampant worldwide sin. When Christ comes as the treader of grapes, the wicked of this earth will be fuel for His winepress. The harvest will have ripened on both edges of the sword of the Spirit, and the wrath of God will melt all the hills, even as the righteous receive the outpouring of the sweet wine. This is His perfect way, and it is only hard to understand when people do not want to acknowledge their sin, and when they resort to blaming God to try to justify themselves. He is not interested in being politically correct, or socially inclusive, or whatever other humanist terminology the wicked employ to water down and corrupt every moral absolute that God ordained. No, He is not fooled nor moved by any of this, as it is written,

Deuteronomy 32:4

He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.

See also To Build and to Plant; Christ: The Breastplate of Righteousness; What Is the Chaff to the Wheat?

Related Scriptures: Amos 9:1-15; Revelation 19:11-16; Isaiah 49:1-26; Jeremiah 25:27-33