We have learned that the Book of Hebrews succinctly states “the teaching about righteousness” in chapter five, saying,

7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus[a] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. (Hebrews 5:7-14 ESV)

Understanding and walking in the teaching about righteousness separates God’s men from his babies. Only these will be accounted worthy of promotion to the status of a “son of God” in due time. This truth represents the culmination of all Biblical teaching, the goal to which all God’s prophets point. The Bible begins with the account of God creating man, but it also clearly shows that God did not make Adam “perfect” to begin with. God, for example, did not make man in such a way that he was unable to sin. On the other hand, we see that God’s “only begotten” son, Jesus, lived a life without sin and “was made perfect” by walking in obedience to God’s commands. He did not have to learn which acts are good and which are evil through personal experience of sinning and repenting, though, for He himself was the Word of God made flesh, and it is God’s Word who defines good and evil to begin with. Thus Jesus acts as our example of walking perfectly in that which God defines as “good.”

This explains why committing the unforgivable sin of calling good evil and calling evil good remains so serious. So long as a person does this he cannot repent of his sins and he cannot begin to walk upon the “good” path which Jesus walked. Thus he cannot be forgiven. “Or do you not know that the unrighteous[b] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,[c] 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 6:9-10)  And,

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? 15 What accord has Christ with Belial?[b] Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

Remember, the prophecy of Immanuel begins with these words:

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.[h] 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted.  (Isaiah 7:14-16 ESV)

Clearly verses 15 and 16 speak of someone other Jesus who we know fulfilled verse 14 when born of the virgin Mary. This means that the prophecy of Immanuel has at least two fulfillments, 1) the life of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago and 2) the sons of God which God even now brings to fruition. The coming sons of God will be born of the spiritual virgin daughter of Zion at the very time of God’s wrath. Jeremiah 4 pictures this time with this stark statement,

The daughter of Zion now resides in an apostate world ruled by the beast systems of satanic governments. Zion’s fellow “believers” typically belong to the harlot named Babylon the Great who continues to commit adultery with the beast she rides. Zion cannot escape this madness by any natural means. Neither can she pick up the weapons of carnal warfare like guns and bombs and revolt against satanic governments. She recognizes that murderers and thieves rule the world now and that the power of the holy people has been utterly broken. Thus she cries, “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers!”

This is how we know true believers from the false, those who study, understand, and walk in God’s ways belong to the Truth and have God as their Father. Those who do not still cling to Satan as their Father must be cast into the Lake of Fire before they will finally learn to repent.

The “word of righteousness” teaches us to separate ourselves from the wicked things of this world, the things which our flesh lusts after. The sons of God must now come out of Babylon, come out of Lucifer’s system, in obedience to John’s following prophecy:

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,

Now recall my previous teaching concerning God’s Law and Testimony with respect to the following passage and remember that this passage lies within the full prophecy of Immanuel.

16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching [law][f] among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching [law] and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land,[g] greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against[h] their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness 9 [i] But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.  (Isaiah 8:16-9:1 ESV)

Hebrews 2:13 quotes Isaiah 8:18 right after the writer says in Hebrews 2:10 that Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory.” This identifies the “many sons” with “the children whom the Lord has given” Jesus and thus shows that these sons also partake of the prophecy of Immanuel. Then Isaiah 9:1 prophecies that when the day of wrath comes, as described in Isaiah 8:21-22, the gloom of that day will not fall upon “her was in anguish.” Who is she who “was in anguish?” None other than the woman described by Jeremiah,

For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
    stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.” (Jeremiah 4:31)

This is the very woman described by John in Revelation.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days. (Revelation 4b-6)

The doctrine of the separation climaxes at the moment the manchild separates from his mother. This fulfills Paul’s prophecy concerning the second coming of Christ in 2 Thessalonians 2.

Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers,[a] 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion [separation, divorcement] comes first, and the man of lawlessness[b] is revealed, the son of destruction,[c]4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.  (2 Thes. 2:1-4)

The English Standard Version translates the Greek word αποστασια (apostasia ap-os-tas-ee’-ah) in verse 3 as “rebellion” above. Many Bibles translate that word as “falling away” or “apostasy.” They believe this verse talks about a future great defection from the truths of Christianity, but this cannot be for the entire history of Christianity shows a falling away from God’s truth. Strong’s Concordance tells us that the Greek word αποστασια comes from the Greek word αποστασιον (apostasion ap-os-tas’-ee-on) which means “something separative, i.e. (specially) divorce.” I believe Paul’s prophecy concerns the separation of sons of God from the rest of the Church. This event will occur, he says, exactly when the man of lawlessness, the antichrist, is revealed.

Revelation warns us to separate from Babylon the Great before this event happens. If we fail to do so, then we will be forced to partake of many plagues, the judgments of God, which begin in full force at the time of the separation of the manchild from his mother. Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear knows that this time is now upon us.

Note: at the sidebar on the right I have many links to additional resources. One links to my book called “The Separation.” This contains some very interesting insights into this doctrine which, I show, began in the very first chapter of the Bible, Genesis 1. God made sure that we would understand just how important this doctrine is.