The Spiritual Significance of Base Metals In Scripture - "Yet Carnal...

Babes In
Christ"
Part One - Lead

Introduction

Metals, in scripture, are used to express the value that God places upon the spiritual
'material' or the spiritual 'substance' within us. "The sea" which is full constantly
moving with unstable waves of cheap, common salt water, covers three-quarters of
the face of the earth. 'The sea' is therefore used in scripture to portray that part of
mankind's experience which will be disposed of when the purpose for mankind's
existence is finally realized:

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

For this same reason common, corruptible base metals are used to describe the
masses of unconverted, unenlightened, carnal, rebellious mankind. These metals
are all refined from out of the earth. But a base metal, even when refined, is still a
base metal. In other words, it really is not that uncommon or of very much value to
God. The fire that refines these metals can also consume them:

Jer 6:29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder
melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.

The metals of scripture listed in descending order of value

Num 31:21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the
battle, This [is] the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;
Num 31:22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and
the lead,
Num 31:23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make [it] go
through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the
water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go
through the water.
Num 31:24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be
clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.

Scriptural examples of base metals in scripture - Lead - the basest of base

metals
Exo 15:9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust
shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
Exo 15:10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as
lead in the mighty waters.
Its positive application

The Hebrew word for 'lead' is:

H5777
‛ôphereth ‛ôphereth
o-feh'-reth, o-feh'-reth
Feminine participle active of H6080; lead (from its dusty color): - lead.

The word assigned H6080 is:

H6080
‛âphar
aw-far'
A primitive root; meaning either to be gray or perhaps rather to pulverize; used only
as denominative from H6083, to be dust: - cast [dust]

H6083
‛âphâr
aw-fawr'
>From H6080; dust (as powdered or gray); hence clay, earth, mud: - ashes, dust,
earth, ground, morter, powder, rubbish.

So ophereth and aphar are both closely connected with the thought of being of
corruptible clay and dust. That is the root of the Hebrew word for lead.

What could possibly be positive about the base metal lead, or any of the other base
metals? Here is just how essential are these metals which represent the flesh at its
refined best:

John 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of
water [flesh] and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.

1 Cor 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
and afterward that which is spiritual.

A body of flesh must precede a spiritual body. So the tree of the knowledge of good
and of evil is pronounced by God Himself as "very good:"

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Its Negative Application - Lead and flesh
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of
God hath touched me.
Job 19:22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job 19:23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a
book!
Job 19:24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
Job 19:25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth:
Job 19:26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall
I see God:
Job 19:27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not
another; though my reins be consumed within me.
Job 19:28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter
is found in me?
Job 19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the
sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Both lead and flesh will be consumed by the fire of God's Word: Jer 6:29 (a) The
bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire...

Jer 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in
ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation: for the
spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.
Jer 6:27 I [God] have set thee [Jeremiah] for a tower and a fortress among my
people, that thou mayest know and try their way.
Jer 6:28 They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and
iron; they are all corrupters.
Jer 6:29 The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire; the founder
melteth in vain: for the wicked are not plucked away.
Jer 6:30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected
them.

The sinners and hypocrites in Zion are all of the base metals:

Eze 22:17 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Eze 22:18 Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are
brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the
dross of silver.
Eze 22:19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross,
behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
Eze 22:20 As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into
the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I
gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and
melt you.
Eze 22:21 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye
shall be melted in the midst thereof.
Eze 22:22 As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in
the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my
fury upon you.

Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the
hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us
shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth
the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth
his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

Have you ever been a "sinner in Zion?" Have you ever been a "hypocrite in Zion?" If
not then these words are not for you. You are not in need of being healed of
blindness because you see, you don't need a physician because you are well, you
don't need to be found because you never left the sheepfold, and you don't need to
come to your Father as a repentant son because you have done nothing that
requires repentance.

John 9:39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
John 9:40 And [some] of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and
said unto him, Are we blind also?
John 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but
now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Until we acknowledge that we must "live by every word which proceeds out of the
mouth of God, words like "the sinners and hypocrites in Zion..," words like "the lead
is consumed of the fire..." until we come to see that these are words which have
proceeded out of the mouth of God and that we must "keep the sayings of the
prophecy of this book," then we are "adding to and taking away from the sayings of
the prophecy of this book."

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of
this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the
plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of
the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Tyre, a type of Babylon, trades in metals

Eze 27:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,
Eze 27:2 Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus;
Eze 27:3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which
art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou
hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
Eze 27:4 Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected
thy beauty.

Eze 27:12 Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of
riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.

Babylon is "a talent of lead" which "is the curse going into every house."
Zec 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
Zec 5:2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll;
the length thereof [is] twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
Zec 5:3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face
of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side
according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off [as] on that side
according to it.
Zec 5:4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house
of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it
shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof
and the stones thereof.
Zec 5:5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up
now thine eyes, and see what [is] this that goeth forth.
Zec 5:6 And I said, What [is] it? And he said, This [is] an ephah that goeth forth. He
said moreover, This [is] their resemblance through all the earth.
Zec 5:7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a
woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
Zec 5:8 And he said, This [is] wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the
ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
Zec 5:9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two
women, and the wind [was] in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a
stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Zec 5:10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the
ephah?
Zec 5:11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it
shall be established, and set there upon her own base

The mother of harlots

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and
talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of
the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the
inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a
woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven
heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with
gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of
abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
Rev 17:5 And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

This is what is the meaning of base metals in scripture. We have dealt specifically
with lead, the basest of metals today. Next week, Lord willing, we will deal the next
most common base metal, copper.