Herod's steward's wife nourished Jesus from her substance. It does not require much imagination to suppose some of the "substance" came from Herod's stores.

God can and does use ravens, which by Jewish law are unclean birds, to feed His prophets:

And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. (I Kings 17:4)

Does God command ravens? Did the Lord command the uncircumcised Cyrus the Great to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem?

God always retains total control of the creatures, the events, and the things of the universe. No harm can come to anyone who is trusting the Lord. God makes all things work together for good for His elect.

The Spirit of the Lord directed Elijah to a place of nourishment, providing him with bread, meat, and water, after Elijah had prayed down a severe tribulation upon Israel (I Kings, Chapter 17).

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. (James 5:17)

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

The dragon failed in his attempt to devour Christ as Christ was being formed in the saints through the travail of the ministries of the Church.

The "seed" of the woman refers to the Lord's saints, His witnesses. They keep God's commandments. This means they are living the true Christian life. The Laodicean believers do not keep God's commandments but choose instead to "marry" the world and behave according to world opinion.

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (I John 2:3,4)

The Laodicean believers of today do not keep God's commandments, for several reasons:

They have been taught that being "saved by grace" means we do not have to live in strict righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God; that being changed into the moral image of Christ and being in union with Him are not essential to salvation.

This may be the greatest deception in all Church history. As a direct result of this teaching the Christian churches are full of sin and disobedience to God.

They are under the impression that all persons who have given mental assent to the New Testament doctrine of redemption will be caught up to Heaven in a "rapture" before they can be exposed to tribulation. The result of this doctrine is a multitude of deceived believers who in fact are worldlings—not at all of the caliber of saints ready for an Enoch-type translation.

They are not preparing themselves to stand in the evil day because they believe God will take them out of the world in the evil day (Ephesians 6:13).

They have been taught that God loves them so much they have no reason to fear the wrath of God. As a result they are lacking in wisdom. They are almost completely ignorant of God's true Character as the Consuming Fire of Israel.

To be continued.