August 3, 2007

• Discovering God’s Character – Part 17E
  
  
  
  The Implications of the Prophecies Against Edom

  We have been studying an interesting diversion that God puts in Genesis
  36 about Esau’s lineage even though we are fairly well along with Jacob
  and we’ll be largely focusing on him and his 12 sons to the end of the
  book. We are in Part E now and winding down to what this ultimately
  means. This diversion from the flow has shown us that God knows exactly
  what is going on and what will go on. This even applies for us today.

  Now there are a lot of words that could be said but let it be summed up
  as this… Edom has not “gone away”. It did not disappear long ago in the
  desert sands of southern Palestine. We have “Edom” with us here and
  now. This is because the prophecies state that Edom will be judged
  during the day of His wrath called “the day of the Lord”. Perhaps it
  would be helpful to take a few corresponding points in the prophecies
  (let’s use Obadiah) and word them as if they were meant for today.
  Either we would get some ridiculous statements or some partially true
  statements, or profoundly and stunningly accurate descriptions of the
  things we see on the news every day. Ready? Let go…

  1.    God’s mountain has being held captive and Gentiles are performing their religious customs upon it and Israel cannot.
  2.    The people of  Israel are being killed and captured by certain
  groups supporting “Palestinian” acquisition of the Holy Land.
  3.    Israelis are being forced to give up the lands that God had promised them in exchange for peace.
  4.    The groups associated with causing the trouble for Israel have:
  a.    claimed the land for themselves and have threatened to take it by force.
  b.    spoken arrogantly against God and have multiplied their words
  against Him by having vowed to oppress and  exterminate Israel when the
  real God Most High, the God of Israel has said otherwise by the
  prophets.

  There is much more that can be said. These statements don’t sound so
  strange, do they? Rather they are on our evening news and on the
  internet.  Their wicked deeds are yet among us.

  Even if what we are seeing in our world today is not “Edom”, it still
  would not matter. God would protect His people and their rights to the
  land against whoever might make a claim to have their own rights to it.
  To this, we leave God and His wisdom and power for His timing for
  settling the score in judgment. As we have seen, the Prophets of the
  Old Testament have already told us the certainty of this. So we have
  the Edomites with us today.

  Let me say this, these prophecies concerning Edom’s doom are so
  intertwined with the rest of prophecy there wouldn’t be space on this
  blog to account for all of it. In fact, knowing the hopelessness of
  their situation, and their stubborn  rejection of Jesus Christ as the
  Son of God and His death, burial, and resurrection, it isn’t surprising
  they have resorted to writing their own “holy writ” with wording that
  is favorable to their agenda and it continues to fuel their continual
  hatred of Israel. It is so insane that they cannot see the folly in the
  whole matter. This very action of making their own “holy writ” has
  allowed Paul’s words in II Thessalonians 2 to be so prophetic:

  
  Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the
  breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His
  coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of
  Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the
  deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not
  receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God
  will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what
  is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the
  truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. II Thessalonians 2:8-12 (NASB)

  The amazing extent of how much this is true is again too much to put in
  this blog. Yet those destined to perdition are the ones who are and
  will be captured by it because they will not accept the love of  the
  truth that Jesus Christ died for their sins, was buried and rose again
  on the third day according to all that God had testified through His
  servants the Apostles.

  For a better treatment of the matter, there is an “on-line book” (free) that covers the matter that has
  endorsements from some pretty heavy hitters in Christendom with regards
  to these matters including The Voice of the Martyrs. However, be
  prepared to get the truth about what these “Edomites” believe about the
  end times because their hope of salvation is the “lawless one” that
  Paul’s talking about in the verses above. Here’s the website:

  Will Islam Be Our Future? – A Study of Biblical and Islamic Eschatology
  
   http://www.answering-islam.de/Main/Authors/JR/Future/index.htm

  I don’t believe all of what is on there but there’s enough there to be
  of incredible value to the student of Biblical prophecy who wants to
  relate those matters to real life issues and events.  It is an amazing
  amount of research that’s been undertaken to learn of what Muslims
  really hope for and what they plan to do based on their “eschatology”
  (study of end time things). These things were learned through this man’s
  personal ministry to Muslims over the years. He did not go in trying to
  find this out but eventually he did and he’s sharing that with the
  reader. If, after you have read this material, you don’t come away
  understanding some portions of Revelation better, then you didn’t read
  it well enough and it would be best to go back and read it again.

  The bottom line is … the only hope of redemption is faith in the
  sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the behalf of sinners. This means
  anyone who has gone against God in any matter, it doesn’t matter what
  nationality you are or what you believed before now, the God who
  promised Adam and Eve a redeemer, and saved Noah from the flood, and
  gave Abraham the promise that through Him God would BLESS all the
  families of the world (not kill them!) sent Jesus Christ to do what we
  could not do for ourselves and He sent Christ through Israel, yet while
  they were the “chosen people” to bring Him into the world, those who
  respond in faith to what Christ has already done for them become the
  “chosen” themselves!  The result of this is peace with God and eternity
  with Him. The Bible has clearly told us how God Himself set it up for
  you to believe in Him.

  
  But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR
  HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you
  confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that
  God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a
  person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
  confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “WHOEVER
  BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction
  between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in
  riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF
  THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." Romans 10:8-13 (NASB)
  
   
  The One True God, the God of Israel still is patient and calling those
  who remain to come out of “Edom” and become one of His own.  There is
  no such salvation from the god of “Edom”.  Mr.Vee

  • 12:12 am
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