The Color Red – Part 1

Introduction to the Spiritual Significance of Colors

[Study Aired November 14, 2025]

A simple prism demonstrates that every shade in the spectrum of colors is to be found in a single ray of sunlight. What this tells us, according to Romans 1:20, is that every shade of color is to be found in Christ and His Father of whom are all things:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Colors, like every word of scripture, carry a spiritual meaning with them. Light signifies truth and knowledge. Darkness is the absence of truth and knowledge. Each color in the entire spectrum of light carries with it equally important truths, understanding and knowledge, and they are all within the old man Adam within all of us.

It so happens that like the three-sided prism, there are only three primary colors. Those three primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. It is out of these three colors, and combinations of these three colors, that all other colors come. What does the number three tell us? It tells us that colors, like all else in God’s Word, reveal that there is a process of judgment taking place within the plan of God (read The Spiritual Significance of The Number Three).

Today we will see that the primary color red signifies that 1) mankind is of the ground, 2) red signifies God’s rejected anointed, 3) red is symbolic of an incurable disease, 4) it signifies the color of the Adversary himself and finally, 5) in its positive application, red indicates the health and beauty of God’s chosen elect.

1) Red As Mankind, The Ground of The Earth

The first color mentioned in scripture is the color ‘red. Adam, man, was taken out of the ‘adamah,’ the ground:

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth [H776: ‘erets’] when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
Gen 2:5  And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and [there was] not a man to till the ground [H127: adamah].
Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man [H120: adam] of the dust of the ground [H127: adamah], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man [H120: adam] became a living soul.

Adam, the first man, who was also named ‘Adam’, Strong’s #121. According to Hitchcock’s dictionary of names, Adam’s name means “earthy; red.” The word ‘man’ [Strong’s #H120] is also ‘adam.’

Gen 2:19  And out of the ground [H127: adamah] the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam [Strong’s #121 – adam] to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.

Here now is Strong’s definition of ‘Adam:”

H121
‘a da m
aw- dawm’
The same as H120; Adam, the name of the first man, also of a place in Palestine: – Adam.

The first entry in scripture for the word ‘adam’, signifying mankind is found in:

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man [Strong’s #120] in our image, after our likeness: and let them [mankind] have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

So “Adam” [Strong’s #H121] is the same as the “man” [Strong’s #H120]. Both mean “earthy, red“, and both mean “man.”

2) Red Signifies The Rejected Twin Brother of God’s Elect

This is very instructive inasmuch as the color red is also associated with the very best the flesh has to offer:

Gen 25:25  And the first came out red [Hebrew: admoniy – Strong’s #132 – red or reddish], all over like an hairy garment; and they called his name Esau [H6215: ‘Esav’].
Gen 25:26  And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.
Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Esau “was… a man of the fields” tells us who Esau is spiritually. It is Christ Himself who gives us the spiritual meaning of the word ‘field’:

Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one [Esau signfies Abraham’s rejected anointed seed in this world, physical Israel, Gal 4:24-25];

Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.

Jacob “a plain man dwelling in tents” tells us who Jacob is spiritually:

Heb 11:9  By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [G4633: ‘skene’ tents] with Isaac and Jacob [Esau, Jacob’s twin, signified by “Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children”, is omitted], the heirs with him of the same promise:

This is Strong’s definition for this Hebrew word, ‘skene’:

G463
σκηνη
ske ne
skay- nay’
Apparently akin to G4632 and G4639; a tent or cloth hut (literally or figuratively): – habitation, tabernacle.

In this story Isaac signifies our ‘old man’, our flesh, which is attached to the things of the flesh:

Gen 25:28  And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob signifies the Lord’s elect:

Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

God’s elect are not elect because they are righteous; they are God’s elect in spite of their lack of righteousness. Jacob was a scoundrel who effectively stole both Esau’s birthright and blessing. The fact that Isaac loved Esau, and the fact that Esau was the first-born twin brother of God’s typical elect Jacob, tells us that Esau is just an earlier type of God’s rejected anointed, King Saul. It is always God’s rejected anointed who want God’s anointed dead. Ishmael, Abraham’s firstborn son, mocked Isaac (Gen 21:9), Esau, Isaac’s firstborn, wanted Jacob dead (Gen 27:41). Saul wanted David dead (1Sa 18:11), and the established church wanted Christ dead (Joh 19:6).

The three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are types of us. They typify the three stages of our spiritual progress. Abraham signifies the beginning of our calling (Gen 12:1), as “carnal… babes in Christ” (1Co 3:1-4). As we begin to know Christ Esau’s wild venison appeals to us more than Jacob’s domesticated lambs and goats, when we are in our intermediate ‘Isaac’ stage of spiritual growth. It is in this stage of our experience that we sell our birthright for a bowl of “pottage.”

Gen 25:29  And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:
Gen 25:30  And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red [H122: ‘adom’, red] pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom [H123: ‘Edom’ red].
Gen 25:31  And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.
Gen 25:32  And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?
Gen 25:33  And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

 Here is Strong’s definition for Esau’s new name, Edom:

H123
‘e do m  ‘e do m
ed- ome’, ed- ome’
From H122; red (see Gen 25:25); Edom, the elder twin- brother of Jacob; hence the region (Idumaea) occupied by him: – Edom, Edomites, Idumea.

H122
‘adom’
aw- dome’
From H119; rosy: – red, ruddy.

‘Adom’, the color red, signifies the spiritual weakness of our flesh:

Gen 25:34  Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles [herbs without meat]; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Here is the spiritual significance of the color red. Red is “man, Adam, earthy, red.” Our birthright is spiritual, blue as we will see, and we just naturally think less of the things of the spirit, and we are all at first willing to sell our spiritual birthright for mere physical red herbs devoid of spiritual meat. This is all by design, and this story signifies what the Lord is working within every man at his appointed time:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil [within each of us because we must all live by every world of God (Mat 4:4).

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity [H120, ‘adam’, mankind] to humble them by it.

We are all Esau before we become Jacob. As we will see below, red is also the beauty of God’s elect. This is the New Testament reality of this Old Testament parable:

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

Water signifies the flesh (Rev 17:15), and spirit is spirit. “Flesh is flesh and… spirit is spirit.”

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46  Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47  The first man [is] of the earth, earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48  As [is] the earthy, such [are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49  And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

If the Lord gives us to desire the things of the spirit, then we will, by circumstances beyond our control, end up going to Haran (Babylon – spiritually called Egypt) to serve and from Babylon we will be given a wife, and we will from Babylon become the wife of Christ.

Gen 24:1  And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.
Gen 24:2  And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
Gen 24:3  And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: [“The Canaanites” signify the uncalled world]
Gen 24:4  But thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred [Haran, of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians], and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

This was the experience of both Jacob and his son Joseph, and also Moses. They each lived lives of service, and they were given their wives outside of Canaan. They all first lived years of servitude before they were given their wives. This, of course, signifies us as the wife of Christ.

 3) Red is indicative of an incurable deadly disease:

Lev 13:19  And in the place of the boil there be a white rising, or a bright spot, white, and somewhat reddish [#125 – adamdam], and it be shewed to the priest;
Lev 13:20  And if, when the priest seeth it, behold, it be in sight lower than the skin, and the hair thereof be turned white; the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a plague of leprosy broken out of the boil.

Lev 13:49  And if the plague be greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam] in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:

Lev 14:37  And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish [#125 – adamdam], which in sight are lower than the wall;
Lev 14:38  Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:
Lev 14:39  And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
Lev 14:40  Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague [is], and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:
Lev 14:41  And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:
Lev 14:42  And they shall take other stones, and put [them] in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.
Lev 14:43  And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;
Lev 14:44  Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, [if] the plague be spread in the house, it [is] a fretting leprosy in the house: it [is] unclean.
Lev 14:45  And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

God’s Word is all a parable. Here is the New Testament interpretation and application of this Old Testament parable:

1Co 5:1  It is reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.
1Co 5:2  And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
1Co 5:3  For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, [concerning] him that hath so done this deed,
1Co 5:4  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Co 5:5  To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
1Co 5:6  Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
1Co 5:7  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

4) Red symbolizes the beast within all men:

Rev 17:3  So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet [Red] coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

5) There is another example of the spiritual significance of the color red. Red also signifies the work of the Adversary who robs us of our peace when we first profess to know Christ:

Rev 6:4  And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him [of God] that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

6) Red signifies the adversary himself:

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

7) The positive application of the color red:

Red also represents the beauty and health of the spirit of God’s elect:

1Sa 16:10  Again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The LORD hath not chosen these.
1Sa 16:11  And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all [thy] children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
1Sa 16:12  And he sent, and brought him in. Now he [was] ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this [is] he.
1Sa 16:13  Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

Here is the New Testament Spiritual application of this Old Testament parable:

Rev 2:9  I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

Rev 3:9  Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Summary:

So the negative applications of  red – adamah – adam – edom – are:

 1) of the ground and identifying with this earth, (Gen 2:7)

2) Red is symbolic of a religious man who signifies the rejected seed of Abraham. Red represents a religious man who cannot come out of this Babylon, and yet is that part of Abraham’s seed which is closest to its twin brother.

Ishmael was Abraham’s seed born of an Egyptian bondwoman. Ishmael does not typify that which would deceive the very elect if possible. It is Esau, Jacob’s twin brother, who sold his birthright for red pottage, who so despises God’s elect and yet he has great appeal to our flesh.

3) Red symbolizes that facet of our experience which is called an incurable deadly disease (Lev 13-Lev 14- The laws governing leprosy).

4) Red is also the color used of God to symbolize the “scarlet colored beast” which all men first are (Rev 17:4).

5) Red signifies the work of the Adversary who the Lord sends to take away our peace in this world as He drags us to Himself (Rev 6:4)

6) The adversary himself is called “a great red dragon” in Revelation 12:4.

7) The positive application of the color red is the beauty and health of God’s elect, “ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance… anointed in the midst of [their] brothers” (1Sa 16:12-13).

We will pause our study of the color red at this point. In our next study we will see many of the scriptures which demonstrate how the holy spirit uses the color red to show us that red signifies both our old and our new man inasmuch as our new man comes out of our old man just as both the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the Tree Of Life both come “out of the ground”:

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

[Here is the link for the next study in this series.]

Proverbs Chapter 6 – Part 3

Pro 6:20-35″ Take Heed to Thyself“

[Study Aired Dec 26, 2024]

This last section of Proverbs chapter six is primarily about the benefit that is given to those who are blessed to read, hear, and keep the sayings of the prophecy of God’s word in this age (Rev 1:3).

We may not always think of the book of Proverbs as a form of prophecy, but all of God’s words are prophetic words, and when we understand what they are saying to us with the gift of eyes that see, and ears that hear (Luk 8:10 , Eph 2:8), they become profitable in how they can edify, exhort, and comfort those who are drawn to its spiritual message, which is an eternal message that does not change (2Ti 3:16-17 , 2Ti 2:20-22 , 1Co 14:3 , Joh 6:63 , Joh 17:3 , Joh 6:68).

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent [Joh 20:21 , Joh 3:17].

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.[Isa 55:11]

Taking heed to ourselves, is a lifelong endeavor that requires an ongoing miracle that is being accomplished in the body of Christ, who are given to die daily and keep under ourselves, so that God’s word does not return void in this age, but rather brings forth much fruit by the grace of God, that requires that we water and plant, labour in the word, and wait on the Lord to give the increase that comes from him alone (Mat 13:8-9 , Joh 3:30 , 1Co 3:6-7).

Mat 13:8  But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 
Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Joh 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.

1Co 3:6   I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

Pro 6:20  My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Pro 6:21  Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
Pro 6:22  When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.

These first three opening verses of our study remind us that our labour in the Lord is not in vain (1Co 15:57-58). Our father’s commandment that we are to keep and the law of thy mother, is referring to the commandments of God and the order that He establishes in the church, for our good (Jerusalem above the mother of us all), through the manifest knowledge that is foundational in what it is first doing in our lives (Mat 16:18), and ultimately what it will do for the rest of humanity who will come to know God and Christ through the church (Eph 3:10).

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

The first commandment with promise, spoken of in (Eph 6:1-3), is speaking to God’s elect who come out of Babylon in this age, that is likened unto a mother of harlots (Rev 17:5) and Satan who is the god of this world and our first father (Joh 8:44) whose lies we reject, as sons of God (1Jn 3:1) in this age who have been promised that blessing of being in the first resurrection, being given that extended period of time or life with our Father and Christ and Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Gal 4:26) before the rest of the world (Rev 20:6).

Eph 6:1  Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.
Eph 6:2  Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)
Eph 6:3  That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Knowing these promises are true and that God is going to destroy the physical realm, we really have nothing to hold onto in this life, and nothing should compare to that which God has set before his people who are blessed to be bound to the altar, meaning we are living by the faith of Christ (Psa 118:27 , Gal 2:20), therefore we are given great incentive to “Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck“. The “them” is the merciful and truthful words of God (Pro 3:3) that, if we continue in them, they will set us free in this life (Joh 8:35-36). The heart represents where our desire comes from (Mat 6:21 , 1Th 2:19-20), and the neck is what we are burdened with, and Christ’s ways are a joyful burden that we bear for each other (Gal 6:2). The apostle Paul was beloved and at the end of his ministry he was kissed on his neck, as a symbol of the body’s appreciation for all that God gave him to suffer and bear for the body’s sake (Act 20:37).

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1Th 2:19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?
1Th 2:20 For ye are our glory and joy.[“where your treasure is, there will your heart be also“]

Act 20:37 And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

“When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee“, is telling us that the comforter will lead us into all truth (Joh 16:13). The spirit of God will bear witness that we are His in this life (Rom 8:14-17) and when we lie down and rise up, and walk through this life we don’t lose heart (Luk 18:1), as we pray without ceasing and learn that our Creator who we serve is faithful and merciful and will never leave or forsake His own in this life (Heb 13:5 , Php 1:6). It is through the fervent continual prayers of the saints that availeth much that the importunate widow learns that “the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear”(Isa 59:1 , Mat 7:11).

Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Php 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Mat 7:11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

Pro 6:23 For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life:
Pro 6:24 To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman.
Pro 6:25 Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids.
Pro 6:26 For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.
Pro 6:27 Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?
Pro 6:28 Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned?
Pro 6:29 So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.

Where there is no vision, the people perish (Pro 29:18) and that vision comes from the word of God, from his commandments which are “a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life“. What the light of God’s word does specifically for us is “To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman“. This strange woman is Babylon, which we are called out of by the grace and faith of God (Eph 2:8). The admonition for God’s elect is to remember Lot’s wife (Luk 17:32) and don’t look back, “Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids“. Rather we need to keep our eyes fixed on Christ (Rom 12:1-2) and the promises that tell us we will be more than conquerors through Him (Rom 8:37).

If it were possible, Satan would deceive the very elect (Mat 24:24), and how would he, or how does he go about trying to do that, is explained in this verse, “by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: (Heb 12:16-17) and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life“.

Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Contrast this careless spirit of Esau, with that of Moses, one chapter earlier, who typifies the elect of God who are blessed to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness in this life (Heb 11:26 , Mat 5:6).

Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Can we taste of the heavenly things of God (Heb 6:4-8) and then go back into the harlotries of this world and expect to not be burnt by such actions? This is what God’s word reveals on that matter, “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour’s wife; whosoever toucheth her shall not be innocent.” This fire that burns a man who goes into it, is speaking of the strange fire, that is the unholy things that defile a man (Lev 10:1-2), as opposed to the coals from the altar that represent God’s words that sanctify and purify us in this life (Isa 6:7).

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
Heb 6:5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come
Heb 6:6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Lev 10:1 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not.
Lev 10:2 And there went out fire from the LORD, and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.

Isa 6:7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Pro 6:30 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;
Pro 6:31 But if he be found, he shall restore sevenfold; he shall give all the substance of his house.
Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
Pro 6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
Pro 6:34 For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.
Pro 6:35 He will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts.

The thief being talked about here is the one that goes “in to his neighbour’s wife” in the previous verse (v 29), which represents a church that they go into, after they have been in a relationship of fidelity with the body of Christ (2Ti 4:10).

2Ti 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.

Loving this present world has the unfaithful going toward “Thessalonica, Galatia, Dalmatia“, places of Asia which represent the world! Another way of telling us that these were men who started in the spirit, but would conclude their life in the letter is (Gal 3:3-4), trying to be perfected in the law, in the world, being part of the whole Babylonian system once again that have forsaken God’s word (Rev 1:11 , 2Ti 1:15).

Gal 3:3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
Gal 3:4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

Rev 1:11 Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

2Ti 1:15 This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.

We are told to not despise this thieving spirit whose actions parallel with that of Esau whose pleasures of sin for a season (Heb 11:25) was more important than his birthright, which would require that he suffer in this life (Heb 12:16-17 , Heb 11:25).

Heb 12:16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Heb 12:17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

We’re not to think that this thief is not in us, because he is being destroyed day by day as we die daily, and but for the grace of God go we, as we’re permitted by God’s mercy to continue to be apprehended by Christ who gives us the power to forget what is behind us, and press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling in Him (Php 3:13-14). We are apprehending because we have been apprehended of God through Christ the fit man (Lev 16:21), giving us no reason to despise others who have left us for one reason or another, “do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry“.

That man who satisfies his soul, lacks understanding, and his soul is destroyed in this life as a result of his ignorance, and in this life that dishonour that he gets, and that reproach, shall not be wiped away as mentioned earlier; and this is all being accomplished for the elect’s sake, to remind us of the severity of God, and the goodness of God that He has extended to the body of Christ, if we continue in His goodness (Heb 6:3-8 , Num 16:2-3 , Rom 11:22 , Rom 2:4-6).

Num 16:2 And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown:
Num 16:3 And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the LORD?

Rom 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity [the 250 men of renown]; but toward thee, goodness [God’s judgements that destroys those 250 men of renown within us (25×10) or (5x5x10)], if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

God is a jealous God (Exo 20:5) and he is the man being spoken of in verse 34, “For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance“. He will have his vengeance on all such who are found in the lake of fire. And when those who are resurrected in the second resurrection say, ‘haven’t we done many wonderful works?’ (Mat 7:22), in other words, ‘why are you judging me, I’m an outstanding citizen’, God will not regard any ransom; neither will he rest content, though thou givest many gifts“, to the point that even what they thought they had, will be taken away (Mat 25:29 , Rom 11:22 , Heb 12:25).

Mat 25:29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

Heb 12:25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Our prayer for each other is that our Father will give us the strength to endure His chastening grace today, so that we are received in this age through His judgements upon us, which will burn out the spirit that thinks we’ve somehow contributed to our salvation, or the salvation of others, when it fact it was all a work of God within us that made it possible for each joint to supply in love, to the building up and edifying of the church (Heb 12:6-7 , Php 2:12-13 , Eph 4:16 , Psa 127:1).

Psa 127:1 A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

Oba 1:18 And There Shall Not Be Any Remaining of the House of Esau

[Study Aired September 18, 2024]

Oba 1:18  And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

Oba 1:18  And the house^H1004of Jacob^H3290 shall be^H1961 a fire,^H784 and the house^H1004 of Joseph^H3130 a flame,^H3852 and the house^H1004 of Esau^H6215 for stubble,^H7179 and they shall kindle^{H1814 (H8804 Qal)} in them, and devour^{H398 (H8804 Qal)} them; and there shall not^H3808 be^H1961 any remaining^H8300 of the house^H1004 of Esau;^H6215 for^H3588 the LORD^H3068 hath spoken^{H1696 (H8765 Piel)} it.

H1004 – Bayith, house, dwelling habitation, shelter or abode, place, receptacle, home, household, family, family of descendants, household affairs, inwards, temple, on the inside, within, probably from a primitive root H1129, Banah, to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue, build a house (ie, establish a family), to be built/rebuilt, established 

H3290 – Ya`akob, Jacob = heel holder or supplanter, from a primitive root H6117, Aqab, to supplant, circumvent, take by the heel, follow at the heel, assail insidiously, overreach, overreach, attack at the heel, hold back

H1961 – Hayah, to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out, to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come into being, to arise, appear, come, become like, to be instituted, be established, be in existence, abide, remain, continue, to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated, to accompany, be with, be done, be brought about, be finished, be gone, a primitive root

H784 – Esh, fire, flames, supernatural fire, altar-fire, God’s anger, a primitive word

H1004 – see above

H3130 – Yosafe, Joseph = Jehovah has added, future(?) of a primitive root H3254, Yasaph, to add, increase, do again, join, join oneself to, be joined, be added to, cause to add, increase, do more

H3852 – Lehabah, flame, tip of weapon, point, head of spear, from H3851, Lahab, flame, blade, of flashing point of spear or blade of sword, from an unused root meaning to gleam 

H1004 – see above

H6215 – Esav, hairy, apparently a form of a primitive root H6213, Asah, to do, fashion, accomplish, make, work, produce, to deal with, act, act with effect, effect, prepare, attend to, put in order, observe, celebrate, acquire, appoint, ordain, institute, bring about, use, spend, pass, be done, be made, be produced, be offered, be observed, be used, be made, to press, squeeze

H7179 – Kash, stubble, chaff, from a primitive root H7197, Kashash, to gather, assemble, collect, gather stubble or sticks, to gather together, gather oneself together

H1814 – Dalaq, (Qal) to burn, hotly pursue, a primitive root

H398 – Akal, (Qal) to eat, devour, consume, slay, destroy, a primitive root

H3808 – Lo, not, no, nothing, without, before (of time), a primitive particle

H1961 – see above

H8300 – Sariyd, survivor, remnant, that which is left, from a primitive root H8277, Sarad, to escape, survive (Used once in OT)

H1004 – see above

H6215 – see above

H3588 – Kee, that, for, because, when, as/for though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since, yea, indeed, if, though, that if, for if, indeed if, but if/rather, except that, only, nevertheless, that is, for though, forasmuch as, for therefore, a primitive particle

H3068 – Yehovah, Jehovah = the existing one, the proper name of the one true God, unpronounced except with the vowel pointings of 0136 (not found in E-sword) from a primitive root H1961, Hayah, to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come into being, become, arise, appear, come, become, become like, be instituted, be established, be in existence, abide, remain, continue, stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated, accompany, be with, occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about, be done, be finished, be gone

H1696 – Dabar, (Piel) to speak, promise, a primitive root

The book of Obadiah parallels a fundamental theme of the Bible: there are two spiritual men in scripture, the old man and the new man. 

Eph 4:22  That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
Eph 4:23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
Eph 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

It is important to remember both Jacob and Esau are twin brothers, both born of the freewoman (Rebecca). Both were anointed, but the elder brother was the “rejected anointed.” Their story is a story of election, not of works:

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither (Jacob nor Esau) having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Applied inwardly, judgment is now on the house of God, and our God is a consuming fire, so much so that there “shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau.” The “rejected anointed” shall be “rejected.”

The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, typifies the work of Christ in our lives. In this sense, fire has a positive application. In other words, fiery trials are good for us.

Deu 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire,  even a jealous God.

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

The function of “fire” is to work a good work in our lives, to try our faith. The Greek word used for “try” is G1381 dokimazo meaning ‘to approve, discern and to test.’

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried (G1381) with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

The consuming fire of God’s word searches out the hidden things:

1Co 2:10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee..

Oba 1:6  How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

Oba 1:8  Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

The wise men of Edom symbolize our proud heart, and as the gospel of Jesus Christ is revealed to us, we as ambassadors of Jesus Christ have Christ shining in our hearts to reform our old ways and thoughts.

2Co 4:2  But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
2Co 4:5  For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

As ambassadors of Jesus Christ, the elect of Christ, he gives us the knowledge of the glory of God and considers us his friends, revealing all things he has heard of his father.

Jhn 15:14  Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Jhn 15:15  Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

It is only if we remain faithful and overcome to the end, that we will be considered “overcomers.”

Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Those who overcome are chosen according to election. In other words, it is not because of works, but of Him that calleth. This doesn’t absolve us from continuing our walk and continuing to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. If anything it inspires to continue to seek the scriptures daily to learn more about Christ and his Father. This is so we can know Christ, or rather be known of him.

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God,

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Those new to the faith may ask, “How can a God of Love hate? How can a loving God plainly state He hates Esau?”

Here is the answer Paul gives in the very next verse:

Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Reformation is a process, and that which is sown in dishonour (our old man, Esau), our carnal mind must fall away.

Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

Jhn 3:30  He must increase, but I must decrease.
Jhn 3:31  He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

1Co 15:43  It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

The house of Esau (the old man) is signified, in type, by Abishag.

1Ki 1:1  Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.
1Ki 1:2  Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.
1Ki 1:3  So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag (H49) a Shunammite, and brought her to the king

The Hebrew word Abishag (H49) is formed from two Hebrew words, father (H1 ab) and error (H7686 shaga) meaning father of error. Hitchock’s Bible Names has the name Abishag meaning “ignorance of the father”.

While the damsel, Abishag, cherished the king, even ministered to the King, scripture reveals the King knew her not. Therefore, Abishag in type, represents the rejected anointed.

1Ki 1:4  And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.

Christ also made reference to this concept of “knew her not.” Many will say they have ministered, and done wonderful works, but Christ (the King) will say to them I never knew you:

Mat 7:21  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, even though it may be “sought carefully with tears”:

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

Even though Abishag cherished the king, the King knew her not.

Here is how important knowing the King is:

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

On the other hand, Esther is a more appropriate symbol that foreshadows the bride of Christ, because scripture states the King loved her above all women.

Est 2:17  And the king loved Esther above all the women, and she obtained grace and favour in his sight more than all the virgins; so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti.

In summary, Jesus Christ is our one, true saviour, and has chosen to complete His workmanship in us, His chosen (His elect). As He increases in us, our old man decreases. There shall not be remaining anything of the house of Esau (our old man) because flesh and blood (the carnal mind, our proud heart) cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Esau is that stubble being burnt up, and because our God is a consuming fire he will be faithful to complete His workmanship in our lives.

Oba 1:18  And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

Obadiah 1:9 Mount of Esau is Cut Off

[Study Aired January 31, 2024]

Obadiah 1:9  And broken down have been thy mighty ones, O Teman, So that every one of the mount of Esau is cut off. (YLT)

Oba 1:9  And thy mighty^H1368 men, O Teman,^H8487 shall be dismayed,^{H2865 (H8804 Qal)} to the end that^H4616 every one^H376 of the mount^{H4480 H2022} of Esau^H6215 may be cut off^{H3772 (H8735 Niphal)} 

H1368 – Ghibbor, strong, mighty, strong man, brave man, mighty man, from a primitive root H1396, Gabar, to prevail, have strength, be strong, be powerful, be mighty, be great, make strong, strengthen, confirm, give strength, confirm, show oneself mighty, act proudly (toward God)

H8487 – Teyman, Teman = south, from H8486, Teyman, south, southward, whatever is on the right (so the southern quarter), south wind, toward the south, denominative from H3225, Yamiyn, right, right hand, right side, south (the direction of the right hand when facing East), from a primitive root H3231, Yaman, to choose the right, go to the right, use the right hand, be right handed

H2865 – Khathath, (Qal) to be shattered, be dismayed, be broken, a primitive root

H4616 – Mahan, purpose, intent, for the sake of, in view of, on account of, for the purpose of, to the intent that, in order to, to the end that, from a primitive root 

H6030 Anah, to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout, respond to, respond as a witness, make answer, be answered, receive, sing, utter tunefully, dwell

H376 – Eesh, man, male, husband, human being, person, servant, mankind, champion, great man, whosoever, each, contracted for H582, Enoshe, man, mortal man, person, mankind, of an individual, men, from a primitive root H605, Anash, to be weak, sick, frail, be incurable, desperate, incurable, desperately wicked, woeful, very sick

H4480 – Min, from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than, some of, after (of time), from…even to, both…and, either…or, too much for, through, because, from H4482, Mane, musical chord, a stringed instrument from an unused root to apportion

H2022 – Har, hill, mountain, hill country, mount, a shortened form of H2042, Harar, mountain, hill, hill country, mount, from an unused root meaning to loom up

H6215 – Esav, hairy, apparently a form of a primitive root H6213, Asah, to do, fashion, accomplish, make, work, produce, to deal with, act, act with effect, effect, prepare, attend to, put in order, observe, celebrate, acquire, appoint, ordain, institute, bring about, use, spend, pass, be done, be made, be produced, be offered, be observed, be used, be made, to press, squeeze

H3772 – Karath, (Niphal) to be cut off/down, be chewed, fail, a primitive root

Here is Obadiah 1:9 with the root words included:

The mighty ones (those who act proudly toward God) of Teman (South facing/the right hand) (is being) shattered (and shall) for the purpose of being a witness to mankind (the desperately wicked). So that the mountain (looming up) of Esau shall be cut down. 

Teman is the name of a district and town in the land of Edom, named after Teman, the grandson of Esau, the son of his firstborn, Eliphaz. A duke Teman is named among the chiefs or clans of Edom. Teman H8487 tay-mawn’ means the south (as being on the right hand of a person facing the east). The south denotes man’s right hand (man’s power). Figuratively, the right hand denotes “power” and “authority”:

Act 2:32  ‘This Jesus did God raise up, of which we are all witnesses;
Act 2:33  at the right hand then of God having been exalted—also the promise of the Holy Spirit having received from the Father—he was shedding forth this, which now ye see and hear;
Act 2:34  for David did not go up to the heavens, and he saith himself: The Lord saith to my lord, Sit thou at my right hand,
Act 2:35  till I make thy foes thy footstool

The proud heart in all of us is being brought down as we are humbled by Christ. Christ’s bright eyes shine in us and filtrate/purify us because we are a living sacrifice upon which He has chosen to transform into pillars in His temple. Unlike James and John arguing about who will sit at Christ’s left or right hand, we as the elect know it is simply an honour to be called, chosen, and remain faithful to be considered worthy to be grafted into the body of Christ as ministers and servants. The body does not tell the head where it will sit, on the right or the left, instead, the body is submissive to its head in all things. The body follows the head just as the body of Christ follows the mind of Christ in all things. Where Christ goes, we go:

Eze 1:20 Whithersoever the spirit was to go, they went, thither was their spirit to go; and the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
Eze 1:21  When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels

Contrary to this spirit of submission was the spirit of James and John:

Mrk 10:35  And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto him, saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.
Mrk 10:36  And he said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you?
Mrk 10:37  They said unto him, Grant unto us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory.
Mrk 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mrk 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:
Mrk 10:40  But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared.
Mrk 10:41  And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John.
Mrk 10:42  But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
Mrk 10:43  But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
Mrk 10:44  And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
Mrk 10:45  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

James and John were eager to make their requests known to Christ, but in doing so were making the sacrifice of fools

Ecc 5:1  Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.
Ecc 5:2  Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.
Ecc 5:3  For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.

James and John were used as an example to remind us how important it is to “keep our foot” when entering the house of God. The mighty ones of Teman and Edom placed their identity and worth in their pride. Their heart was hasty:

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Job’s words were not few, nor did he keep his foot when offering his sacrifice of fools.

Job 10:1  My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job 10:2  I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Job 10:3  Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
Job 10:4  Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
Job 10:5  Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man’s days,
Job 10:6  That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
Job 10:7  Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand

Job 23:3  Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
Job 23:4  I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Job 23:5  I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

Here is God’s response to Job’s sacrifice of a fool, labelling it as Job speaking by words without knowledge:

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge.

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.

Job Promises Silence

Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth

Ultimately, God the Father and Christ are sovereign in this cleansing process of purification we are all going through. How are we purified? By the words of the Son. The sovereignty of God has ordained that in “these last days” He speaks to us in His Son, Jesus Christ:

Heb 1:1  In many parts, and many ways, God of old having spoken to the fathers in the prophets,
Heb 1:2  in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages;
Heb 1:3  who being the brightness (G541) of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence, bearing up also the all things by the saying of his might—through himself having made a cleansing of our sins, sat down at the right hand of the greatness in the highest.

Brightness is from G541 ap-ow’-gas-mah meaning an off flash or effulgence. Effulgence means the ability to shine brightly. The brightness of Christ occurs in that he perfectly reflects the majesty of God. It is this brightness of His coming that will be how the wicked in us is revealed (illuminated):

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked (the old man) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

How is the old man consumed with the spirit of His mouth? The spirit of His mouth is the flames of fire of His Word:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God

We are the apple of His eye, and even though we will suffer loss in this battle as we are burned, he that remains (overcomes) shall be saved.

1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

1Co 3:15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire

Psa 17:8  Keep me as the apple, the daughter of the eye; In shadow of Thy wings thou dost hide me.
Psa 17:9  From the face of the wicked who spoiled me. Mine enemies in soul go round against me.
Psa 17:10  Their fat they have closed up, Their mouths have spoken with pride:
Psa 17:11  ‘Our steps now have compassed him;’ Their eyes they set to turn aside in the land.
Psa 17:12  His likeness as a lion desirous to tear, As a young lion dwelling in secret places.
Psa 17:13  Arise, O Jehovah, go before his face, Cause him to bend. Deliver my soul from the wicked, Thy sword.

Being delivered in this battle is Christ saving us. We can only be truly humble if we are given eyes to see that it is Christ in us that is the New Man and He has dragged us to Himself so that we cannot take any credit for our salvation. This is true humility. Without it, without Christ, our humility is false, and we remain the high and lofty mountain of Esau.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

In verse 9 of Obadiah this message is reinforced: “every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off.” The word used for ‘cut off’ is H3772 kaw-rath’ meaning to cut, destroy, consume and to be chewed. It is first used after the flood of Noah

Gen 9:11  And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off (consumed) any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Gen 9:12  And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Gen 9:13  I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

Physical water is no longer, and never again will be, used to consume all flesh. Instead, spiritually speaking, it is spiritual fire that is used to chew/consume all flesh (the proud heart and wise men of Edom in us). It is with Christ’s fire that he consumes all flesh.

Deu 4:24  For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deu 9:3  Understand therefore this day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the LORD hath said unto thee.

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

This passage in 2 Thessalonians describes what Christ is consuming:

2Th 2:1  Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

It is this process that saves us. Christ has overcome the world, Christ has brought down Teman and Edom, making Him our one and only true saviour:

Joh 16:33  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Conclusion and Spiritual Principle: Those with eyes to see and ears to hear will understand that the Word of God is a book that we are to keep and experience because the Word of God is alive and is how God the father “speak(s) to us in a Son.”

Heb 1:2  in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages;

The day of Christ is “at hand.”

2Th 2:2  That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand

Christ is at hand and as He increases in us, and our old man decreases, we begin to speak by words with wisdom, not as Job who spoke by words without knowledge offering sacrifices of a fool.

[Study Aired September 4, 2022]

Jer 49:11  Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.
Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.
Jer 49:13  For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.
Jer 49:14  I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
Jer 49:15  For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men.
Jer 49:16  Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:17  Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.
Jer 49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.
Jer 49:19  Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
Jer 49:20  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
Jer 49:21  The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.
Jer 49:22  Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

In our last study we saw how Esau’s close relationship to Jacob (‘Israel’) makes Esau the type of those who are the closest to the true “Israel of God”.

Gal 6:15  Certainly, it doesn’t matter whether a person is circumcised or not. Rather, what matters is being a new creation.
Gal 6:16  Peace and mercy will come to rest on all those who conform to this principle. They are the Israel of God. (GWV)

Esau is Jacob’s twin brother who at first had the birthright.

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

The natural mind does not connect Esau’s selling of his birthright for a bowl of pottage to assuage his hunger pangs worthy of calling him a “profane… fornicator”, but that is exactly how the Lord feels about us when we ignore and disobey Him for the purpose of avoiding the tribulation or persecution [which] arises because of the word:

Mat 13:20  But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
Mat 13:22  He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

Esau was not born of a bondwoman as Ishmael was, and he was circumcised in the flesh, along with Jacob and Ishmael. Esau then, and those he typifies today, have a lot in common with the Lord’s elect, yet it is the Lord’s preordained intention that Esau is to be rejected and supplanted by Jacob. This decision by the Lord had already been determined of God while Esau and Jacob were still in their mother’s womb having yet done “neither good nor evil… that the purpose of God should stand… not of works… but of election”:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Rom 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Rom 9:9  For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.
Rom 9:10  And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Those words are the ‘birthright’ of those to whom they apply. “The children of the promise” will endure hunger and discomfort and the rejection of this world and will never sell their birthright, not because of their own will or their own works, but because God has “before ordained that they should walk in [those good works]”:

Eph 2:5  Even when we [“the children of promise”] were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved; )
Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9  Not of [our own] works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Esau, and all those who are so close to the Lord’s people and yet are rejected of the Lord, hate these words and feel that the Lord’s ways are not right or fair. Esau feels that he has gotten cheated, and indeed, by the Lord’s own design, Esau, our rejected anointed, has been supplanted by Jacob:

Gen 27:41  And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Esau, who is Edom, is therefore the type and shadow of all those who are circumcised in letter but not “of the heart, in the spirit”:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Esau does “many wonderful works” in an effort to please his physical father, but our heavenly Father is not interested in our works:

Gen 27:1  And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
Gen 27:2  And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Gen 27:3  Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison;
Gen 27:4  And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

A conniving Jacob, at his mother’s commandment, didn’t even have to prepare the “kids of the goats”, to lie to and deceive his father into blessing him while Esau was away doing all his father had asked of him.

Gen 27:8  Now therefore, my [Rebekah] son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
Gen 27:9  Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:

The Lord expects us to accept even the evil in this world as part of the “all things” which are His works for our good (Rom 8:28, Eph 1:11).

Edom, Moab and Ammon are the three adversary nations who were all physically related to Israel. Of these three family members who were related to Israel, Edom is the most closely related, and Edom is also by the Lord’s design, the most resentful of the Lord’s elect as the story of Jacob and Esau so graphically demonstrates. So also, it is with Christ. Christ came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

Joh 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

That statement is as true of the church today as it was of “[the Lord’s] own” when those words were first penned. It will always be those who want Christ’s name but refuse to wear His clothes or eat His bread who will most hate Him and want Him crucified. The closer to Christ they are, the more they hate Him, His ways, and those who are His. In plain English, Christians who know that Christ said “resist not evil… love thine enemy… he that lives by the sword will die by the sword” will hate those who live by those words more fiercely than a Hindu or even a Muslim. It is Christians who most hate the Lord’s faithful who teach His doctrines such as:

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4  No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

The answer of the ministers of Babylon to these words of Christ is, “All that is needed for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.” They are eating their own bread and wearing their own apparel, but they call themselves ‘Christians’ (Isa 4:1). We’ve all been there. None of us could at first believe that God creates and works in and through evil, wicked men to accomplish “His own” purposes (Isa 45:7).

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Lot, the father of Moab and Ammon, was the son of Abraham’s older brother, Haran. That makes Isaac and Lot first cousins. However, Jacob and Esau are not mere cousins – they are twin brothers. The Lord promises both Moab and Ammon, who are far more distant from Israel than Esau, that in the end He will “bring again [their] captivity”. Esau is given no such honor because Esau, Israel’s closest relative, his twin brother, typifies the Lord’s rejected anointed. The Lord’s rejected anointed king, King Saul, was David’s most fervent enemy and was constantly seeking to destroy David, who typifies the Lord’s ‘accepted in the beloved’ anointed. Abraham just naturally hated to have to drive Ishmael out of his house, and David also mourned the death of the Lord’s anointed, King Saul, showing us that we must never, ever rejoice when our enemy falls:

2Sa 1:21  Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

Pro 24:17  Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:
Pro 24:18  Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Esau leaped for joy at the judgment of Israel, and that is one of the reasons why the judgment pronounced upon Esau sounds so severe:

Jer 49:11  Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me.

This is a call for all of us as “fatherless children” to “come out of [Babylon the great]”:

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

We all, “every man in his own order” judged that we will “not drink of the cup… of the Lord’s wrath”. That is exactly what Jerusalem thinks:

Jer 25:4  And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.
Jer 25:5  They [“His servants the prophets”] said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:
Jer 25:6  And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.
Jer 25:7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.
Jer 25:8  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,
Jer 25:9  Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jer 25:10  Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.

Jer 25:17  Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18  To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Jer 49:13  For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes.

Two of the prophets who speak of the utter destruction of Esau, Israel’s closest relative, are Jeremiah and Obadiah. The entire book of Obadiah concerns the judgment and destruction of Esau and his kingdom of Edom.

Oba 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her [Edom] in battle.

Take note of the use of the feminine pronoun. This tells us we are speaking of an adulterous daughter, church, or religion. Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament consisting of a mere 21 verses.  Obadiah builds upon this part of Jeremiah concerning the judgment of Esau. Look at the similarities between these two prophets as they prophesy of the ultimate judgment of Esau:

Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.

Oba 1:5  If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

This little book ends with these foreboding words concerning Esau, the type and shadow of those who are closest to Christ but will not do the things He says:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Esau typifies all religions which claim to know God but are in rebellion against the doctrines of Christ. “The kingdom [which] shall be the Lord’s” at the time of the judgment of Esau, will be all religion which is in opposition to “our Lord and His Christ”. It will be the whole world which the Lord promised to ‘Abraham’ as the type and shadow of Christ and those who do the things He says:

Mat 25:34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

The message of both Jeremiah 49 and the book of Obadiah is that those who humble themselves and do the things Christ says to do, those who are willing to wear His clothing and eat His bread, will be the ultimate judges of those who are closest to Christ and who want His name but refuse to submit themselves to His doctrines:

Isa 4:1  And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

It is for the Truth’s sake and for our own good that the Lord will play second fiddle to no one. He does not need us or our worship, but we surely need Him and His Truth to deliver us from this great deception to which He first commits every man.

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

No one is above being deceived by “that wicked”. Even the Lord’s elect are first held in this deceitful bondage:

Rev 13:16  And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17  And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

The Lord is not impressed with the power of this “man of sin…second beast…false prophet…eagle, Esau”:

Jer 49:14  I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle.
Jer 49:15  For, lo, I will make thee [“her”] small among the heathen, and despised among men.

Jeremiah refers to Esau with the same feminine pronoun, ‘her’ that Obadiah uses in his opening words:

Oba 1:1  The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

This feminine pronoun signifies religion in rebellion against “our Lord and His Christ”. This is taking place before our very eyes. The religions of this world are being revealed to be the hypocrites they have always been, and their hold on mankind is diminishing every day as the religions of this world become “small among the heathen and despised among men”.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ [the “manchild” of the next chapter]; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Jews claim to be “God’s chosen people”. Christians and Muslims both claim Christ’s name, but the only thing these three religions have in common is their common disdain for the doctrines of Christ. Christianity is still the largest religion on earth. The Muslim religion is the second largest. Between these two religions, both claiming the name of Christ, more than two-thirds of the nations of this world have for thousands of years been in bondage to their false anti-Christ doctrines. Nevertheless, the Lord will judge the house of Esau and will make religion in opposition to Christ “small among the heathen, and despised among men”.

Jer 49:16  Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the LORD.

Obadiah also refers to Edom in his pride against the Lord and His Christ “dwelling in the cleft of the rock… as high as the eagle”:

Oba 1:3  The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Oba 1:4  Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

Jer 49:17  Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

Edom is proud of heart, has exalted himself, and will be brought down, and everyone who passes by ‘shall be astonished and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof’. Where have we read this before?

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isa 14:16  They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

Jer 49:18  As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it.

This is exactly what the holy spirit says about the destruction of the great whore, Babylon the great:

Rev 18:1  And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Rev 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her [Same feminine pronoun for ‘Edom’]
Rev 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Rev 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
Rev 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

The utter destruction and the “burning with fire” of Edom and Mystery Babylon are one and the same, and it is not bad news. Rather, it is good news. It is ‘the gospel of Jesus Christ’:

2Th 1:8  In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: [The kingdom of our old man]

Jer 49:19  Behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar, the destroyer of both Judah and Esau] shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong [It is Edom who thinks he is so strong]: but I will suddenly make him run away from her [Edom will flee from the Chaldeans who are also referred to with the feminine pronoun]: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her [Edom]? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?

The Lord is sovereign, and it is He who will appoint a governor over Esau. In that day He will appoint saviors over all of mankind:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16  And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17  Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

The destruction of Edom and Babylon within us is the best thing we will ever experience, because that destruction is the beginning of the birth of Christ within us.

Obadiah 1:21 and Revelation 11:15 are one and the same event which will culminate in the greatest work of grace by God which is known as “the great white throne… judgement/the lake of fire/the second death.” It is in the lake of fire that Esau will be destroyed and through that destruction become a new man “as seemed good to the Potter to make [him]”:

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
Jer 18:5  Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Jer 18:6  O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
Jer 18:7  At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;

Jer 49:20  Therefore hear the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them.
Jer 49:21  The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea.

The same words are used to describe the fall of Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth:

Jer 50:46  At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

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.

This ‘woman’ is the mother of all harlots and every worldly religion, and every legal denomination within that religion is one of her daughters. As hard as it is to imagine at this time, this entire system of rebellion against the bread and apparel of Christ will be “made desolate [and will] be destroyed”:

Jer 49:22  Behold, he [Nebuchadnezzar in type, and “the Lord’s army… in that day”] shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

“The heart of a woman in her pangs” is the same as being brought to our wits’ end. It really is the end and the destruction of the kingdom of our old man, and it really is a painful and extremely trying time. However, let us not forget that birth pangs, like a seed that falls into the ground and dies, brings forth a new life, both in “this present time” and in the great white throne judgment.

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh 16:21  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

We quote many verses of Psalms 107, and some think we dwell much too much on the Lord’s judgments upon the kingdom of our old man. Nevertheless, let’s look at these verses together, and Lord willing, He will cause us to see the positive side of His judgments, the delivering of a child, and He will cause us to sacrifice to the Lord the sacrifice of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing and not with a heart that is ungrateful and unaware that His judgments are actually His “wonderful works” which drag us to repentance. It is only through the Lord’s judgments that He will bring us to “praise [Him] for His wonderful works to the children of men”:

Psa 107:21  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22  And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

I will insert these words from Romans between verses 22 and 23 of Psalms 107.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

It is a very rare ‘lost sheep’ who is made to understand that the destruction of the kingdom of our old man is the first step to laying down the foundation of the kingdom of our new man, “the kingdom of God… within us” (Luk 17:20-21). It is a rare ‘prodigal son’ who is brought to see that Psalms 107 is all about “the goodness of God that brings [us] to repentance”

Continuing in:

Psa 107:23  They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:32  Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

It is Christ and His elect who ‘go down to the sea in ships and who are doing His business in great waters’. They alone have eyes that can see and rejoice in His wonders in the deep. When Edom is in the pangs of the Lord’s judgments, Edom is just as much a son of Adam as Jacob is. The only reason we do not read the phrase “And in the latter day I will bring again the captivity of Edom” is that Edom is used of the Lord as a type and shadow of religion in rebellion against the Lord, a system of men which is also called “Mystery Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth”. Being used of the Lord to typify that doomed system does not mean that the great white throne judgment does not include all of Edom because:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

These verses are also applicable to Edom as to anyone else who is “in Adam” and who is in the great white throne judgment:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

So much for the despicable and blasphemous false doctrine of an immortal soul burning in literal flames of fire for all eternity. The Father sent Christ to save the world, and as His Father has sent Him, He has sent us be “Saviors on mount Zion judging the house of Esau” so that they, too, will “learn righteousness”.

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Jer 49:1-10 I Will Bring Again the Captivity of Ammon

[Study Aired August 28, 2022]

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.
Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.
Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.
Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Edom is also judged

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?
Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.
Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

We have spent the last several studies on the judgment of Moab within us. Moab signifies our own flesh because he is the incestuous son of Lot by his eldest daughter. Ammon is the incestuous son of Lot by his younger daughter. Lot is Abraham’s brother’s son. He is Abraham’s nephew, and in that sense he is Abraham’s ‘brother’ as the scriptures put it:

Gen 14:16  And [Abraham] brought back all the goods [of Sodom], and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people [of Sodom].

Therefore, Ammon, who is both Moab’s brother, via having the same father, Lot, is also Moab’s first cousin because their mothers are sisters, the two daughters of Lot. In the same sense that Lot was called Abraham’s “brother”, Moab and Ammon are also Abraham’s ‘brother’. Like Lot and His first-born son, Moab, Ammon also signifies Abraham’s own flesh which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”:

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Jer 49:1  Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king [the king of the Ammonites] inherit Gad , and his people [the people of the king of  the Ammonites] dwell in his [Israel’s] cities?

When the Assyrians carried the northern kingdom away into captivity, the Ammonites rejoiced at Israel’s fall and retook all the land of Gad and Manasseh, which the Amorites had taken away from the Ammonites before Israel came up out of Egypt and destroyed Sihon the king of the Amorites and his army and possessed his kingdom, part of which had been taken from the Ammonites.

This fact is revealed to us in the story of the judge, Jephthah, who delivered Israel from the persecutions of the Ammonites many decades before the time of Jeremiah:

Jdg 11:5  And it was so, that when the children of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob:
Jdg 11:6  And they said unto Jephthah, Come, and be our captain, that we may fight with the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:7  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?
Jdg 11:8  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, Therefore we turn again to thee now, that thou mayest go with us, and fight against the children of Ammon, and be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.
Jdg 11:9  And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight against the children of Ammon, and the LORD deliver them before me, shall I be your head?
Jdg 11:10  And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
Jdg 11:11  Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and captain over them: and Jephthah uttered all his words before the LORD in Mizpeh.
Jdg 11:12  And Jephthah sent messengers unto the king of the children of Ammon, saying, What hast thou to do with me, that thou art come against me to fight in my land?
Jdg 11:13  And the king of the children of Ammon answered unto the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land, when they came up out of Egypt, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and unto Jordan: now therefore restore those lands again peaceably.
Jdg 11:14  And Jephthah sent messengers again unto the king of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:15  And said unto him, Thus saith Jephthah, Israel took not away the land of Moab, nor the land of the children of Ammon:
Jdg 11:16  But when Israel came up from Egypt, and walked through the wilderness unto the Red sea, and came to Kadesh;
Jdg 11:17  Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh.
Jdg 11:18  Then they went along through the wilderness, and compassed the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and pitched on the other side of Arnon, but came not within the border of Moab: for Arnon was the border of Moab.
Jdg 11:19  And Israel sent messengers unto Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon; and Israel said unto him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land into my place.
Jdg 11:20  But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.
Jdg 11:21  And the LORD God of Israel delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them: so Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country.
Jdg 11:22  And they possessed all the coasts of the Amorites, from Arnon even unto Jabbok, and from the wilderness even unto Jordan.
Jdg 11:23  So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?
Jdg 11:24  Wilt not thou possess that which Chemosh thy god giveth thee to possess? So whomsoever the LORD our God shall drive out from before us, them will we possess.
Jdg 11:25  And now art thou any thing better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them,
Jdg 11:26  While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and her towns, and in Aroer and her towns, and in all the cities that be along by the coasts of Arnon, three hundred years? why therefore did ye not recover them within that time?
Jdg 11:27  Wherefore I have not sinned against thee, but thou doest me wrong to war against me: the LORD the Judge be judge this day between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.
Jdg 11:28  Howbeit the king of the children of Ammon hearkened not unto the words of Jephthah which he sent him.

Ammon, signifying our own flesh, has always been envious of the son of the freewoman, and wants to be Abraham’s heir, just as Hagar and Ishmael, who were even closer to Abraham, wanted to persecute and destroy the son of the freewoman:

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

These things all happened to these people of the Old Testament, and they are all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages are come:

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Moab and Ammon both signify the flesh of our “first man Adam” who is always envious of, and at war with, the new man, “the son of the freewoman” within us. Cain, Lot (the son of Abram’s brother), Moab and Ammon all feel they have claim to being the heir because they are indeed the physical firstborn in every case. Not that Haran was born before Abram, but he was born long before Isaac, and Lot had followed Abram long before either Ishmael or Isaac was born. The Truth is that “the first man, Adam is of the earth, earthy”, and therefore he cannot be heir with the child of promise who signifies “the children… of faith”:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

If the Lord has written in His book that we are to be faithful to the end, then He has also written that we would first “fall seven times… lose our first love, [and] fulfill the seven plagues” before we would be granted to repent of losing our first love [and have our] captivity returned and brought back to the Lord and given back our inheritance.

Both Moab and Ammon, therefore, typify and signify that part of our ‘experience of evil’ (Ecc 1:13) where we ‘lose our first love’, and we want to take back the throne of Christ, which in type was taken from us by God’s design and was given to our new man. We never attempted to cast out the Amorites who had taken our inheritance from us because we felt that we could not make war with the beast within us, who the Amorites typify:

Rev 13:2  And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3  And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

The king of Ammon thinks nothing of warring against Israel over Gilead, which Israel had possessed for over three hundred years. We have no record that they ever once attempted to reclaim their inheritance while it was in the hands of the Amorites. However, in the time of Jephthah, they attempted to reclaim their inheritance which the Lord had given to His people 300 years earlier.

Here in Jeremiah 49 Ammon is again taking back Israel’s inheritance and rejoicing in Israel’s judgment at the hands of the Chaldeans. It all typifies our loss of our first love, which is also signified by the healing of the deadly wound upon the beast within us:

Rev 2:1  Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
Rev 2:2  I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
Rev 2:3  And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4  Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5  Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

When we ‘lose our first love’ the Lord judges us:

Jer 49:2  Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD.

It is the Lord Himself who causes us to be carried away captive, giving our inheritance back to Ammon, which typifies the dominion of our flesh being given back to our old man. That dominion is not forever, though it may seem that way at the time.

Israel’s seventy years of captivity signify the fact that the Lord’s elect bow to Esau within them “seven times”:

Gen 33:3  And he [Jacob, whose name had been changed to Israel the night before] passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother [Esau].

It is the Lord’s elect ‘Israel’ who must be “punished seven times more for [our] sins:

Lev 26:18  And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
Lev 26:19  And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
Lev 26:20  And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
Lev 26:21  And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Lev 26:24  Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins.

Lev 26:28  Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

It is the Lord’s own servant whom He loves who must be the first to “fall seven times” and have the Lord’s seven last plagues poured out upon them:

Isa 42:18  Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
Isa 42:19  Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?
Isa 42:20  Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
Isa 42:21  The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Isa 42:22  But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Isa 42:23  Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Isa 42:24  Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
Isa 42:25  Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

Now we know why “no man could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels” has been poured out upon that man:

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Rev 15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God [Isa 42:25], who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Jer 49:3  Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together.

Heshbon is the capital city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, which he had wrested from the Ammonites to make it into his capital. It was the first city conquered by Israel when Sihon refused to let Israel pass peacefully though his land.

Num 21:25  And Israel took all these cities: and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the villages thereof.
Num 21:26  For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and taken all his land out of his hand, even unto Arnon.

“Chemosh, the abomination of the Ammonites”, had not served the Ammonites very well since he had permitted the Amorites to take Heshbon and its environs away from the Ammonites. Such is the service of all our lying, false, doctrines. Ammon, typifying our own flesh, did not learn a thing from the Lord’s chastening:

Jer 49:4  Wherefore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?

We may indeed be fruitful and possess much treasure in this world. We might even be militarily superior to every nation on earth, but it is foolish to trust in or take pride in such carnal and temporal passing things because when the Lord comes to “visit” and “to judge” He is not the least bit impressed with such temporary, physical things. It is in His power to strike fear into the heart and mind of the man of sin who is seated on the Lord’s rightful throne in our hearts and minds:

Jer 49:5  Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts, from all those that be about thee; and ye shall be driven out every man right forth; and none shall gather up him that wandereth.

The Hebrew word translated as “wandereth” is:

H5074
נָדַד  nâdad  naw-dad’
A primitive root; properly to wave to and fro (rarely to flap up and down); figuratively to prove, flee, or (causatively) to drive away: – chase (away), X could not, depart, flee (X apace, away), (re-) move, thrust away, wander (abroad, -er, -ing).

Here is how this Hebrew word ‘nadad’ is variously translated:

H5074
נדד  nâdad
Total KJV Occurrences: 30
fled, 8
Psa_31:11, Isa_21:14-15 (2), Isa_33:3 (2), Jer_4:25,
Jer_9:10, Hos_7:13
wandereth, 5
Job_15:23, Pro_27:8 (2), Isa_16:3, Jer_49:5

flee, 4
Psa_64:8, Psa_68:12, Nah_3:7, Nah_3:17
chased, 2
Job_18:17-18 (2), Job_20:8
abroad, 1
Job_15:23
away, 1
2Sa_23:6
could, 1
Est_6:1
departed, 1
Gen_31:40
drave, 1
2Ki_17:21
moved, 1
Isa_10:14
removed, 1
Isa_10:31
thrust, 1
2Sa_23:6
wander, 1
Psa_55:6-7 (2)
wanderers, 1
Hos_9:17
wandering, 1
Isa_16:2

The most common translation is the English word ‘fled’. Even where it is translated as ‘wander’, it is speaking in the context of fleeing from or being pursued by an adversary:

Psa 55:6  And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
Psa 55:7  Lo, then would I wander [H5074: ‘nadad’] far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
Psa 55:8  I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.

Jer 49:6  And afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the LORD.

Our salvation (‘bringing again our captivity’) must always be preceded by the destruction of the kingdom of our proud, rebellious, self-righteous old man, ‘Ammon’ within us.

What the Judgment of Edom Signifies:

Now the Lord turns our attention to the judgment of Edom, which is Esau, who signifies Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the world. While those who “come out of her” (Rev 18:4) will be brought into the temple of God, spiritual ‘Mystery Babylon’ will be destroyed. Edom is the only nation of the nations who are “Abraham’s brother”, and are in that way close to Israel, of whom we will not read ‘I will bring again the captivity of Edom’:

Jer 49:7  Concerning Edom, thus saith the LORD of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished?

The answer to every question concerning Edom as a type of ‘Mystery Babylon the Great’ with all of her false doctrines is, “Yes, wisdom is no more in Teman, her chief city. Yes, counsel is definitely perished from her most ‘prudent’ leaders and elders, and yes indeed, wisdom is vanished from Edom, the type of the great whore, Mystery Babylon the Great.” No whore has any great wisdom. If she did, she would not be a whore. Only those who “come out of her” will hear the words, “I will bring again [your] captivity.” We will not see those words applied to Edom or Esau, the twin brother of Israel, the physical seed of Abraham.

Jer 49:8  Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

This is how the concept of “dwell deep” is expressed in the New Testament:

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

“The time that I will visit him [is] the great day of His wrath”, and at that time we all become ‘deep dwellers’.

Four times we are told… ‘Esau… is Edom’:

Gen 36:1  Now these are the generations of Esau, who is Edom.

Gen 36:8  Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

Gen 36:19  These are the sons of Esau, who is Edom, and these are their dukes.

Gen 36:43  Duke Magdiel, duke Iram: these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession: he is Esau the father of the Edomites.

The fact this statement is repeated four times indicates that the whole of ‘Esau’ is under consideration. It is therefore of utmost importance that we understand who it is that “Esau, the father of the Edomites” foreshadows and typifies in scripture.

Esau is the closest to Abraham of the three nations who are called “His brother”. This tells us that Esau knows Abraham even better than Moab and Ammon who, through their father, Lot, are also called Abraham’s brother. Moab and Ammon came into the promised land via their father, Lot, who came into the land of Canaan with Abraham. It is the scriptures which tell us that Lot is the same as “the brother” of Abraham:

Gen 12:5  And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.

Gen 14:12  And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

Gen 14:16  And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

Abraham typifies Christ:

Gal 3:6  Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Gal 3:7  Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
Gal 3:8  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
Gal 3:9  So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Gal 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Christ is the true “faithful Abraham”, and Esau is the twin brother of Jacob who was beloved of God. Esau, on the other hand, was ‘hated’ of God “while they were in their mother’s womb… having done neither good nor evil”:

Rom 9:11  (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15  For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16  So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

As Abraham typifies Christ, the True Father of the faithful, Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, is the Biblical type of those who have no “respect unto the recompense of the reward”, treating faith in Christ as if it is no more valuable than a bowl of red pottage:

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Heb 12:15  Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
Heb 12:17  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

“The elder shall serve the younger” reveals that our old man will be supplanted by and will serve our new man. It is a principle which is adhered to throughout the scriptures. Esau was born before Jacob, and therefore had the outward claim to the birthright. The same was true for Cain who was replaced by Abel and then Seth. Ishmael was born before Isaac, Esau before Jacob, and King Saul was anointed before King David. Therefore Esau, who is Edom, signifies all those who came before Christ, and who now persecute “the Lord and His Christ”. That so happens to include all men who are still being ruled over by their carnal-minded old man and who are not in Christ. Esau signifies all religion which is in opposition to the Lord. He signifies the beast which comes up out of the earth with “two horns like a lamb [who] speaks as a dragon”:

Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

“Two horns like a lamb” is the same as being the twin brother of Jacob. The mind of Christ has no trouble distinguishing these two, but the natural man cannot discern the things of the spirit and he will always default to the natural mind. To our natural mind Jacob really was a conniving supplanter who obviously has no claim to neither the birthright nor the blessing.

Esau, in type, is not just those who are closest to Christ, and yet are His rejected anointed. Esau is certainly rejected, but he typifies all men who are rejected of God in this age. That is why we are told that the Lord’s ‘Christs’, His saviors, “will arise on mount Zion to judge the house of Esau”:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S [“and His Christ”]

The only time “saviors… come upon mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau” is when “the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”, followed by a great white throne judgment:

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The power to judge is given to the elect of Christ at the beginning of the thousand years, and it remains in their hands throughout the time of the great white throne judgment:

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Esau shows no mercy to the Lord and His Christ because he sees Christ as an interloper and a supplanter:

Gen 27:36  And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

Jer 49:9  If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough.
Jer 49:10  But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.

Esau “is not” simply because he signifies the religious world which is all in opposition to the Lord and His Christ whom this world hates and counts as those who unjustly claim to be “the seed of Abraham”.

We will continue with the Lord’s judgment of Esau in our next study where we will learn that Esau within us thinks he can avoid drinking of the cup of the Lord’s wrath, but he will not be permitted to do so.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

If we endure His wrath in “this present time”, it will be well worth it:

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Awesome Hands – Part 138

”He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness”

July 15, 2018

“Murmuring in our tents” is what we saw ourselves doing in our previous study. This was a reflection of what the Israelites did when they reflected on why the Lord brought them out of Egypt, from their perspective.

Deu 1:27  And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the LORD hated us, he hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.

The Israelites murmured to themselves the wrong things which were opposite of the truth, and it was their own hearts and actions that caused them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years in the first place.

As we will see with the study today, the Israelites were completely wrong about being delivered to the hands of the Amorites, but more than that, their own hearts were deceiving them into doing things which caused them more anguish in the long run.

Lord willing, we can learn from this pattern and ready our own hearts and minds to properly understand what the Lord is doing in our lives.

There are several different verses that will be the focus of the study today, and they are spread through the second book of Deuteronomy. These verses will contain the Hebrew word “yad”^H3027, but they will also show us the faithfulness of the Lord.

Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Before this verse in Deuteronomy, there were some interesting things that happened which we should file away in the “important lessons” file of our brains.

At the end of Deuteronomy 1, which was also the end of the last study, the Lord gave the Israelites specific commands to take their journey into the wilderness, but the Israelites decided they were ready to go to war.

I would like to point out that the people often answered Moses as if it were only Moses they were answering. Moses was the spokesman for God, and Moses was only conveying what the Lord commanded or did not command. Yet, the Israelites only pointed out what was being told by the Lord.

This is detrimental for the Israelites because they always bring the wrath of the Lord down on them when they have this mindset.

As we ended the last study, the Israelites were told that only the faithful spies Caleb and Joshua, and the little ones which had no knowledge of their parent’s actions, were permitted to enter the promised land.

Deu 1:39  Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.
Deu 1:40  But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
Deu 1:41  Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the LORD, we will go up and fight, according to all that the LORD our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill.

If you can relate to the Israelites in their stubbornness right now, then you are on the path to the mindset we must have in order to approach the Lord.

That mindset is one of recognition of our constant desires and actions to go AGAINST what the Lord says to do. Of course, the Israelites do NOT have that mindset right here in the moment they are in, but since we can recognize it NOW, we can see that we too have done this to the Lord in various ways.

It’s no different than my children doing this to me when they know I gave them clear directions to do something while they choose to ignore those clear directions.

What will be the result of this disobedience?

Deu 1:42  And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies.
Deu 1:43  So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the LORD, and went presumptuously^H2102 up into the hill.
Deu 1:44  And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
Deu 1:45  And ye returned and wept before the LORD; but the LORD would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you.
Deu 1:46  So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.

Yes, we will reap what we sow. The Hebrew used in English as “presumptuously” in Deu 1:43 is only used a few times in the old testament, and 5 of the 10 times it is used, it is used as 'proud' or 'proudly'.

In other words, the Israelites were dealing with the pride of their life.

Here are a few examples of this word being used elsewhere:

Neh 9:13  Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
Neh 9:14  And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
Neh 9:15  And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
Neh 9:16  But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments,

Neh 9:28  But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;
Neh 9:29  And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.
Neh 9:30  Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Ultimately, the Lord has to teach His people hard lessons, but if we are honest with ourselves, then we will stop wanting to excuse ourselves and will own up to the truth that we bring things on ourselves just like the Israelite’s did.

We know that we do not have free will outside of God’s will, but we do have a will, and that will continuously have us going AGAINST the Lord.

The Lord will always win when there is a battle of wills, and the Israelites ended up doing exactly what the Lord commanded them to do in the first place.

Deu 2:1  Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the LORD spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.

It’s funny, because I know this to be so true in my own life and in my own parenting. I regularly tell my children they will do what I say one way or another.

They can either do what I ask them to do, and get things done. They can also choose NOT to do what I ask them to do the first time I ask them to do it, get it trouble, and then do it anyway.

Either way, it is getting done, and maybe one day they will choose the easier of the two choices on a consistent basis.

Now that the Israelites have learned this lesson the hard way, that they were going to take their journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord tells them “you can move along now”.

Deu 2:2  And the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:3  Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward.
Deu 2:4  And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore:
Deu 2:5  Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.
Deu 2:6  Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink.
Deu 2:7  For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

Being that this lesson of war with the Amorites is fresh in their minds, relatively speaking, the Lord tells them to go northward.

On this passage, they will be encountering the children of Esau, the Moabites, the Horites and the children of Ammon.

Notice how many times we are going to read about various GIANTS and the LANDS attributed to giants. This should tell us that the Lord gives us ample warning concerning the giants we are going to encounter, the “land” of the giants and the people there now and how to deal with them.

Deu 2:8  And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, through the way of the plain from Elath, and from Eziongaber, we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.
Deu 2:9  And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:10  The Emims dwelt therein in times past, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims;
Deu 2:11  Which also were accounted giants, as the Anakims; but the Moabites call them Emims.
Deu 2:12  The Horims also dwelt in Seir beforetime; but the children of Esau succeeded them, when they had destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead; as Israel did unto the land of his possession, which the LORD gave unto them.
Deu 2:13  Now rise up, said I, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered.
Deu 2:14  And the space in which we came from Kadeshbarnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD sware unto them.
Deu 2:15  For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.

So, we have been told not to try and TAKE THE LAND from our kinfolk whom had been given that land by the Lord Himself. Spiritually speaking, we are not to try to OVERTAKE the land of our brothers and kinfolk. We are NOT to try and conquer the giants in THEIR LANDS, especially when we can’t even make war with the giants in our own spiritual lands.

In fact, when we do try, the Lord just waits out the works we try to do on our own, as what happened when the Israelites went to war with the Amorites without the Lord being with them.

The Lord also waits out the “men of war” until they are “wasted out” and destroyed.

Then, when our “old man of war” is consumed, the Lord tells us it’s time to move to the step of His beat.

Deu 2:16  So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people,
Deu 2:17  That the LORD spake unto me, saying,
Deu 2:18  Thou art to pass over through Ar, the coast of Moab, this day:
Deu 2:19  And when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, distress them not, nor meddle with them: for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon any possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
Deu 2:20  (That also was accounted a land of giants: giants dwelt therein in old time; and the Ammonites call them Zamzummims;
Deu 2:21  A people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakims; but the LORD destroyed them before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead:
Deu 2:22  As he did to the children of Esau, which dwelt in Seir, when he destroyed the Horims from before them; and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even unto this day:
Deu 2:23  And the Avims which dwelt in Hazerim, even unto Azzah, the Caphtorims, which came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.)
Deu 2:24  Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle.
Deu 2:25  This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.

These lessons of the Israelites are hard learned, but if we can learn QUICKER than they did, then we can move past the lessons that must be learned, into the land that the Lord gives us, by listening to His voice and commandments.

All of the lands over which the Lord will now give the Israelites victory have all been prepared for the coming of the people of God. Even in their disobedience, the Lord has provided that the “good fruit” of His people will prosper.

The other thing to note is that the Lord does not always use the same methods of victory for all situations, and that is okay. It is the waiting on the Lord that matters.

The Israelites had been told to “buy meat and water” from the children of Esau, but DO NOT MEDDLE with them. At this point in time these are people, in type, who are TWINS to the Israelites, similar to Jacob and Esau.

However, when the Israelites approach Sihon the king of Heshbon with a similar message of peace and trade, he refuses.

Deu 2:26  And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth unto Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
Deu 2:27  Let me pass through thy land: I will go along by the high way, I will neither turn unto the right hand nor to the left.
Deu 2:28  Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet;
Deu 2:29  (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us.

The Israelites were only doing what they learned had been successful before, but the difference here is that the Lord hadn’t told them to do this. So, it is obvious that the Lord had other plans for Sihon and his people.

God’s people didn’t do anything wrong with this approach, but it just proves that the Lord has plans and things will work out according to those plans.

When we do away with our own prideful will and wait upon what the Lord is doing in our lives, then we can react to what we need to when we need to. This will bring us success.

Deu 2:30  But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the LORD thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.
Deu 2:31  And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land before thee: begin to possess, that thou mayest inherit his land.
Deu 2:32  Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.
Deu 2:33  And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.
Deu 2:34  And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain:
Deu 2:35  Only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, and the spoil of the cities which we took.
Deu 2:36  From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Gilead, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us:
Deu 2:37  Only unto the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not, nor unto any place of the river Jabbok, nor unto the cities in the mountains, nor unto whatsoever the LORD our God forbad us.

The Lord makes His points very vividly for those who will listen and obey. These old stories are there to show us that what is best for us is NOT going to be wrought by our own ways and doings without the Lord stepping in to do it for us.

This “rule of thumb” is one that applies to the people of God. There are many blessings to being the people of God, but when we ignore His precepts He will get our attention.

For the rest of the world who do not yet know God, they obviously find success as well in the world and that, too, is of the Lord.

However, these lessons about which we are reading are to show us that when the Lord is on our side, NO ONE can be against us, and the Lord will fight for us.

We also must accept whatever the results of war in our lives mean because a lot of the time we do not get the results we think should happen. We can rest, however, knowing that the Lord will work it all for our good in the end.

Jacob was initially described in the scriptures as a deceiver and manipulator, but in the process of serving Laban for twenty years for his two daughters and securing a flock of animals for himself, Jacob is taken through a process of sanctification to become a type of the true servant of God, Jesus Christ. The theme of sanctification helps us to see how we are positioned by God to take up the proper place to be of service to God and His church, and to be all in the last Adam eventually (Act 26:13-18; 1Co 12:4-7; 1Co 6:2-3; 1Pe 2:9; Rev 20). This includes the process whereby the old man in us is being supplanted by the new man in Jesus Christ (Rom 5:10-21; 2Co 5:15-17; Col 1:13). This is the prayer and purpose of Jesus for His elect in this age (Rom 15:15-16; Eph 5:26-27; 2Ti 2:21):

Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Jacob fled Haran to get away from his uncle, Laban, and to get back into the land God promised to Abraham and his offspring. While in this process of being sanctified from his old nature, Jacob still found himself and his family on the east side of the river Jordan where he is preparing for a confrontation with his twin brother, Esau. Before Jacob wrestled with God in the form of “a man” when he was alone at the river Jabbok in the night, he thought it best to first appease Esau with several gifts (Gen 32:13-15). Within this time of wrestling, the Lord prevailed in the end as He touched “the hollow of [Jacob’s] thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint causing a permanent limp in his walk (Gen 32:24-32). This limp symbolizes the dramatic shift in Jacob’s way of approaching Esau, from his dependence on his old manipulative nature toward the fear of God, as he now trusts God’s word to him and his desire to do what is right in God’s eyes (2Co 12:9; 1Co 2:3-5; Php 4:13). At this place, which Jacob then named Peniel, Jacob’s name was also changed to Israel. From being a deceiver and manipulator, Jacob’s old nature is being supplanted by the symbol of this new name Israel also, which means “a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed”:

Gen 32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
Gen 32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.
Gen 32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
Gen 32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Gen 32:31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

Having seen God face to face, Jacob is now being armed with a new approach to life, as he will now face his brother Esau having his outlook now lifted up to see beyond his own human abilities or limitations. Jacob also made a special arrangement concerning the order in which his family was to face Esau and his men. His beloved wife Rachel and his son with her, Joseph, were placed right at the back for special protection:

Gen 33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
Gen 33:2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

Instead of others and his presents going before him, this time Jacob placed himself at the front to face Esau first, as true leadership requires. Jacob’s gifts to appease Esau have also now turned to symbols of reconciliation as he completely humbled himself when he bowed seven times to Esau (seven is the symbol of completeness in spiritual terms):

Gen 33:3 And he passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

Jacob bowing seven times to Esau is also showing us spiritually how we should see ourselves while living in this fleshly body. God created this earthly life for us to be an evil experience to teach us humility and to see Him as the only Source of true spirit life:

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

God’s elect is the first to learn this wisdom and God’s plan to take all in Adam through this process as we learn to see our own proud flesh:

Pro 24:16 For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Pro 6:16 These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
Pro 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

These encounters with our old man will always reveal things we ourselves were not even aware of as this meeting between Jacob and Esau also shows. It was quite different to what Jacob expected it to be:

Gen 33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

Instead of open hatred and animosity, Esau was seemingly very glad to see Jacob. The mind of our old man is devoid of the truth of a matter and only goes on what its natural senses can feed it. This flesh and its deceitful heart have a way to hide its own pride under a guise of false humility and shallow repentance to gain favour with others (Jer 17:9; 1Ti 6:3-5):

Pro 16:7 When a man’s ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.

Col 2:18 Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.

God’s elect also suffers in their appointed time under the dominion of this mind-set which conjures up all kinds of false perceptions about others, forgetting its own deceitfulness. Jumping to our own conclusions just based on our carnal observations is not a wise thing to do. The outward display of flesh is not where our attention should be, because the war is spiritual and far beyond what our natural senses can perceive:

Eph 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.

Our enemy is much more subtle, and this growth in our understanding of the spiritual warfare in which we are involved develops only over a period of time and through much tribulation (Luk 21:19; Act 14:22; Rev 14:9-12). On the surface Esau indeed displayed a different attitude, and there was no visible hostility present with him. In the twenty years since they last saw each other, many things have changed in their lives. For Esau it was indeed a surprise to see Jacob’s big family as they also showed great humbleness towards Esau:

Gen 33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
Gen 33:6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
Gen 33:7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

Esau was also amazed at Jacob’s huge riches in animals and Jacob’s ability to even make a presentation of gifts to him:

Gen 33:8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, These are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

Jacob was also unaware that Esau himself was blessed by God as Isaac also promised to Esau that he will also prosper when the yoke of Jacob will be broken. This is the blessing Isaac gave to Esau:

Gen 27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
Gen 27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above;
Gen 27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.

Esau has now seemingly accepted his fate of not having the inheritance of the firstborn as he was indeed living by “the fatness of the earth” and was a very prosperous man on his own with no physical needs:

Gen 33:9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep that thou hast unto thyself.

In these words we first notice the signs of pride as the flesh in us matures first to establish huge kingdoms and rulers in the earth (Gen 4:17; Gen 10:11; Gen 11;1-4; Gen 13:12; Gen 23:10; Gen 24:10; Gen 36:1-43). The flesh is also blessed by God with temporary blessings, and it cannot see that it is actually ensnared or swallowed up by the earth in this regard (Numbers 16). The spirit of the world in us is indeed filled with its pride and lusts from its creation (Gen 3:6; 1Jn 2:16). At this point in time, Jacob wanted to give Esau gifts as a token of his gratitude that Esau accepted him and his family and to reconcile with him, even as we should all follow peace with all men (Rom 12:18; Heb 12:14). This reconciliatory gift was eventually accepted by Esau after much convincing from Jacob:

Gen 33:10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
Gen 33:11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

Jacob could see that this occasion was worked by God as seeing God “face to face” at Peniel prepared Jacob for this meeting with Esau. Esau now actually wanted to give Jacob and his family protection during their journey to where Esau lived in Seir:

Gen 33:12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

Jacob declined the offer respectfully as this is also a lesson to show that the elect of God will never allow the flesh to dictate the direction and the terms or conditions to live by. Jacob was also considering the weak and tender among his family and animals as this also shows how the mature will be patient with those who are still weak in the faith:

Gen 33:13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will die.

It is also important to note that Jacob lead the way for the weak and tender among the flock and the humans with him:

Gen 33:14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that goeth before me and the children be able to endure, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.

Although Jacob was adjusting his pace to the weak in his flock, it is clear that he did not allow the weak to determine the direction they travelled. The mature in faith will never allow the weak in faith to dispute the true doctrine of Christ, even as they receive them with what they can handle:

Rom 14:1 Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.

The road of sanctification is indeed in service to others as well, as we are positioned by God to bear the burdens of others, even if it takes the longer and patient route (Eph 4:1-3):

Gen 33:15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find grace in the sight of my lord.
Gen 33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.

We read in the scriptures that Esau and his three wives with their children and all his riches eventually moved out of Canaan to live in a mountainous area in Seir. There was not enough space for Jacob and Esau to live in Canaan eventually because of the riches they both possessed (Gen 30:43):

Gen 36:6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance, which he had got in the land of Canaan; and went into the country from the face of his brother Jacob.
Gen 36:7 For their riches were more than that they might dwell together; and the land wherein they were strangers could not bear them because of their cattle.
Gen 36:8 Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir [Hebrew: “śê‛ı̂yr” = rough; from “śâ‛ı̂yr” = hairy/shaggy/he-goat]: Esau [Hebrew: ‛êśâv = hairy/rough] is Edom [Hebrew: “’ĕdôm” = red].

Seir, like Esau, has in its meaning the concepts of being hairy and rugged. This all links to Esau as this region was also called “Edom” which relates to the colour red. This was the colour of Esau that was mentioned when he was birthed from Rebekah, and this name was also given to him when he wanted the red pottage by which he despised his birthright (Gen 25:25; Gen 36:1-6). All of this also links to the first Adam which in the Hebrew meaning of the name relates to the colour red and being ruddy (Gen 25:24-25; Gen 25:30). We discover more about the heart of Esau and that of his offspring through the words of the prophet Obadiah, “the servant of the Lord”, when he also reveals so much about Esau and these Edomites in us:

Oba 1:1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.
Oba 1:2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

Why does God despise Esau and his offspring so much, and why are we told to rise up in battle against them (Mal 1:2-3; Rom 9:13)? Here are the reasons why:

Oba 1:3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
Oba 1:4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.
Oba 1:5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?
Oba 1:6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up!

The flesh is a marred and deluded creation of God, and it is filled with pride and lusts to please self above all else (Pro 6:16-19; 2Th 2:3-4). This natural man of flesh in us also hates to be exposed by the light of God (Joh 1:9-11; Joh 3:19-20; 2Th 2:8). All the allies of the flesh are also deceived and in their mutual hatred they rejoice in the judgement which falls on the elect of God (Psa 2:1-2; Psa 137:7). Flesh and carnality with its fleshly wisdom, pride and lusts, like all Edomites in us, will be humbled and eventually totally destroyed, as will all death in us (Rom 8:6-8; 1Co 15:26; Rev 21:4):

Oba 1:7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.
Oba 1:8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?
Oba 1:9 And thy mighty men, O Teman [a grandson of Esau], shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Oba 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

As Edom relates to the first man Adam, the kings of Edom also link to the first rulership and dominion of the flesh over us through its strongholds of pride and lusts (2Co 10:3-5; 2Jn 2:16). The Edomites were more advanced in physical terms than Jacob and his offspring for a long time in the history of these two nations. Esau and his offspring, for example, had kings long before Jacob (Israel) and his family had any king ruling over them (Gen 36:31-39; 1Ch 1:43-55):

Gen 36:31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.

God indeed promised to Abraham that there will be kings from his own offspring through Isaac and Jacob ruling in Canaan, but this would only happen long after the nations around them, including Edom, already had kings (Gen 17:5-8; 1Sa 8:4-5). This promise of kings from his loins was confirmed to Jacob at a later stage by God at Bethel just before the death of Rachel and the birth of his twelfth son, Benjamin:

Gen 35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
Gen 35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
Gen 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

It is through the last Adam, Jesus Christ, that the spiritual kingdom is established in us to overcome the earthly kingdoms eventually. This rulership over flesh has been given firstly to the elect of God who will indeed not only have dominion over the flesh in themselves inwardly, but will do that outwardly in the thousand year reign in earth, and have rulership in the next spiritual age in the lake of fire (Rom 6:6-14; Revelation 20). This double portion indeed belongs to God’s spiritually firstborn, even through Jesus Christ and all in Him, who is the hated of those in the flesh (Deu 21:15-17). With this truth in mind we can see why the flesh will never be an ally of the spirit, but always will be in opposition and why these two nations symbolized by Esau and Jacob will also struggle within us (Gen 25:20-23; Rev 12:1-17).

Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

Our flesh will not assist us when we want to get redeemed from sin, sinful habits and false doctrines. This was typically seen when the physical nation of Israel wanted a peaceful thoroughfare through Edom when Israel came out of Egypt to get to the promised land. However, this was their answer after Moses’s peaceful request to them (Num 20:14-17):

Num 20:18 And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.
Num 20:19 And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing any thing else, go through on my feet.
Num 20:20 And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.
Num 20:21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

The pride-filled mockery and laughter for Israel’s calamities is also what Jacob and his offspring constantly experienced from the Edomites for which God judged them eventually (Ezekiel 35, 36). Throughout the history of Israel the relationship between them and Edom (also called “mount Seir”, “Idumea”, “Bozrah”, “Teman” and “Selah”) was not a friendly one at all (Jos 24:4; 2Ki 14:7; Isa 63:1; Eze 34:6; Eze 35:1-15; 2Ch 20:22; Isa 34:5; Isa 63:1-4; Jer 49:17). This constant battle in us was also typified when the first two kings of Israel fought against Edom and other earthly kingdoms, but eventually they all crumbled under king David, even as those in Edom were made servants by David, pointing to the ultimate rulership of the spiritual kingdom of God in us (Oba 1:17-21):

1Sa 14:47 So Saul took the kingdom over Israel, and fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines: and whithersoever he turned himself, he vexed them.

2Sa 8:13 And David gat him a name when he returned from smiting of the Syrians in the valley of salt, being eighteen thousand men.
2Sa 8:14 And he put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all they of Edom became David’s servants. And the LORD preserved David whithersoever he went.

These dynamics are now also involved even in the new relationship being established between Jacob and Esau.  Jacob and his people did not plan to go to Seir at that time. They rather chose to stay in a place called Succoth, still on the east side of the river Jordan:

Gen 33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him an house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth [Hebrew: “booths”].

Then Jacob moved to Shalem, which means safe or peaceful in Hebrew. This place was outside the city of Shechem in Canaan. Jacob was now back in Canaan where he erected an altar to the mighty God who protected and provided for him and his offspring:

Gen 33:18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city.
Gen 33:19 And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for an hundred pieces of money.
Gen 33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it Elelohe-Israel [the mighty God of Israel].

Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Numbers in Scripture
Colors in Scripture – Red – Part 1
The Biblical Overview of The Plan of God – Part 14
Awesome Hands – Part 22 – Receive My Present at My Hand
How to Wage Spiritual Warfare
Waging Spiritual Warfare

(Key verses: Gen 27:1-14)

In Genesis 27 we read about a very sad time which occurred in the household of Isaac and Rebekah. What started off as one of the most beautiful love stories in the scripture is now turning into divisions and deceit. Although the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah, Esau the elder brother and Jacob, were already striving in their mother’s womb, this jostling intensified as time passed, and as they grew older, the separation between them increased as also did the parents’ love for these sons:

Gen 25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.
Gen 25:28 And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.

As time progresses and the trials of life increase, all these evil things which were once hidden and concealed in the hearts of mankind become clearer. Our old man is progressively revealed as not having any ability or capacity to receive “the things of the spirit of God” and cannot appreciate spiritual things. It actually sees spiritual things as foolishness when the natural man has preeminence in our hearts:

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Many cannot see that all physical things miss the mark completely when it comes to the spiritual things of God. Missing the spiritual mark of God is what sin is defined as in scripture (Jdg 20:16). This missing of the mark also applies to the flesh’s interpretation of who the firstborn is and why the right of the firstborn belongs to it, as prescribed in the law of Moses:

Deu 21:17 But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.

For those who can receive this principle, this double portion here indicates to whom rulership belongs – the son of the hated (the man of sin) or the son of the beloved (the sons of God). The flesh cannot see that it was never the firstborn of God, and it will therefore never rule over the spiritual sons of God. Only the sons of God will receive rulership over flesh (our own flesh progressively and in its final fulfillment during the thousand-year reign on earth) and also the rulership in the spiritual age being fulfilled in the lake of fire (Rev 20). Here is why this fleshly man of sin is so upset when he cannot see the order of God before the world began:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

The last Adam is our life-giving spirit, and He is the true firstborn of the Father:

Col 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Col 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

This pattern is repeated in physical parables throughout the scriptures. The firstborn in flesh will always be the one who is rejected, and the second or last born is given the favourable rulership of God. Our fleshly motives and aspirations will always be shocked when it is  discovered that it does not carry any favour with God whatsoever:

1Co 1:29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

In this discussion on the theme of sonship, this very important spiritual revelation of the right of the firstborn is driven to its climax in the household of Isaac and Rebekah. The house of Isaac is merely a type of the household of God, as even in this household among the sons of God, comes time when spiritual vision and insight are lost, and a fall from the grace of God brings back the spiritual darkness which we thought could never happen. When spiritual insight is lost, it becomes very obvious as we grow slowly back to being dependent on and attached to natural things, even when we justify our actions by the insights and laws of the natural mind:

Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

We are clearly warned through the many “ensamples” in scripture to think soberly of ourselves by not laying up a treasure for oneself and become self-confident instead of confident in the Lord (1Co 9:27; Php 3:13; Luk 12:21):

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

True spiritual vision is what the spirit of God works with when that spirit teaches us how to compare spiritual with spiritual and then empowers and helps us to apply that to our own walk in this life:

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

That is why the natural man, who is enslaved in his own pride and lusts, will put up a fight for a spiritual inheritance he actually despises and sees as foolish. This losing of vision is also what happened to Isaac when he became progressively attached to the things that appealed to his earthly senses. These senses connected him to the things he loved, and they became his guides:

Gen 27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his eldest son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Behold, here am I.
Gen 27:2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Gen 27:3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison [Greek ABP+: thēra = a trap = Rom 11:9]
Gen 27:4 And make me savoury meat, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.

As with physical Israel and their blindness to the true election of the sons of God, Isaac’s table became his trap (Rom 2:28-29):

Rom 11:7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
Rom 11:8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
Rom 11:9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them.

The words “his eyes were dim, so that he could not see” typify also Isaac’s lack of spiritual insight and heeding to the will of God in terms of God’s election criteria, which is always counterintuitive with our natural ways of understanding the election of God (1Co 1:26-29). In this instance, Isaac is used as a type of those who fall away from grace and are blinded not to see the true elect of God as they, like the physical nation of Israel, are yet again enslaved to the desires of the physical meat of Egypt and a renewed dependence on the laws that guides this world in their spiritual blindness (Gal 3:23-24):

1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

To fall from grace is to reject the function of the grace of God in our lives which actually helps us to get rid of these deceitful lusts and pride of earthly life. This rejection is witnessed in our complaining and murmuring when things seemingly go wrong as we are convinced the blessings of the Lord is witnessed only in physical things we can accumulate:

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

We are actually encouraged in the scriptures to rather grow in grace for a good reason:

2Pe 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

As in the household of Isaac and Rebekah, so will it be in the household of God, for the sole purpose to make manifest those sons of God who are approved by Him:

1Co 11:18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.
1Co 11:19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

Before the birth of the twins, Rebekah did not understand what was happening inside her womb, and she went the right route to approach God directly for the answer, and God respected her and revealed His election to her:

Gen 25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.
Gen 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

The lastborn in the flesh of these twins, which was Jacob, was the one whom God had chosen to typify His firstborn in spirit, Jesus Christ (1Co 15:45-46). Rebekah, like Mary with the birth of Jesus, “kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” continually while Isaac, like the whole earth, was wondering after the venison of this world (Luk 2:18-19; Jas 1:14; Rev 13:3). Rebekah diligently heeded to those words, while it is clear that Isaac did not have the same conviction. He was led by his natural preferences instead of the election which God prefers. He seemingly forgot the pattern which God established even through him as the second born of Abraham, when he was given this favourable position by God. Isaac himself also suffered many trials and severe tests which included the mockery by his elder brother, Ishmael (Gen 21:9-12). These lessons of these trials seemed to have been replaced by a spirit of lasciviousness in Isaac, but Rebekah remained focused on the election of God:

Gen 27:5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
Gen 27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
Gen 27:7 Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the LORD before my death.
Gen 27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.

The “voice” of Rebekah is the word she heard from God, to which she was faithful, and upon which she wanted Jacob to also act. Rebekah knew the truth that, from God’s perspective, Jacob was the rightful heir, not Esau, which Isaac sadly could not receive. While Rebekah was subjecting herself in all things to her head, Isaac, it is also true that if these earthly authorities go against the will and commandments of God, “we ought to obey God rather than men.”

Act 4:19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them [the rulers, and elders, and scribes of Israel], Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Act 4:20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Act 5:29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered [the council…and the high priest] and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Rebekah did not openly disagree with her husband by confronting him with the truth, but in silence and fear did what was determined and worked by God:

1Pe 3:1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;
1Pe 3:2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Hating others is to love them less than the love we have for God and His commandments:

1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

This is only applicable when those dear family members want us to go against the doctrine of Christ and deny the truth of His Word. This brings to mind how Abigail also acted in the same way as Rebekah against the wish of her obstinate husband, Nabal, who refused to give heed to David’s plea for food for him and his men after David actually protected the shepherds of Nabal. Abigail was given understanding by God to respect the request of David, who was the elect favoured king of God for Israel to replace the first anointed king of Israel, Saul. Nabal acted on the limited knowledge at his disposal and insulted David and despised David’s integrity, election and lineage – to Nabal’s own sudden demise (1Sa 25:10-11; 1Sa 25:36-38):

1Sa 25:18 Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses.
1Sa 25:19 And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal [whose name means “fool”].

Rebekah’s name means “ensnared” or “ensnarer”, and this is important to note also in the way Rebekah acted to establish the blessing on Jacob. This is where Rebekah could not help herself getting entangled in ever increasing deceit and masterful evil trickery as we will see in this chapter 27 of Genesis. She started off by sending Jacob to the flock:

Gen 27:9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as he loveth:
Gen 27:10 And thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death.

It was also through these two good kids of the goats from the flock that Isaac’s insight will be tested and revealed. Kids of the goats are not mature. Goats also are not spiritually positioned on the right hand of God, but on the left hand of God as they are also representing the cursed of God:

Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Mat 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

Jacob obeyed the commandments of his mother as he was also aware of the way he had also deceitfully taken the right of the firstborn from Esau. Esau openly despised his birthright for temporary earthly things which satisfied his immediate needs:

Gen 25:33 And Jacob said, Swear [Hebrew: “shâba” = oath] to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
Gen 25:34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Jacob knew all this but is now, like a true hypocrite, concerned with being seen as a deceiver by his father:

Gen 27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man:
Gen 27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

Jacob was in fact a supplanter whom God appointed to be the representative of the true firstborn, even as the words of Esau also reveals:

Gen 27:36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted [Hebrew: “âqab” = to seize by the heel/to circumvent] me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?

Jacob’s deceitful and hypocritical behaviour can be understood when we know that all of God’s true elect start out walking “according to the course of this world” in “times past” when they are the seed of the serpent and a son of our first father the devil or serpent, who were ordained by God to “bruise [Christ’s] heel” (Joh 8:44):

Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

It is important to note that this happened “in times past” in the lives of God’s elect, and no son of God will continue to walk in this deceitful manner. Many use this as a justification to live deceitfully while claiming elect status. Only God can use evil for His good purposes, and we are not to call evil good, meaning we are not God to think we can use evil to achieve good results:

Gen 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Isa 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

This behaviour of Jacob at this time of his life was written down for our admonition, not for our justification of sin (1Co 10:11). God’s elect for sure was “in times past” deceived as they also deceived others, but that “conversation” is not the case when the truth comes. Grace and truth comes when Jesus comes to our lives, even while we are dwelling in flesh:

Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Joh 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

The indwelling spiritual Christ has come to separate His elect from dealing in deceitful ways, and His truth brings an end to all lying (Eph 4:15; 1Pe 2:1):

Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
Heb 7:26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.

Rebekah’s role in this deception is also clear by her own words:

Gen 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.

After this chapter 27 of Genesis, Rebekah and her life afterward are not even mentioned further in the scripture except for the place of her burial (Gen 49:31). Rebekah’s role reminds us of this woman in the book of Revelation who was also cursed to dwell in the wilderness, yet her son was taken up to be God’s elect:

Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Rev 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
Rev 12:6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

This represents the church in the wilderness who actually contributes to fulfill its role to establish the true church of God (Greek: “ekklēsia” – those who are called out of the called – Mat 22:14). This is why Jacob is also obedient to this mother:

Gen 27:14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.

Next week, God willing, we will continue with this chapter 27 of Genesis.

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Detailed studies and emails relating to these foundational themes in Scripture are available on the iswasandwillbe.com website, including these topics and links:

Knowing and Believing Elect
How Do We Know We Are Elect?
Once In Grace Always In Grace?