Obadiah

Well, good afternoon, everyone. I can see why Mr. McNeely asked if I would speak this afternoon. That was a tough act to follow, so someone had to do it, and I guess the visitor gets to. So my compliments to the choir and every one of you who's saying it was an outstanding job and most enjoyable. So yeah, you know, we come back here more often than I thought we would after last year.

We have decided to put our house up for sale, and it's still for sale, and one of these days, one of these days, we'll be coming up here saying, this will be the last time for at least several months. But as long as it's for sale, we feel the need to come back up here when we have the opportunity. And believe me, it looks better now than when we bought it 15 years ago, and I'm not so sure what else we can do to it, but we always seem to find something new every time we come.

So we work harder here than we do back in Florida, but it is good to be here. We're not back for the summer. We're only back for a couple weeks. I'm going to head back on Thursday, and Debbie may stay a little longer depending on what is going on in some other areas. We're going to make that decision later on, but it is good to see you. And the one nice thing about the house not selling is we do get to come back here, and we have an excuse to come back, and see you more often.

Well, as I heard the choir sing, as I see all the flowers here, I thought, well, I really should have had a topic that had something to do with gardens or prayer, but I don't. But it is from the Bible, anyway. I thought today we would talk about the shortest book in the Old Testament. Back several months ago in our church in Florida, we had Mr. Thompson, our pastor down there, and he had asked people for sermon topics, things they would like to hear. And more than one person cited this, which was kind of a surprise to us. So I took on the challenge and learned a lot about this little book that has something to do with prophecy, has something to do with a message for us as well.

And for everything in the Bible, we can learn something from. So if you know where that shortest book in the Old Testament is, you can be turning there. And if you don't know where it is, you can turn to the book of Obadiah. Now, as you're turning there, I won't even give you a clue as to where it is, because I'll give you a minute or two to get there.

I'll give you a little bit of background about the man Obadiah and the book Obadiah. There were 13 Obadiahs mentioned in the Old Testament, and there were 13 different people. Back in the Old Testament time, Obadiah was kind of a common name. Now, today, I've never known anyone by the name of Obadiah. I don't even think there's a rock group by the name of Obadiah. But, so when I hear Obadiah, I know we're talking about something in the Bible.

This Obadiah, that this one little chapter is written by, has to do with the prophecy. And what Obadiah means is a servant of Yahweh, or a messenger of Yahweh. And this Obadiah, the prophet, had one message that he recorded. It's a message for the future, not a message in the past, but a message that holds some interesting things for us as well.

This Obadiah sort of came into the forefront, wrote his message, and then faded back into the background. If you read the commentaries, they're not really sure exactly when this book was written, but it's probably written in one to two overthrows of Jerusalem, if you will. It could be the Babylonian destruction in 586 BC, or the earlier raid in 841 BC when the Philistines and Arabians invaded Judah.

The timing is not so important, though. What's important is the message that's contained in here. So if you found Obadiah, let's begin in verse 1. Obadiah is right after Amos, if you haven't found it. It says, the vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a report from the Lord, and the messenger has been sent among the nation, saying, Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle. Behold, Edom, I will make you small among the nations, and you shall be greatly despised.

Not a thing that you want to hear God say about you, but God said it about Edom. Down in verse 5, he talks about some of the things that's going to happen to this land of Edom.

If thieves had come to you, if robbers by night, oh, how you will be cut off, would they not have stolen till they had enough? If rape gatherers had come to you, wouldn't they have left some cleanings? Even when people are robbed, something is left behind. Even when someone is plundered, something is left behind.

Even when people go through the fields, something is left behind. But for Edom, the clear message is, as we go on, nothing will be left behind. Verse 6, Oh, how Esau shall be searched out. How his hidden treasures shall be sought after. All the men in your Confederacy shall force you to the border.

The men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it. A lot of things happen to Edom. They're plundered, they're betrayed, people rise up against them, and we find in verse 18 of Obadiah, their ultimate fate. The last part of that verse that says, The house of Esau shall be stubble.

They shall kindle them and devour them, and no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

Pretty harrowing prophecy, if you're of the land of Edom. A pretty harrowing prophecy. If you've done what they've done, no one will be saved alive. The strong indication, according to the commentaries, as well as our own Bible reading program is, is that no one from Eden may well be in the millennium.

Doesn't mean they will never live again, because as we know, people die in this life, but they'll have a chance in the second resurrection. But the strong indication here is, is that no one from the land of Edom will be in the kingdom.

That's how much God has against them. Now keep your marker in Obadiah, because there's a companion prophecy over in Jeremiah that also talks about this land.

Over in Jeremiah 49, we won't read the whole prophecy, but we'll just pick out a few verses here.

You can see in verses 8 and 9, kind of a repetition of what we read in Obadiah.

But to further the prophecy in verse 10, says, I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places. He shall not be able to hide himself. His descendants are plundered, his brethren and his neighbors, and he is no more. Over in verse 13, I have sworn by myself, says the Lord, that Phasra, and Phasra was the capital city of Edom, shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse. All its cities shall be perpetual wastes.

Verse 15, I will make you small among nations and despised among men.

And in verse 20, he says, therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes that he has proposed against the inhabitants of Taman. Surely the least of the flocks shall draw them out. Surely he shall make their dwelling places desolate with them. The earth shakes at the noise of their fall, and at the cry its noise is heard at the Red Sea. Behold, he shall come up and fly like the eagle and spread his wings over Phasra. The heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in birth pangs. There's another you can write down in Isaiah 34. You can read that at your leisure. Another companion prophecy about Edom. But it's not just Obadiah who talked about the fate of this country, of this land. It wasn't just Obadiah, but throughout the Bible we find Edom, talked about as a land, as a country, as a nation, that God just doesn't like.

And he makes his purpose, or what his plans for them, pretty apparent.

Now, who is Edom? If that prophecy was about us, we'd like to know. We kind of read in a few verses who Edom is, but let's make it plain. Back in Genesis 36, where we find the beginning of so many things in the book of Genesis, we find a clear statement, who Edom is. Genesis 36, and in verse 1, it says, this is the genealogy of Esau, who is Edom.

You remember Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. You remember back in Genesis 25 how when the twins were in their mother's womb, they battled against each other even then, and fought against each other. And that God said, from these two will come two nations. The older were served the younger, and they had kind of a conflict in their lives throughout all the time. One was the favorite of the father, one was the favorite of the mother. That never works out well. That is always going to cause problems. So they had conflict all the time they were growing up.

When Esau came back hungry, he had the birthright. You remember he sold it to Jacob for a bowl of soup. It just didn't mean that much to him that he traded something so valuable for a bowl of soup. And then later, he had the blessing stolen from him as Jacob and his mother conspired and took it from Esau while he was out hunting for Isaac's game. So in these two boys, we have the seed of a conflict. You know who Jacob is, who he became, the 12 tribes of Jacob. Esau became Edom. Esau.

Who in a way turned its back on God? Who in a way, well not in a way, he chose food over what God had given him. And if we look at it from a human perspective, Esau had an issue with Jacob, didn't he? If I had a brother, and my brother did what Esau's did to him, I'd have an issue.

I'd have a hard time forgetting that, and I'd have a hard time forgiving it.

But there's worse things that people have forgiven. But the animosity grew between these two boys, and Esau became Edom. Now let's see in verse 8 of chapter 36 there, where Edom dwelled. Now let's read verse 8. So Esau dwelled in Mount Seir, and again it repeats. Esau is Edom. Esau's descendants. And this is the genealogy of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in Mount Seir. Now according to the Smith's Bible Dictionary and our own Bible reading program, Mount Seir was in the area of where Jordan is today. In fact, Edom itself was a holy mountainous country located to the south of Judea and around the city of Petra. I know many of you went to Jordan a few years ago. You saw the city of Petra. Back in those days, that was part of the land of Edom. They also called Petra back in those days, Selah, S-E-L-A, and the Greeks and Romans called that area Idumea, I-D-U-M-E-A, which you can see the similarity to Edom in Idumea. So you have a kind of picture of where the Edomites were that God was talking about. But where are they today? Let's go down to verse 11. It says the sons of Ilefes were Taman, Omar, Zepho, Gattam, and Knaaz.

Now, Temin was a Hittite. According to the Bible dictionaries, it says, the rocky plateaus of Persia and Turkestan eventually became known as the land of Tamani. T-E-M-A-N-I. So those descendants of Esau gravitated over toward that area. Another interesting thing is that you all heard of the Ottoman Empire, right? Everyone's taken world history, Ottoman Empire. O-T-T-O-M-A-N comes from the word or the name Temin. T-E-M-A-N. So that gives us another clue as to where the Edomites might be today. And down in verse 12, we find another of the sons of Esau. Timna was the concubine of Ilefes, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Ilefes. So we have Temin, we know kind of where he is, and then we have Amalek, two of the notable sons, among many others. You've all heard of the Amalekites.

You remember those that God said ordered King Saul to wipe out utterly and completely, but he didn't. There's many Jews in Israel that believe the Amalekites are still alive today.

And when you study back through the Bible, you can see where the Amalekites were really never wiped out. Even in Esther's day, Haman, remember the intense hatred that he had for the Jews and how he manipulated events to try to wipe out the Jews from that land? It says that he was an Agagite, and Agag was a king of Amalek. So when you read through, in fact, over in the land of Israel as we know it today, they have celebrations regarding that, where they wipe out the Amalekites. And in a lot of the literature, many people believe that the Amalekites today are the Palestinians.

But wherever we find people that have an intense hatred for Israel, for the Jews, for America, for Britain, there is a belief, and you can support it from the Bible, that they still have the blood of the Amalekites, a descendant of Edom, a descendant of Esau.

So we live in a world where we can see the beginnings of some of it back here in Genesis.

We live in a world where there are whole lots of things going on in the Middle East that people don't understand, that people can't figure out, and never will figure out. As Mr. Armstrong used to say, you know what, it's never going to be figured out until God comes back and changes human nature. And all the diplomacy and all the tactics and all the negotiations isn't going to change it. That's where Edom is. That's where Edom is along with the descendants of Ishmael over in that part of the world. Let's turn over to Malachi 1 and get back to what God talks about in Obadiah.

In Malachi 1, he also talks about the land of Edom.

Malachi 1 and in verse 2, Says, I have loved you, says the Lord, yet you say in what way have you loved us. Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother? Says the Lord, yet Jacob, I have loved. But Esau, I have hated.

Esau, I have hated.

Again, a pretty stern statement from God. Why? Why did God hate Esau? Why does God hate Edom?

What have they done that would make the God of the universe say and make a statement like that about them? And if he could make that statement about them, could he ever make it about us? Individually. What did they do that God hates so much, that's so ingrained into them, that we would want to be sure it never becomes ingrained in us?

Let's turn back to Obadiah.

And in verse 3, verse 2, we're reminded that God said, You, Edom, shall be greatly despised. And he goes on to say, The pride of your heart has deceived you.

The pride of your heart has deceived you.

Now, we know that God hates pride. Pride seems to be at the root of so many sins that we have and that are in the world today. Pride deceives us, exactly as it says there. Pride separates us from God.

Pride is at the root of what the problem of Edom is.

And pride, if we're honest with ourselves, is one of the things that we work on constantly in ourselves to make sure it doesn't creep in, to make sure it doesn't take hold of our thinking and pollute or corrupt what we think and how we perceive things. Turn over to Psalm 101. We'll just read one verse on pride just to complement that verse. Psalm 101 and in verse 5. The last part of the verse says, The one who has a haughty look, and a proud heart, him I will not endure.

God won't endure pride. So at the heart of Edom there was a heart of pride. Now, Edom, when you read the history of what has gone on with that country and where it was, they were a very wealthy nation. Back in the time that the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were the crossroads of the Middle East and really the world at that time. There was a lot of trading going on within their gates. There was a lot of things happening. That, along with Egypt, they weren't as great as Egypt, but they were a very wealthy nation. Sometimes wealth goes hand in hand with pride, as we see, down through history and even in ourselves. That was one of the things that happened with Edom. Now, one of the things I didn't say, but let's turn back to Numbers for a moment on this animosity between Jacob and Edom.

Because you would expect it maybe from the man he saw in Jacob, but back in Numbers 14, we find Israel, after God has delivered them from Egypt, and they're looking for passage to get over to the land of Canaan. Well, between them and the land of Canaan, the short passage is the king's highway, right through the land of Edom. This is the natural place to go. In verse 14, it says, Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. Thus says your brother Israel, you know all the hardship that has befallen us, how our fathers went down to Egypt. And we dwelt in Egypt the long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers. When we cried out to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent the angel and brought us up out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. Please, let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells. We'll go along the king's highway. We won't turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we pass through your territory. Sounds like a reasonable request. Sounds like something we would all say, no problem, especially with what you said. Edom said to him, You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword. So Moses and Israel pleads again. And in verse 20, Edom responds, You shall not pass through. So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him. They were holding on to an ancient problem, an ancient sin that had been committed against them, but you can see the animosity that was there. And this king's highway, as I mentioned, was of note in that day and age. It was a source of pride to the Edomites. Back in Obadiah, and in verse 4, let's continue in verse 3, The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, you who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground. Though you ascend, God says, as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down.

Edom had developed a false sense of security. They looked at Petra, a city in their midst. In that day and age, they saw it as impenetrable. No one would be able to come back to come against Petra. A short little passageway in, walled all around, very high, very mountainous. Those of you who have seen it know that if you go back thousands of years before airplanes, you wouldn't be able to get in that city. And they saw that as a sense of security. Who can touch us? How can anyone attack us? How can anyone come against us?

Today, we can, maybe we don't have Petras, but we have other things that we can find our own thoughts.

We can build bank accounts. We can build businesses. We can say, who can touch us? I'm secure. I don't have to worry about anything anymore. We may not consciously think that, but we can feel it. And that can be a source of pride. No different than the Edomites were feeling about their land and their wealth and their status in the world.

Part of what God said about them was, he didn't like this feeling of self-sufficiency. We aren't self-sufficient. We make our way in the world, but never should we ever forget that what we have is from God, and that we are holy and totally dependent on Him.

And just as God told Edom, you can sit on the highest nest. I can bring you down. I can bring you down. You know what? God can bring any of us down just as well. When we rely too much on ourselves and too much on what we have or what we've done, we can be brought low and back smashing to the ground, just like God says to the Edomites.

Probably remind you of a verse back in Revelation.

Revelation 3.

And in verse 16, God is talking to the church in Laodicea.

And in verse 17, He says, Because you say, I am rich, I have become wealthy, I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.

Somewhere in the history of the church, there is a group of people who feel they have it all. They don't really need God anymore. They say they do. But God says in verse 16, He calls them lukewarm. They are not cold and they are not hot. And He wishes they were but because they are not, He will spew that church and people like that out of His mouth.

Just like He spews Edom out of His mouth.

There is a message to us, don't become self-sufficient. Don't allow yourself to think you are beyond the touch of God and that you are so secure that God can't touch you. Let's drop down to verse 8.

Will I not in that day, says the Lord, even destroy the wise men from Edom, and understanding from the mountains of Esau? Then your mighty men, O Taman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

Part of the source of their pride was there was a lot of wisdom in that land of Edom. With all the people crossing back and forth, there was a lot that went on. And apparently, for God to mention it, they must have been seen as a pretty wise nation.

But when God punishes them, He will take away their wisdom. Let's turn over to Ezekiel 28.

It's hard to ever talk about pride without going back to the father of it. And that's Satan, as you know. Ezekiel 28 talks about Satan, talks about that he was the perfect being until pride was found in him. In verse 17 of Ezekiel 28, it says this, Your heart, Lucifer, was lifted up because of your beauty. You thought you had it all. You thought everything rose and sat in you. But it goes on to say, you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

When you began to think so highly of yourself, your wisdom disappeared.

It became polluted. It became corrupted. Would any of us listen to any advice from Lucifer or Satan? No.

But at one time, he was a wise being until pride in what he was, what he looked like, what he had, what he accomplished, came in and corrupted him. And no longer is he a wise being. He's the antithesis of it.

As Edom became full of pride, their wise men will no longer be wise.

Their wise men will no longer be able to give them the course of how to go and where to go, because somewhere along the line it's become corrupted. They no longer see things the correct way. They no longer perceive things in the right way. And that can happen to us, too, can't it?

As we begin to think, or of pride, we allow pride to come in, we have the answers. We know what needs to happen. And as that allows, we allow that to build within ourselves unchecked. Whatever wisdom God has given us, whatever light we see as we read in the pages of the Bible, will disappear. The light will go out. The wisdom will no longer be there. And, too bad, for people like that, they don't even realize that the wisdom they had came from God. But when they gave God up, in favor of themselves, they lost it. They lost their wisdom. Just like Edom, Edom's wise men will be confounded and will be useless. Let's go on. Verse 10. God begins to give some specifics to Edom as to the reason for this prophecy against them. It says, For violence against your brother, Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. For violence against your brother, Edom wanted nothing to do with Jacob. You know about the Amalekites. You know about the history of what's gone on there. Whatever chance they had to be violent against Jacob, they took it. That was just what they did. Let's turn over to Psalm 137.

And verse 7. It says, Remember, O LORD, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem, who said, Raise it, raise it to its very foundation. Get rid of all of it. When God was punishing Jerusalem, the Edomites were right there to say, Level it. Get rid of all of it. They had no mercy. They had no compassion. They were enjoying it. Verse 8. O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed, happy the one who repays you as you have served us, happy the one who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock. Not a nice picture, but the sentiment is there.

Too many times, as you read through Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, do you see that the nations that God used to punish Israel took way too much delight in what they were doing.

It was always as if God led them to punish Israel. But then God came back, if you notice, in those occasions, and He would punish those nations even more fiercely. And there's a reason for that. Because God will use instruments and situations to punish, or to correct, because His will is that people repent and come back to Him.

But you know, those nations didn't have to be as violent as they were. As we go on in the verses, they didn't have to be the way they were. Let's go on to verse 11.

In the day that you stood on the other side, again, as God was using them, in the day that strangers carried captive His forces, when foreigners entered His gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were as one of them. One of the translations says, the day that you stood aloof. If you just stood by, you were just kind of watching what was going on, didn't really affect you one way or the other. You had no emotion, you didn't really care, it was their problem, it is kind of, just kind of let it happen.

We could remember the Good Samaritan example, and how the priests passed by the man who was hurt, and no one really cared. They were too busy to get on to where they were going. Someone else would take care of that problem, until the Sadducee, the Samaritan, came along.

And he was the one who took the time to care about what that man was feeling and what his needs were.

You know, as we go through life, we all work in businesses, we all have things that are done wrong to us. And it feels kind of good, doesn't it, when you finally see someone get what you think they deserve. Doesn't it? I plead guilty.

Because you kind of think, you know, wow, this is what you did to me, you know what comes around, goes around. But you know, God doesn't want us to feel that way. God does never want us to stand and be pleased over someone else's demise. He doesn't want us to stand aloof, uncaring, unfeeling. He wants us to take the time to help. He wants us to take the time to have a tender heart. He wants us to not develop a stony heart, but a heart of flesh. A heart of flesh that cares. And even though they've done us wrong, to maybe just a little bit feel sorry for them. Maybe just a little bit. Not take glee in what they're going through. And certainly, not to stand by and add to what they're going through already. In verse 12, that's exactly what Edom did when Israel was down and out. You shouldn't have gazed on the day of your brother in the day of his captivity, nor should you have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor should you have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Shouldn't have done that, Edom. Shouldn't have gloated over what your brother was going through. Shouldn't have given each other high fives. Remember some of the scenes that were on the TV back at 9-11? While the rest of the world was appalled at what happened on that day, there were people who were rejoicing over that. They were enjoying it way too much. Edom would have done that back in the day of Israel.

And yet, I dare say, if a situation or a natural disaster hit in other parts of the world that take glee at what we've gone through, I don't see our country having the heart that would just step back, high five, have a day of celebration and wild jubilation in the streets. I just don't see that in the heart of Jacob. But it is in the heart of Edom. And God hates that. And if that's part of us, He hates that in us too. One thing we can be on guard against is never ever to take joy, to rejoice, or to be gleeful over the demise of our enemies or those who have done wrong against us. And certainly not to add to it by our own actions and our own lack of mercy or compassion on them. Let's turn it over to Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17 and verse 5 says, He who mocks the poor reproaches his maker. He who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished. That's us as well as Edom or anyone else that would take that type of pleasure.

Let's continue on in Obadiah in verse 13.

Continuing in the same thought, You should not have entered the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you shouldn't have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Verse 14, You should not have stood at the crossroads to cut off those among them who escaped, nor should you have delivered up those among them who remained in the day of distress.

What Edom did was, even as people were escaping, if they could see someone escaping, they brought them right back to report them. They captured. They were of the intent that absolutely no one was going to escape. If God was going to punish Jacob, they wanted all of it. And if they could participate in it and make it worse, they would. Again, that attitude of, okay, God, we're right with you, and we're going to add to it. These people deserve it, and we're going to make it worse.

As you look at not only Edom, but Ammon and Babylon and some of those other countries that God talks about in Israel, in Isaiah, over and over, they followed God, but they always took it to the nth degree. And they didn't realize that because of that attitude, because of that excessive violence, glee, gloating, that they were going to pay for it. Verse 15, the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near. As you have done, it shall be done to you. It's Galatians 6-7, right? What you reap, or what you sow, you will reap.

And hey, Edom, the day of the Lord on all the nations is near. What you've done will be done to you. Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.

Now the attitude that you displayed will be turned back on you.

Again, as we go through our lives, as we keep that principle in mind.

What we do, who we are, what we think, and how we handle ourselves in situations, God's going to turn the table right back on us. You've probably seen it happen in your own life.

That's somewhere a year or two or five years down the road. You look at something and you think, you know what? I deserve that. That's exactly what I did so many years ago to so-and-so. And you kind of just shake your head and realize, you know, God is working. God is working, and we just need to learn the lessons we do. But it's an inescapable principle. Even those who don't know God and who rejected Him will have their own actions revisited on them, just as Edom will. Verse 16, For you drank on my holy mountain, For as you drank on my holy mountain, So shall all the nations drink continually. Yes, they shall drink and swallow, And they shall be as though they had never been. But on Mount Zion, there shall be deliverance.

Always with God, there's deliverance.

Let's go back one book to Amos.

Amos 1 I say I have this verse a little out of place, but we'll read it in any way since you've heard it there. Amos 1, verse 11, Thus says the Lord, For three transgressions of Edom, And for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because he pursued his brother with the sword, And cast off all pity, His anger tore perpetually, And he kept his wrath forever. I will send a fire upon Taman, which shall devour the palaces of Basra.

Again, God is recounting here in Amos Are the sins of Edom that led to his pronouncements against them, And the doom that he has prescribed for them. Let's go back to Obadiah, though.

We read on Mount Zion, There shall be deliverance. Life takes its twists and turns, It can be very not pleasant at times. For Edom, certainly, The future and their prophecy against them Is set and not pleasant. But with God, there's always hope. I mentioned that, while there may not be any sons of Edom, In the millennium, per se, That they will be resurrected. God hasn't wiped them off forever. There is a second resurrection, Where they will be resurrected. They'll have an opportunity, as the rest of humanity, To see the sins they have, And to be able to appreciate what they did, And the gravity of it, and to repent of it. There shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness. The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. The house of Jacob, it says, Verse 18 shall be a fire. A fire is alive. It's energetic. It has zeal. It's no accident that God used Tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, When He was bringing His Spirit. The house of Jacob is a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame. Flames light the way. Flames show the path. Flames show how people should go. But the house of Esau shall be stubble. They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau, For the Lord has spoken. In verses 19 and 20, He goes on to talk about what will happen, And who will possess what of these lands. But in verse 21, Again, God ends on a positive note. The Saviors, then Saviors, shall come to Mount Zion To judge the mountains of Esau, And the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Through it all, God will make everything right. Through it all, even even, And the people of it, When God's kingdom comes, Will understand. They will likely repent, And they will see then the error of their ways. They'll then see what pride, How it deceived them, How it locked them up, How it made them misuse The opportunities they had, Rely too much on themselves, And the end result of all of that. We can be glad that we worship a God that has such mercy. Because just like Edom, We could become just like Edom individually. If we let ourselves. But God has given us His Spirit. And as long as we use His Spirit To stand, to stay away from the sins of Edom, God will steer us clear. God will bless, and He will bring His kingdom. A kingdom that will benefit all of mankind.