Let's turn now in our Bibles to Jeremiah
46.
Beginning with chapter 45, we came into the
6th part or section of the book of
Jeremiah.
And this 6th section is comprised of miscellaneous
prophecies that are directed mainly to those nations
that were around Israel.
And so as we get into chapter 46,
we find the introduction to these series of
prophecies as he addresses them to the Gentiles,
the Gentile kingdoms.
And so God is going to address Himself
to those Gentile nations now round about Israel.
So the word of the Lord which came
to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles, against
Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho, the
king of Egypt, which was by the river
Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah.
Order the buckler and the shield, draw near
to battle, harness the horses, get up ye
horsemen, stand forth with your helmets, furbish the
spears and put on the brigadines.
Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned
away back, and their mighty ones are beaten
down and fled apace and look not back,
for fear was round about, saith the Lord.
Let not the swift flee away nor the
mighty man escape, they shall stumble and fall
toward the north by the river Euphrates.
Who is this that cometh up as a
flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
Egypt riseth up like a flood and his
waters are moved like the rivers.
And he saith, I will go up and
will cover the earth and will destroy the
city and the inhabitants thereof.
Come up ye horses and rage ye chariots
and let the mighty men come forth, the
Ethiopians and the Libyans that handle the shield
and the Lydians that handle and bend the
bow.
For this is the day of the Lord
God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that
he may avenge him of his adversaries and
the sword shall devour and it shall be
satiated and made drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of hosts hath a
sacrifice in the north country by the river
Euphrates.
Go up into Gilead and take Balm, O
virgin, the daughter of Egypt.
In vain shalt thou use many medicines, for
thou shalt not be cured.
The nations have heard of thy shame and
thy cry hath filled the land, for the
mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty and
they are fallen both together.
And so God actually is speaking of the
defeat of the Egyptians, thereby the river Euphrates
at Carchemish and of the turning back of
the Egyptians in this battle.
The interesting thing, go up to Gilead, take
the Balm.
Gilead was known through the ancient world as
the place of medicines.
You remember the passage that Jeremiah earlier declared,
is there no Balm in Gilead?
And is there no healer there?
But there is no healing for Egypt.
They are to receive the judgment of God
and God is going to use the Babylonian
armies as His instrument of bringing His judgment
against Egypt.
This is basically why Jeremiah warned the people
not to go down to Egypt to try
to find safety there.
He said, if you go to Egypt to
escape the sword, surely the sword will follow
you in Egypt and the famine and the
pestilence and you will die in Egypt, you
won't come back to the land.
But the people did not obey the voice
of the Lord, they came back to Egypt.
But here now he is just really bringing
the whole issue of Egypt into prophetic focus.
Now, as he focuses upon the various nations,
there are a lot of people who wonder
why the United States isn't brought forth into
a prophetic focus and that the United States
has become such an important nation in these
days.
But if you'll read in the book of
Revelation, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit
of prophecy.
And really all prophecy centers around the person
of Jesus and because the nation Israel was
so important to the coming of Jesus, we
find many prophecies relating to Israel and then
to those nations that related to Israel in
either a good or an evil sense in
those days.
But it isn't God's intention through prophecy to
spell out the future of each nation that
would arise in the world, but only those
nations that would bear directly upon the coming
of Jesus Christ either in his first or
second coming.
And when you read that most of the
prophecies against the nations are those of judgment
and all, it's probably a good thing that
we don't read about the United States because
surely I'm certain that the Lord would have
some pretty stern words for us today.
The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah
the prophet, verse 13, how Nebuchadnezzar, the king
of Babylon, should come and smite the land
of Egypt.
Now, this is going now into the second
part of the prophecy.
The first part of it dealt with the
battle up at Carchemish where the Pharaoh was
defeated by Babylon.
And now he is speaking about a coming
invasion of Babylon on down into Egypt.
The Lord did drive them.
He made many to fall, yea, one fell
upon another.
And they said, arise and let us go
again to our own people and to the
land of our nativity from the oppressing sword.
They did cry there, Pharaoh, the king of
Egypt is but a noise.
He hath passed the time appointed.
As I live, saith the king, whose name
is the Lord of hosts.
Surely as Tabor is among the mountains and
Carmel by the sea, so shall it come.
O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself
to go into captivity, for Noth shall be
waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but
destruction is coming.
It is coming out of the north from
Babylon.
Also her hired men are in the midst
of her like fatted bullets, for they are
turned back and are fled away together.
They did not stand because the day of
their calamity was come upon them and the
time of their visitation.
The voice thereof shall go like a serpent,
for they shall march with an army and
come against her with axes and hewers of
wood.
They shall cut down her forest, saith the
Lord, though it cannot be searched, because they
are more than the grasshoppers and are innumerable.
The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded.
She shall be delivered into the hand of
the people of the north.
The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
saith, Behold, I will punish the multitude of
Noah and Pharaoh and Egypt with their gods
and their kings, even Pharaoh, and all of
them that trust in him.
And I will deliver them into the hands
of those that seek their lives in the
hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to
the hand of his servants.
And afterwards it shall be inhabited as the
days of old, saith the Lord.
So, Egypt is to be invaded.
It is to be defeated by Nebuchadnezzar.
But yet, they will yet inhabit the land.
Now, God in the last couple of verses
gives encouragement to his people.
But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob.
Be not dismayed, O Israel.
For behold, I will save thee from afar
off, and thy seed from the land of
their captivity.
And Jacob shall return and be in rest
and at ease, and none shall make him
afraid.
Fear thou not, O Jacob, my servant, saith
the Lord.
For I am with thee, and I will
make a full end of all of the
nations, whether I have driven thee.
But I will not make a full end
of thee, but correct thee in measure.
Yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
So, as is so often the case when
you find God speaking of the judgment that
is going to come, he sort of ends
it with a bright light as he turns
back towards the nation of Israel, the house
of Jacob.
Don't be afraid.
And he's talking about the yet future time,
the kingdom age, when God is going to
visit with them again and bring them back
into the land, and when God is going
to punish the nations, whether they have been
driven.
In the second coming of Jesus Christ, there
will be the gathering of the nations together.
Then shall he gather together the nations as
a shepherd and separates the sheep from the
goats.
And he will say unto those on his
left hand, Depart from me, ye workers of
iniquity.
I was hungry, you did not feed me.
Thirsty, you did not give me to drink.
So forth.
Lord, when do we see you this way?
Inasmuch as you did it unto the least
of these, my brethren, it is speaking of
the treatment of the nations, of how the
nations treated Israel.
And the nations will be judged for their
treatment of Israel.
God said way back to Abraham, I will
bless those that bless you and curse those
that curse you.
Anti-Semitism is a horrible thing and it
is something that no child of God should
be caught up in.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of anti-Semitism
even within many churches today.
There are those who try to say that
the modern day Jew isn't truly a Jew,
that he is an Ashkenazim and so forth.
And they use that as an excuse for
failure to support these people today.
But the nations will be brought before the
Lord and have to answer for their treatment
of God's people.
And God declares that he'll make a full
end of all of the nations, whether they've
been driven.
But he'll not make a full end of
the nation of Israel.
But it will be a very central figure
in the reign of Christ in the Kingdom
Age.
In chapter 47, he takes now his prophecies
against the Philistines.
And the city of Gaza was already taken
by the Pharaoh.
The word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines before that,
Pharaoh smote Gaza.
Now, Pharaoh ultimately smote Gaza, one of the
large Philistine cities.
Thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up
out of the north and shall be an
overflowing flood.
So the waters out of the north would
be Babylon.
And they shall overflow the land.
The overflowing flood is a type...
The word flood is used in typology as
the armies.
They will overflow the land and all that
is there in the city and then that
dwell therein.
Then the men shall cry and all the
inhabitants of the land shall howl at the
noise of the stamping of the hoofs of
the strong horses, at the rushing of his
chariots and at the rumbling of his wheels.
The father shall not look back to their
children for feebleness of hands because of the
day that cometh to spoil all of the
Philistines and to cut off from Tyrus and
Sidon every helper that remaineth.
For the Lord will spoil the Philistines and
the remnant of the country of Camptor.
Now, Camptor is the island of Cyprus from
which, or is it Crete, where the Philistines
originally came from.
Baldness has come upon Gaza.
Ashkelon, another Philistine city, is cut off with
the remnant of the valley.
How long wilt thou cut thyself?
O thou sword of the Lord, how long
will it be ere you be quiet?
Put up thyself into thy scabbard.
Rest and be still.
How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord
hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and
against the seashore?
There hath he appointed it.
And so the destruction that was to come
upon the Philistines.
And, of course, the Philistines were utterly destroyed.
The modern Palestinian is not at all related
to the Philistines.
But the word Palestine does come from this
word Philistine.
In 48, he now directs his attention to
Moab.
Moab was across the Jordan, on the east
side of the Jordan River and of the
Jordan Rift.
Against Moab, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, Woe unto Nebo, for
it is spoiled.
Now this is not Mount Nebo, but the
city of Nebo in Moab at that time.
Kiriathim is confounded and taken.
Mizgab is confounded and dismayed.
A couple of the cities.
There shall be no more praise of Moab.
In Hezbon they have devised evil against it.
Come and let us cut off from being
a nation.
Also thou shalt be cut down, O madmen.
The sword shall pursue thee.
A voice of crying shall be from Horeinim,
spoiling a great destruction.
Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones have caused a cry to
be heard.
For in the going up of Luhith, continual
weeping shall go up.
For in the going down to Horeinim, the
enemies have heard a cry of destruction.
Flee, save your lives, be like the heath
in the wilderness.
For because thou hast trusted in thy works
and in thy treasures, thou shalt be taken.
Trusting in their works and in their riches.
These are the things that people commonly trust
in.
How many people today are trusting in their
works for their standing before God?
How many people are trusting in their riches
for their security?
But in the day of God's judgment, neither
of these have any value.
The spoiler shall come upon every city.
No city will escape.
The valley also shall perish and the plain
shall be destroyed as the Lord hath spoken.
Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee
and get away.
For the cities thereof shall be desolate without
any to dwell therein.
Cursed be he that doeth the work of
the Lord deceitfully.
Mark that one if it isn't already underlined
in your Bible.
God declares that curse against any man who
would do the work of the Lord deceitfully.
And cursed be he that keepeth back his
sword from blood.
Moab hath been at ease from his youth,
and he has settled on his lease.
And he has not been emptied from vessel
to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remained in him and his
scent is not changed.
And so as God speaks of the destruction
that is coming upon Moab, now he gives
us the reason for the destruction that is
coming.
For Moab has been at ease from his
youth.
Moab has not had any problems.
Moab has been sheltered and protected.
And because of it being sheltered and protected,
it has become weak and it is ready
now to fall.
And then he turns to a illustration of
winemaking processes and uses that as a illustration
of Moab having settled in her lease.
In the making of wine they would pour
the juice of the grape into a large
container and then they would allow it to
just set there until it fermented.
And after the fermentation these lees or dregs
would begin to settle to the bottom of
the vessel.
And as these dregs had settled in the
bottom of the vessel, then they would pour
off the top into another vessel, allow the
settling process to go on again and then
pour it off into the next vessel, back
and forth from vessel to vessel, letting the
dregs settle down and developing the clarity and
purity of the wine.
Now, when these dregs began to settle, if
you did not pour the wine off of
the dregs, then the dregs turn sour and
they begin to smell.
And he said, this is the problem with
Moab.
It's been at ease, never had any problem,
never been disturbed, never poured from vessel to
vessel.
It has settled down on the lees which
have turned sour and thus the scent remains.
The taste is in the wine of the
sourness of the lees.
And thus Moab is to be destroyed.
It is interesting how that we often complain
at the processes of God in our lives
as he pours us from vessel to vessel.
We have sort of a nesting instinct.
We like to get comfortable.
We like to relax and kick back and
think, well, we've got it made.
And it's so easy for us to get
in a rut.
But the great danger of this is forgetting
God and leaving God out of our lives.
Oh, God has a place.
Yes, I've got a neat little compartment over
here, God, and you're welcome.
Feel free.
Come and visit any time you want.
Always glad to see you.
Providing you don't come next weekend because we
plan to be gone next weekend.
Any time, Lord.
But a couple weeks from now we're going
again.
But any time, Lord.
We're always glad to see you.
Amazing how we sort of begin to leave
God out of our lives as we begin
to just settle in our lees.
In this life of the flesh and after
the flesh.
It is so easy, so easy to just
sort of drift away from that commitment to
God.
In Hebrews we are told, let us take
the more earnest heed to the things which
we have heard lest at any time we
should drift away from them.
There are those times when God pours us
from a vessel to another and we say,
God, what's going on?
And suddenly God has our attention.
He begins to deal with us.
We renew our commitment.
And we say, oh Lord, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, Lord.
And genuinely we are.
We meant the vows when we made them
to God.
And we are genuinely sorry for our failures.
And for our drifting away from God.
And God disturbs our lives.
He brings in disturbing issues.
And He can disturb our lives in so
many ways.
By sickness, by accident.
By the loss of a job.
So many ways God can just bring a
disturbance into our lives.
And God does bring them for that purpose
of purifying us.
We've got too much flesh.
We are beginning to settle in a life
of the flesh.
And God says it stinks.
It's beginning to permeate your whole life.
You're beginning to smell of the flesh.
And so God pours you into another vessel.
Disrupts, disturbs.
In order that He might refine.
But that didn't happen to Moab.
And because it didn't happen, now Moab is
to be destroyed.
Therefore the days will come, saith the Lord,
that I will send unto him wanderers that
shall cause him to wander and shall empty
his vessels and break their bottles.
And Moab shall be ashamed of Shemash.
Now that was the Moabitish God.
As the house of Israel was ashamed of
Bethel, their confidence.
So the place of worship for Israel was
in Bethel.
But at its destruction they became ashamed.
So the place of worship, Shemash, for the
Moabites was going to become the same as
Bethel.
How say ye, we are mighty and strong
men for the war.
Moab is spoiled and gone up out of
her cities and her chosen young men are
gone down to the slaughter, saith the King,
whose name is the Lord of hosts.
The calamity of Moab is near to come
and his affliction is hastening fast.
All ye that are about him, bemoan him
and all ye that know his name, say,
how is the strong staff broken and the
beautiful rod?
Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibbon, come down
from thy glory, sit in thirst, for the
spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee and
he shall destroy thy strongholds.
O inhabitor of Aor, stand by the way
and spy and ask him that is fleeing
and her that is escaped and say, what
has happened?
Moab is confounded, for it is broken down.
Howl and cry, tell it in Arnon.
Moab is spoiled, the judgment has come upon
the plain country and it begins to name
these cities of Moab that have been destroyed.
All the cities of the land of Moab,
both far and near, the horn or strength
of Moab is cut off and his arm
is broken, saith the Lord.
Make ye him drunken, for he has magnified
himself against the Lord.
Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, he
shall be in derision.
For was not Israel a derision unto thee?
And of course when Israel was destroyed, Moab
also attacked Israel and so now Moab is
to receive like and being a derision.
For since you spake of him, you have
skipped for joy.
They were happy at the destruction of Israel.
O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the
cities, dwell in the rock, be like the
dove that maketh her nest in the sides
of the hole's mouth.
We have heard the pride of Moab, he
is exceeding proud, his pride and the haughtiness
of his heart.
I know his wrath, saith the Lord, but
it shall not be so, his lies shall
not so affect it.
Therefore I will howl for Moab, I will
cry out for all of Moab, my heart
shall mourn for the men of Khereres.
O vine of Sibma, I will weep for
thee with the weeping of Jazer.
Thy plants are gone over the sea, they
reach even to the sea of Jazer.
The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits
and upon thy vintage.
Joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful
field and from the land of Moab, and
I have caused wine to fail from the
wine presses.
None shall tread with shouting, their shouting shall
be no shouting.
From the cry of Hezbon even unto Elele
and even to Jehaz have they uttered their
voice for Zoar even unto Heronim as the
heifer of three years old for the waters
of Nimrim shall be desolate.
And therefore, or moreover I will cause to
cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that
offereth in the high places and him that
burneth incense to their gods.
Therefore my heart shall sound for Moab like
pipes, my heart shall sound like pipes for
the men of Kirheres because of the riches
that he has gotten or perished for every
head shall be bald, every beard clipped, upon
all the hands shall be cuttings and upon
the loin sackcloth.
These were the pagan ways of expressing their
mourning in the shaving of their heads, the
cutting of their beards and the cutting of
their bodies and putting on a sackcloth.
It's the typical sign of mourning and thus
Moab will be in mourning.
There shall be lamentations generally upon the housetops
of Moab and in the streets for I
have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is
no pleasure, saith the Lord.
Very graphic.
They shall howl saying how is it broken
down?
How hath Moab turned back with shame?
And so shall Moab be a derision and
a dismaying to all of them about him.
For thus saith the Lord, behold he shall
fly as an eagle and shall spread his
wings over Moab.
Kiriath is taken and the strongholds are surprised
and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at
that day shall be as the heart of
a woman in her travail.
Moab shall be destroyed from being a people
because he hath magnified himself against the Lord.
Met any Moabites lately?
God said they'd be destroyed from being a
people.
Fear in the pit and the snare shall
be upon the O inhabitant of Moab.
He that fleeth from the fear shall fall
in the pit.
He that gets out of the pit shall
be taken in the snare.
For I will bring upon it, even upon
Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the
Lord.
They that fled stood under the shadow of
Heshbon because of the force, but a fire
shall come forth out of Heshbon and the
flame from the midst of Sion and shall
devour the corner of Moab and the crown
of the head of the tumultuous ones.
Woe be unto thee, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh perisheth for thy sons
are taken captives and thy daughters captives.
Yet will I bring again the captivity of
Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord.
Thus far is the judgment of Moab.
And so, Moab's in trouble.
And surely God did fulfill these prophecies that
were declared against Moab.
Now, in chapter 49, he speaks first of
the Ammonites.
Now, the Ammonites were those people who were
north of Moab and east of the Jordan
in the upper Jordan area, east of the
Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, the
area of the Ammonites.
So, concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord,
Has Israel no son?
Has he no heir?
Why then doth their king inherit Gad for
his people are dwelling in his cities?
Now, you remember when the children of Israel
came out of Egypt and after their 40
years or towards the end of their 40
year wanderings, they came north and began to
conquer some of the territory on the east
side of Jordan in that Golan Heights and
in the area that became Ammon.
And when Joshua gathered the
people together to begin their invasion of the
land that God had promised, the tribe of
Gad, the men from the tribe of Gad
and Reuben and half the tribe of Manasseh,
they came and they said to Joshua, Look,
this is great cattle country and we're cattlemen.
We really don't care to go across the
Jordan and to dwell on the other side.
We're very happy here.
Why don't you just let us have this
land where we are?
It's just great for us because it's good
cattle country.
Well, Joshua, his first reaction, he was quite
upset.
He could remember 40 years earlier when they
were ready to go into the land and
the spies brought back the report that there
were giants and the cities were high and
walled and so Joshua was upset because he
thought, Oh my, if we don't go in
now, we're never going to make it.
And if these guys start dissembling, then everybody
will get discouraged.
We won't go in.
They said, No, no, no, you don't understand.
We'll send our men in to fight with
you, but let our children and our families
stay here and we'll come in and we'll
fight as long as you need us until
we've conquered the land.
But then after the land has been conquered,
we'd like to come back and dwell here.
And so it was granted to the tribe
of Gad that they could take their portion
on the east side of the Jordan in
the country of the Amorites and all that
they had smitten.
Well, their failure to come on into the
land became critical later in their history.
And they were the first of the tribes
to fall to the enemies.
And the Ammonites came against them and took
their cities.
Now, here is a reference of Jeremiah to
the fact that the cities that belonged to
the tribes of Gad were now inhabited by
the Ammonites.
And so he says, Is there no heir
of Gad and so forth?
Why is it that the Ammonites are possessing
the cities of Gad?
Therefore, behold, the days will come, saith the
Lord, that I will cause an alarm of
war to be heard in Rabah of the
Ammonites.
Now, Rabah is the modern Amman in Jordan.
So that will give you a little bit
of the idea of the location.
And it shall be a desolate heap and
her daughter shall be burned with fire.
Then shall Israel be heir to them that
were his heirs, saith the Lord.
Israel will get back that territory.
Howl, O Heshmon, for Ai is spoiled.
Cry, ye daughters of Rabah, gird you with
sackcloth and lament and run to and fro
by the hedges, for their king shall go
into captivity and his priests and princes together.
Why did you glory in the valleys, thy
flowing valley, O backsliding daughter that trusted in
her treasures, saying, Who shall come unto me?
Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee,
saith the Lord God of hosts, from all
of those that be about thee.
And ye shall be driven out, every man
right forth, and none shall gather him that
wanders.
And afterward I will bring again the captivity
of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord."
Now he goes south and his next prophecy
is against Edom, which is the area that
is south from Moab and probably at
this time whereas the rock city of Petra
was in the boundaries of Edom, for there
is a reference here to that rock city
of Petra.
So Edom, the descendants of Esau.
Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
is wisdom no more in Teman.
Now Teman was one of the cities of
Edom and this is probably a reference to
Eliphaz, who was one of those men who
came to comfort Job.
Eliphaz the Temanite.
And so this is the same Teman that
was the home place of Eliphaz, the counselor
of Job.
And this is probably a reference to the
fact that Eliphaz came with the wisdom of
the world to counsel with Job concerning his
problems.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, is wisdom
no more in Teman.
You remember Job said, surely you are the
people and wisdom is going to die with
you.
Is counsel perished from the prudent?
Is their wisdom vanished?
Flee, turn back, dwell deep O inhabitants of
Dedan.
Dedan is interesting.
Of course this area of Edom is now
the area, much of it of Saudi Arabia
comes up into this area, the area of
Dedan.
It is interesting that when you realize that
Dedan is this present Saudi Arabia, Sheba and
Dedan would be identified as Saudi Arabia.
To me it is very interesting as we
look at the prophetic overview of our present
day.
For God tells us in Ezekiel that there
would be the rebirth of the nation Israel
and when the rebirth would take place that
he would put an evil thought into the
minds of the leaders in Russia and they
would come forth with a mighty invading army
to invade the land of Israel and it
gives the allies that will be coming with
Russia, Libya, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, the Balkan states,
Eastern European states and it says that when
Russia makes this invasion that Sheba and Dedan
and the merchants of Tarshish and the young
lions thereof will say unto her what are
you doing invading this little land?
It isn't right.
It's not fair.
So, right now there's a big to do
over whether or not we should sell these
AWACS to Saudi Arabia and Israel of course
is putting a lot of pressure against the
president at the present time because he seems
to be inclined to sell these AWACS to
the Saudi Arabians and Israel is fearful that
with the highly sophisticated detection gear within these
planes that Saudi Arabia will be able to
intercept all of the radio signals and so
forth and it will be a powerful tool
in the Saudi's hands of knowing what Israel
is planning and so Israel is putting a
lot of pressure against the administration to try
to force them not to sell these AWACS
to Saudi Arabia.
Now, though I often times am concerned as
far as what our nation is doing in
the light of Bible prophecy this is one
thing that I can't really get upset over
because I know that when the showdown comes
Saudi Arabia will be speaking out against the
Russian invasion and so the Russian invasion of
Israel so though they may make a lot
of anti-Israel noise yet when the showdown
comes Saudi Arabia will be speaking up for
Israel of course Saudi Arabia is concerned because
with Russia's invasion the real target will probably
be the tremendous oil reserves down there in
Saudi Arabia but Saudi Arabia will not be
an enemy to Israel in that major conflict
that is coming and thus it doesn't really
as I say there are a lot of
things that do concern me of supplying arms
to various forces and all but what we
may supply to Saudi Arabia doesn't really bother
me from a scriptural standpoint knowing that when
the showdown takes place Saudi Arabia will be
speaking up for Israel so that's where if
you have the word of God you know
you can just rest and you don't have
to get all excited or worried about the
selling of these sophisticated radar planes to Saudi
Arabia someone put a whole bunch of packets
in the office you know of seeking to
get us involved in letter writing and so
forth to put pressure on them not to
sell but there are some things I can
get involved with but this is one that
it doesn't really concern me because I know
a little bit more than what the government
knows at this point so dwell deep oh
inhabitants of Dedan for I will bring the
calamity of Esau the brother of Jacob the
father of the Edomites upon him the time
that I will visit him if great gatherers
come to thee would they not leave some
gleaning grapes if thieves by night they will
destroy till they have enough 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 neighbors he is not leave
thy fatherless children I will preserve them alive
and let thy widows trust in me 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 for
I have sworn by myself now when God
really wants to confirm what he is saying
he swears by himself because you should always
swear by something greater than you but there's
nothing greater than God so he is stuck
to having to swear by himself you can't
go any higher so I have sworn by
myself in order to confirm the covenant God
in order to just say hey this is
for sure that Bozrah shall become a desolation
a reproach, a waste, a curse and all
the cities thereof shall be perpetual waste and
they are to the present day you might
find the tells, the ruins but you won't
find any of these cities I have heard
a rumor from the Lord and an ambassador
is sent unto the heathen saying gather ye
together, come up against her and rise up
to the battle for lo, I will make
thee small among the heathen and despised among
men thy awesomeness hath deceived thee and the
pride of thine heart O thou that dwellest
and there's a reference to that rock city
of Petra 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 there, saith the Lord also
Edom shall be a desolation everyone that goes
by it shall be astonished and shall hiss
at the plagues as in the overthrow of
Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring cities thereof,
saith the Lord no man shall abide there
neither shall the Son of Man dwell in
it 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 the chosen man that I may appoint
over her for who is like me and
who will appoint me the time and who
will be the shepherd that will stand before
me therefore, hear the counsel of the Lord
that he has taken against Edom and his
purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants
of Timan surely the least of the flock
shall draw them out surely he shall make
their habitations desolate with them the earth is
moved at the noise of their fall the
cry of the noise thereof is heard even
in the Red Sea 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 travail so God speaks of his judgment
coming against Edom now he turns north to
Damascus the capital of Syria Damascus of course
has already fallen to Nebuchadnezzar concerning Damascus, Hamath
is confounded Arfed for they had heard evil
tidings they are faint hearted there is sorrow
on the sea it cannot be quiet Damascus
is waxed feeble turns herself to flee fear
is seized on her anguish and sorrows have
taken her as a woman in travail how
is the city of praise not left the
city of my joy therefore her young men
shall fall in the streets and all of
the men of war shall be cut off
in that day, saith the Lord of hosts
and I will kindle a fire in the
wall of Damascus and it shall consume the
palaces of Ben-Hadad which is the sort
of a title like Pharaoh was a title
for the Egyptian leaders Ben-Hadad was the
title for the leaders of Assyria next the
Lord speaks against Kedar and the kingdoms of
Hazor now this is probably a nomadic group
of people and not the city of Hazor
in the upper Galilee region which Nebuchadnezzar the
king of Babylon shall smite thus saith the
Lord arise go up to Kedar spoil the
men of the east their tents, their flocks
shall take shall they take away they shall
take to themselves their curtains and all of
their vessels their curtains would be the curtains
of course of their tents their nomadic people
Bedouin type of people and their camels and
they shall cry unto them fear is on
every side flee get you far off dwell
deep O inhabitants of Hazor saith the Lord
for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon hath taken
counsel against you and he's conceived a purpose
against you arise get you up unto the
wealthy nation that dwells without care saith the
Lord which have neither gates nor bars which
dwell alone and their camels shall be a
booty and the multitude of their cattle is
spoiled and I will scatter into all winds
them that are in the utmost corners and
I will bring their calamity from all sides
thereof saith the Lord and Hazor shall be
a dwelling for dragons and a desolation forever
there shall no man abide there nor any
son of man dwell in it and so
the area of the Hazor and Kedar these
nomadic Bedouin type people even that was not
to escape from Nebuchadnezzar finally in this passage
he comes against Elam next week we turn
to Babylon and the destruction that God has
predicted against Babylon and that pretty much of
course finishes the book of Jeremiah as far
as chapters 50 and 51 but Elam the
word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah
the prophet against Elam now Elam is in
the area that a lot of the fighting
has been going on in the Iran-Iraqi
war in fact this strait that is through
there that they're fighting over the control of
on the Iranian side was the area of
Elam so you're moving over in that direction
the word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah the prophet against Elam in the beginning
of the reign of Zedekiah the king of
Judah saying thus saith the Lord of hosts
behold I will break the bow of Elam
the chief of their might and upon Elam
will I bring the four winds from the
four quarters of heaven and will scatter them
toward all those winds and there shall no
nation whether the outcast of Elam shall not
come for I will cause Elam to be
dismayed before their enemies and before them that
seek their life and I will bring evil
upon them even my fierce anger saith the
Lord and I will send the sword after
them until I have consumed them and I
will set my throne in Elam and will
destroy from there the king and the princess
saith the Lord but it shall come to
pass in the latter days that I will
bring again the captivity of Elam saith the
Lord so these prophecies and I have to
admit that there isn't much to get excited
over as far as biblical exposition it's a
hard nut to crack and it's just something
that because we're going straight through we wade
through it there isn't a lot that you
can really expound upon or exhort here it's
just showing God's judgment and the sureness of
God's word as He fulfilled each of these
prophecies against these particular nations and it's there
for a reason and thus we should read
it though it isn't the most exciting area
in the scriptures to read and we congratulate
you for going through it each one of
you in the class get an automatic A
by having gone through it but I'm sort
of happy that it'll be three years before
we get back to it again and hopefully
we won't be here and so we'll look
at the whole thing from a different perspective
next time around and so it does though
point out again this marvelous prophetic aspect to
the scriptures how that God speaks of events
before they take place in order that when
they do take place you might believe prophecy
has been given really as a basis and
a foundation for faith and I think one
of the strongest apologetics for the scriptures is
that of the fulfilled prophecies as we look
around today and we see the world in
which we live and as we look at
the prophecies of the Bible and see how
so many of these things that we are
beholding today are actual fulfillments of God's word
it is extremely exciting and it is very
faith building Jesus said to his disciples I've
told you these things before they come to
pass so that when they come to pass
you might believe and so God has given
to us a good outline of what would
be happening in these days in which we
live and pretty much as God has outlined
so we see it and that should be
enough to make any wise person believe of
course if you're stupid you're not going to
believe anything anyhow but any thinking person looking
at the scriptures and looking at the world
today is really forced to acknowledge that it's
more than coincidence that God indeed has spoken
with great clarity of this day in which
we live such things as
satellite TV computers super weapons
were all a part of the prophetic picture
for the advent of these things was in
a sense predicted God tells about the two
witnesses that will be put to death in
Jerusalem and the whole world will see their
dead bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem
impossible until satellite TV but I watched the
other day a live broadcast from Jerusalem right
there in my own family room now it's
a possibility five years ago impossible today possible
the Lord said that people will be caused
to receive a mark in their right hand
or in their forehead and no one will
be able to buy or sell without the
mark it would be totally impossible to go
to a method of exchange using marks in
the right hand or forehead that would be
totally impossible apart from computers no way could
you do that without computers but now we
have computers that are designed to do our
banking for us and already we are buying
and selling without money using our credit cards
you're buying and selling without money and there's
only one step from the number on the
credit card to the number inscribed in your
right hand or in your forehead or the
mark it doesn't necessarily say number but it
says a mark and we know that the
computer is able to read these marks that
are on your groceries with these scanners so
these things were all figured in but they're
here and you could go right on down
the line with the prophecies and you could
show how that all around the world the
events that are taking place are things that
God has foretold things that would be taking
place in the last days so this only
helps confirm the fact of the accuracy of
prophecies as we look at predictions that were
made and already fulfilled they only confirm the
accuracy of prophecies and confirm the fact that
God is the author of the book and
it's good to be getting into the final
chapters of prophecy and we as Jesus said
are looking up and lifting up our heads
for we know that our redemption is very
close so we pray Father we thank you
for your sure word of prophecy and as
we read of your judgments upon these nations
round about Israel and we realize Lord that
your judgment was righteous for they had forsaken
you they were worshipping and serving other gods
they had sought to live independent of thee
even so Lord as we look around ourselves
today we see that the United States has
settled on its lease beginning to live after
the flesh beginning to smell of the flesh
and we realize Lord that we can't escape
thy judgment either that in righteousness you must
judge and that you will judge Father help
us that we might be accounted worthy to
escape these things that will be coming that
we might stand before thee in that day
in Jesus name we pray Amen The Lord
bless and give you a good week and
may you live in that consciousness of God's
love may you put God first in your
life not just as a phrase or oh
yes God first may it become a reality
remember what Jesus said to the church of
Ephesus I have this against you you've left
your first love there's a lack of that
fervency there's a coldness in your heart towards
the things of God and his spirit there's
been a drawing away after the flesh beginning
to just get settled oh may God cause
you to remember from where you have fallen
and to repent and to return to that
first love and commitment and excitement of the
things of the Lord may the Lord draw
you back to himself in a full and
complete surrender in Jesus name