The Bible's first act of violence was between two brothers. Cain murdered Abel because Abel did what was pleasing to God and Cain did not. Abel worshipped God like he was supposed to, and Cain hated him for it. 1 John 3:12 tells us, "Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous"
Cain essentially persecuted his brother for his belief - the first persecution of God's people. The older persecuted the younger.
Ishmael is recognized as the father of Islam. Abraham was promised a son, but he and Sarah grew impatient waiting on God's promise. He had Ishmael with Hagar, his wife Sarah's Egyptian servant. After Hagar conceived Ishmael, she began to despise Sarah and began treating her in a hateful way. The Bible says Sarah dealt with her harshly and Hagar ran away. But God spoke to her and told her to return to Sarah and that her son would father a great nation.
Then, years later, God's promise was fulfilled and Sarah conceived Isaac. When Ishmael was about 13, Sarah saw Ishmael mocking Isaac, who was a very small child. We know this because the Bible says on that day Isaac was weaned from Sarah.
Sarah told Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael. She would not allow Ishmael to mock her son, live with him or share in his blessings.
Abraham loved his oldest son; he was grieved. He did not want to send him away; but when God told him to listen to Sarah, Abraham listened. Brokenhearted and alone, in the middle of the hot desert, the water ran out and Hagar could not watch Ishmael die; she cried out to God to take him but not let her watch. "Let me not see the death of the boy."
So she sat opposite him, and lifted her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation."
There is something important to note here. Ishmael stayed with his father Abraham until he was at least 13 years old. He knew God and was taught the same teachings by his father that Isaac received. There is no indication that Ishmael ever turned from Abraham's teachings, but his sons did, intermarrying with the godless and forgetting the God of their father. The Muslims do not honor the God of their fathers. They honor a god (Allah) of war (fortresses).
Daniel 11:37-38 "He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. But in their place he shall honor a god of fortresses; and a god which his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and pleasant things."
Then we have the twin brothers, Jacob (renamed Israel, by God) and Esau (Edom-Palestinians and Jordanians). God came to Rebecca in a dream and said, "Two nations are in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; One people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."
God saw in Jacob what he did not find in Esau. Esau thought so little of his inheritance that he sold it for a bowl of soup. Rebecca convinced Jacob to deceive Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau, fulfilling what God spoke to Rebecca. When Esau found out, he was filled with rage and declared he was going to kill his brother Jacob once Isaac died. Jacob then fled.
Esau was not a man fit to inherit the blessing. While he loved his father, he was not a godly man; on the other hand, Jacob was. Esau wanted his father's blessing, but he did not want the obligation of obeying God. He wanted the worldly blessing but had no interest in the spiritual blessing.
First, Ishmael's birthright is given to his younger brother Isaac and then Esau's birthright is given to his younger brother Jacob. Later, this "rejected" son of Isaac married the daughter of the rejected son Ishmael. Esau's marriage to one of Ishmael's daughters forever linked the Ishmaelites with Edom and Esau.
The hatred the later Ishmaelites and Edomites had for Isaac and Jacob continues today. Muslims also teach that it was Ishmael who received Isaac's blessing.
Through these men, we see the blessings by God and the persecutors of God's people beginning to form. Through Abraham's seed, two nations were born. These two nations struggled in the womb and continue to struggle today. Esau is Edom (Ishmaelites, Gen 36:1). Jacob is Israel (Jews, Gen 32:28). Psalm 83 tells us how it will end. It's not good for Edom (Jordan).
Abraham is considered the father of all three major religions. The Bible doesn't go into much detail about Ishmael. Isaac and Ishmael may have reconciled when Isaac died, or it's possible they never lost touch through Abraham. Genesis does tell us that together Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave where Sarah's body lay.
"And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah."
Esau and Jacob reconciled years later to bury their father Isaac. But Esau's story doesn't end how you think; Esau's end came during Jacob's burial.
Esau took all the possessions of Isaac after his death and settled in Seir, which is in Edom. The house of Jacob, or Israel, possessed the whole land of Canaan from that day forward.
There is a lot to focus on with Esau. God clearly made it understood that Esau gave away any legal claim of his birthright to his brother Jacob, and of his own free will.
In the book of Jasper, we read:
"And Esau took all this, and he and his children went home to the land of Seir the Horite, away from his brother Jacob and his children.
"And Esau had possessions amongst the children of Seir, and Esau returned not to the land of Canaan from that day forward.
"And the whole land of Canaan became an inheritance to the children of Israel for an everlasting inheritance, and Esau with all his children inherited the mountain of Seir."
The book of Jasper tells us Esau was beheaded at the burial site of his brother Jacob. Esau blocked the cave for burial, claiming it to be part of his inheritance. Jacob's grandson cut his head off for disrespecting his grandfather and halting the burial.
"And Chushim was dumb and deaf, still he understood the voice of consternation amongst men.
"And he asked, saying, Why do you not bury the dead, and what is this great consternation? and they answered him the words of Esau and his sons; and he ran to Esau in the midst of the battle, and he slew Esau with a sword, and he cut off his head, and it sprang to a distance, and Esau fell amongst the people of the battle.
"And when Chushim did this thing, the sons of Jacob prevailed over the sons of Esau, and the sons of Jacob buried their father Jacob by force in the cave, and the sons of Esau beheld it."
This would certainly explain the everlasting contempt and struggle between Israel and Edom.
As Israel gears up to celebrate their 70th Independence Day and the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, have the surrounding areas of Psalm 83 been organizing together against Israel? The Palestinian's have said the opening of the embassy is a declaration of war. Those with Jordan and the West Bank include Lebanon, Gaza, parts of Iraq and possibly Egypt.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say the Israeli's will have a peace treaty with the Palestinians or Jordanians. I think the peace treaty of 7 years, that is broken midway, is a treaty with the surrounding Muslim nations, led by Turkey.
Obadiah 1:6-7 "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."
Obadiah 1:18 "The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau. The LORD has spoken."
Jacob and Joseph represent Israel, and Esau represents Jordan and the Palestinians. Jordan has control of the Temple Mount. Jordan has also recently become increasingly hostile to Israeli Jews being near the Temple Mount. It's unlawful for Israeli Jews or tourists to have on them anything that represents Judaism or Christianity. Jews and Christians cannot sing, pray or make any religious overtures at all. Jordan and Israel are circling one another; Jordan is looking for a weak spot.
With the mass world outrage (planned) expected in May, it's not hard to envision Judea and Samaria (West Bank) coming under attack.
Obadiah 1: 13-15 "You should not have entered the gate of My people in the day of their calamity. Indeed, you should not have gazed on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity.
"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. For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you..."
If there was a sudden Palestinian attack on the Jewish people of Samaria and Judea, those that are able to escape would flee to Jordan, only Jordan will not help them. God will destroy them through Israeli military power. God said he would take revenge on Edom by the hands of His people - the military might of the IDF and her allies.
Obadiah 1:9 "Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified, and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter."
Ezekiel 25:13-14 "Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and kill its men and their animals. I will lay it waste, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword. I will take vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel and they will deal with Edom in accordance with my anger and my wrath; they will know my vengeance, declares the Sovereign LORD."
Remember, the Palestinian people are actually Jordanian. The "Palestinian" people were separated from Jordan during the Trans-Jordan annexation.
As Erdogan invades Syria, heading to Damascus, the Palestinians and Jordanians are gearing up for the embassy move in May. War is looming no matter how you look at it. All three prophecies are set in motion now. I believe the Psalm 83 war will happen before Ezekiel 38. I also think Damascus will be destroyed now that Turkey has invaded Syria. Prophecy is moving too fast and accurate to slow down now.
Sitting quietly but impatiently is Pope Francis. The Vatican has not given up on controlling Jerusalem. I believe a brutal war is headed to Israel, and very soon. The Bible warns the Jewish people living in Judea and Samaria to flee.
The Temple Mount is located in the West Bank. Judea and Samaria are located in the West Bank. There are large Jewish populations in areas of the West Bank that could be overtaken quickly.
Israel has had restraint in the face of a daily threat since their rebirth. They have strategically targeted terrorists such as Hamas, not citizens. They are under more scrutiny than any other nation in the world. What will lead to Israel and Edom entering a full-scale war ending with the destruction of Jordan and Palestinian-controlled areas? Could it be a large-scale terrorist attack like 9-11?
It's during war that people cry for peace the most. The peace treaty could be signed during/after the Psalm 83 war to prevent any more bloodshed - to call a truce between Jacob and his brother Esau and between Isaac and Ishmael - the Jews and the Muslims.
"Therefore prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people."
Judea and Samaria are swallowed up on all sides and occupied by "heathens," meaning Muslims. The lips of "talkers" sound like the U.N. and the constant attacks on Israel through resolutions. They talk about peace but in reality have no intention of treating Israel with fairness. They help the "heathens."
These wars are all distinct, and each is very different from the war in Revelation. Armageddon can't be the Ezekiel 38-39 war, or the Psalm 83 war. In Revelation, this is where all the nations of the earth will attack Israel, not just surrounding nations or the King of the North.
The Psalm 83 war will lead to the Ezekiel 38 war, but it will first bring a peace treaty between Israel and the many nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38. During the Psalm 83 war, the nations listed in Ezekiel 38 will rethink their strategy after Jordan and the Palestinians are decimated.
President Trump isn't exactly what I'd call a role model for Christianity or Judaism, but neither was Nebuchadnezzar or many others God used throughout history; but God used them. Paul was one of the fiercest persecutors of Christians, and he became God's greatest disciple. Since President Trump made this announcement, prophetic events are at lightening speed. There is no going back.
As these wars loom, the world has ignored or forgotten those that are enduring genocide right now, a persecution. In the middle of all the chaos, Christians are being quietly slaughtered. In Nigeria; Sudan; Syria; Egypt; Saudi Arabia; Iraq; Pakistan; India; North Korea; China - the list goes on.
As Christians, we see prophecy unfolding before our very eyes and know His return is imminent. God said Israel is the apple of His eye. Every time these nations attack or provoke Israel, they are essentially poking God in the eye. His wrath is coming. Soon, He will no longer allow His holy name to be blasphemed, by anyone.
"For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.'"
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