America's Defense of Edom

Modern history and America's recent Middle East foreign policy has been based upon the idea that the Jews are Israel--God's chosen people. It colors everything that America has done in the past century in regard to the Middle East. One might say that it is America's "viewpoint" which determines right from wrong.

This is why it is so important that we know a little history and a lot of the Bible. It is why I have spent so much time writing of these things. Since so few people know these foundational truths, those who do know the truth have to say it many times before people really begin to grasp it.

If the Church had known that the Jews were not the Israelites, we would never have supported the theft of Palestinian land, the murder of anyone who got in the way, and the current war in Iraq, which is designed to protect the Israeli state from the backlash from the sin of Zionism.

The foundational truth is this: Jacob gave the scepter to Judah and the birthright to Joseph (1 Chron. 5:1, 2). Joseph's sons were given the name Israel (Gen. 48:16). That means Judah did not have a right to call itself Israel, unless that tribe was united with the tribe of Ephraim, son of Joseph. When the kingdom was divided many years later, Judah and Ephraim were separated, and from then on, the biblical prophets make the distinction between Israel and Judah in their prophecies.

When they speak of the regathering of Israel in the end of days, the prophets were not speaking of Judah by itself (Judahites, Judeans, or "Jews"). While there are some Christians who say that the tribes of Israel are all part of Judah ("Jews") today, even the Jews themselves know that this is not true--and they have said so consistently from the beginning. In fact, for 2000 years or more, they have prayed to be reunited with those lost tribes of Israel.

Modern Zionism, however, is based upon the false idea that the Jews are Israel. In other words, American foreign policy toward the Middle East has been built upon a lie from the beginning. Is it any wonder, then, that the current war was founded on lies? The war is rooted in the same lying spirit.

This leads us to the next great foundational truth. If the Jews are not Israel, then who are they, and what is the role of the Zionist state in biblical prophecy? After all, since it is such a major factor in modern history, certainly it should have been foreseen by the prophets. It was. But one has to know one simple and easily verifiable fact of history--"Edom is modern Jewry," to quote the Jewish Encyclopedia (1925 ed.).

Edom was conquered by the Judeans in 126 B.C. The Edomites were forcibly converted to Judaism. The nation of Edom (or Idumea in the Greek language) ceased to exist at that time. Read any encyclopedia or any history book. It is indisputable. The only way that the biblical prophecies of Edom and Idumea can be fulfilled is through the Jewish people, or some portion of them. That was the consequence of forcible conversion. If they had truly been converted to God in their hearts, they would have simply ceased to be Edomites, for this would have changed their citizenship from Edom to the Kingdom of God. Being an Edomite is a matter of national citizenship, not purely a racial or genealogical matter.

When the majority of the Judeans rejected Jesus Christ, the King of Judah, they legally cut themselves off from citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Those who accepted Christ as King remained members of the tribe (Rom. 2:28, 29). The tribe was very small on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, but it grew as others came to believe, and as people of other nations obtained citizenship in Judah through faith in its King.

We know it as the Church. It did not replace Judah--it IS Judah and has been since the days of the Apostles. The Church was the continuation of the tribe under King Jesus of Judah. Anyone of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, or Edom who had faith in Jesus Christ was able to obtain citizenship in the tribe of Judah. Those who rejected Jesus lost their citizenship in the tribe--at least until such time as they might come to believe in Jesus as the King.

The problem is that most of the people known as Judeans and Edomites rejected King Jesus. Because they remained in the majority, the Roman government continued to recognize them as "Judah." They were thus able to retain the biblical name, even though they had been cut off from the tribe as far as God was concerned. Hence, we have this dispute even today over the name of Judah. It is therefore important that we understand who is a "Jew" and who is NOT a "Jew" from Paul's statement in Rom. 2:28, 29. He was speaking from God's perspective, not from man's perspective.

Those whom the world calls "Jews" are a combination of Edom and the Judeans who lost their Kingdom citizenship. They are today fulfilling two sets of Bible prophecy. The first is the prophecy of Esau-Edom. The second is Jesus' prophecy of the cursed fig tree in Matt. 21:19 and 24:32-34. The prophecy is, "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever," followed by a prophecy of a day when that fruitless fig tree would bring forth more LEAVES.

Leaves are not fruit, of course, but there is much Church teaching today which claims that this fig tree will eventually bear fruit to God (i.e., that the Jews will repent and turn to Christ). No, this "tree" was to come back to life and bring forth more leaves, but it would never bring forth fruit. That "tree" is the Israeli state today, as most prophecy teachers will agree. Our disagreement is in whether or not the tree will bring forth fruit.

Personally, I choose to believe what Jesus said in Matt. 21:19. Others dispute what Jesus said. I leave it to you to decide for yourselves. I cannot choose for you; I can only quote what Jesus said and ask you to deal with it.

Anyway, that is how the Israeli state is fulfilling Jesus' prophecy of the cursed fig tree. The second set of prophecies is about Esau-Edom-Idumea. Jacob obtained the birthright and blessing from his father by pretending to be Esau and lying to his father (Gen. 27:24). Because Jacob had wronged Esau, their father prophesied to Esau that he would one day get back this "dominion" (Gen. 27:40). In other words, Jacob would have to give the birthright back to Esau in order to allow God to work out Esau's final rejection in His own way.

In 1948 the dominion and birthright were given back to Esau's representatives--the Zionists. With the birthright went the birthright name, Israel. Just as Jacob had pretended to be Esau to obtain it, so also did Esau pretend to be Jacob to get it back. Both were cases of mistaken identity and fraud.

Two sets of Bible prophecy were being fulfilled in 1948. The cursed fig tree was bringing forth more leaves; and Esau was able to see justice done for Jacob's sin thousands of years ago.

As I explained in my book, The Struggle for the Birthright, the Jews were unable to lay claim to the old land as Judahites, because the law of tribulation specifically said that God would not allow them to return until they repented (Lev. 26:40-42). However, they were able to return as Edomites, because of Jacob's transgression in Gen. 27.

This is almost unknown in Christian circles. In fact, God blinded most Christians in order to make this happen, even as He had blinded Isaac at the beginning. Jacob could defraud Esau because Isaac was blind. So also today, Esau could get back the birthright and the name of Israel because the Church was blind.

But the time has come to uncover old truths and expose true identities, for God will soon declare Esau to be unfit to hold the birthright and will cast out the old Jerusalem in favor of the New.