Pagină:Obadiah-part-II-1936.djvu/8

200 thence will I bring thee down.’’ Be assured that God will accomplish that very thing; therefore be strong in the Lord and in the power of his micht and fight on. To the self-exalted modern Edomites Jehovah now says: ‘‘Thy terribleness [awe-inspiring position on the rocks of the world} hath deccived thee [into sclf- security, complacency and independence of God], and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the elefis 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 thenee, saith the Lord. Also Edom shall be a desolation ; every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thercof.’’—Jer. 49:16, 17, 29 Jiaman was a deseendant of Edom. (Gen. 36:1, 12) Tle was exalted to the lofty rank of grand vizier of the emperor, became very seornful, hauahty, arrozant and oppressive, and the Lord brought him down low. (Esther 3:1; 7:10) dom is one part of Satan’s or- ganization, which is Babylon, and the spirit of Baby- lon is that of Edom, and concerning that wicked crowd Jchovah says: “Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin danghtcr of Babylon; sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate, And thou raidst, Pshall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not ny these thines to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest earclessly ; that sayest in thine heart, Fam, and none else beside me; I shail not sit as a widew, neither shall I know the loss of children.’’--Isa. $7:1, 7, 8. 26 JIenee in the later Seriptures written at the in- stance of the Lord Jesus Edom is symbolized by the “great whore’’, (Rev. 17:1-6) DBeeause the descend- ants of dom lHkewise stood for what is against Cod’s people, the organization of Edom (the modern Edom- ites) is marked for utter destruction. Jehovah spcaks of Idumea, which is Edom, and states what shall come to pass in the day of Jehovah upon the modern Edom- ites: ‘(For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, and the year of reecompenees for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into piteh, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the Jand thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie yeste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.” ~—Isa. 34: 8-10, 21 Let us always bear in mind that the compicte de- struction of the modern Edomites is Jehovah's work, to be performed through Christ Jesus, and the part of the remnant in this war is to declare the day of the vengeance of our God, and to sing forth his name and praises to the end that those of the great multitude may hear and have an opportunity to take their stand on the side of Jehovah and his organization ) fore the destruetion of the enemy takes place; also that they $he WATCHTOWER. PROOKLYN, N.Y. must sound the warning, that others may have an op- portunity to be warned, It is the Edomites of the present time that make war at the instance of the Devil egainst Jchovah’s witnesses, who are of Zion, and concerning the destructive judements of the Lord exccuted against them it is written: ‘‘For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.’’ (Isa. 34:5) The testimony by Jehovah's witnesses must precede the destructive work and must be finished before the destructive work. (Matt. 24: 14-22) Esau lived by the sword, and so the Lord Jesus savs concerning the deseendants of Esau, tire Edomites, that they shall perish by the sword. (Matt. 26:52) First, however, the Lord shows that the refuse of Jics binding toecther the modern Edomites, and behind which they hide their nefarious work, must be swept away, exposing the wicked ones to complete view of the world, That is the warfare in which God uses his witnesses, and which warfare is now in progress, 22 The clergy have exalted themselves to the hich places and have made commercial traffickers and political rulers believe that the clergy are absolutely essential to and constitute the chief part of the im- preenable streneth of earth’s governments, The Lod will sce to it that the clergy, the modern-day Jedoin- ites, are put in their proper place, exposed to view, diseraced, and brought low; and eoncermmg this it is written in his Word: © And the ten horns whieh thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall cat her flesh, and bum her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will’? (Rey, 17:16,17) Like Esau, the cleryy of so-called ‘organized Christianity’ lon ago became hunters, going about hunting with other clements of Satan's world, and despising the promises of God. They have lived by their own mach- inations and schemes dirceted by the power and in- fluence of Satan; which is equivalent to saying that they have lived by the sword. They have winked at or approved every war of conquest that has heen ear- ried on, and they have often hypoeritically said that they are for peace, while at the same time attempting to bless the men who go forth to destroy cach othar. They have deliberately turned away from the Bible, and they hold it up to ridicule before the world, prit- ting their own wisdom ahead of and in the place of Cicd’s Holy Word. They sold their birthright for a mess of pottage that they might satisfy their own appelites. They have made their choice and rust abide in it. In this day when the promise to Abranam is made clearly to appear to those who love God, and when these faithful witnesses, pictured by Jacob, gv about dilieently and faithfully proclaiming the macan- ing of that birthvieht, the modern-day [domites sock the death of these faithful servants of Jehovah Jn due time God will avenge his servants aud mogmity his own name.