ESCAPING OUR ATTENTION

 There's something going on in the Gospel records that can be overlooked if we're not careful. Let's take a look at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

It doesn't matter what Gospel record you choose to read, you find the same overlooked event happening. You'll notice the power of the Word of Christ. For example, He often confronted demonic beings. These unclean spirits are the angels we designate as "fallen" because they took part in Satan's rebellion as recorded in Isaiah's five "I wills." (Isaiah 14:13-14). Their Luceriferian assignment is to snatch away the gospel from the lost lest they believe and are saved. (Luke 8:12). 

During these confrontations, Jesus issues commands to them: "Shut up! Come out of him!" (Mark 1:25). In the famous incident in Mark 5, Jesus orders the unclean spirit, "What is your name!" and the demon obeys by telling Him. It's at this time that Jesus tells them to enter the swine and they obey. These two incidents will suffice; you can read about other interactions with the spirits and Jesus commands to them.

When we read further in Mark's record, we read of Jesus' issuing this command to the wind of a Sea of Galilee gale: "Hush! Be still!" (Mark 4) The winds obey and immediately they became perfectly calm. 

But reading further in the divine records, something very much different occurs. On several occasions, after Jesus heals someone, He issues the same order to them: "Tell no one." For example, in Mark 7:36, after healing a deaf mute, we find this: "And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it." 

Then we read about the egregious case of disobedience when Christ healed a leper: "Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. ⁴³ And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, ⁴⁴ and He *said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ⁴⁵ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that ^[a]Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but ^[b]stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere." (Mark 1)

Now we come to the escaping-our-attention-part. The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, forces the wind to obey Him; He forces the demons to submit to His commands. But in the instances given above, He commands but does NOT force obedience. The question is, "Why?" 

The answer is that free will exists and Christ will not violate it. In the Gospels, we see the active opposition to Jesus' Person, work, and claims of Christ mushrooming. But He doesn't stop it, although He could have. 

In the most important issue that faces any human being, "Who do you say Jesus is," the unforced choice is yours--is He the Son of God who did for all your sins, past, present, and future? Did He rise from the dead? Is He the only one you trust for eternal life? God does not predetermine your choice. You choose to have nothing to do with His Son and He will let you have your go your way apart from Him. But remember, Hell will be locked from inside. 

HAMAS

 You won't be surprised to learn that the Hebrew word, "hamas," means "violence." The name is well-chosen. The world is seeing violence on steroids in Hamas' attack on Israel, an attack that continues to the point one commentator, an American Jew, has described it as, "The worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust." 

Hamas is raging through Israel, killing, kidnapping, and burning Jewish houses with fathers, mothers, and children trapped inside, burning to death. And in the horror of indescribable horrors, murdering 100 babies, some by beheading. Can anyone imagine the depth of savage depravity it would take to do that? The Satan-inspired hatred of the Jews in the Middle East and around the world knows no bounds. The mask is off. 

But there's one thing Hamas doesn't know, one thing the elites of our nation and the elites of nations around the world do not know. That ignorance is a willful one. What they willfully refuse to recognize is that what Hamas and those countries helping them financially have done is to attack the "pupil" (literal translation) of God's eye. In this anthropomorphism, the author uses the most sensitive part of the human eye to describe God's regard for Israel. 

And thereby hangs a tale which comes to us from the shortest book, an ignored book, in the Old Testament, written by a prophet named Obadiah. It's a book devoted to warning one Gentile nation and therefore all Gentile nations of which America is one. Obadiah wrote a book about Edom, the nation descended from Esau the twin brother of Jacob. 

Edom had an infection, the Hamas Syndrome--a abiding and fierce hatred of Israel.That hatred was their attitude but the attitude turned into action. Because of that, God issued a stern warning to Edom and, by application, to all Gentile nations who would dare to touch the pupil of His eye. 

Obadiah begins God's warning by shining the divine spotlight on Edom's arrogant attitude: Edom thought herself to be untouchable because of its geography, which, in their way of misguided thinking, i. e. human viewpoint, made it impossible for any nation to come against her. Their geography made them indestructible, a veritable fortress.The arrogant Edomite was Icarus flying high. 

The Edomite believed that because of his position, there was no chink in their geographical armor. But God is the Creator of geography. It is finger work for Him to make a major chink in such puny armor. 

Obadiah relates God's graphic decree issued because of Edom's opposition to Israel: "I will bring you down." "I will ruin you." I will ransack your wealth." "I will destroy your wisest men." "I will destroy your military." "I will slaughter you." And last but not least, "I will destroy you forever." In more graphic terms, "I will wipe you off the face of the earth."

The question the reader his is, "Why? What have they done?"

The answer is a fourfold one:

1. When Israel was invaded by her enemies, Edom did nothing; she stood aloof.

2. When Israel was attacked and looted, Edom gloated, rejoicing to  see it.

3. Edom then took an active participation in the sacking of Jerusalem.

4. Edom set up roadblocks to stop and kill the Jews who were trying to escape the destruction.

Obadiah is telling the Edomites, what goes around come around, only worse. 

Isaiah is equally graphic as he cites God's coming in judgment against those who strike at the pupil of His eye. Isaiah paints a word picture: God's sword will be filled with blood."(Is. 34) 

Isaiah has a word of advice to the leaders of the Gentile nations: "Seek the book of the Lord and read it." It's in Isaiah's book (and Obadiah's) that the Gentile nations can learn what happens when they attack the pupil. 

These warnings are serious ones for America as we contemplate our nation's role in empowering Iran to finance Hamas. It is scary indeed as we see rallies on the prestigious campuses of our educational institutions chanting their support of the savagery of Hamas; it is unbelievable as we hear some our elites in government refusing to condemn the barbaric behavior of Hamas against Israel, therefore "standing aloof" as Obadiah said of Edom; then there are those gloating over atrocities too horrible to even think about. 

Campuses, showing surfacing of the intellectual and spiritual rot that has  been their cancer for a long time, erupting in antisemitism is Edom writ large, a harbinger of the coming discipline cominig to American shores.

And by the way, what happened to Edom? Has anyone ever met or even heard of an Edomite living today?