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SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - BOZRAH DELIVERANCE 2003
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LIBRARY OF SOPHIA OF WISDOM III
SOPHIA OF ALL SOPHIA OF WISDOMS
AKA
CAROLINE E. KENNEDY_______________________________
OCTOBER 26, 2006
Messiah returns in wrath and in deliverance THE
BOZRAH
DELIVERANCE.
MICAH 2:12-13
Art used by permission of
Pat Marvenko Smith, copyright 1992
Visit her 'Revelation Illustrated' website.
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SUMMARY:
RELATED ARTICLES
The Woman of Revelation 12
The Airlift to Bozrah
Edomites in the end-time
The Exile in Bozrah
The Bible paints a picture of a magnificent deliverance at the end of the age. It involves the returning Messiah and the covenant people of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The scriptures point to Bozrah as a place where the Elect are held in exile. In the time of "Jacob's trouble" they are held under the jurisdiction of the wild, untamed, and Godless children of Esau. The Edomites are still with us today. An epic future time, the 70th Week of Daniel, will see them rise up just as Jacob prophesied. (Gen.27:39-40) They will be given dominion over God's covenant people. Micah sees the second coming of Messiah and the conclusion to the drama. He sees the Shepherd of Israel entering His sheepfold in the hours before dawn. Out there at Bozrah He becomes "the Breaker".
This wonderful propecy of the Bozrah Deliverance is there in our Bibles. But it remains hidden. It is "cloaked" by the powers that be. A Bozrah deliverance would be problematical for the western church to address since it suggests a preceding Bozrah exile. This would also have presupposed a 'flight to Bozrah' by God's covenant people in an epic airlift. It would be a migration of Biblical proportions. Such an incarceration or sheltering of God's covenant people would be in the last 3.5 years of the age. Do we have a cross reference to this that might give us some further infornmation? Indeed we do.
The dramas involving Bozrah may be cross-referenced by John the Beloved. We see it as the flight of the woman of Revelation 12.
Such a suggestion would be very disturbing to many Christian believers. The rulers are well aware of those stormy periods of past Church history. They probably fear that this Bozrah information, (should it get out), may trigger societal disruptions.
Their fears are well founded. Carnal Christians have cause considerable trouble in the past. And they certainly could do so again in the turbulent times up ahead. And so at this point in time the entire Bozrah drama is under a religious smokescreen. The 'flight of the woman' to a place of refuge in Bozrah is re-engineered. In its place we have have a cover story which is this 'flight of the Jews to Petra' fable. All this is still an untold story.
THE SHEEPFOLD OF BOZRAH,
AND THE END TIME DELIVERANCE OF THE ELECT
The Bozrah deliverance is a story of wonder. And yet it has not been spoken about. Christian Bible teachers are not expounding on this good news of the end time. And we are not hearing about it from the pulpit or Christian television.
The Bozrah deliverance is the climax of an extraordinary series of events that some Christian and Jewish Bible students believe will occur at the end of this age. Bozrah is the scene of a spectacular break-out and deliverance of God's Elect. God's covenant people are in some place of exile or incarceration. This epic 'break out' at Bozrah is prophesied to occur at Christ's second coming which follows immediately after the final wrap-up Day of Atonement. This is just before He, as Messiah, judges the nations and sets up His Millennial Kingdom. The details can be pieced together from key passages in the Old Testament prophets of Isaiah (63) and Micah (2:12-13).
To understand the Bozrah deliverance some background information from the Bible is necessary. An understanding of the meaning of the word 'Bozrah' is very helpful here. 'Bozrah' means 'sheepfold'. And Bozrah being a pastoral city of Edom east of the Dead Sea makes its Edomite sovereignty and character a very important issue. Because the children of Esau are prominent players in the end time drama. And so the name and character of Bozrah still belongs to Edom.
Esau was the brother of the patriarch Jacob. One was godly and good at heart, even if he was somewhat of a trickster. The other brother, Esau was untamed and ungodly. The Bozrah deliverance is the climax to the story of these two brothers. The two sons of Isaac began wrestling within their mother Rebekah's womb. When she enquired of God as to the cause of this awful wrestling within her she was told that her twins would become two nations.
JACOB AND ESAU HAVE WRESTLED WITH EACH OTHER FROM THE BEGINNING.
THE STRUGGLE COMES TO ITS EPIC CONCLUSION AT THE END OF THE AGE.
Jacob and Esau were two brothers. They became two nations. They have been wrestling with each other for approximately 4,000 years. Apparently this wrestling will stop. It will end with the return of Messiah.
Jacob and Esau grew up together, sons of Isaac and Rebeccah. The two were quite different in character. Jacob was a nurturing, person, a man of the flocks. In his early life he manifested the character embodied in the name, 'Jacob', which means 'heel grasper', 'trickster', or 'supplanter'. Nevertheless Jacob's place was at the homestead and he immersed himself in the faith of his fathers. Esau was different. He was a hunter and a wild man. He was a free-ranging man and had little time for the home and for the God of Abraham and Isaac. Esau took a foreign wife and worshipped foreign gods bringing his parents and his family much grief.
Jacob had stolen Esau's birthright. He also tricked his brother out of his blessing. When Esau realized the full implication of what had happened he went to his father weeping. Esau asked if there was anything left for him.
Well there was. And this is the big story that has been all but forgotten by Bible teachers today. Isaac gave his eldest son a leftover blessing. And it has huge inplications for the Judeo-Christian peoples as they come into the arena of the endtime. Isaac pronounced that Esau would eventually become restless. Eventually the time would come when Esau's children would rise up against the peaceful rule of the nurturing children of Jacob. Esau would break loose of civilized constraints. He would cast Jacob's yoke (of peaceful submission) from off his neck.
Dear saints, this is an extemely significant prophecy. God is telling us what will happen in the latter days. As we look all around us in our society and in the popular culture today we realize that this is already starting to happen. There is a wild and angry culture of godlessness abroad. And it is now expanding and beginning to gain the upper hand. Is this the resurgent fleshly nature of Esau at work as we approach the end of this age?
The resurgence of the Edomites in the end-time is an untold story.
We should not be surprised or unduly alarmed about all this.
It actually provides the background for the Bozrah deliverance.
God said that Esau would rise up. And so we must face up to it.
Here is the scriptural account of Isaac's blessing over his eldest son Esau.
GENESIS 27
39 Then Isaac his father answered and said to him:
"Behold, your dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth,
And of the dew of heaven from above.
40 By your sword you shall live,
And you shall serve your brother;
And it shall come to pass, when you become restless,
That you shall break his yoke from your neck."
-Gen.27:39-40
The implication of this prophecy is that Esau will be greatly blessed in riches and blessings. But that eventually he will run wild. The wild and brutish sons of Esau, the Edomites, have not disppeared into history. They must still be here with us and alongside us if God is going to deal with them decisively at Bozrah. The children of Esau will emerge into history in a big way. So much so that Messiah has to come to a place the Bible calls Bozrah and deal with the Edomites decisively as history comes to its climax. This was clearly prophesied by the propohet Isaiah in that awesome passage of scripture, Isaiah 63.
The Edomites were always an untamed, predacious, and godless race of people. The prophecy in Esau's blessing suggests that the children of Esau will erupt into history. They will break free of constraint as this age comes to its tumultuous and climactic conclusion. King David also alluded to this casting loose of the bonds of submission to God's rulership. He tells us about it in the song he wote in Psalm 2. The prophet Daniel, in Daniel 11:41 confirms this as well. He indicates that Edom, the children of Esau, will even escape the control of the coming Antichrist.
THE END-TIME DRAMA, WRATH AND DELIVERANCE, AT BOZRAH.
One important aspect of the Second Coming of Christ is the arrival of Messiah at a place identified in the Old Testament as Bozrah. This is a place in the sphere of Edom, the children of Esau. The name Bozrah means "sheepfold" and this along with its Edomite connection provides the reason for the return of Messiah to Bozrah. Messiah is coming in wrath on His enemies and deliverance of His Elect people. Bible students are beginning to discuss the implications of this Bible prophecy. Isaiah and Micah both prophesy that the coming Messiah is coming to judge the wicked and deliver His covenant people at a place or places identified prophetically as Bozrah.
The prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 63 shows the returning Messiah in graphic prophetic poetry. He is trampling His enemies on the Day of Judgement. The place of this divine wrath is out at at Bozrah which was the pastoral territory of Esau's sheepfolds. Apparently a protectorate of Edom known as Bozrah will be a place of God's judgement at the end of the age. The returning Messiah will punish the wicked there. It will be similar to the sort of divine Messianic judgement Zechariah has prophesied will be carried out against the armies of the nations threatening Jerusalem from the Valley of Armageddon.
But the Bozrah scriptures tell more than just a story of divine wrath on God's enemies. Out at Bozrah there will also be a dramatic breakout. The returning Messiah will deliver His covenant people from incarceration by Esau. Apparently they will be penned up at a place or places identified prophetically as Bozrah. The prophet in Micah 2:12-13 identifies the coming Messiah as "the Breaker". When He returns He acts in mercy and deliverance. The Shepherd of Israel breaks His people out of Esau's sheepfold.
Bozrah is apparently a place of exile. Bible students are not constrained to believe that Bozrah at the end of days has to necessarily be located in the same geographical area of the ruins of ancient city of Bozrah southeast of the Dead Sea. From the apocalyptic nature of the Bozrah passages in Isaiah 63 and Micah 2 it seems clear that the place will appear on some map in the latter days. But just where is a subject for speculation. The Bozrah Isaiah and Micah saw will certainly be controlled by the Edomites of the Endtimes. The same wild hustling children of Esau will be on the scene and giving the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob grief just as they did in former times.
Isaiah sees the returning Messiah dealing with them. He will crush them in a military sort of way as described in Isaiah 63. The prophet Micah picks up the dramatic rescue element to the Bozrah story. He shows Messiah in His deliverance role. He has allowed His remnant covenant people to be penned up in Esau's sheepfold. He has done this for their protection and their nurturing. (See the article on 'The Woman and the Dragon of Revelation 12.
Messiah is no absentee God. Here at the end of the age we see Him returning to those of His people who are in exile under Edomite dominion at Bozrah. The dawn of a new day is approaching. The returning Christ/Messiah enters the sheepfold as "the Breaker". His sheep are pressing in all around Him. He then makes His way to the wall of the sheepfold and breaks open a Way or a gate. For a short moment the Messiah as the Breaker is the Door of the sheepfold. He breaks His people out of Esau's enclosure in the same manner as a shepherd opens a stone sheepfold at dawn. Then He leads his sheep out into a new day. These are the pastoral elements to the story of the magnificent Bozrah deliverance. The picture is very clear in the Hebrew poetry. It is a glorious element of the Second Coming of Christ as Messiah and as 'The Breaker'.
Here below is the scripture. But this scripture is in the Old Testament. So its prophetic significance is missed. It is rarely mentioned by today's teachers of Bible prophecy.
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Micah 2
Hebrew Names Version of World English Bible
12. I will surely assemble, Ya`akov, all of you;
I will surely gather the remnant of Yisra'el;
I will put them together as the sheep of Botzrah,
As a flock in the midst of their pasture;
They will throng with people.
13. He who breaks open the way goes up before them.
They break through the gate, and go out.
And their king passes on before them,
With the LORD at their head."
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Micah 2
King James Version
12. I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee;
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah,
As the flock in the midst of their fold:
they shall make great noise
by reason of the multitude of men.
13. The breaker is come up before them:
they have broken up,
and have passed through the gate,
and are gone out by it:
and their king shall pass before them,
and the LORD on the head of them.
-Mic. 2:12-13 KJV
The image above shows a stone sheepfold of the type seen in biblical times. Here the sheep would be confined by their shepherd during the hours of darkness in a place of protection. As the dawn approached the shepherd would come into the sheepfold among His sheep. They would gather around the shepherd as he prepared to open a way for them to be delivered from the stone enclosure. As he opened a way out for them they would crowd up alongside him pushing against the gateway with a lot of force. This is the same picture spoken of by Matthew in that difficult and problematic verse in Matthew 11:12.
"The Kingdom of God suffers (allows) violence
and the violent (are pressing in to) take it by force." (Mat.11:12)
When the breakthrough came the whole flock would pour out of the sheepfold through the breach together with the Messiah as "the Breaker" going before them. They would follow on the heels
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