The Sword of the Lord

Isaiah 34:5-6. “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of My curse, to judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidney of rams: for the Lord  hath a sacrifice in Bozra,, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.”

Idumea is Edom; Bozra (Bezer) a chief city in the north of Edom.  Petra, in the south of Edom, will be the place where Israel is protected from Antichrist during the Tribulation.  It would seem that Edom cooperates with Antichrist during the Tribulation period, and as a result it is singled out for the wrath of God during God’s destruction of the armies of Antichrist, which are vast.

As I read through this passage, I am reminded again of the great mercy and grace God showed His own people, Israel, all through the Old Testament as well as after the death and resurrection of Christ.  Over and over,  He pleaded with His people to turn to Him. There would even have been grace for the nations that will assemble under Antichrist if only they had turned from their evil against Israel and acknowledged Him as Lord.

There will come a time, however, when “every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jeus Christ is Lord.” (Phil. 2:10).