Ezekiel 35:13

"And ye have magnified yourself against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard it. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: when the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate. As thou didst rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee: thou shalt be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah."

"And have multiplied your words against me ..." (Ezekiel 35:13). The words that men speak have an importance far beyond what many suppose. Words are by no means unimportant or inconsequential. The Son of God Himself has warned us all that, "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:37).

"When the whole earth rejoiceth, I will make thee desolate ..." (Ezekiel 35:14). This gives the time when desolation shall come to Edom. It shall be when "the whole earth rejoiceth," a reference to the times of the New Covenant, the present dispensation of God's grace. The present state of the ancient land of Edom is an eloquent fulfillment of what is here foretold.

Any good encyclopedia, travel magazine, or travelers' guide will afford all the proof that is needed that the prophecies in this chapter against Edom have received the most literal fulfillment. Plumptre noted that:

"This land, once so rich in flocks and herds, so mighty in its rock-hewn cities, so extensive in its commercial activities, so renowned for the architectural splendor of its palaces, is now a desolated and deserted wilderness. Its whole population consists of three or four miserable tiny villages. No merchant would now dare to enter it; its highways are unused; its cities are in ruins."[11]

No ghost town of Arizona or California is any more forlorn or deserted than is Petra.

Feinberg has a statement which is true enough, but which is also the basis of a great deal of popular misunderstanding. He said:

"When a nation gives itself over to the perpetual hatred of Israel, then there is no other alternative than perpetual desolation from God. Nation after nation has experienced this in the past, and some have done so in modern times."[12]

This is true enough as long as one understands which Israel of God is meant. The only Israel God has in our generation is the spiritual body of Jesus Christ, his church; and it has no connection whatever with any racial group of people who ever lived on earth.

Our generation needs to get that fact in focus.

The old racial Israel lost their status when their official leaders cried, "Let him be crucified; we have no king but Caesar." Ever since that time, they have indeed had no king but Caesar; and this fact is the one overwhelmingly corroborated by history down to the present time.

The great name for Israel in the Old Testament is `the vine'; but, in time the old racial Israel became a bastard vine; but, in the fullness of time Jesus Christ the True Vine came into our world (John 15:1ff); and ever since that event, Christ and his followers have been the Only Israel of God.