When God talked about leading the children of Israel into the land of promise, He said, “Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your transgression, since My name is in him. But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries” (Exodus 23:20–22).1 God will be an enemy to those who are enemies of His chosen people the Jews.
It would be interesting for us to ask the Jewish people, “Have we tried to help and assist you? Or have we been your enemies? Have we been your adversaries?” Today many groups would say, “No, we have tried to help the Jewish people.” We see America as a country that has been favorable to Israel, and a large population of Jewish people live in America today. But go back and look at the beginnings of this country that was founded on religious freedom and recognize that religious freedom was wonderful for Christians. However, we turned away shiploads of Jews that were being cast out of Spain and Portugal and refused to allow them entrance into our religious freedom. During WWII, the United States government turned away thousands of Jewish refugees, arguing that they could be German spies and posed a national threat. Yet many of these refugees were children. We have been their enemy and their adversary, and it is time to turn that around. Otherwise, we are facing some of the greatest potential for judgment that we could possibly believe.
The nations have turned God’s correction of Israel into something way beyond what God ever intended. But the day is coming when the nations will begin to give an account.
“For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head.
Because just as you drank on My holy mountain,
All the nations will drink continually.
They will drink and swallow
And become as if they had never existed.
But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape,
And it will be holy.
And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.
Then the house of Jacob will be a fire
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau will be as stubble.
And they will set them on fire and consume them,
So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,”
For the Lord has spoken. (Obadiah 1:15–18)
The house of Esau is that which God curses. And right now, let’s face it, we are positioned as those who have cursed the Jewish people, so God is positioned to have to curse us. When Isaac blessed Jacob, he prophesied, “May peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. … Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you” (Genesis 27:29). We must confess our sin and see this curse turned around. Who knows, if we repent with all our hearts, whether God would turn from the curse and leave a blessing (Joel 2:14).
1 All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995).