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I just refer to the scripture in Obadiah because there are
literally five words there—“the kingdom shall be Jehovah’s”. It
is a book that deals with Jacob and Esau especially, a very
short, abrupt book. If you follow the history of those two men
there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. Jacob was not always
right, but characteristically he was right, yet there was a lot of
to-ing and fro-ing, a lot of history, and our localities have a lot
of history too, periods when things seem to go one way, then
another; personalities arise in localities and influence them;
the personnel change, localities change, and sometimes
tensions arise, do they not, between the personnel? History is
made; sometimes Jacob seems to be ascendant and
sometimes Esau seems to be ascendant, and there is
a lot of heart-searching. Sometimes, alas—I hope it is not
often so—there may be jealousies arising and envy; we are
not beyond these things. It all finishes up in this final brief
word—
“the kingdom shall be Jehovah’s”. I have often enjoyed this
scripture. You think of all the tests, all the sorrows, all the
assembly sorrows that a locality may go through, all that has
made up its history, all the strains, the problems they have
had, the tears that have been shed, and how maybe
somebody has seemed to be ascendant, then the thing
changed, and so on.
It is a great help if we can hold on to this idea—“the kingdom
shall be Jehovah’s”. It is not Jacob’s, and certainly it is not
Esau’s; it is going to be Jehovah’s. I think it helps us if we can
grasp this; it helps us in the working out of our local exercises,
dear brethren, and maybe our wider exercises too, to cling to,
and understand, this wonderful fact that “the kingdom shall be
Jehovah’s”. It will not be yours and it will not be mine. Is that
not great? It is going to be Jehovah’s, and it is going to be as
He wishes; not as I wish, but as He wishes. It seems to be a
kind of summation this, to the book, concerning all the history,
the way the battle has raged.