SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - BOZRAH DELIVERANCE 2003

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Going into Exile at Bozrah. Image by acclaimed Australian photographer Peter Walton. Click on the image above to go to the web-page article.

The Bozrah deliverance is truly extraordinary. It is the climax of a 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. This is the Day of the Lord and it follows immediately after the final wrap-up Day of Atonement. After the judgement of the wicked and the deliverance of the Elect Messiah will judge the nations. Then He will establish up His Millennial Kingdom. The details of these events at Bozrah 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'. Bozrah was a pastoral city of Edom east of the Dead Sea. The Edomite sovereignty over Bozrah is 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 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.

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.

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."

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)

This detailed picture of the deliverance of the elect by Messiah (and not the church) at the second advent is given to us in Micah chapter 2. This drama is laid out for us quite clearly and in detail. Note well that it is the Second Coming of Christ which brings the breakthrough here. He and He alone is "the Breaker". No churchman will get Messiah's glory here even if he claims some super-anointed status in the charismatic "five-fold ministry" and pretends to be up to the task of bringing in the Kingdom Now. Neither today's "apostolic/prophetic", or the Papal/Jesuit Catholic leaderships cannot fit the bill here. Nor can today's political Puritan leaders or political Ecumenical leaders bring in the final breakthrough. None of these religious champions can lay claim to be our Deliverer. Jesus Christ/Yeshua Hamashiach is our Saviour and our Redeemer. He is also our future Deliverer. The scriptures declare unequivocally that there is one and only one intermediary between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

1 TIMOTHY 2
5 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus;
6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, ...."

The Bozrah deliverance is a thrilling element of the Second Coming of Christ. He is the Anointed One and our coming Messiah. The Micah 2 scripture shows the connection of the Second Coming of Christ to Bozrah, (an Edomite domain), very well. We also see The Bozrah deliverance laid out for us in spectacular fashion in Isaiah 63. This is the judgement side to the Second Coming of Christ. God is obviously telling us something here in these Bozrah scriptures. Each of them clearly relate to the return of Messiah.

Why has this crucial information regarding the deliverance of God's elect from Edomite incarceration at the end of the age been omitted from teachings on end-time themes? Is this not some exceedingly good and encouraging news?
Why haven't we heard this before?

The Old Testament is absolutely full of inspiring Millennial poetry. God's holy Word is in concert together bringing us different elements of the same message of the Second Coming of Christ. There will be a great turnaround at the end of the age. This is exceedingly good news. It is dramatic and inspiring beyond measure. Yet many Christians have not heard this before. Why might this be?

Well it seems that Christian leaders today prefer to keep the emphasis on "The Church". They are the "New Testament people". These dark dramas of the end-time are "for the Jews". This is "Jacob's trouble". It will be trouble for the Jews and the Jews only we have been told. But is this entirely true?

Here are the facts of holy scripture. God will surely deliver His hard pressed people from out of captivity at the end of this age. He will come in the clouds and this is well known by evangelicals today in the rapture context. They also know that He will also deliver our Jewish brethren when He comes at the Mount of Olives. When Jesus returns He will deliver the Jewish nation from the end-time siege by the surrounding nations at Jerusalem. - Zech.12:7-13:1 Christians know about Armageddon. Is this all there is to the Second Coming of Christ? Is there more?

What Christians do not know is that at His Second Coming Christ will also come in vengeance upon His enemies and He will deliver His saints at a place, (or places), known as Bozrah. All of this is part and parcel of the Resurrection-Rapture seen at the end of the age.

The glorious Millennium of Messiah will follow this end-time deliverance precisely as the scriptures have laid out for us.

1 "Even the wilderness will rejoice in those days.
The desert will blossom with flowers.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon.
There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those who are afraid,
"Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you." -Isa 35:1-4

Here is what the scriptures are telling us. The Edomites, it seems, are still with us. They are all around us; fellow citizens in our nations. Indeed they are very prominent players at the end of the age. Even the Antichrist will not conquer them or rule over them during the regime of the 666 system. (Dan. 11:41) Apparently he will not even bother to mess with them during the Great Tribulation, those final 3.5 years of this age. He will allow them to do what Edomites do. Esau will rise up in the endtime and achieve mastery over his brother Jacob just as Isaac prophesied. This is the hidden information being kept from the saints.

The "cloaking" of this information is probably done with good intentions. It has been hidden from the Church at large and it has been kept from them for their own good. The western Church is still immature. We are still a carnal and potentially violent people). According to Micah God will allow the exile and incarceration of His covenant people Jacob.

Is this all bad? Just what will be happening during the Tribulation period out at the sheepfolds of Bozrah? Is it possible that the Bozrah exile will not just be an incarceration story? Might the Bozrah enclosure also provide some degree of shelter and even nurturing or spiritual nourishment for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the end-time? Is Bozrah in fact a place of relative safety, "away from the face of the dragon"?

To pick up the story we shall now go to the apocalypse of John. In the saga of 'the woman of Revelation 12' we see the story of the flight of the woman, (a picture of God's covenant people), "away from the face of the dragon". She is in exile. And she is there for two purposes. She is there to be protected. And she is there to be nurtured. This must mean a spiritual nurturing or nourishment. John in this prophecy of the woman who takes flight on the wings of an eagle to a place of nurturing is clearly telling us a story of the end-time that parallels the story of the exile of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in end-time Bozrah. Bozrah is the place, (or places), where Jacob can be nurtured in the things of God. This is happening during the last half of the 70th week, and during the time of the Great Tribulation.

The Bozrah story apparently involves a gathering of the Elect. The covenant people of God are being gathered from out of the Judeo-Christian people and the nations during the latter half of the 70th week. Jacob is wrestling with God once again, just as he did back in the times of the patriachs.

The Bozrah story of the end-time is a dynamic yet untold story. It is a story of incarceration, nurturing, and a glorious deliverance at the end. It is played out on earth before angels and men during the final 3.5 years of this age. See the article on 'The Woman of Revelation 12' This would be during during the time of "Jacob's trouble". (Jer.30:7) Jeremiah clearly tells us that he will be saved out of it.

The Bozrah deliverance, as we can see, is too awesome a story for our modern church and our carnal Christian people to handle. Out of the crucible of Bozrah the silver (of redemption) and the gold of glory will be refined. God will refine His people "in the furnace of affliction/tribulation". (Isa.48:10) In the following verse He tells us why it must be this way. It is to bring God's people into a place of holiness where they will no longer pollute God's Holy Name.

Even Moses told the covenant people of God that this would happen to them. He said quite clearly that they would go into tribulation in the latter days.

DEUTERONOMY 4
29 .....if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) He will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them."

ZECHARIAH 13
13:9 And I will bring the third part through the fire,
and will refine them as silver is refined,
and will try them as gold is tried:
they shall call on my name,
and I will hear them:
I will say, It is my people:
and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

The very same story of a climactic deliverance and a break-out from a sheepfold is told in the constellations of the stars. The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and here His glory is in deliverance. The magnificent story is told in the constellation of the 'Lesser Sheepfold' or the 'Little Dipper'. Click on the image to the right to go to the article on the "Lesser Sheepfold" which outlines the connection of the Lesser Sheepfold to the story of the Bozrah deliverance.

Yes, the Bozrah story will be told eventually. Because it is an important spiritual place in which God will protect, preserve, refine, and nurture His people in the end-time drama.

Where will end-time Bozrah be located? Right now we do not know where Bozrah might be geographically. It may be many places. Or it may be one place. It may be one central dumping ground for Judeo-Christian troublemakers.

Oh yes, Bozrah is not just "past history". Nor is it just an archeological dig on a ruin of an ancient pastoral city of Esau southeast of the Dead Sea. For those who are there at this appointed plasce in the latter days this will be the place the prophets Isiah and Micah spoke about. Bozrah will be a very real place under the control of modern day Edomites. It may well turn out to be a geo-political area far from the promised land. It may be a modern geo-political area out at the ends of the earth. The covenant people of God may look up in those days to find themselves in the place the Old Testament prophets spoke of over 2700 years ago.

And there, in that place they will find their God. They will find Him

"...as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land." (Isa.32:2)

THE FLIGHT TO BOZRAH
AND THE BOZRAH EXILE

The prophet Micah in Mic. 2:12-13 brings us 'the rest of the story'. He tells us where God's covenant people are fleeing to in this epic end time drama. God says He will gather all His covenant people at a secret place the Bible identifies as 'Bozrah'. This is the Bozrah Exile. This is a prophecy that few Bible teachers feel free to speak about. And so this redemptive and inspiring story of the latter days still remains untold.

The Bozrah exile embodies a magnificent promise. Many of God's covenant people will be given a partial reprieve from the trials at the end of this age. They will be given the means to fly off to a place away from the face of the dragon. There at a mysterious place the Bible calls "Bozrah" they will be sheltered, fed, and nurtured for the final 3.5 years of this age. The Bible tells us that they will be sequestered there during the entire period of Jacob's Trouble or the Great Tribulation. The time period of this Bozrah exile, during which 'the woman' of Revelation 12 is nurtured is very precisely stated in Holy Scripture. To help ensure there is not any confusion about this, God has seen fit to state the time period for us twice in Revelation 12 using two different time units. If He took that extra effort to tell us twice what He intends to do at the end of the age then shouldn't we pay attention? God forbid that we continue to push this telling scripture aside. Nor should we try to pretend that it is "for the Jews", or "not for us", or "not important".
It is important!

In Revelation 12:6 we are told that 'the woman' is given the wings of a great eagle and flown off to a place of safety where she can be nurtured for 1260 days. Eight verses late, in Revelation 12:14, we are given the very same information. The message is restated again. But this time it is given in terms of different time units. The time period for the exile of the woman is given in this verse as a "time, times, and half a time", or a period of three and a half years.

This is our "Rosetta stone" for prophetic time. It tells us in no uncertain terms what a 'year' means when the Ancient of Days dispenses His holy time to us in prophecies that come down to us from the courts of heaven. This is a clincher for Bible prophecy students as they co-relate the prophecies in Daniel and in the Book of Revelation. It "locks in" the time period of the latter half of the 70th Week of Daniel. The time period is given in two time units, those being days and biblical years. 1260 divided by 3.5 = 360. So the number of days in a biblical or prophetic year when a timed prophecy is issued from the courts of heaven is no longer in question. It is 360 days.

God's covenant people in the end-time drama are showcased in scripture in several ways.
Jesus calls them 'the Elect' (singular) in the Olivet Discourse.
In Genesis and in Revelation 12 we also see them pictured as 'the woman'. They are also called the Commonwealth of Israel in Ephesians 2:12-13. They are called 'Jacob' in Micah 2:12-13. The prophet Micah states that they will be gathered in exile "as the sheep of Bozrah". (Mic. 12:12-13)
Why is this flight to Bozrah necessary?

The Apostle John gives us the reason.
The 'woman'/Israel/the Church is being pursued by the dragon.
She is given the wings of a great eagle.
And so she flees to pre-ordained a place of safety. (Rev.12:6)

There she will be protected and spiritually nourished. (Rev.12:6 & 12:14)
This exile lasts for a period of three and a half biblical years. (Rev.12:14)
The time is also given as 1260 days. (Rev.12:6)
This is the same time period of 'Jacob's trouble'.

Jeremiah 30
7. "Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it.
And it is the time of Jacob's trouble,
But he shall be saved out of it.

How did God's people get into this jam?
We know that the God of Israel is not capricious but righteous in all that He allows to happen.
Apparently 'the woman' before coming into her glory has been wanton, even as Gomer.
Moses gave a warning to God's people about this.
He told of the misbehavior of His people in the "latter days".
Moses prophesied that this waywardness in Jacob would come to some sort of a climactic head.
So did Jesus. (John 5:43)
God's covenant people have an humanistic inclination to take up with worldly lovers.
Here we see 'the woman' in her final dalliance.
It will be her final and cataclysmic mistake.
She has made covenant with a false messiah.
She will give him her land and her sovereign power.
In the manner of Esau she has sold her birthright for a mess of pottage.
Of course there are consequences to this.
She is now in a world of trouble.

But, all is not lost.
Something else of great wonder is happening.
And it is happening right inside the Tribulation period.
A great drama is unfolding during last half of the last seven years of this age.
The woman is in travail and in pain to be delivered.
She is also being being threatened by the dragon empowering the 666 Antichrist.

Let us pause to take in the big picture here.
The Head of the Manchild has already been born.
He has already been resurrected to glory.
Jesus was the firstfruits from the dead. (1Cor. 15:20)
He rose from the dead and ascended to His Father nearly 2,000 years ago.
The Body of the Manchild is next to be born.
And all who are Christ's will be born into the glory as well. (1Cor. 15:23)
The Manchild is sacrificed in the drama of the 5th seal. (Rev.6:9-11)
Here the 'final witness' of the saints is brought before the courts of heaven.
John sees this great company gathering before the throne of God. (Rev. 12:5)
When it is complete God the Father will give the Word to wrap things up. (Rev. 16:1)

After the 5th seal and the 'final witness' of the saints comes the 6th seal. (Rev.6:12-13)
The heavens open and the sign of the Son of Man is seen in heaven. (Mat.24:30)
And the returning Messiah goes out to judge and to plead with the nations.
Then comes the final Day of Reckoning, the final 'Day of Atonement'. Then the great harvest of the end time is reaped. (Rev.14:14-20)

Meanwhile, the woman of Revelation 12 is in great travail as she is being delivered. (Rev.12:1-2)
She has been given the wings of a great eagle.
Can we guess which nation might be involved here?
She flees into the wilderness away from the face of the dragon. (Rev.12:6)
God, once again, is showing His great mercy in deliverance.
And a certain country is aiding her as she flies from the face of the Dragon.
She has taken the wings of a great eagle.
She is on her way to a place of safety and nurturing.

That final gathering place is identified in Micah 2:12-13 with the name 'Bozrah'.
Bozrah means 'sheepfold'. And this is our first major clue.
In former times Bozrah was a pastoral city of Edom.
It belonged to the children of Esau .
And that is our other clue.

THE PLACE OF THE EXILE IS GIVEN IN MICAH 2:12-13 AS BOZRAH.
IT IS NOT PETRA. PETRA WOULD NOT ACCOMODATE MORE THAN 1,000 PEOPLE.
FOR THOSE FLEEING JERUSALEM A REFUGE THERE WOULD BE A FATAL CHOICE.
WITH TODAY'S METHODS OF WARFARE PETRA WOULD BE A DEATH TRAP.

Why the switch from Bozrah to Petra? Why hide the Bozrah scriptures with a fable about Israel in the Tribulation finding shelter in Petra? Petra has never been able to accommodate more than 1,000 people. Clearly it is not big enough to shelter and supply food and other supplies for a large number of people for the three and a half years.

Petra is an unlikely, even impossible place, for an exile of a population from Judah and Jerusalem. And it certainly wouldn't accomodate a wider company of Christian believers in exile that may number in the tens or even hundreds of millions. And if we are considering a refuge for Israel in the Armageddon siege then we need to be brought up to date. Yes, in past times Petra was a retreat. But in these days of modern warfare Israel would never lead their people to Petra in Jordan for shelter. That deep gorge back in the days of the Edomite marauders was a good hide-out for defenders with swords and bows and arrors. The deep and narrow entrance into the rock city was easily defended. But nowadays Petra would never qualify as a retreat. To put a population in there would seal their doom. Petra would be a deathtrap.

And why? Because one bomb down in that deep gorge would be the end of all the people in there. And with a chemical bomb the gas would just sit in the gorge. It would kill the whole population. In the modern era of napalm bombs a retreat to Petra would be suicidal. The gorge would soon become a fiery furnace. The supposed "refuge" would soon be full of charred corpses. No one would survive.

So what is going on here? Why was the Bozrah story we see in Isaiah 63 and Micah 2:12-13 "cloaked" by this unscriptural and fanciful "flight to Petra" story? Why did this Petra story get floated? We hear a lot about Petra. But precious little about Bozrah. Why the misinformation? And what is the real agenda here? That, dear saints, is what we shall be looking into in this article.

BOZRAH, NOT PETRA.
THE REAL STORY IS THE FLIGHT OF THE WOMAN, GOD'S ELECT, TO A PLACE OF EXILE AND NURTURING DURING THE TRIBULATION. THE BIBLE CALLS IT BOZRAH AND IT IS PROBABLY A FARAWAY PLACE. THAT STORY IS BEING SWITCHED OUT IN EXCHANGE FOR A FALSE STORY ABOUT A SUPPOSED ESCAPE TO PETRA BY THE POPULATION OF ISRAEL.

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 Bozrah Deliverance prophecy is hidden. It is "cloaked" by the powers that be. A Bozrah deliverance presupposes a Bozrah exile. We are looking here at an incarceration of God's covenant people in the last 3.5 years of the age. This may be cross-referenced by John the Beloved as the flight of the woman of Revelation 12. This is very disturbing to some Christian believers. The rulers are well aware of past Church history. They probably fear that this information, (should it get out), may trigger societal disruptions by carnal Christians. And so at this point in time the entire Bozrah drama is under a religious smokescreen involving a so-called flight of latter day Judah in Israel to a supposed place of refuge in Petra. And so the real story of the Bozrah Exile is still an untold story.

Here below is the scripture in Micah that tells of the Bozrah exile and the Bozrah deliverance. This scripture is in the Old Testament. So its prophetic significance for the Church in the end time drama is missed. For reasons of political correctness thjis passage in Micah 2:12-13 is not mentioned by today's teachers of Bible prophecy.

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."

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.

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 of the Shepherd as he led them out to find pasture. This is the magnificent pastoral picture of the "manchild company" breaking forth into holy history at the end of the age. This will change the destiny of heaven and earth. The stars and angelic rulerships fall. And here on earth Messiah brings in His Millennial Kingdom. He will minister and rule for a thousand years.

This detailed picture of the deliverance of the elect by Messiah (and not the church) at the second advent is given to us in Micah chapter 2. This drama of the Bozrah Exile and Bozrah deliverance is laid out for us quite clearly and in detail.

The Bozrah deliverance is a thrilling element of the Second Coming of Christ. He is the Anointed One and our coming Messiah. The Micah 2 scripture shows the connection of the Second Coming of Christ to Bozrah, (an Edomite domain), very well. We also see The Bozrah deliverance laid out for us in spectacular fashion in Isaiah 63. This is the judgement side to the Second Coming of Christ. God is obviously telling us something here in these Bozrah scriptures. Each of them clearly relate to the return of Messiah.

BOZRAH, NOT PETRA.
THE "FLIGHT TO PETRA" IS BASED ON HUMAN SPECULATION.
THERE ARE NO REFERENCES TO PETRA IN THE BIBLE.
BUT THERE ARE MANY BOZRAH SCRIPTURES.

The short answer is this.
There are none!

THE SPLITTING OF THE MOUNT OF OLIVES AT THE SECOND COMING,
AND THE FLIGHT OF THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM TO AZAL

Well there will certainly be an epic earthquake that splits the Mount of Olives. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem will flee. But where will they flee to?
Are they really going to be Petra?

This "flight to Petra" notion is embedded in the evangelical family. Books have been written on it. And Biblical Christians bring it up quite often. It is brought up in relation to the trials of the Jewish people in Jerusalem at the end of the age and their flight out of the city of Jerusalem. But where did this idea of a "flight to Petra" in Jordan come from?

The scripture passage they present to support this is in Zechariah 14.

ZECHARIAH 14
1 Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
And your spoil will be divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem;
The city shall be taken,
The houses rifled,
And the women ravished.
Half of the city shall go into captivity,
But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then the Lord will go forth And fight against those nations,
As He fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives,
Which faces Jerusalem on the east.
And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two,
From east to west,
Making a very large valley;
Half of the mountain shall move toward the north
And half of it toward the south.

5 Then you shall flee through My mountain valley,
For the mountain valley shall reach to Azal.
Yes, you shall flee As you fled from the earthquake
In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

Thus the Lord my God will come,
And all the saints with You.*

THE ESCAPE FROM THE EARTHQUAKE BY THE INHABITANTS OF JERUSALEM.
WHEN THE MOUNT OF OLIVES IS SPLIT THEY EVACUATE TO NEARBY AZAL.

In this prophecy all the prophecies involving Edom there is no mention at all of the city of Petra.
And there is no mention of Petra in any other part of the Bible for that matter.
But here is a clear message of a flight out of Jerusalem that will end up in a nearby city.
That city is not way down in Jordan. It is in fact quite close to Jerusalem.
It is the city of Azal.

This "flight to Azal" happens at the very end of the age at the second coming of Christ.
The "flight to Azal" we see in the passage above is a short distance evacuation of Jerusalem.
The "flight to Azal" involves flight from an earthquake.
It occurs over a matter of hours and days.
It is not a prolonged exile over a period of years.
The passage gives no mention of a prolonged Tribulation refuge way down in Petra in Jordan.
This "flight to Azal" will not satisfy the prophecy of the 'flight of the woman' in Rev. 12:6 & 12:14.
Nor will not satisfy the scripture of the Bozrah exile and the Bozrah deliverance we see in Micah 2:12-13.

The so called "flight to Petra" is a hoax. It is a doctrine without any scriptural foundation whatsoever.
The 'Azal evacuation' scripture in Zechariah has been used to build up this Petra fable.
Then this "flight to Petra" and "refuge in Petra" fantasy is used in a "cover up". >br> The Petra refuge fable becomes a "cover story" for the real and solid prophecy of the Bozrah Exile.
Because we know that God will be gathering all And we know that Messiah will be paying a visit to Bozrah at His Second Coming. (Isa. 63)

A RELIGIOUS SMOKESCREEN OVER THE BOZRAH EXILE.
AND A "CLOAKING" OF THE BOZRAH DELIVERANCE.

The Bozrah exile is a story of a rescue to a place of sanctuary during the great Tribulation is it not? The Bozrah deliverance one of the most exciting and inspiring passages in the Bible. The Bozrah drama has obviously been put under a religious smokescreen by the religious powers. Why? Isn't the Bozrah story some exceedingly good and encouraging news?
So why haven't we heard this before?

Well it seems that when it comes to the question of the Great Tribulation Christian Bible teachers do not want to have to tell the Church they might be involved in any sort of exile. Even if it is outlined in the Bible in Micah 2:12-13 and in Revelation 12:6 and 12:14 they will studiously omit any reference to it as an end time scripture involving the Church. These dramas of the end-time, according to them, are are not for the Church. They are "for the Jews". They tell us that this Great Tribulation, is the time of "Jacob's trouble". Therefore, according to them, the Great Tribulation will be a time of trial and tribulation for the Jews and the Jews only.

But is this true?
Is there any scriptural proof that the Church will not be here during the 70th Week?

Bible teachers know that the returning Messiah will deliver the inhabitants of Jerusalem when He comes back and His feet touch the Mount of Olives. When Jesus returns The Jewish nation and Jerusalem will be delivered from the end-time siege by the surrounding nations at Armageddon. - Zech.12:7-13:1 Christians know all about the deliverance of Israel at the Battle of Armageddon. But is this all there is to the Second Coming of Christ? Just what will the returning Christ be doing when He comes to Bozrah?

What Christians do not know is that at His Second Coming Christ will come in vengeance bringing wrath upon His enemies at Bozrah. (Isa.63) He will also deliver His saints at the same place, (or places), named in scripture as Bozrah. This is the awesome and magnificent Bozrah Deliverance.

Bozrah means "sheepfold". And it is a place under the end time sovereignty of Edom. These are two very valuable clues to the Bozrah story as it relates to the climax of this age. Bozrah is part and parcel of the end time drama. The exile to sanctuary in Bozrah and these deliverance actions by Messiah at Bozrah have not been taught by Bible prophecy teachers. But they are all part of the mosaic of this magnificent return of Messiah. Because He is coming back! And He will deliver and then glorify all His covenant people both in Israel and out in the nations. All this drama and adventure will be capped off at the Resurrection-Rapture at the end of the age.

The "cloaking" of this information about the Bozrah Exile is probably done with good intentions. It has been hidden from the Church at large. And it has been kept from them for their own good. The western Church is still immature. Even we as evangelicals are still a carnal, manipulative, and potentially violent people. So we probably did not deserve to know this Bozrah story.

But with this prophecy we are given hope. We don't need to be angry and violent. God has everything under control, even in the midst of Great Tribulation. According to Micah and the Apostle John our God will be merciful. He will nurture and feed His people during the Great Tribulation. He will take them a place of exile named Bozrah.

Bozrah has some connection to the Edomites we know. And the children of brother Esau will be in control. But if God says that the woman of Revelation 12 will be "nurtured" then some positive things will be going on. The remnant of all of the 12 tribes of Israel will be there. Micah says that all of Jacob will be gathered. (Micah 2:12-13). This will have to include the remnant of the lost 10 tribes.

And here is some more encouraging news. Just as in that former seven year famine back in Egypt, there will be "a famine of the hearing of the Word of God". (Amos 8:11) God's people will be hungry for spiritual truth. And the house of Joseph will be feeding them just as our patriarch Joseph did in the former time. The House of Joseph will be there. And once again Joseph will be laying out a table for his brethren. And he will be revealing some mysteries, even in the midst of tears. All this will happen in the Bozrah Exile.

So is this Bozrah prophecy all bad? Just what will be happening during the Tribulation period out at the sheepfolds of Bozrah?

Quite clearly the Bozrah exile will not just be an incarceration story. Apparently the Bozrah enclosure also provide some degree of shelter and even nurturing or spiritual nourishment for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the end-time. Bozrah is in fact a place of relative safety.

THE FLIGHT TO BOZRAH AND THE GATHERING OF ALL OF JACOB IN MICAH 2:12-13.
AND THE FLIGHT OF THE WOMAN OF REVELATION 12:8 & 12:14.
THEY ARE ONE AND THE SAME.

Why is the woman in exile for three and a half years?
As we study the scripture passage in Revelation 12 we see that she is there for two purposes.

1. She is there to be protected. And
2. she is there to be nurtured.

This must mean a spiritual nurturing or nourishment. She will be physically cared for too it seems. This prophecy of the woman who takes flight on the wings of an eagle to a place of nurturing for the exact time period of the Great Tribulation is clearly telling us a very important part of the story of the end-time. It parallels the story of the exile of the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the end-time at Bozrah. Bozrah is the place, (or places), where Jacob can be nurtured in the things of God. This will be happening during the last half of the 70th week, and during the time of the Great Tribulation.

The Bozrah story cannot be hidden forever. It will be told eventually. Bozrah is an important spiritual place in which God will protect, preserve, refine, and nurture His people in the end-time drama.

Where will end-time Bozrah be located? Right now we do not know where Bozrah might be geographically. It may be many places. Or it may be one place. It may be one central dumping ground for Judeo-Christian troublemakers in the latter days.

Oh yes, the Bozrah scriptures do not just refer to "past history". Nor is Bozrah just an archeological dig on a ruin of an ancient pastoral city of Esau southeast of the Dead Sea. For those who are there at this appointed plasce in the latter days this will be the place the prophets Isiah and Micah spoke about. Bozrah will be a very real place under the control of modern day Edomites. It may well turn out to be a geo-political area far from the promised land. It may be a modern geo-political area out at the ends of the earth. The covenant people of God may look up in those days to find themselves in the place the Old Testament prophets spoke of over 2700 years ago.

And there, in that place they will find their God. They will find Him

"...as rivers of water in a dry place,
as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land." (Isa.32:2)

And that is where Messiah,
Will find them at the end.
A day of wrath, deliverance;
"The Breaker" comes to rend,

He comes to make the breakthrough,
His sheep are pressing in;
He leads them out, they follow Him,
And on 'that Day' they win!

SUMMARY
The Second Coming of Christ is the most magnificent event in history. It has been a long time in coming but Jesus did promise that He would return. This event is up there in the future somewhere. It may be close. It is an event with many aspects to it. Not surprisingly there is more to the story than what we have been told. He comes in the clouds yes, and every eye shall see Him. And He also returns at the Mount of Olives splitting the mountain in two and releasing the Jerusalem aquifer. -Ezek.47 He also brings His judgement at the Valley of Jezreel at the Battle of Armageddon. But what we have not been told is that the Second Coming of Christ also comes at a place, (or places), identified spiritually for us in the holy scriptures as 'Bozrah'. What is the story here?

It would appear that we are being told of an event which appears to be a deliverance of epic proportions. A deliverance from what? And from whom? Here we shall have to dig into our Bibles. The scripture below is from Isaiah 63. Here in this scripture, and in another article we shall learn of this exciting future event in the unfolding of the end-time drama. We might term it 'The Bozrah Deliverance'.

---

ISAIAH 63

(The question:)

63:1 "Who is this who comes from Edom,
With dyed garments from Bozrah,
This One who is glorious in His apparel,
Traveling in the greatness of His strength?"

(The Messiah answers;)

"I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save."

(The covenant people enquire,)

63:2 "Why is Your apparel red,
And Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?"

(The Messiah answers)

"I have trodden the winepress alone,
And from the peoples no one was with Me.
For I have trodden them in My anger,
And trampled them in My fury;

Their blood is sprinkled upon My garments,
And I have stained all My robes.

63:4 For the day of vengeance is in My heart,
And the year of My redeemed has come.

63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help,
And I wondered That there was no one to uphold;
Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me;
And My own fury, it sustained Me.

63:6 I have trodden down the peoples in My anger,
Made them drunk in My fury,
And brought down their strength to the earth."

(Prayer of the Remnant)

63:7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord
And the praises of the Lord,
According to all that the Lord has bestowed on us,
And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,
Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,
According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.

63:8 For He said,

"Surely they are My people,
Children who will not lie."

So He became their Saviour.

63:9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,
And the Angel of His Presence saved them;
In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;
And He bore them and carried them all the days of old.

63:10 But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit;
So He turned Himself against them as an enemy,
And He fought against them.

63:11 Then He remembered the days of old,
Moses and his people, saying:

"Where is He who brought them up out of the sea
With the shepherd of His flock?
Where is He who put His Holy Spirit within them,

63:12 Who led them by the right hand of Moses,
With His glorious arm,
Dividing the water before them
To make for Himself an everlasting name,

63:13 Who led them through the deep,
As a horse in the wilderness,
That they might not stumble?"

63:14 As a beast goes down into the valley,
And the Spirit of the Lord causes him to rest,
So You lead Your people,
To make Yourself a glorious name.

(A voice calls out from an estranged people
bringing an appeal to the Father,
and to the throne of God in the heavens,
in accordance with the covenant of Abraham)

63:15 "Look down from heaven,
And see from your habitation, holy and glorious,

Where are Your zeal and Your strength,

and yearning of your heart,
and your mercies toward me?

Are they restrained?

63:16 Doubtless you are our Father,
though Abraham was ignorant of us,
and Israel does not acknowledge us.

You, O Lord, are our Father,
Our Redeemer from Everlasting is your name."