Obadiah
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
I recently got into the sport of paddle. I don't know if you've heard about it. It's something like doubles, tennis, pickleball, squash, it all happens, all surrounded by four walls. I can play. I enjoy it. And so, of course, I recently entered a tournament. It was in Ras Al-Khaimah. I had a skilled partner with me from the church. We signed up for this competition on a Friday night, and there was a $1,000 prize for the winners.
It's possible that my partner and I discussed what we would do with the money if we won, and I definitely lay in bed and thought about what restaurant that I would go to if I won. We felt we had a chance. Really did. arrived. We sent each other videos through the morning, just little tactics, things that we were going to do. We decided how we would play, who would stand where, and what was going to happen. And then our first game arrived. And in those first two points, all was forgotten.
tactics disappeared immediately, my ability to return a ball just completely gone, my mind was blank, and I was, in all honesty, just left a completely hot and sweaty mess standing in this court looking at my South African friend, just shaking my head. It was absolute carnage. The meal I had dreamed about just drifted away, it was gone, as did my thoughts of maybe a new paddle racket, and I was just left standing there. Something I left out was that this was my third time ever playing the game. So with just two hours of game time under my belt, My pride so inflated that I thought I had a chance of winning.
What a fool. Friends, this is exactly what pride does. Makes us think that we are greater than we are. Pride makes us think we can do whatever we want without consequence. Pride leads us to wrong and foolish decisions. Our sense of right and wrong just completely blurred. We're left in a complete mess on our own. Pride makes us trust in our own strength, and pride can only lead to a fall.
Pride, its effects, the damage it causes, the futile foolishness and failure it produces are what I think we see in Obadiah today. have Obadiah in front of you now. We've heard it from Tim, wonderfully read. We come to the smallest book here in the Old Testament written by the oracle Obadiah. That's someone we don't know much about. We know his name. We cannot be completely certain about exactly who he is, yet he brings a report, we're told, from God here, a prophecy of what is to come, How God is going to deal with His people, with these people, the Edomites.
How they relate to God's chosen people, here called Jacob or Judah. You may know that these two nations, they're related. We read about their beginnings in Genesis 25, starting with just two brothers going all the way back to these guys. There was a man called Abraham who gave key promises for his people, promises to bless his people that would include an inheritance from the nations. Abraham had a son called Isaac who he took up the mountain.
God spared him. And then, well, we see Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. And of these two sons, the Lord says to Isaac's wife, Rebekah, two nations are in your womb. and two peoples from within you shall be divided. That's exactly what happens, for God said it. Esau's birthright goes to Jacob. Jacob is not perfect, but he does receive God's blessing. Enmity then comes between these two nations, these two brothers, and the generations pass, this ill-feeling grows, and they are bitter enemies.
Both then receive new names. Esau becomes Edom, Jacob becomes Israel, and over centuries we see Saul fighting Edom, David captures Edom, Edom raids Judah, and this happens several times as documented in the books of Kings and Chronicles. So it's after centuries, after generations of fighting, that we come to this point of Obadiah's proclamation here this morning. I'd argue that this is in the post-exile period that this is happening, sent to really encourage the people of God when all around them, everything they've known has been destroyed. And I think we see evidence for this in the references to Jerusalem. The Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem and then took huge numbers of the Israelite people into captivity. And I think contemporary sources suggest that it was the Edomites that were the ones that destroyed the temple following the siege. So as we begin
Obadiah, that gives you a little history as to how we get to this point. I think the main point for our time together as we look at the whole book is Christian, no matter how desperate your situation today, God's promises to preserve and deliver His people. God promises to preserve and deliver His people. If that's Christian, no matter how desperate your situation today, God promises to preserve and deliver His people. I think the text really just splits into two parts, so we have two points together. The first of these is pride without reason, and we're going to be looking at verses 1 to 14, pride without reason. So from the outset of the book, we clearly told who it is that brings the message. I would argue the fact that his name is Obadiah is not really that big a deal for us. It's a common name. It could be any of the Obadiahs that we've
seen mentioned so far in the Old Testament. But we do know what that name means. It means servant of God. The message he brings, though, the message that Obadiah is delivering is far more important. And ultimately, I want you to take away the hope and the promises that he is bringing here to the people of God. The hope and the promises that he's bringing here. So important. And why are these promises things that we can take hope in when you hear them this morning?
Well, I think that's all because of verse 1. Look there with me. That this message is the word of the Lord God. The Lord God is speaking about Edom, that this message is being declared among the nations, it says. This is the Lord of all the universe speaking. This is Yahweh Himself delivering this message. We're reminded that He is the Lord of all nations. He's the Lord of all people. This is not just a Jewish God that we're reading about. This is not just an American God or some small tribal God or maybe a desert God or whatever you have in mind here today. If you're not a Christian, if you're wondering who this is that's declaring this message, we're talking about the one true God that has revealed Himself by His Word. This is the God of the Bible, the one who has kept His promises, the one who never changes. I think we'll see that when this is declared here it comes with sure promises because it's from his mouth. If it's
from the mouth of God then it's already done. It's already finished. What about the Israelites though? They come to this point in the text, they've lost everything, their land, their temple, their possessions. Then this message of hope. But the main subject of the vision here is Edom, this people that have become synonymous with the enemies of Israel. The reason for this is really a couple of things. It's because of the length of time that they've been enemies.
They're synonymous with the enemies of Israel because of the intensity of the conflicts between them. And then also just the very nature of the conflict and how closely related they are. Just the talk of Edom would have been negative enough to just be used generally among those in opposition. Maybe it's the mere speaking of a wildcat or a cardinal. Maybe it has that same effect. Maybe it's the mere mention of a Republican or a Democrat. But you and your own state or your own country that you're from perhaps probably have something similar. You know, similar situations even in the world right now. So this message from God begins with those speech marks in verse 1, where God is showing that He will use everything within His control. That is all people, that is all resources at his disposal to pour out his judgment on Edom. In verses 2 and 4, this then
continues as we see God's opening remarks to Edom, and that really highlights their pride. He's revealing that. This first point sees God highlighting his judgment on Edom, especially their pride. Watch as every aspect of their view of themselves is turned on its head. Everything they have done to others, they're now promised against them in return. This tiny nation, small, insignificant, but so blinded by its own pride, it says here, will be made small among the nations. It shall be utterly despised, we're told. We will look more at what they have done as God lays it all out for us here, but make no mistake, friends, there is a humbling coming.
I think it's really normal for us to immediately ask the question, why? Why is all of this happening, where I think verse 3 begins to explain all of this. The Edomites, they think of themselves as great, as strong, as cunning, yet we see they have no reason to think this. Pride here is shown to do exactly what it does best. Text says, the pride of your heart has deceived you, has deceived you. For the Edomites, they have put their trust in their position, how highly they view themselves, their own achievements, what they have done, what they've accumulated for themselves. They are people whose lives centered around modern-day Israel and Jordan, especially the city of Selah or Petra, as we know it. That word, Selah, just meaning rock.
Obadiah here, which I quite enjoy, just includes a little pun for us in verse 3. You who live in the cleft of the rock, rock and cellar are the same in Hebrew. That's just a little aside for you. So we know the city of Petra, memorable to me in particular because I love Indiana Jones. Tucked away in the mountains, beautiful city through steep gorges, hard to reach even today. Perfect for hiding riches that you've stolen from other people.
Perfect for watching over other armies that are approaching through those gorges and hiding away in the caves and crevices of the region. It was a great and strategic location, make no doubt. The text says, a lofty dwelling like few others. But I think God reminds them that it's not all that. It does not hide them from His hand. Don't miss how twice here in the text we see that their heart is referenced.
Friends, that is where pride is prepared. That's where pride takes root. That's where pride says, I deserve more. I'm better than all of this. I am enough. This is the same pride, friends, that in the garden says, well, I want to be like God. And so I'm going to eat whatever I want. This is the same pride that thinks you can save yourself. If you maybe just work a little bit harder or maybe just earn enough money or particularly a nice guy or girl on campus, that is a pride that sees itself as a soaring eagle.
text says, whose nest is among the stars. Perhaps you view yourself like that this morning. Better than all of this. I don't need to read the Bible. I don't need to be in church. I don't need discipleship. I don't need accountability. I'm better than that. Friends, before you scoff at your colleague or your neighbor, this is the situation that each of us finds ourself in. Edom here, sadly, is a terrible picture of all people.
It should not be lost on us that even in the Hebrew, the word Edom uses the exact same letters as the word Adam, meaning humanity. This tale of Edom is a parable for all people, not just an enemy of Israel, but an enemy of God. Friends, this is you. This is me, naturally enemies of God. We have placed our trust elsewhere. If you're not a Christian here today, I think you need to listen up.
You need to read this text, listen to what we're talking about. What God is about to declare on Edom is this judgment that He has promised to pour out on all His enemies. Edom, this morning, like you, is being given a warning. Look there at verse 4. God is promising to bring you down from that lofty perch you have wrongly placed yourself on. This is the God of the universe.
His power knows no end. His strength is unimaginable. His might beyond any army or superpower that you might fear. Nothing is too great for Him to overcome. Friends, hear this warning today. All those that don't trust God will look more at how God has promised to send a Savior and a King in Jesus Christ. But make no mistake, anyone that does not trust and follow Him is an enemy of God.
This is how you were born, in your sin and in your rejection. And the consequences are severe. Consequences are serious. The punishment is death. This is why Christ came. Take the punishment and the death that you deserve. God makes it very clear for us here to take pride in yourself is to hate and reject God. Friends, no one is neutral before Him.
In verses five and six, we then begin to get a picture of the severity of this judgment with these two contrasts. So serious will the judgment of God be that the way thieves steal or those who pick grapes, their work will be like nothing. Thieves at least leave something behind if they're in a hurry, and those picking grapes take only the good ones. They leave those little ones behind. they don't care about them. Terrifyingly, not God. Yet, the destruction of Edom will be so severe, friends, there will be nothing left. We hear Obadiah shocked aside there in verse 5, how have you been destroyed? Shocking is this to Obadiah. This is in the perfect tense, said as though it's already happened. God has said it and so it's sure. God has said it so it's
complete. Might as well have already happened from Obadiah's perspective. Over and over again, will see what Edom has done, and so it will be done to Edom. As a people, they have plundered and pillaged, meaning just to violently take something from someone else. They have rested in their houses. They have rested in their possessions. They have rested in their position. They have rested in everything but God. Friends, I want to ask you this morning, I wonder what hidden treasures you have put your trust in. What things have you got tucked away in your mind, in your heart, maybe even somewhere in your house, in a drawer somewhere, things that you secretly cling to, things that you secretly trust and hope in, You turn to when things are difficult.
For some, it's a person. Perhaps you are a mom. And when things are particularly difficult, you look to and you focus on your children. In them, you see all your hopes and all your dreams. If you can just work hard enough, things won't be as hard for them as they were for you. Friends, perhaps it's in your wedding day. You long for that day. Maybe you're engaged, maybe you're still single, but you long for that day when you imagine that all will be well if you can just walk down the aisle, marry that person of your dreams, and you secretly think that having a ring on your finger will solve all of your problems.
Maybe it's in that bottle of wine that you look forward to at the end of every week. I can just get through just another meeting, another shift, another day with the kids, then that glass will be waiting for me and all will be forgotten. All will be well if I can just get to that point. Friends, family, marriage, wine, all great things, but not things that can bear the weight of our hope, not things that can stand the test, friend, not things that will bring true satisfaction. For the Israelites, and perhaps in your lifetime, some of those things, maybe all of those things, will be taken away by God in His sovereignty. Where is it that your hope is placed? Is it in the things of this world?
Where is it that you run to when things are difficult and challenging? Consider that this week. Because none of those things that you worry about, none of those things that you're going through right now, none of those things you're enduring are outside of God's control. I know that many of you have been through hard and difficult things this past year or two. Deaths, losses, heartache. Our friend recently lost her sister, a message to our church, just the words of a hymn that she'd clung to in her darkest days.
Friends, in the face of the worst hardship, I pray that you too will be able to sing what is our hope in life and death, Christ alone, Christ alone. Run to Christ, find your hope in Him. Look at verses 7, 8, and 9 with me. They highlight all that God is sure to do in His judgment. It will be complete. It will be all-encompassing, going further and deeper.
And I think we like to acknowledge, as God's judgment always does, that all that Edom had trusted will fade away. Its relationships, its covenants with other countries, the wisdom of good leadership gone, the removal of all military might. I think all men just gone. Utter devastation. In verses 8 and 9, we see Mount Esau used instead of Edom, and that day mentioned as the comparison is prepared between God's kingdom and all those that stand against Him. You'll see, only in Mount Zion is refuge found. To stand on your own hill, friends, will result in certain death. Make no mistake, as our text says, every enemy of God cut off by slaughter. This judgment day is certain. This judgment day is coming.
It's hard to read, but this is what the judgment of God is. It's final. It's complete. Nothing and no one is beyond His gaze, for everything is in His control. For the good of His people, we see that He will remove their enemies. He will humble all the proud. He will weaken the strong. He will defend the poor, all for His glory and His purposes. If you're a Christian here this morning, this should be a great encouragement for you.
But if you don't trust and follow Christ, you're hearing these words, this should be terrifying. Verses 10 to 14, look there with me. The accusations against Edom just begin to come thick and fast. The violence from one brother to another is described. This has made all the worse because of the relationship between these two nations.
Look at the language here. Violence, verse 10. Misfortune, ruin, distress, verse 12. Calamity, twice, and then disaster in verse 13. Distress, again, in verse 14. Friends, to despise and to treat God's people this way brings His wrath on their enemies. A Christian, no matter what you see in the wider world, all the things mentioned here, persecution, looting, gloating, boasting, these are all products of pride.
The case against Edom is clear. Their pride led to selfishness. their selfishness has led to cruelty towards God and His people, their own hearts have ruled the day and they have gone against all that God has designed. What we see here is going against all that is right, all that is expected in human nature. It is why even today we have rules of war. We expect the innocent to be protected. We expect sympathy and not gloating in the face of death of children or the destruction of a city. We expect those fleeing conflict to be given safe passage. We expect brothers to care for one another regardless of the disagreement. Yet this is all that Edom did not. They have looted and robbed and killed and rejoiced in it all. There is nowhere
to hide from their sin. Their pockets full of spoils, their stomachs full of food, their hearts full of contempt and pride. Friends, how often has each of us, blinded by our own pride, think that we too can sneak around in our sin? How often we imagine that there is freedom to be found in our folly. Friends, without Christ, without the mercy offered by God, we too have climbed to the very top of a mountain of pride, and we stand in direct opposition to this mountain of promise that the Lord shall reign from. Beginning with the cross on which Jesus hung, without Him we have no hope. Without Him we have no merit before God on judgment day. This leads to our second point. Righteous without merit. Righteous without merit. Verses 15 to 21. The central verse
of this book begins our second point, gives us both the final warning to Edom and the ground for the hope of the Israelites. It is the coming day of judgment. That is what it means by the day of the Lord. It's not a maybe, it's not a possibility, it's a certainty. In this section we see the judgment of God from two perspectives really, two views of the same thing, verses 15 to 18 showing us the negative and then 19 to 21 showing us that positive view. So we have the negative view and then the positive view. But make no mistake, all people will experience this day. But notice there in verse 15, the shift that now includes in this vision for all nations. Now, this judgment now
declared on all nations is also warranted by the words, your deed shall return on your own head. Jesus himself picks up the same idea when he says, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, Matthew 7 too. And we've heard that none of us will escape this. It should be a terrifying thought. God hands people over to their sin. We know this and they will eventually receive the desires of their hearts and for those, that is what verse 16 says, drank on my holy hill, they will drink and drink until they can drink no more. Having plundered the wine from these still smoking towns and villages, the enemies of God, they revel and rejoice in their just rewards, sipping on their spoils,
hammered on His holy hill, proud as punch, drinking their own destruction here. Friends, relentless is this cup of wrath, a taste that no man can handle. Make no mistake, there was only one, one to come, one without sin, one without pride, one so holy that all will bow before Him from every tongue, every tribe, and every nation.
Friends, this cup of wrath that is yours, the cup of wrath that you have filled, we know that Christ has come and He has taken it in your excess and your pride. You have rejected Him, yet we read in Luke 22, He withdrew from them about a stone's throw. and knelt down and prayed, saying, Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
There appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood, falling down to the ground. Friends, no one can escape this cup of wrath. You either drink it yourself in destruction, or you see that Jesus Christ has already taken it from your dirty hands, taking the judgment and punishment that you deserve upon the cross, declaring that it is finished.
As he rose on that third day and ascended to heaven, his victory over death is complete. Christian, this is what He, this is what Jesus Christ has already done for you. What a hope we have in Christ. Let me encourage you again this morning, drink deeply on Christ. As he says in John 4, whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give Him will become in Him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Friends, to trust Christ is to know life, but to reject Him is to drink death. Friends, to follow Christ is to know life, but to reject Him is to drink death. If you don't know Christ, I urge you this morning, consider your sin. Consider the punishment that you deserve today to drink this yourself.
Will only, as we see in verse 16, be as if they had never been. It is utterly hopeless. Back in our verses, you see that it says in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape and it shall be holy. God's mountain is different. Friends, God's people are holy. He clearly knows who they are. We see that He has chosen a people for Himself.
Through the promises given to Abraham and then fulfilled in Christ, we know that all the nations are now included. Look around, you see that people from many states and countries and nations all brought together, all united because of what Christ has done. Yet to the Israelites hearing this prophecy and to the Edomites that would experience this judgment, there was geographical and physical implications that are delivered and fulfilled in a way that we no longer need to look to.
In very real terms, we see in history that the Edomites will be wiped from the face of the earth. It's not a country you will hear about in the news. It's not a country that will return. These leaders are gone, their spoils dispersed, their reputation irreversible. Verse 18 tells us how this will happen at the hands of Jacob and Joseph. We know that fire and flame often used as images of judgment in the Old Testament, and here is absolutely no different. It says there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau.
This message is then just delivered with a guarantee there at the end of verse 18. All of this will happen as it is written. Why is that the case? All because it says, for the Lord has spoken. For the Lord has spoken. Thankfully, God's judgment alone is not His final word. We see that deliverance is promised at the end of Obadiah. Following on from the promises of Joel 2, we read, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape. In Amos 9, we read there, they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name. We see that Obadiah is placed here to further build for us, for the Israelites hearing this, on God's kingdom being established over a new Jerusalem and all the nations. After exile, there is hope here for Israel. We know that this
has proved to be true. Hearing this in their post-exilic community would have seemed a stretch. But Obadiah was faithful, here to deliver this message of hope. You will one day be a people again. Though you are now dispersed, you will be reunited. You will have lands that you did not have before. Your kingdom will increase in Esau and Ephraim, in Zarephath and Seraphad.
Obadiah here encouraging the people to hold on, cling to the Lord, cling to His promises, for He has proven faithful to you and to your fathers. And Edom was destroyed, and the people did once again possess their possessions. Through the establishment of judges and kings and prophets, we see how these various chosen saviors, as we read, have gone up to the Mount Zion and to rule Mount Esau, establishing the kingdom, as verse 21 says. All of these things, though, pointing forward and anticipating the arrival of the one true King, the only Lord, the only Savior, Jesus Christ. You must make no mistake that it is His kingdom, the one whom the heavens declare like the roar of many waters, like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty
reigns. He is the one who, in righteousness, He judges and makes war, the one who will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty, and the only one that can be named the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Friends, this is Jesus Christ. This is your Lord. He has brought about His kingdom, and He has paid for His people with His own precious blood. Here today in His church, we see His chosen people. We see His kingdom graciously extending to the nations, not a land, but a redeemed people, a living temple, His bride, the church.
Key part of living for Christ today, lives that honor Him in humility and not pride, is living among His people, being part of the church. This humility looks like formally joining with and submitting yourself to other believers. It is discipleship. It is membership. It is accountability. It is life together. It is seen that you cannot do this on your own.
It is acknowledging what God has provided for the benefit of His people. It is in and through His local church that we see the means of grace that God has provided for His people. Their safety, their security, but also the primary vehicle for His gospel. Don't dismiss it. Friends, don't think you know better. To live in your own fortress and not in the care of God has and always will be a dangerous position to be in. Let me conclude with this reminder for you. Friends, Jesus has passed through a death you could not survive. He has drunk a cup that you could not bear. He has paid a price that you could not pay, and He has given you a righteousness that you do not deserve.
No matter what your today holds, no matter how hard your yesterday or your tomorrow, if you call on His name, you will be saved. You will be safe and secure, and you will be His forevermore. Held, loved, safe, secure. Friends, cling to your King. Let's pray. Lord God, it is you alone who deserve all glory and all praise.
You are the only king. You are the one who reigns victorious. You are gracious to us. You are gracious to save. Lord, we recognize your sovereignty. Lord, your power. Lord, we also see and enjoy your love and your mercy towards us. Lord, we desperately need your help in this life today and tomorrow. Lord, help us to cling to you in all these things. Lord, help us to live lives that glorify you in all that we do this week and forevermore.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.