Route 66: Obadiah - God's Justice Against Edom

called Hosea, joel Amos Obadiah.

We'll start by reading this for us the vision of Obadiah.

This is what the Lord, god, has said about Edom.

We have heard a message from the Lord.

An envoy has been sent among the nations.

Rise up and let's go to war against her.

Look, I will make you insignificant among the nations.

You will be deeply despised.

Your arrogant heart has deceived you.

You who live in clests of the rock, in your home on the heights, who say to yourself who can bring me down to the ground, though you seem to soar like an eagle and make your nest among the stars?

Even from there, I will bring you down.

This is the Lord's declaration.

If thieves came to you, if marauders by night, how ravaged would you be?

Wouldn't they steal only what they wanted?

If grape harvesters came to you, wouldn't they leave a few grapes?

How Esau will be pillaged, his hidden treasure searched out.

Everyone who has a treaty with you will drive you to the border.

Everyone at peace with you will deceive and conquer you.

Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you.

He will be unaware of it In that day.

This is the Lord's declaration.

Will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edom and those who understand, from the hill country of Esau, temen.

Your warriors will be terrified, so that everyone from the hill country of Esau will be destroyed by slaughter.

You will be covered with shame and destroyed forever.

Because of violence done to your brother, jacob, on the day you stood aloof.

On the day strangers captured his wealth while foreigners entered his city gate and cast lots for Jerusalem.

You were just like one of them.

Do not gloat over your brother in the day of his calamity.

Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction.

Do not boastfully mock in the day of distress.

Do not enter my people's city gate in the day of their disaster.

Yes, you Do not gloat over their misery in the day of their disaster and do not appropriate their possessions in the day of their disaster.

Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off their fugitives and do not hand over their survivors in a day of distress, for the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you.

What you deserve will return on your own head.

As you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations will drink continually.

They will drink and gulp down and be as though they had never been.

But there will be a deliverance on Mount Zion and it will be holy.

The house of Jacob will dispossess those who dispossessed them.

Then the house of Jacob will be a blazing fire and the house of Joseph a burning flame, but the house of Esau will be stubble.

Jacob will set them on fire and consume Edom.

Therefore, no survival will remain of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

People from the Negev will possess the hill country of Esau.

Those from the Judean foothills will possess the land of the Philistines.

They will possess the territories of of Esau.

Those from the Judean foothills will possess the land of the Philistines.

They will possess the territories of Ephraim and Samaria, while Benjamin will possess Gilead.

The exiles of the Israelites who are in Hala and who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, as well as the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sephard, will possess the cities of the Negev.

Saviors will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the hill country of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's Amen.

Father, thank you for your word.

Again, we cry out to you to give us good things from your word tonight.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Obadiah is probably one of the least familiar books in the Bible, I think, to most people, even most Christians.

I do with the boys on Friday night Christian service brigade.

We do this thing we call sword drills sometimes, where I give them a passage and they have to all look it up and the first one to get there and stand up and start reading it wins that sword drill.

Right, like the Bible is the sword of the spirit.

You want to know how to handle your sword and so sometimes give them easier ones, sometimes harder ones.

Sometimes I'll throw in like all right, josiah, chapter four, verse six, charge.

And then I'll start looking and I'll say wait, wait a minute, that's not a book of the Bible.

I'll say, correct, you've won that one.

But then they know in the back of their mind that that could be a trick I'm doing sometimes.

So there have been times where I've said Obadiah 15, charge, and I'll get two of them.

That's not a book of the Bible, yes, it is.

Get open and start looking.

So this is not the most common book of the Bible for us, but the book of Obadiah shows us that the seed of the serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman.

Obadiah shows us the seed of the serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman, shows us the seed of the serpent will be crushed by the seed of the woman.

And we think, well, wait a minute here.

I didn't see the word serpent anywhere in Obadiah.

I didn't hear a lot of talk about seed.

Where are you getting that?

I'm going to try to show you that from scripture tonight by setting Obadiah in the context of more of the whole of scripture, especially what's come before it.

The first thing to note with Obadiah is that it's not primarily about the people of Israel.

Verse one says this is what the Lord, god, has said about Edom.

Yes, there are prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel who include oracles against other nations, but most, all of the prophets are mainly talking about Israel.

Sometimes, maybe more the northern kingdom, sometimes more the southern kingdom, you will have Jonah, who was sent specifically to the Ninevites to talk to them.

But this is one of the very few prophecies where you read through this book as we did.

It's just one chapter and it's all about Edom.

So, yes, the house of Jacob, another name for Israel, is mentioned.

You can see that in verse 17 and in verse 18 as well, but the whole book is more about Edom.

So who was Edom?

If Obadiah is unfamiliar as a prophet, edom's not the most familiar place people?

What is it?

Well, there's a clue here.

For us, it's a very huge clue, because there's a name that comes up frequently in the book and that's the name Esau.

Esau runs parallel to Edom in this prophecy.

So judgment against Edom is judgment against Esau and judgment against Esau is judgment against Edom.

I'll give you an example of that.

Look at verse number eight.

In that day this is the Lord's declaration Will I not eliminate the wise ones of Edom and those who understand from the hill country of Esau?

It's not talking about two entirely different things.

It's another way of saying the same thing.

Edom is the place of Esau.

Verse 9, if you look at verse 9, mentions Teman.

According to Genesis 36.15, teman is the grandson of Esau, esau, esau.

So Edom is the place of Esau and the place of Esau is going to be judged.

What are they going to be judged for?

Well, I'm going to highlight just two things here.

They're going to be judged for pride.

You see that in verses three and 4.

They have an arrogant heart.

They think that they live in the clefts and on the heights they're soaring like an eagle.

It even describes them as making a nest among the stars, and yet God's going to bring them down.

Similar to the sermon this morning, doug brought out this language of pride that kind of goes back to the Garden of Eden, but then the Tower of Babel, where the people thought they could exalt themselves to God and God comes down and levels them.

Similarly, here, these Edomites, these people who have descended from Esau down through the years, there's an arrogance in their heart that thinks they can exalt themselves but God's going to bring them down.

They're also judged for their opposition to God's people and we find that in verses 10 through 14.

So it says in verse 10, they'll be covered with shame because of violence done to your brother, jacob.

Okay, esau, the historic original Esau, had a brother named Jacob.

Descendants of Esau, edomites, descendants of Jacob, israel, and we'll come to that as we go into this more.

But here just observe that they're covered with shame because of violence done to Jacob.

Well, what's if they didn't do it?

Why are they being covered with shame?

Well, they didn't step in to help in any way.

Instead, they laughed and scorned the people of God and they took advantage of the people of God in a difficult place.

So you can keep reading down in some of those verses For example, in verse number 12, it says do not gloat over your brother in the day of his calamity.

So the Edomites are gloating over the nation of Israel's misfortunes.

Think about it this way.

If you think about the nation of Israel like a sheep okay, think about them like a sheep you had these big nations like Assyria or later, like Babylon they're going to come in and just cause havoc among the Israelites.

So Assyrian Babylon would be like a lion or a bear coming in and just devouring the sheep.

But then you have the Edomites.

They weren't as big and bad and grand as the Assyrians or the Babylonians, but it's almost like they're like the hyenas.

They're just sitting over there laughing and they're waiting.

As soon as the lying gets done, we'll go in and pick up some of the scraps.

This'll be great, all right.

And God says you're going to be judged for that attitude towards Israel.

Now, yeah, I've seen the Lion King a lot, but it works here.

Okay, they're laughing, but they're also.

There's a devilish sort of intent to what they're planning to do.

They're going to pick at Israel's carcass, so to speak.

So why does Obadiah keep saying Esau, esau, esau?

I mean this is taking place.

We don't know exactly when Obadiah wrote, but probably a thousand years or so after Esau himself actually lived.

So why doesn't it just say the Edomites or the descendants of Esau?

Why Esau?

You know he's long gone.

Obadiah wants us to see that there's something happening in his day that's a repeated pattern and fulfillment of something that's been going on for centuries and centuries, and centuries Started a long, long time ago.

That's why he's using this kind of language, and he wants us to keep in mind these kind of patterns as we read the Bible.

So hold your finger here on Obadiah.

Let's go back to Genesis 25.

Genesis 25.

Back to Genesis 25.

Genesis 25, this is where we first encounter Esau.

Genesis 25, verse 19.

Genesis 25:19

These are the family records of Isaac, son of Abraham.

Abraham fathered Isaac.

Isaac was 40 years old when he took as his wife Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean from Paddam Aram, and the sister of Laban, the Aramean.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was childless.

The Lord was receptive to his prayer and his wife Rebecca conceived, but the children inside her struggled with each other and she said why is this happening to me?

So she went to inquire of the Lord and the Lord said to her two nations are in your womb.

Two peoples will come from you and be separated.

One people will be stronger than the other and the older will serve the younger.

When her time came to give birth, there were indeed twins in her womb.

The first one the CSP translation here.

The first one came out red looking, covered with hair, like a fur coat it's such a vivid description of this baby right.

And they named him Esau.

So there's our introduction to Esau.

After this, his brother came out grasping Esau's heel with his hand.

So he was named Jacob.

So right from the very outset in the womb, we've got Jacob versus Esau and they're struggling.

They're battling when they're born, struggling.

They're battling when they're born, jacob's grabbing at his heel, they're battling.

And the prophet here the prophetic word says there's going to be two nations and what's happening to them as babies is going to keep happening to them.

And we see that play out over the course of history.

Give you a few examples here.

Turn over to Numbers, chapter 20.

Numbers 20 · chapter mention

Numbers 20.

Israel needs passage as they're traveling through the wilderness to get through to where they need to go.

Verse number 14, moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom.

So this is many years later now.

Yes, there's two peoples Jacob has had his descendants, esau has his descendants.

Jacob's descendants are out of Egypt.

They're on their way to the promised land.

They need some passage here and they request for the king of Edom.

Hey, let us go through.

And they give the story.

Verse 17,.

Please, let us travel through your land.

We won't travel through any field or vineyard or drink any well water.

We'll travel the king's highway.

Verse 18, but Edom answered him you will not travel through our lands, but we will come out and confront you with the sword.

But these people, they have the same parents.

Ultimately there were brothers back at no, but not now.

There's tension.

Go over to 1 Samuel 14.

1 Samuel 14.

1 Samuel 14.

Verse 47.

When Saul assumed the kingship over Israel, he fought against all his enemies in every direction, israel.

He fought against all his enemies in every direction, against Moab, the Ammonites, edom.

So now, years later, in the promised land, supposed to be putting out the enemies, didn't do that completely.

Judges come through.

Now King Saul's on the stage and there's still this thorn in Israel's side, more than one.

But Edom is mentioned specifically here.

And then last, let's go to 2 Chronicles.

These aren't the only examples, but 2 Chronicles 28.

Just look at one verse, verse 17.

The edomites came again, attacked judah and took captives.

So even though Edom is not as big and burly as Assyria, then later Babylon, they're a continual enemy of the people of God over the years.

Brother versus brother, people versus people.

Edom is an archetypal enemy of God's people.

I don't mean by that mythical there was battles, they really happened Not mythical.

But what I mean by that is, in the Bible Edom is portrayed as there's something deeper going on here.

There's a particular exemplary pattern of what it looks like to be opposed to the people of God, and you find it in Edom.

They're not the only ones.

Babylon has a similar idea in scripture, but Edom is this perpetual enemy of the people of God, of the people of God.

And so when prophets like Obadiah denounce the Edomites, he's showing us that there's a deep pattern that really all those who stand opposed to the people of God are going to face.

What the Edomites face.

That's the pattern that's going on here.

Now I went back to Genesis 25, but I really didn't go back far enough, did I?

In that pattern, brother versus brother, struggling two peoples Is the first time we find that in the Bible.

Struggling Two peoples Is the first time we find that in the Bible.

Jacob and Esau no, that's why I said it's an archetypal pattern.

It's actually not even the first time.

We can go all the way back to Cain and Abel and the very first two sons struggled and one killed the other.

And then God, even going back to the curse, told Eve already there's going to be serpent type of people and life-giving type of people.

You're going to eventually Eve is going to be a seed of the woman that crushes the head of the serpent.

But in the meantime it often seems like the seed of the serpent is winning.

Cain's the one that kills Abel when Jacob and Esau are born, jacob's grabbing at Esau's heel, jacob's not cutting off his head and later in the story Esau's pretty wealthy and Jacob spends quite a lot of time wandering around the wilderness.

Now he has possessions, but he has that encounter with God.

Jacob's the one that ends up limping through life.

Why did God let Edom beat up on Israel all those years?

Yeah, sometimes David was victorious, or Solomon, but why did God let those hyenas come in and scrape at the carcass of Israel once Assyria came through?

It seems like the seed of the serpent, the one opposed to the people of God, is winning, is winning, is winning.

But that's not the end of the story.

Obadiah is giving us the end of the story here, and it's more than just a story of two nationalities.

That's one reason why in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 11, jacob is described as a man of faith.

In the very next chapter, esau is an example of someone who doesn't have true repentance.

Now, I'm not saying that every single descendant of Jacob had true faith or that every descendant of Edom didn't, but I'm saying there's something more than just an ethnic identity.

It's about those who are trusting in God, seed of the woman, grabbing hold of his promises, promises or those who are serpent-like, wanting to destroy the people of God, like Pharaoh in Egypt wanted to destroy the people in Egypt.

Go back to Obadiah.

If you're not there, go to Obadiah.

Obadiah powerfully gives us the end of the story, and the end of the story is destruction for the Edomites.

The end of the story is destruction for those who stand opposed to God.

We don't hear too much about the Edomites today, do we no?

Pretty much obliterated, wiped out, scattered, kind of mingled into other groups over history.

But that's the end result of everyone who stands opposed to God.

As great as they may seem at some point in time, their end is destruction and death.

Even within the book you can see that.

Look at verse 15.

For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations.

Where did all the nations come into this?

Wasn't this a prophecy about Edom and their mistreatment of Israel?

Yes, it was.

But even within this book, obadiah is saying what's going to happen to Edom is going to happen in a greater way to all the nations.

The day of the Lord that's coming on.

Edom is going to come for everyone that stands opposed to God.

The only deliverance, according to verse number 17, is this Mount Zion, the holy people, the Israel of God.

So right here, at this point, you can insert Pastor Doug's whole sermon from a Sunday ago.

If you didn't hear it, go back and listen to it on sermon audio.

But there's this wonderful and beautiful day ago.

If you didn't hear it, go back and listen to it on sermon audio.

But there's this wonderful and beautiful idealized imagery of the people that truly understand what it means to trust in God.

They're the ones who survive, they're the ones who flourish in the end in the grand scheme of God's plan and his story.

And you get down to the very last phrase of the book.

And you get down to the very last phrase of the book, verse 21,.

The kingdom will be the Lord's.

That's the end of the story.

No matter how much it seems like the people of God are suffering or defeated now or being opposed by Satan and his enemies throughout the ages, the end of the story is the kingdom will be the Lord's.

That's why Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, says or, I'm sorry, revelation 11, 15 says this the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.

Revelation 12:11

Doesn't that sound like what Obadiah is saying here?

Doesn't that also want to make you just blast Handel's Messiah?

That's the guy that, and he shall reign forever and ever?

Well, it makes you want to just say Lord Jesus, come quickly.

That's the end of the story for people that know him.

Story for people that know him.

So Obadiah shows us that this seed of the serpent now come down through the Edomites, but really all the nations who stand opposed to God is going to be destroyed in the end.

Obadiah is emphasizing, in one sense, more that destruction than the deliverance for God's people.

And it's okay, We've got to be careful of our hearts but to say, lord, we want to see your enemies judged, we want to see you victorious and your righteousness vindicated.

So it's in one sense more about that.

But you might ask well, how is this seed of the serpent?

It's battling brothers, battling nations.

How will they be destroyed?

You need the rest of the Bible to fill that story out.

Obadiah doesn't fill in all those details.

Right here he just speaks of the success of God's people.

Right here he just speaks of the success of God's people.

But Revelation 12, 11 says that the people of God conquer the serpent by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony.

So we want to read any part of the Bible in light of the whole of what's going on.

We conquer, and Revelation 12 speaks specifically of this great dragon, conquered by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

We're not given physical swords and spears, the way that Israel was, but we're given something even more eternally powerful the sword of the Spirit that is the Word of God.

We're not given a task to try to coerce someone to follow God, because they have to have a change in their heart.

And you can coerce actions, but you can't coerce a heart change.

But we are given the ability to speak the testimony of what Jesus has done to conquer the devil, of what Jesus has done to bring victory over sin, of what Jesus has done to bring in an everlasting kingdom.

So by all means, go vote on Tuesday.

But no, that's not the ultimate way.

The seat of the serpent is going to be defeated.

So I'll say that again go vote, but no, that's not the ultimate way.

The seat of the serpent will be defeated.

I mean, maybe you should go vote on Tuesday, then go out to the parking lot, get in your car and just crank handles Messiah, with the windows down so everyone can hear it.

I don't know, are you allowed to do that?

And I'm not sure if you're allowed to do that or not.

Probably you're not really advocating everything.

If some people end up in jail on Wednesday I'll come visit you.

It's George Frederick Handel's fault, it's okay.

But our hope is in the conquering lion of Judah the lamb who was slain.

That's the beautiful thing here.

It can be discouraging sometimes as Christians, when we're kind of maybe we feel like Jacob We've got some possessions, we've got some things, you know, we've got churches in different places, but we're kind of in the wilderness limping along.

But that's not the end of the story.

Obadiah gives us the end of the story.

The promised land is much nearer than we think.

And then enemies of God, as Paul says Satan to the church of Rome.

Satan's going to soon be crushed under your feet.

Let's pray, lord, thank you.

Thank you that we have such confidence to know that your judgment is not lingering.

You're patient, you're wanting more and more to come to repentance and we have nothing to say.

But thank you for your grace.

It was your grace that led us to repentance.

Your goodness brought us to repentance.

We do want many who are right now the seed of the serpent, many who are right now Edomites in their heart, opposed to the things of God and the people of God.

We want them to come and know the beauty of Mount Zion.

We want them to know what it means to be an Israelite, indeed, in whom there is no guile.

We want them to know what it looks like to have faith that Eve had the mother of all the living ones.

So, lord, be gracious to grant salvation to many.

And yet we, at the same time, want to pray.

Come quickly, lord Jesus.

How long, while the blood of the saints and the martyrs cries out for justice, while the enemies of God rage against your Holy One, your anointed Son.

Oh, vindicate your Son, glorify yourself.

We pray that soon would be the end of all things, that soon, in the grandest and fullest sense, the kingdom of this world would become the kingdom of our Lord in Christ.

That he might reign forever and ever this true seed that we trust in Jesus Christ, our hope.

We pray all these things in Jesus' name, amen.