July 28, 2024
Obadiah
“Heading Toward the Bad Good News”
We are two-thirds of the way through Obadiah. I didn’t intentionally do it; I’m not that kind of plan-ahead-guy. Obadiah is twenty-one verses. We finished through verse fourteen last week. Therefore, we have seven verses to go. One-third of the book remains. That kind of cyphering is a math-nerd’s delight.
What we’re going to be doing today, besides extolling the virtues of mathematics, is recapping what we’ve covered so far. It being summer and vacations and traveling and all, Sundays are more easily missed. So a good review would be in order.
Previously, in Obadiah…
First, Obadiah is only one of three Old Testament prophets where the word of condemnation is primarily directed at the enemy of God’s people. What we’ve seen so far – and it points us in the direction we’re heading – is that:
“WHEN GOD DESIGNS A PEOPLE FOR DESTRUCTION, HE DEPRIVES THEM OF THAT COMMON PRUDENCE AND FORESIGHT WHICH ARE REQUISITE FOR THE DUE MANAGEMENT OF THEIR AFFAIRS.”
Robert Lowth, Bishop of the Church of England, 18th Century
In other words, to an outside observer, Edom exhibited symptoms of wisdom and prudence running dry. As Ezekiel describes God’s finishing touch:
“As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Anyone opposed to God’s revealed Truth and Purpose should tremble before him. I’m thinking here of what Thomas Jefferson once said:
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
In the case of Edom, God’s justice will be swift and sure.
Here’s something to remember that you might want to write down:
ISRAEL WAS, AND WOULD ALWAYS BE, GOD’S COVENANT PEOPLE.
Remember the trajectory. From the Garden of Eden to the Manger of Bethlehem, God’s plan was for the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to save His people from the consequences of their sin. No more let sins and sorrows grow. Nothing could stand in the way God’s sovereign will working His plan of salvation for us. So that meant Edom had to be dealt with.
I love how Amos 1:11-12 puts it:
Thus says the Lord:
“For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity,and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
Here's a side note from J.R.R. Tolkien that is so simply stated:
“Evil cannot create anything new, it can only spoil and destroy what good forces have invented or created.”
We either follow the path God sets before us, or we go dangerously off course. Which is never a good thing. Which is exactly what Edom did. Which is exactly why their only outcome is going to be bad news.
So, moving forward, let’s look in the rearview window at several take-a-ways so far.
First, God is still ruling in our world. He directs the course of nations and
history as He pleases. Remember, God promised Judah he would cut off Edom and bless the descendants of Jacob. And it was not a one-off. No follower of Jesus Christ should feel like the world is careening out of control toward some meaningless catastrophe. Nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are not like people tossed to-and-fro on the stormy seas of life. God is on His throne in heaven, keeping our spirits calm.
Second, pride is deceptive. As verse three says, “The pride of your heart has deceived you.” Pride is an idea we ought to banish from what we think is valuable. Pride makes us think we are independent. You’re proud of an achievement? No…you’re grateful to be blessed by God in this way. A simple switch in how we speak about something works wonders for turning us to a more God-honoring worldview. Pride lends an air of self-sufficiency. It is based on a lie. John Piper speculates, and I think he’s right, that pride muddies moral and theological issues that the Bibles make clear. Some people think they’re so smart and know so much. Pride is a lens of distortion through which people see the world.
Third, God hates pride. I know, I know…we shouldn’t say hate. Except
where evil is involved. The Bible says we are to hate what is evil. And pride is wicked. God will bring it down. As verse four puts it, “Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.”
How bad is pride? It is what fuels the liberal view of God’s Word. We should have the highest view of Scripture. Jesus was very clear on issues like marriage and human sexuality and non-discrimination and the sanctity of life. Progressivism claims to know more than Jesus…to be smarter than Jesus. I can’t imagine the pride it takes to correct Jesus on things he clearly taught.
Fourth, one way or another, both proud nations and proud individuals will reap what they sow. This will be covered in the final third of Obadiah. As verse fifteen says: “For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head.” Pride drives people to live without God. But guess what? The day will come when that lie will no longer feel true. And then what? Without true repentance and a change of heart, God will grant people their desired independence from God. The day of reckoning – the day of separation from God will hit hard. If someone in this life wants separation from God, then God will grant it in the life to come. And all of a person’s arrogant self-sufficiency will be like a feather in a hurricane when God’s wrath is revealed from heaven. As Psalm 76:1-9 puts it:
In Judah God is known; his name is great in Israel.His abode has been established in Salem, his dwelling place in Zion.There he broke the flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
Glorious are you, more majestic than the mountains full of prey.The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil; they sank into sleep;all the men of war were unable to use their hands.At your rebuke, O God of Jacob, both rider and horse lay stunned.
But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused?From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still,when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth.
Finally, in verse seventeen we’ll see that God has made a way of escape from His wrath. He will show the way to salvation:
But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy,and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions.
Flee from pride. Flee from wickedness. Flee from the wickedness of pride. And as we’ll see, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will find refuge on the day of the Lord. People will stand in the Holy presence of God not because they haven’t sinned. Instead, there will be people who have been broken by their own sin. They will have been humbled by the horribleness of their sin. And the only thing they can do is fall down at the foot of the cross, thanking God for His mercy and grace. What a glorious day. What a glorious promise.
Here's the last thing you might want to write down:
JESUS LOVED US AND GAVE HIMSELF FOR US.
While you’re alive, there’s always time to let God turn your life around. There’s always time to put your trust in Jesus. There’s always time to obey the way Jesus has set for you to go. Trust and obey. There’s always time. But not for Edom. The time came and passed. They will soon reap the whirlwind.
Let’s close with this observation from Darrell B. Harrison, Bible teacher and church leader:
Many people have a mythologized visage of God’s judgment. We think that unless and until we see fire and brimstone raining down from the skies that God’s anger remains unprovoked.
If that is your understanding of the judgment of God, you are grossly misinformed. God’s judgment is also manifested in His allowing unrepentant sinners to continue in their sin and, conversely, to reap the consequences of it – either in this life or the next. As we read in 1 Timothy 5:24, “The sins of some people are conspicuous, going before them to judgment, but the sins of others appear later.”
What Edom will soon discover…what Obadiah promises Edom will soon discover, is they are under God’s wrath. Not only that, they participate in the evil upon which God’s wrath will pour. And they ignore the warning. They ignore the warning. But we will never forget:
“People who have been broken and humbled by their sin and have thrown themselves for mercy on Jesus and have come to love him more than anything and any person in the world, will share in a resurrection like his. Because he loved us and gave himself for us."
Never forget.
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