feeling very much to need the
Lord's gracious help, I wish to direct your very prayerful
attention to the prophecy of Obadiah. I wish to consider the
prophecy as a whole, but for a text, we would venture upon
verse 18. And the house of Jacob shall
be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau
a stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them and there
shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord
hath spoken and the house of Jacob shall be a fire and the
house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau a stubble and they
shall kindle in them and devour them and there shall not be any
remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord hath spoken it."
The name Obadiah means servant or worshipper of the Lord. Now you may say, Mr Robinson,
why on earth have you brought this before us? This is a very
indeed little known part of the Word of God it's only 21 verses
we can read it in a few minutes you see it appears not to have
any relevance to us at all here in 2012 but friends it is full
of the operations of God and of his sovereign mercy and of
his electing and separating and predestinating grace Christ is
indeed seen even here in this little book of this little prophecy
of Obadiah by way of context it is essential to note a few
things we know very little about this man Obadiah, very little
at all in fact his name suggests it may not, we don't know but
he may not even have been his real name it may have been a
pseudonym because we actually know nothing about this man's
life at all he steps, as it were, onto the stage he gives his prophecy
and then retreats, we know nothing of him at all there are other
Obadiah's mentioned in the Word of God but none of them are believed
to be this man indeed it is accounted to his
humility that he does not identify himself I would draw also a parallel
here with the Apostle Paul with the Hebrews he desires to be unnoticed but
nevertheless this prophecy is taken and it is part of the canon
of scripture and there is much we can glean from it it is thought
to have been written approximately BC 848 perhaps 844 these are
approximate dates but you know there is one living miracle in
itself and that is that this prophecy
still remains it has been preserved because the significance of this
prophecy is we have here the destruction of Edom foretold
but of course it came to pass and do you know there is not
one person today alive who can claim to have his ancestry, his
family tree traced back to Eden. Eden was utterly destroyed as
we have prophesied in our texts. Indeed, nothing of it remains
except this prophecy here. Again, a living miracle to the
testimony of the canon of Holy Scripture. I sometimes think
that we overlook these things and I think it's appropriate
to bring them out here in an occasion like a Bible study the Lord has a purpose for it
and He has a purpose for it here for us we've read a very solemn
chapter a very solemn chapter indeed but nevertheless like
all parts of the Word of God even in these 21 verses We have the two sides of the
gospel, have we not? The two-edged sword brought clearly
out. And if we were to separate this chapter, if we were to separate
this prophecy, we could do so into four distinctions within
these 21 verses. Because the first nine verses
deal specifically with God's judgment upon Edom. Verses 10 to 14 deal with the
justice of that judgment. Verses 15 and 16 deal with the
result of God's judgment that He has pronounced. And the remaining
verses, verses 17 until the end are a vindication of the house
of Jacob and indeed of the elect of God no part of the Word of
God exists in isolation and what we have here is what is found
in many other parts of the Word of God that is of one taken and
another left of God's sovereign electing mercy to some and the
passing on and the passing by of others here the Lord speaks through
Obadiah and he's making his heavenly ordained words and feelings known and he states what the current
situation is in verse 2, Behold I have made thee small among
the heathen thou art greatly despised the pride of thine heart
hath deceived thee thou that dwellest in the clefts of the
rock whose habitation is high the Edomites had built for themselves
great foundations, great habitations as it were large houses we may
say in the modern equivalent they had gained great riches but the Lord had reduced them
even at this stage to something very small I have made thee small
among the heathen in other words even by the heathens standards
you were made small This must have been quite something. The pride of thine heart hath
deceived thee. You see, the Edomites considered
themselves to be on the upper hand, as it were. They considered
themselves to be superior particularly to Judah, to the children of
Israel. I think it's important to point
out here we have Edom and Esau used interchangeably within this
chapter and it's speaking as it were of the children of Esau
the Edomites were the children of Esau and Judah were the children
of Jacob they were the children of Jerusalem Israel's people and yes the Edomites had exalted
themselves But the Lord says, I will bring
thee down, saith the Lord. I will bring thee down, and you
know, it has always been that way. And God continues to bring
down, as he has throughout the ages, the material kingdoms,
the heathen kingdoms, some of the despotic kingdoms of foreign
gods, and speaking of gods with a small g, of course, and at
secular unbelieving nations, states and economies verses 1 to 9 clearly state what
will happen all the men of thy confederacy
have brought thee even to the border the men that were at peace
with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee those
that you thought you could do deals with, those who you thought
you could economize with and come to some understanding. They
that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee. There is
non-understanding in him. The Edomites, the children of
Esau, were a proud people. they had many mighty men and
do we read in verse 9, and thy mighty men or daemon shall be
dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may
be cut off by slaughter and it was so that by the time of the
Roman Empire Esau had been basically utterly diminished they had been
invaded and invaded and invaded you can read some of the history
books Maccabees and some of the others which will give you some
of the historical context but the result of it all is and this
is the point that Edom has gone completely gone and isn't it
a solemn thing that this here that was a mighty nation there
isn't a single person remaining of their ancestry Obadiah prophesied these things
it came to pass but it's not something you will readily read
of in secular history books because the world likes to conveniently
forget these truths of history. You know the Bible, when it makes
a prophecy, always proves to be correct. We've heard it here recently
in the book of Daniel. Judah was to be destroyed in
AD 70. It was to come to nothing. There
is not a single person, and I would say this, You will not find a
single Jew who can trace his ancestry back to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. It's a solemn truth, but it is
a truth. We must realise these things. Moving on to verses 10 to 14
that wish to carry along this evening. We look at the justice
of that judgement. Why did this judgment come? Why did it fall upon Esau? Well, we read, don't we? Verse
10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall
cover thee and thou shalt be cut off forever. The children of Jacob and the
children of Esau they were from the same house. But here we can
see Esau was violent against his brother Jacob it was a violent
nation they persecuted and hated God's people and you know it's
always been that way there can be those you can even be in the
same house and there will be those who hate God's truth and
persecute you for it and this is precisely what the
Edomites did in the day that thou stoodest on the other side
in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces
and foreigners entered into his gates and cast lots upon Jerusalem
even thou wast one of them You came in and you made Gethsemane your
people, your own brother's people. But thou shouldest not have looked
on the day of thy brother, the day that he became a stranger.
Neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in
the day of their destruction. They were proud people. They
gloried. in Judah's captivity. They gloried
in Judah's difficulty, in the children of Israel's sufferings.
Neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Mark my words here. The persecutors of God's church
today, they think they have the upper hand. They think they have
it going their way. but you know, God will vindicate
his people, we'll come to that in the final section but the point is this those that
persecute God's church and you may be suffering under
the rod of it you may be suffering under persecution you may be
suffering a campaign of hate against you but God always vindicates
his people and you know even the persecutors proved to be
God's servants in the end just like Pharaoh did Nebuchadnezzar
many others all these things really fall out onto the furtherance
of the gospel and his praise to free and sovereign grace because
isn't that something that free will could never do? It's free grace from first to
the last, isn't it? And though we may feel that the
hand of providence has gone out against us, if we have acted rightly and
in the Lord's fear and we have honoured Him, all these things
work out to the furtherance of the Gospel and God brings to
naught the efforts of man. Thirdly, verses 15 and 16, the
result of God's judgment that is pronounced, for the day of
the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it
shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon
thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my
holy mountains, so shall all the heathen drink continually.
they shall drink and they shall swallow down and they shall be
as though they had not been the day of the Lord is near upon
the heathen it is day it is it is absolutely absolutely and men go on and they act as
though they are going to live forever they really do you only have to look at them
and it doesn't seem to matter how old they are they still go
on as they're going to live forever an example of this just this
morning a woman 92 that came into the a cafe where I was sat
this morning and she was speaking as though she was going to go
on forever you know it's a solemn truth that the old must die and
the young might and the Lord shall come as a
thief in the night we know not the day nor the hour when either
the Lord shall return or the hand of death shall bring us
out of this present world. For the day of the Lord is near
upon the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee. The reprobate are only paid in
the just punishment for their sins here upon earth. and God will vindicate his people
and the only difference is the free grace of God thy reward
shall be upon thine own head Esau you have dealt Edom has dealt treacherously
with Judah and here is the justice the result of the justice that
is pronounced it is true but fourthly and here
is the wonderful truth of it all that Mount Zion but upon
Mount Zion shall be deliverance there shall be holiness and the
house of Jacob shall possess their possessions really the book of the prophecy
of Obadiah is a further expounding of the truth of Jacob and Esau
Jacob that I love and Esau that I hate and it's always been that
way we go back to Genesis and chapter 27 We can see this clearly
in verses 39 and 40. Many of you will be very familiar
with it. And as Isaac, his father, answered and said unto him, Behold,
thy dwelling shall be in the fatness of the earth, and of
the dew of heaven from above. And by thy sword shalt thou live,
and shalt serve thy brother, and it shall come to pass when
thou shalt have the dominion. that thou shalt break his yoke
from off thy neck and Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing
wherein his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart the
days of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay
my brother Jacob this is the beginning of all this you see
and of course by the prophecy of Obadiah it had come to pass
the children of Esau they had persecuted the children of Jacob. Esau was jealous. He was filled
with hate because of the blessing wherein his father had blessed
him. But you know those that fight
and oppose God's ordered way will always come unstuck in the
end. and Jacob, the children of Israel. Israel being, of course, a type
of the church will always be vindicated. And we have to be
clear, it isn't that there was anything in Jacob that was meritorious
of God's favour. absolutely not, we only have
to read the surrounding chapters in Genesis to realise that but
it was the free grace and the free mercy of God and you notice this Esau deliberately
opposed God's way and that is exactly what the heathen do today
they oppose God's way because they hate it and these people that say to
us you people down at Salem Chapel, you hyper-Calvinists how can
you later charge the sins of the unbelieving? it's unfair
you only have to go outside this evening and witness for yourself
that the heathen deliberately shoots the way of the world They
hate God's ways and they are condemned for the sins that they
have committed. Yes, we prove what we have read. For the day of the Lord is near
upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be
done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon
thine own head. It's always been that way. But the New Testament confirms,
does it not, what we have here, the house of Jacob and the house
of Esau. In Romans, in chapter 9, perhaps
we've read it many, many times, but we must look at it once again. Verse 12, it was said unto her,
the elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid! For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
we love, nor of him that we love, but of God. that show us mercy. And this is it, isn't it? Here.
The electing truth of God. And it is those of Jacob. We looked at it, didn't we, the
other Sunday? And if ye be Christ's ye are
Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Galatians 3.29 It is to be in Him. It is to
be in Him. Those that went to glory in the
days of Jacob were those who were looking to the Messiah that
was to come and trusting in Him, the eternal Son of God. And this is the blessing, this
is the mercy, isn't it? But upon Mount Zion shall be
deliverance. There is deliverance, you know.
Don't pay any attention to these preachers that say that there's
no such thing as assurance and that there's no such thing as
the deliverance from sin. Because I can tell you now, it
is not the language of Scripture nor is it the historical position
of our denomination either. And here we can see upon Mount
Zion shall be deliverance shall be deliverance and there shall
be holiness and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions in other words Jacob will be
raised and this is the truth of our text isn't it? I feel that the whole chapter
is summed up in this verse 18 and the house of Jacob shall
be afire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau
for stubble just stubble and that's what Esau was reduced
to stubble nothing left it's absolutely all gone every last
whisper and they shall kindle in and devour them and there
shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord
hath spoken it now we have in the following verses a description
of the house of Judah possessing some of the surrounding geographical
locations and these were proofs of the prophecy that was taking
place and vindication of Israel and of God's people. And this
is a typical, atypical victory. You know, these people that say,
I mentioned it before, I had an email with an attachment with
somebody trying to have dispensational views, trying to convince me
that the world as it is now is under the power of the devil
and that until the end of the tribulation period and we enter
the millennium that this world is under Satan's power. It is not! The Lord God reigneth
and he is putting his enemies under his feet today And He is
bringing His purposes to pass today. And He is gathering in
His elect today. And this is what He is doing. And you know the Lord is sending
preachers to preach His Gospel today. What do we read? What
do we read? In verse 21, And saviours shall
come upon Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau. and the kingdom
shall be the Lord's and Saviour shall come upon Mount Zion. What
does that mean? It means He will send His preachers. He will send
those that preach the truth, that preach the Gospel. That
there is salvation for sinners. That He has an elect to gather
in. There will always be a remnant. will always be small in comparison
to the vast population. But you know, the Lord will not
leave Himself without a witness. And it's the same in every generation. Every generation. But He will
have mercy upon some. There will be some that feel
to need Christ. There will be some that feel
to need His mercy. You see, This oppression, this
reduction, did it not cause the children of Jacob to call upon
the Lord in their distress and in their trouble? And did some of them not see
the destruction of Edom? You know, if there's something
that should have made men believe by persuasion, it's the destruction
of Edom. but you know we live to prove
this a good example will never convert anyone only repentance
bestowed by the Lord will do that but an evil example has
brought many unto destruction and thus was the case here the
children of Esau followed their founder and they followed him
to hell but the Lord had mercy upon some of the house of Jacob
and that is the wonder that is the mercy and in fact it's so good it's so good, it's so wonderful it takes faith to believe it,
does it not? it takes faith to accept these things and to hold
fast to them. It's by faith we believe the
seas and the stars were made. And it's by faith that we accept
the God's truths in the doctrine of electing free and sovereign
mercy. You know the truths that I am
preaching now are not popular. And I dare say if I were anywhere
else but Salem Chapel here in Portsmouth tonight, I could guarantee
I would not be preaching again. But do we not glory in God's
predestinated mercy? Is it not our only hope that
salvation for God's people is an absolute surety? Perhaps these
are things you've heard many times, no doubt some if not all
of you, that's the case. that are they not things which
are constant themes throughout Holy Scriptures and particularly
in this prophecy of Obadiah this little book a much neglected
little prophecy and it's a solemn prophecy but you know it's wonderful
verses 17 to 21 do they not fill you with hope and a love for
Christ and raise you to a hope in His mercy experimental in
your soul. God's predestinating mercy. He's
electing mercy. It's a wonderful truth. We're
about to sing that hymn of the potter and the clay. I would
have chosen that hymn. It's not In our book, I've mentioned
it before, you'll find it in Wells's selection. It's written
by Joseph Irons. The God of heaven maintains his
universal throne. In heaven and earth and hell
he reigns and makes his wonders known. Jacob that he loved, who
knows the reason why, but Esau's heart he left depraved and who
could dare reply it's a wonderful truth but we look unto God and
His mercy even now the redemption that was accomplished
and that was finished upon Calvary's tree and the house of Jacob shall
be afire and the house of Joseph aflame and the house of Esau
for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them and there
shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord
hath spoken it well may the Lord add his blessing Amen