Well, that inspires me to preach.
That's my favorite hymn. I love that hymn. It's so expressive
of the truth of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. I want
you tonight to open your Bibles to the book of Obadiah. Obadiah. One of the shortest books, if
not the shortest book in the Bible. Before I get into the verses
here and give you the title of the message, I want to start
by this now. It's not my purpose just to put
down other preachers or anything like that, but I believe that false preaching,
false gospels, must be exposed for what they are. And one of
the most popular preachers today on television and popular in
the bookstores, whose message is mainly consisting of the power
of positive thinking and the psychology of self-worth, man-centered,
works religion, was being interviewed by a reporter. And the reporter
asked him if he ever preached on subjects like sin. In fact, he asked him, he said,
why don't you ever preach on sin and God's judgment against
sin and God's wrath against sin? And the preacher responded by
saying, Why would I want to preach on something so negative? Why
would I want to preach on something so negative? Now, with that in
mind, what I want you to understand is this. The Bible teaches that God's
preachers, ministers of truth, are ambassadors of Christ. That means we don't represent
ourselves and we don't go out preaching by our own authority
or the authority of our own word. We search and we pray, we read
and study, and we seek God's guidance on what to preach and
what to say. And our greatest fear is that
we stand behind this pulpit on our own. That's a great fear.
And any of you men who preach, you know that's so. Don't leave
me up here by myself. Speak the Word of God by the
Spirit of God. And so when I preach to you and
as I preach to myself, I don't believe I have a choice as to
the nature of the message or what it is. It's God's choice. Whether it's negative, whether
it's positive, or both. I hope it's both. I hope you
hear both here. But there's three words that
settle the entire issue about what I'm to preach to you. And
you'll find them in Obadiah verse 1. It says, the vision of Obadiah. Now that vision is the prophecy,
the word that God gave him. And here's the three words. Thus
saith God, thus saith the Lord. That's what determines what I
preach and what you hear. What does God say? What does
He say? Listen to the opening verses.
The vision of Obadiah, thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom,
the nation Edom. The nation Edom was a great,
great enemy of Israel. Edom were descendants, they were
descendants of Esau. We looked at that last week when
we closed out the book of Amos. Descendants of Esau, Jacob's
twin brother. The one who despised his birthright
and sold it for a pot of soup. That's Edom. The word Edom means
red, incidentally. We're not really sure why this
nation was called that, but Esau was called Edom at one time.
But it says, we have heard a rumor from the Lord. Now that's a message,
a report from the Lord. And an ambassador is sent among
the heathen. Now there's an ambassador of
the Lord, an ambassador of Christ, that's Obadiah. And he says,
Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle, that is,
Edom. Behold, I have made thee small
among the heathen. They have no greatness now. God
has made them small among the heathen. And he says, Thou art
greatly despised. And what does that mean? What
is it to be despised? You despise somebody. That means
you hate them. Who's doing the despising here?
Who is it that greatly despises Edom? I'll tell you exactly who
it is. It's the Lord God. And if you're aware of anything
in religion today, you will know that this is a message that the
world does not want to hear. The title of this message is
God's Hatred and God's Love. Most people say, well, I want
to hear half of that message. I want to hear about God's love.
Well, I do too. But when it says, thus saith
God, those three words, or thus saith the Lord or the Lord God,
I have no choice. but to preach it to you. Obadiah,
the name Obadiah means servant of the Lord. This is a prophet
of the Lord God. He's not speaking on his own.
He's not speaking out of his own reasoning or out of his own
emotions or out of his own prejudices. He's just simply reporting. That's what that word rumor means.
It's not just a hearsay. He's just simply reporting what
God says you go report, and you cannot refuse the king. And let
me tell you this, too. That means you can't refuse to
hear the king. Now, you may turn a deaf ear,
but I'll guarantee you one day you will hear what God has to
say. And so, you'll hear what God
has to say about his hatred. and what God has to say about
his love. Both are in this short prophecy
of Obadiah. Now the world will tell you,
the religious world, the apostate message of false gospels will
tell you that God doesn't hate. He can't hate anybody. And the
reason they'll tell you that is because of self-righteousness
and self-love. The reason they don't believe
God hates anybody is because they don't believe anybody deserves
to be hated. But the Bible tells us the opposite.
The Bible tells us that if any of us who are born of Adam, ruined
by the fall, sinners, if God were to give us what we deserve
and what we've earned, it would be nothing but hatred. That's
what the Scripture teaches. Before I go on in this passage,
I want you to look again at Romans chapter 9. Now somebody says,
well now that's just the God of the Old Testament. But now
He's grown older and He's like a grandfather now. You know how
when you were younger and you had children, how you treated
them, you know, how you were so stern and strict? And then
when you got to be a grandfather, you let them grandkids do anything.
And that's the way most people see God. In the Old Testament,
He was just stern and strict and wrathful and mean. He threw
temper tantrums. But now in the New Testament,
He's just like an old grandfather. Now He's gentle and He'll let
us get away with anything. That's what a lot of people say.
But that's not God. Same God that spoke to Obadiah
and gave him a message that spoke to Paul and gave him this message
in Romans chapter 9. Now remember, Edom are the descendants
of Esau. Israel are the descendants of
Jacob. And these two men and these two
nations are representative, they're types, they're pictures, and
I'll show you this. But it says in verse 13 of Romans 9, now
we've already gone through these verses, so I'm not going to go
through all this, I just want to show you something. It says,
as it is written, Jacob have I loved, it's God speaking by
the Apostle Paul, but Esau have I hated. And we've said it a
thousand times. I remember when I first heard
Brother Mahan really preach this message. He said most people
will in self-righteousness and self-love look up and say, well,
how could God hate Esau? But the real question is not
how could God hate Esau. We can see that Esau was a sinner.
I'm a sinner. The question is how can God love
Jacob who also is a sinner? who didn't deserve or earn God's
love. This is what he says. And I know
people say, well, that's not fair. Well, Paul anticipates
that by the Holy Spirit. He says in verse 14, what shall
we say then? Is there unrighteousness, unfairness,
injustice with God? God forbid, he saith to Moses,
goes back to the God of the Old Testament, same God you see,
not a different God. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will
have compassion. And here's the issue now. Now,
this is where our mind should focus on. Listen, think about
this now. We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Sin deserves death. And I want to show you something
about this issue of hate and love when it comes to God. because
it's not like us now. You know, one of the reasons
that people have so much problem with this is they define God's
hatred and God's love by their own. But see, our hatred is selfish
and sinful and unlawful. When we hate somebody, it's nothing
but sinfulness and selfishness and unrighteousness, you see. But when God hates somebody,
you know what it is? It's justice. And that's all
it is. It's not emotional. It's not
reactionary. It's not God throwing a tantrum
or just deciding he's mean one day. It's justice against sin. God hateth all workers of iniquity,
the scripture says in the Psalms. God must punish sin. It's not
an emotional thing with God. It's righteous indignation. That's what it is. Pure, holy,
righteous indignation. And when God loves someone, it's
not emotional, it's not reactionary, it's His sovereign mercy and
love in Christ. And here's what we need to be
concerned with. Yes, we're sinners and we deserve
God's justice, His just wrath. We deserve His hatred. But if
He loves any of us, any of us Jacobs, I'll tell you where you're
going to find that love. You're going to find that love
in Christ. You run to Christ. I'll run to
Christ. How about that? That's where
our mind should be. Run to Christ. Herein is love, the scripture
says in 1 John 4 and verse 10. Not that we love God. In other
words, God doesn't love me because I love Him. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation, the substitute,
the sin-bearer, the sacrifice, the satisfaction for our sins,
the propitiation for our sins. This is the love of God. And
so He says in verse 16 of Romans 9, So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
Now turn to the book of Malachi chapter 1. That's the last book
of the Old Testament. When Paul wrote that by inspiration
of the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 9, he was quoting from
this passage right here. Look at Malachi chapter 1. Malachi closes out the Old Testament. In Malachi chapter 1, verse 1,
listen to this. It says, "...the burden of the
word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi, God's prophet." And
he says, I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet you say, wherein
hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? Jacob and Esau. Saith the Lord,
yet I love Jacob. And I hated Esau, and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Whereas Edom, that's Esau's descendants, the nation Edom, that Obadiah
is speaking to in his prophecy, Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished,
but we will return and build the desolate places. Thus saith
the Lord God of hosts, They shall build, but I'll throw it down.
And they shall call them the border of wickedness, and the
people against whom the Lord hath indignation forever." That's
God's hatred. That's righteous indignation.
Let me tell you, whatever you read in this book, Now listen
to me very carefully here. Whatever God does or whatever
God says He does, and I know people try to spin this in all
kinds of different ways. I've even heard people say, well,
that means God loved Jacob, but He loved Esau less. That's not
what this book says. That's not thus saith the Lord.
However, it says it, it says it plain, it says it simply,
that anybody can understand it with the physical mind, even
though they might not receive it and understand it spiritually.
God is never unfair. God is never unjust. He never
does anything wrong. God judges according to truth. He always does. Now, how should
we respond to these issues of God's hatred and God's love? It's simply this, where, where
in the world can a sinner like me find the love of God? Where? And there's not but one
place, and that's in Christ. And that's the message of Obadiah.
Turn back there to Obadiah. As I said, Obadiah means servant
of the Lord. He was a prophet from the southern
kingdom of Judah. But his message was for the land
of Edom. Edom was a nation that occupied
a land southeast of Judah. And Obadiah was sent of God to
pronounce destruction on Edom for what reason? Because of their
pride and because of their crimes against the people of God. That's
why God pronounced judgment against Edom. We don't really know exactly
when Obadiah prophesied. It's hard to figure. Some people
say he was a contemporary of Elisha. Remember Elisha, the
prophet. Some say he was as late as Jeremiah.
We don't know, but I'll tell you what, his message is for
all ages. The message of God's judgment
against sin and the message of God's grace for sinners in Christ
is a message for all ages. Here he tells the story of two
nations, Israel and Edom. And these nations had a long
history of hostility stemming back to Jacob and Esau. Jacob typifies, and you know
God identifies Himself by that name more than any other name
in the Old Testament, the God of Jacob. And what does that
tell you about God? It tells you that He's the God
who saves sinners by His grace. He's the God who loves his people
and determines to save them from all their sins. Jacob typifies
sinners saved by the grace of God in Christ. That's what Jacob
typifies. He was a sinner, he was a man
who didn't deserve God's love, didn't earn God's love, but God
purposed to save him. And the scripture says this in
Malachi chapter 3 and verse 6, that same passage, that same
prophet that we read a while ago, it says, I am the Lord God,
I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. And
when anybody comes to me and says, well, preacher, I wish
you hadn't preached that message, all I'm just simply going to
say to you is what it reads right here in Obadiah 1, thus saith
the Lord God. Your problem is not with me. Your problem is with the Lord
God. He said, Obadiah, you preach
this. They're not going to like to hear it, just like people
today don't like to hear it. But I want to tell you something
now. If you ever see, by the power of the Holy Spirit, what
we all, without exception, deserve from a holy God, you'll not only
like to hear it, you'll love to hear it, because this is a
message that drives sinners to Christ for salvation. That's what it is. That's what
it's about. Esau, he typifies the natural man who's ignorant
of and even despises the grace of God in Christ, the gospel,
and those who are enemies of Christ and His church, men of
the flesh. You know that Edom, this nation
Edom, is mentioned in the Old Testament more than any other
nation as the supreme object of God's wrath and God's hatred.
And here's the spiritual application to it all. This prophecy of Obadiah
is a vindication of God in the salvation of His people, spiritual
Israel, all who come to Christ for salvation, who rest in Him,
who flee to Him. And it also vindicates God in
the eternal damnation of all who, like Esau, like Edom, reject
God's gospel, persecute the church, and despise His grace. Listen
to it. Here's the coming judgment on
Edom. Here's Esau have I hated. Look
at it again. Verse 1, the vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning
Edom, we've heard a rumor, we've heard a report from the Lord,
and an ambassador is sent among the heathen to tell you what
the Lord God says. That's what he's saying. Arise
ye and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have
made thee small among the heathen, thou art greatly despised." The
decree goes forth to the nations. This nation of Edom, she was
deceived by her own self-righteousness and her own pride. She lived
in a location, this nation occupied a location that they thought
was impregnable by any enemy. But he says, Edom will be brought
down. Look at verse 3. And this is a description of
the natural man. He says, the pride of thine heart hath deceived
thee. That's why I had Terry read Jeremiah
17. The heart, the heart of natural
man is deceptive. And it's because of the darkness
of pride. The pride of thine heart hath
deceived thee. You think you're fine. You think
you're safe. You think you're blessed. You think you're accepted.
And he says, Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. There
was some rocky places around this area where they occupied
that they could hide in caves. And they thought they were safe.
Let me tell you something. There's only one rock in which the people
of God can be safe from the wrath of God. And that's the rock Christ
Jesus. That's why I love that hymn so
much. We stand upon the rock. He's the foundation of the church. We live in the rock. We hide
in the cleft of the rock. But not any physical rock. Our
rock, Christ Jesus. He says, "...whose habitation
is high, that saith in his heart, who shall bring me down to the
ground?" In other words, they're asking that question in confidence.
Nobody's going to bring me down. We're safe. We're okay. He goes on, verse 4, "...though
thou exalt thyself as the eagle." And notice there it says, "...exalt
thyself." You know the Lord God exalts His people in Christ.
But you know what He does first? He brings us down off of our
pride. He brings us down off of our
high horse. He brings us down off of our
self-righteousness and puts us in the dust. He brings us low.
He humbles us, and then He exalts us by His grace in Christ. But
he says, you've exalted yourself as the eagle. This is the way
Edom sees herself. This is the way Esau saw himself. And though thou set thy nest
among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the
Lord. Doesn't matter how high man ascends
in his works, in his religion, in any way, in his natural defenses,
in his own wisdom, in his alliances, God's going to bring him down.
Mark it down. And it's not because God is mean,
it's not because God's throwing a tantrum, it's because God is
just and He must punish sin. And listen, here's the extent
of it. Listen to what He says here in
this judgment of God against them. He says in verse 5, He
says, If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, how art
thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till
they had enough? In other words, they'd get enough and then they'd
leave. He said, if the grape gatherers came to thee, would
they not leave some grapes? In other words, they wouldn't
take everything, they'd just take as much as they could carry and
leave. And he says in verse 6, how are the things of Esau searched
out? How are his hidden things sought
up? What he's showing here is that
the destruction and the destitution is going to be complete. There's
not going to be anything left here. He mentions Esau here. You know the story of Jacob and
Esau. We talked about it last week. Jacob was these twin boys. And even in their mother's womb
there was a struggle between them. And Esau came out first
in the birth process and Jacob came out holding his heel. That's
what Jacob means, heel holder. Holding on to him, supplanter.
But it was said before the boys were born that the elder shall
serve the younger. But as they grew, it became apparent
what the case was. Esau was a man of the world.
He loved this world, he loved the things of this world, and
he despised his birthright. Now, his birthright, as I told
you last time, it wasn't money and property and things like
that. He had plenty of that. His birthright was to be the
elder son, the firstborn who was to be the spiritual leader
of the family. But Esau cared nothing for the
things of God. He cared nothing for the things
of the Spirit of God. He cared nothing for the truth
of God's grace in Christ. And he despised it. He was called
a profane person. We'll see that in Hebrews 12
later on. That means he can be bought.
That means that the things that are really valuable don't really
mean anything to him, and he'd sell them just for a pot of soup.
You see that? Somebody asked the question one
time, said, how could Esau just sell a birthright for a pot of
soup? Well, he's a profane man. He
can be bought. It doesn't matter to him. He
had plenty of money. He had plenty of land. He had
all those things that he wanted. Where his heart was, that's where
he lived. But that birth, right, he didn't
care. He'd sell it for a song. Because he cared nothing for
the things of God. And this is going to be brought
up. That's what he's saying here. The things, they're going to
be searched out. The heart is going to be revealed. Everything
is going to be exposed by the truth of God. And it's going
to be in that day of judgment that God will be vindicated in
his hatred of Esau. In his justice against Esau.
In verse 7. He says, all the men of thy confederacy
have brought thee even to the border. What he's talking about
there is their alliances with other nations. Other nations
will turn against thee and be on your borders. The men that
were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against
thee. They that eat thy bread have
laid a wound under thee. They sit down at your table and
eat with you and now they're attacking you. There's none understanding
in him. None understanding. There's none
that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. Verse 8, listen to this. He says, Shall I not in that
day sayeth the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom? For
some reason, and I don't know, I've studied this, but Edom was
known for its worldly wisdom. But he says, I'm going to destroy
the wise men out of Edom. God's going to destroy the wisdom
of the wise. Earthly wisdom. You see, the
Bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 1 that Christ is both the wisdom
and the power of God. Without Him, we have no wisdom
in the eyes of God. And He says, I'm going to destroy
understanding out of the Mount of Esau, that earthly understanding,
by which men judge things according to their own fleshly appetites. Verse 9, he said, And thy mighty
men, O Teman, Teman's a city in Edom, shall be dismayed to
the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off
by slaughter. Cut off. Cut off forever. That's a sad thing. I thought
about when I looked at this. You know, look at verse 10. Here's
the reason that he's going to do this. He says, For thy violence
against thy brother Jacob, God chose Jacob to be the spiritual
leader of the family. Esau despised that and he fought
against Jacob. Edom fought against Israel. So
their violence against thy brother Jacob's shame shall cover thee
and thou shalt be cut off forever. Cut off forever. Alienated from
God forever. Alienated from Christ. And I
thought about Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 and verse 5 when Isaiah
was brought to conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. One of
the things he said was this, in verse 5 of Isaiah chapter
6. He said, woe is me for I am undone. He said undone, that's
the way the King James Version translates it. And that word
undone literally means cut off. What Isaiah is saying is in my
sin, Apart from the grace and the love and the mercy of God
in Christ, I'm totally alienated from God. I'm cut off. Well,
Esau and Edom are cut off forever, but Isaiah wasn't cut off forever.
In himself, he was alienated from God, but God saved Isaiah
and brought him near. brought him near into complete
communion and fellowship with God. Now, how does that happen?
How does that happen? It happens through both the justice
of God in punishing Christ for the sins of his people whom he
loves, and in the mercy of God which is found in Christ. God
is just to justify the ungodly. That's how he saved Jacob. That's
how he saves any of us, Jacobs, any of us sinners. It's by the
blood and the righteousness of Christ. Look at verse 11. He
says, "...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." Now, he's talking about how foreigners
and strangers attacked Israel. And it says, here's how Edom
responded to that. It says, and cast lots upon Jerusalem,
even thou wast as one of them. You became as one of the enemies.
You didn't help your brother Israel, your brother Jacob. In
fact, you became a cheerleader for the enemy, as it were. Verse
12, he says, but thou shouldest not have looked on the day of
thy brother in the day that he became a stranger. That is, you
peered at him with pleasure. That's what that means. You're
saying, I'm glad that happened to him. And he says, neither
shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the
day of their destruction. You rejoiced in their destruction.
You weren't sad. He says, neither shouldst thou
have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Speaking proudly
when Judah was destroyed, Israel was destroyed, Edom spoke proudly. They deserve what they get. I
don't deserve that. We must be doing something right.
But not them, those sinners. They're getting what they deserve.
Oh Lord, if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand?
Verse 13, he says, thou shouldest not have entered into the gate
of my people in the day of their calamity. What he's talking about
there is it's like they come in after Israel was defeated
or Judah was defeated and they picked up the spoils. He says,
"'Yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in
the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance
in the day of their calamity, capitalized on their defeat and
their destruction.'" Verse 14, "'Neither shouldest thou have
stood in the crossway to cut off those of his that did escape.'"
They're helping the enemy there. Neither shouldst thou have delivered
up those of his that did remain in the day of distress, entering
into that destruction. Verse 15, for the day of the
Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done it, it shall
be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon
thine own head. You know what he's saying there?
He's saying what Paul wrote in Galatians 6. What you sow, you
reap. This is what you've done. in
your pride, in your arrogance, in your self-righteousness, you've
despised them, what you sow, you'll reap. My friend, you can't
get away from that principle. It's an eternal principle. What
you sow, you reap. That's true of us. What we sow,
we reap. Let me put it to you this way
in very plain terms. For example, if you sow works
in order to be saved, You know what you're going to reap? Death. If you sow pride and self-righteousness,
what are you going to reap? Death. Because by deeds of law
shall no flesh be justified. But if you sow grace unto the
glory and the praise of God, what will you reap? Life everlasting. That's how God saves sinners.
Look at verse 16. He says, Now what are they drinking
here? They're drinking the cup of God's wrath. The cup of God's
wrath. That's what it is. You're drinking on God's holy
mountain. You've rejoiced over the destruction
of God's people. I think about Christ in the Garden
of Gethsemane when He talked about that cup, that cup of God's
wrath. He drank it dry for His people. But He says, here, you're going
to drink that, you're going to drink it, and you're going to
swallow it down. You're going to sup it up. You're going to
get the full measure of it. Esau have I hated. That's the
justice of God. All right, verse 17. Here's the
hope and the exaltation of Israel over Edom. Here's Jacob, have
I loved. He starts out, he says, but upon
Mount Zion. What is Mount Zion? Well, that's
Jerusalem. That's the city of the living
God. I want to show you that when I close this message out.
That's the church. That's the chosen of God. That's
the redeemed of the Lord. That's the ones who are justified
by His grace in Christ, washed in His blood, clothed in His
righteousness. That's the ones called out by
the Holy Spirit in the new birth and brought to Christ. That's
who He's talking about here. This is the people of God. This
is the people of His love. And He says three things about
them. But upon Mount Zion shall be,
number one, deliverance. They're going to be delivered.
They're going to be delivered by the grace and the power of
God. They're going to be redeemed. That's what he means. How is
Zion redeemed? How is the church redeemed? With
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why he went
to the cross. He didn't go to the cross to
try to save anybody. He didn't go to the cross to
be a martyr that we could sing about. He didn't go to the cross
to be a great example of self-sacrifice. He went to the cross to save
His people from their sins by the purchased price of His precious
blood. And in doing that, He established
the only righteousness whereby God could be just and justify
the ungodly. They're going to be delivered,
delivered from the wrath to come. What Edom will suffer, Zion will
not. Secondly, he says there shall
be holiness. What is holiness? It's what we
are in Christ. We stand holy before God in Christ. We stand sinlessly perfect, not
in ourselves, but in Christ. That's what it means to be washed
in His blood. That's what it means to have
His righteousness charged to us, clothed in His righteousness.
He was made sin, our sins were charged to Him, and He died and
drank that cup of God's wrath in full. that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him, and that is a separation. We're
separated from the world in Christ. In ourselves and by nature and
by our works, we deserve just as much hatred and damnation
as Esau got. But God, who is rich in mercy
and grace in His great love whereby He loved us, have quickened us
together with Christ." So there's holiness. And then thirdly, "...and
the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions." That's a
strange phrase, isn't it? You're going to have what you
have. Possess the possessions. What does he mean? What he means
is this, we're going to actually take hold of those blessings
of salvation that we already have in Christ. We're going to
take hold of them by faith in our own experience and realize
them. You see, these blessings were given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. They were already ours in Christ,
every blessing of grace. And when God brings us to salvation,
brings us to see the glory of Christ, then we take hold of
them. We possess our possessions. That's a glorious thing. He says
in verse 18, "...and the house of Jacob shall be afire, and
the house of Joseph aflame." Jacob and Joseph, meaning the
northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, and what he's talking
about is under Christ there's going to be unity in the kingdom,
not a division. "...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." Now again, here he comes. going to experience the justice
of God. Any sinner who despises the grace of God, every sinner
who despises the goodness of God in Christ, the gospel of
God's grace, they're going to perish forever. Now, don't get
mad at me. The Lord hath spoken it. That's
what it says there, isn't it? Who said that? God did. God did. And he says in verse 19, And
they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau. Now he goes
to all the surrounding areas, and he says they're all going
to possess the mount of Esau. And they of the plain of the
Philistines, and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the
fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. In other
words, their whole country is going to be overrun and taken
from them. And he says in verse 20, "...and
the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall
possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath, and the
captivity of Jerusalem which is in Shepharad." All these places
in geography that surround Edom. "...shall possess the cities
of the south," and verse 21, "...and saviors," now notice
it's plural there, "...saviors shall come upon Mount Zion to
judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's."
What does he mean, saviors, plural? There's only one Savior, and
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. There's none other name given
among men under heaven whereby we must be saved. There's one
mediator. What does he mean saviors? Well, that word saviors there
means deliverers. Some translations translate it
judges. What is he talking about? I believe
what he's talking about and the symbolism here is military leaders
who are fully equipped to do battle. I believe what he's talking
about is the ministers of Christ who preach the gospel. They can't
save you, I can't save you, but I can show you one who does save. I can point you to Christ, like
John the Baptist. He said, I'm not the Messiah,
and I can't save you. I can baptize you with water,
but there's one coming after me who was before me who baptizes
with fire. He can bring life. He can give
you spiritual life. And He says, He must increase,
I must decrease. Now let me close by this scripture.
Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. And I want to draw all this together
for you out of the New Testament here in Hebrews chapter 12. Listen to what He says. He's talking about here not to
be sidetracked or diverted from the course of God's grace in
Christ with any root of bitterness. Bitterness that comes from being
persecuted or being tested by the Lord God and treated badly
by the enemies of Christ. And he says in verse 15, looking
diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, fall from
that grace. In other words, deny the grace
of God. lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble you, and
thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane
person as Esau, who for one morsel of meat or meal, literally, sold
his birthright. He says, for you know how that
afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was
rejected. For he found no place of repentance,
though he sought it carefully with tears." Now, that's not
saying that Esau really repented and God just turned a deaf ear
to him. Esau didn't repent over selling his birthright. He was
upset and angry and repented that he'd sold it to Jacob and
he couldn't get it back from his daddy. Now, that was the
problem. It wasn't godly repentance that
springs from faith in Christ and a true conviction of sin,
a broken and a contrite heart. And then he says this, he says,
verse 18, for you are not come unto the mount that might be
touched and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness and
darkness and tempest. Now he's talking about Mount
Sinai there. We don't go to Mount Sinai, we're not looking for
salvation like Esau did, by our works, by our efforts, or in
the world. But look down at verse 22. He
says, but you are come unto Mount Zion, or Zion. Remember what
Obadiah said, there's the Savior shall come out of Zion. You're
come to Mount Zion and unto the city of the living God, the spiritual
Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem. And to an innumerable company
of angels, ministers, that's what that is, servants. to the
general assembly and church of the firstborn, that's the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ, which are written in heaven, and to
God the judge of all, you see God is still just, and the spirits
of just men, righteous men, made perfect, that is fully complete. Who are these righteous men fully
complete? Those are the believers who have
gone to be with the Lord, and that'll be us one day when we're
glorified together with Him, and to Jesus, Jehovah our Savior,
the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling
that speaketh better things than that of Abel. Abel's blood being
that which cries out for vengeance against all the enemies, just
like Obadiah speaks of God's justice against their sin. All
right.