Okay, well, I've been trying
to bring one message a week from the Minor Prophets since I first
said about four weeks ago that we'd been reading them in our
morning readings, and this week we come to Obadiah. I give no
guarantee that this will continue right the way through, but anyway,
we'll see what the Lord gives week by week. But Obadiah is
a short prophecy, one of the shortest books in the Bible,
just 21 verses, and It brings a powerful message. It's the same pattern as the
other minor prophets. It's judgment on the enemies
of God. It seems like doom and gloom
when you read it. Judgment on the enemies of God.
And that includes those who think they're his people, but are not
his people. You know what Jesus said? There
are many who will say to him in that day of judgment, Lord,
haven't we done all these things in your name? Therefore, you've
got to let us into heaven. And he said, depart from me.
I never knew you. They named the name, but they
didn't live in accordance with the truth of God and the gospel
of his grace. No, judgment on the enemies of
God and gracious salvation set against it and glory for his
elect multitude, for the true Israel of God. Israel is not
a country in the Middle East. Don't please get rid of that
idea. It's the people of God. It's
the elect of God. It's the multitude that no man
can number from every tongue and tribe and kindred. This message
of grace is a message of salvation, deliverance, accomplished, and
it's apprehended. We grasp it, we know it, we feel
it, we enter into the good of it by repentance from sin and
faith in Christ alone, no other way. Nothing that we do, nothing
in my hands I bring, nothing that we can do. Look at verse
17, because you see, the prophecy is all a judgment on Edom, who
are the descendants of Esau, who was the twin brother of Jacob,
the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah. And this is judgment on Esau
for what he did to his brother. And it's all doom and gloom,
as Stephen read to us before, down to verse 16, but then verse
17, but, Don't you just love the buts in the Word of God?
Doom and gloom, justice, condemnation, but God. But upon Mount Zion
shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house
of Jacob shall possess their possessions. That's our text
for this morning. I want us to consider Edom as
picturing this world in opposition to God's kingdom. in opposition
to God's people, in opposition to God's Christ. Secondly, I
want us to consider deliverance from the judgment falling on
Edom and on this world. deliverance from it, salvation
from it. And thirdly, as it says at the
end of the verse, the possessions of Jacob possessed. Jacob shall
possess their possessions. Good thing to possess your possessions.
So, Edom against the kingdom of God. The land of Edom in Old
Testament times, in the days of Old Testament Israel, was
to the south of Israel. It was to the south, maybe slightly
to the southeast. And they were rich lands. You
can read all about them in the books of Moses. The dukes of
Esau, the dukes of Edom, they were prosperous, they were rich.
It was a rich land, rich lands of Esau's descendants. Now, as
I've said, Esau and Jacob were twins. They were non-identical
twins. They were different in so many
ways. The scriptures Genesis describes to us how Jacob was
a bit of a mummy's boy at home, whereas Esau was the rough, tough,
hard guy who was out hunting. And Isaac, their father, preferred
Esau because he used to bring him game that he shot and make
delicious stews with it, and Isaac loved these things. So
they were twins, and Esau was the older, and Jacob was the
younger. Nevertheless, when they were
born, as they came out of the womb, we read that Jacob was
hanging onto the heel of Esau. Esau, the firstborn of Isaac
and Rebekah. Esau was to Jacob like Cain was
to Abel. You know, the sons of Adam and
Eve. Cain, the firstborn, Abel after
him. Abel was the one whose worship
was accepted by God. Cain's wasn't. Cain sought to
destroy Abel. Cain murdered Abel. Cain shed
Abel's blood. And in a way, Esau was to Jacob
like Cain was to Abel. And exactly as all unbelievers,
as this unbelieving world, the world around us is in general
unbelieving. It does not believe the truth
of God. It does not believe the testimony of God in the scriptures.
All unbelievers are to believers to the kingdom of God, just exactly
that same pattern of Cain to Abel and Esau to Jacob. In 1
John chapter 3 and verse 13, the apostle tells us not to be
surprised, marvel not, don't be surprised, my brethren, if
the world hate you. Oh, if you look at religion today,
Christian religion, so it calls itself, it's all about making
this world a better place, and showing what kind people we are.
Now don't think for one minute I'm saying there's anything wrong
by doing kind things in this world, but the purpose of the
Gospel of Grace is not to make this world a better place, as
I say so often. So John says, don't be surprised,
my brethren, if the world hate you, This is exactly what Jesus
said to his followers. He said, don't be surprised,
they've hated me. He said, they'll hate you also. Satan's kingdom,
this world in which we live, is the kingdom of Satan. It is,
I believe now, living in that little season that Revelation
20 talks about, when Satan was released from his restraint to
deceive the nations as he had in Old Testament days. He is
released to deceive, and we see deception by Satan concerning
the truth of God on a scale never before seen. It's absolutely
immense, is that deception. this world truly is his kingdom. How did it become his kingdom?
God gave the kingdom of his creation to Adam as his viceroy, as his
vice-king, as the king in his place on this earth. Adam was
put in charge of this kingdom. But at the fall, in the Garden
of Eden, Adam ceded. He handed over the rule of his
kingdom to Satan. He just handed it over. He ceded
it to him. And that kingdom, ever since,
has been characterized by unbelief. Unbelief is profound in this
world. It is everywhere. The tendency
in the flesh of man, in the minds of men, to disbelieve God, to
call God a liar, to say they don't believe what God has clearly
revealed. And it's the same sort of situation
that happened with Esau. He was amongst them. As Hebrews
12 verse 16 tells us, we read it earlier, lest there be any
fornicator who is an unfaithful person, an immoral unfaithful
person, or profane person. I don't know how to define it,
but light, trivial, doesn't take anything seriously. A profane
person, as Esau, as the shining example of it. Why? Because for
one morsel of meat sold his birthright. Do you remember he came back
from the field very hungry from his hunting? And Jacob had made
a delicious stew and the smell, you know how the pangs of hunger
get more intense when you're hungry and you can smell food
and you just can't wait to get into it. And Esau being so profane,
so fickle in his movements, for one morsel of this delicious
stew, sold his birthright as the firstborn of the two of them,
he sold his birthright to his brother Jacob. Now, subsequently,
he had to be tricked out of it by Rebecca and Jacob, making
it appear as though Jacob was actually Esau when he sought
Isaac's blessing. But Esau was profane, he despised
his birthright. What does that mean? It means
this, that he despised God's revelation of grace in a substitute
who was to come, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the
Messiah, who is the Lamb of God that Abel's Lamb pictured. This
is it. This was the birthright. The
birthright that ran through this family, down from Abraham, through
Isaac, and then to Jacob. A birthright of God's revelation
of grace in the substitute. And Esau despised it. He despised
that gospel of grace. He married pagan women at the
end of Genesis chapter 26. We read there that the names
of the ones he married, and these were ones who were not of this
line of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, of believing the
revelation of gospel grace as it was to Abel and to all the
patriarchs. Don't think for one minute that
they didn't know about Jesus. They knew about the Messiah to
come, who was going to save his people from their sins. And we
read that Esau's behavior in doing what he did was a grief
of mind to Isaac and Rebekah. It caused them anguish. You know,
parents can often be in a state of anguish over their children.
Esau also hated Jacob. he hated him, because Jacob got
the blessing of Isaac, his father, and yet Esau hated him. He said
in Genesis 27, verse 41, after Isaac had blessed Jacob, thinking
that he was blessing Esau, Esau said, when Isaac is dead, when
my father is dead, I will kill my brother. It couldn't have
been clearer. He said it. He intended to kill
Jacob. Is that not typical of the unbelieving
world which is at odds with the citizens of God's spiritual kingdom? Esau's descendants lived to the
south of Canaan, and they constantly afflicted Israel. The world constantly
afflicts the true Church of God, the true people of God. In Numbers
20, we read of the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites
on their journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan, the Promised
Land. And they needed to go through, on their journey, the land of
Edom. Esau's descendants were there.
their relatives by virtue of his being the brother of Jacob.
And in Numbers 20, we read that they asked, can we go through?
We won't cause you any trouble. We won't do any damage to your
land. We'll just make our way through
on the way to where we need to go. And Edom said, no, you can't
come through. And they sent out armies against
them to oppose them and to oppress them. They wouldn't let them
pass through their territory. Same as others around them did
the same thing. They opposed Israel, just as
this world opposes God's people. In fact, this world opposes any
without their mark. What is their mark? It's what
we read in Revelation. It's the mark of the beast. It's
the mark of Satan's beast. It's the mark of the empires
of this world. It's the mark of the philosophy
and the wizardry and the technology and the trickery of this world.
It's the mark of the beast and everybody that goes along with
it is in opposition to the Kingdom of God. In about 586 BC, the
Edomites, remember they're the relatives of Jacob and the Israelites,
they encouraged Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to destroy Israel. We read that in Psalm 137, verse
seven. It says this, and I'm missing
some bits out just to make it quicker and more concise. The
children of Edom said to Babylon, to Nebuchadnezzar, Raise it,
not raise it up, raise it, R-A-Z-E, R-A-S-E, if you want to spell
it with an S rather than a Z, as a razor, you know, for shaving,
shaving down to the ground. Shave Jerusalem down to the ground,
even to the foundation thereof. Flatten it. This is what they
said. To Nebuchadnezzar, this powerful emperor of the Babylonian
Empire, go and flatten the kingdom of our brothers. Go and flatten
it. Also Amos and Joel. Other prophets
refer to Edom's hostility. But you know, God had made a
promise, and he made a promise to Abraham. He promised Abraham. Genesis 12, verse 3, he called
Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of the idolatry that his
family was in. We know from the New Testament
that Abraham's family, before he was called, was a family of
idolaters. They worshipped false gods. But
God called him. God gave him revelation from
heaven. God said to him in Genesis 12
verse 3, I will bless them that bless thee, and I will curse
them that curse thee. No, you're the apple of my eye,
you know the apple of the eye is that very, very tender bit
that you can't stand to touch it yourself, never mind anybody
else touch it. And God treats his people and
the descendants of Abraham by faith in exactly that way. God
keeps his promises because he is God. He cannot change. Obadiah pronounces by Holy Spirit
inspiration. The words that we read were inspired
by the Holy Spirit, and Obadiah wrote in the style of Obadiah.
He was the man, Obadiah, who wrote the words that Obadiah
thought in his mind, but those words were put there by the Holy
Spirit of God. And Obadiah, speaking the word
of God, pronounced certain judgment on Edom. And why? Because we
read it in verse 10. for thy violence. Edom, the descendants
of Esau, why are you going to be judged of God? For your violence
against your brother. your brother Jacob shall shame
cover thee. You're going to be shamed in
judgment, shamed in judgment because of your violence against
your brother. And there's more judgment pronounced
in Malachi. If you want to just turn there,
you don't have to, I can turn there for you. But Malachi chapter
one, in verse two of Malachi, the last prophecy of the Old
Testament, the last book of the Old Testament, Verse 2 says,
I have loved you, saith the Lord, yet, ye say, wherein hast thou
loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
said the Lord, yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau, and laid his
mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Whereas Edom saith, we are impoverished, but we will return and build
the desolate places. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
they shall build, but I will throw down. And they shall call
them the border of wickedness and the people against whom the
Lord hath indignation forever. If the Lord is against you, you
know, Paul says, In Hebrews, if God be for us, who can be
against us? Well, if God be against you,
who can be for you? He's against Edom. He's going
to throw them down. Your eyes shall see and ye shall
say, the Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. Because
Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated, or have I left
to his own devices? Have I left him alone? The judgment
of God against Edom, all in the eternal purposes of God, and
all for the purposes of God's grace and God's glory. So, in
the same way, God will justly judge this world for its violence
against his people. You see that in Revelation. We
won't stop to go looking up verses there, but you see the voice
of the martyrs crying out from before the altar for vengeance. Not in a kind of a vindictive
personal way, but because the justice of God must be upheld. God will justly judge the world
for its violence against his kingdom, against his people,
against his Christ. But, of course, the root cause
of Edom's hatred of Jacob, it's the same cause as the world's
hatred of the church, and that is hatred of Christ. That's the reason the world hates
Christ. No, they don't. You say, no,
gentle Jesus, meek and mild. Oh, if only we could all be like
Jesus. Yes, what a good example he gave. No, they hate him because
of his doctrine. It's because of his doctrine
of salvation. It's because of his doctrine of sovereign grace
and particular redemption. That is why the world hates him.
They hated him without a cause, it says. Jesus himself said in
John 15, 18, if the world hates you, in other words, when the
world hates you, when the world shows its hatred of you, Ye know
that it hated me before it hated you, and that's the reason why
it hates you. If you're followers of me, that
world will hate you. Why does it hate a man like Jesus
without a cause? He didn't do anything that prompted
it other than his doctrine, which is that God is sovereign. God
is sovereign in election, He's sovereign in grace, He's sovereign
in the accomplishment of redemption, He's sovereign in the application
of redemption to His people, the people that He loved from
before the beginning of time. It was a hatred without cause,
but nevertheless, there it is. It's a fact of the situation
in which we are. Satan sought from the fall in
the Garden of Eden to destroy the Christ, to destroy the seed
of the woman. You know, we read Revelation
12, there's the woman which represents the church, the people of God,
the kingdom of God in this world, bringing forth the Messiah, the
seed of the woman, the child that was to come. to pay the
penalty for the sins of his people. And there's the dragon, the red
dragon, which is Satan, waiting to devour that child as soon
as it's born. They sought to murder him at
his birth. Do you know that Herod, Herod
the Great, who sought to kill the infant Christ, you know the
murder of the innocents, the murder of the little children,
all the baby boys below two years old, based on what the Magi,
the wise men from the East, had told Herod when they saw the
star in the East. On the basis of that, Herod sent
out an edict that all the baby boys of Israeli descent, under
the age of two years, were to be murdered. That's Satan trying
to devour the child, because if you get all of them, you're
bound to get the Christ of God. Herod was an Idumean, an Idumean,
that's an Edomite, an Edomite in the Greek language of the
New Testament, an Idumean, he was an Edomite. So what, you
might say, so what? Well, by nature, we are all Edomites. By nature, we all have that opinion
of Esau, that same idea of Esau, that same unbelief, that same
profanity as Esau. In Romans 1 to 3, Paul spells
it out, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
all of us without exception. All of us, from the very best
of us to the very worst of us, yet all of us. our sinners without
exception. We fall under the same, just,
inescapable judgment as Edom that was pronounced in this prophecy.
Hebrews 9.27, I quote it often, it is appointed to man to die
once, and then the judgment. That's our lot in this life.
That's the situation Edom, this world, the kingdom of this world,
the kingdom of Satan, is against the kingdom of God, is against
the people of God, is against the Christ of God. But, but,
you know, doesn't justice demand that the penalty is paid, that
the price is exacted by God's justice? This is bound to come. Verse 17, but upon Mount Zion
shall be deliverance. Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance. There is a place of deliverance,
a place of deliverance, a physical place. There's a place where
there shall be deliverance upon Mount Zion. Mount Zion in Old
Testament times was synonymous with Jerusalem. It was the place
where gospel grace was displayed. There in the temple at Jerusalem,
animal sacrifices were made for sin. The priesthood interceded
for the people with God on the basis of the revelation God had
given as to how he was to be approached and how he was to
be worshipped. And in all of those, you know,
people might say, well, that's the Old Testament way of being
right with God. It's God's unchanging way. That was gospel grace in
picture, in blueprint, in type. The animals being slain spoke
of the Lamb of God who would be slain for the sins of his
people. The priesthood spoke of Christ,
our great high priest. His word was there. To them,
the Jews, what advantage, says Paul in Romans 3, does the Jew
have? Much in every way, because to
them was the oracle of God committed, the word of God, the truth of
God, not to anybody else. Mount Zion is the place where
acceptance with God, and the only way of acceptance with God,
is portrayed. I'm reluctant to say acting,
but that's what I mean. It was acted out there. The actual
blood of the animals could in no way appease God, but what
it spoke of could. It spoke of Christ, the Lamb
of God, the Lamb of God, whose blood Precious blood, the blood
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, has the power
to pay the penalty for the sins of his people. We read in Hebrews
earlier, just turn over there now, Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. We read,
where do we come to? I'm saying that there is a place
of deliverance. And it says in verse 18, where
you're not come to. As those who are the recipients
of the gift of faith from God, of this eternal life and citizenship
of his kingdom, Paul says to them, and I believe it's Paul
that wrote Hebrews, but anyway, if you don't believe that you'll
have to make your own mind up, but I think it is. He said, you
are not come unto the mount that might be touched and that burned
with fire, nor unto blackness and darkness and tempest. That
was Mount Sinai. where the righteousness and holiness
of God against sin was clearly portrayed. And the people, it
says, even Moses, the friend of God, who spoke with God face
to face as a man speaks with his friend, and yet at this mountain,
Moses, was quaking exceedingly. He was shaking with fear. He
was terrified. And the people said, please,
please, cause this sound to go away from us. We can't stand
it. This is that mountain. There was the sound of a trumpet
and the voice of words, words of judgment. Words of judgment,
which voice they that heard entreated that that word should not be
spoken to them anymore, because they were terrified, because
here was the judgment, the just judgment of God falling. And
you know we read in Revelation, when the judgment comes that
this world which does not believe God, that this world cries out
for the mountains to fall on them. for them to be hidden from
the face of him whose eyes are piercing like a flame of fire,
whose word goes out of his mouth as a sharp two-edged sword, that
it shouldn't be spoken to them, for, verse 20, they could not
endure that which was commanded. And what was commanded? It was
this, if so be, as much as a beast touched the mountain, ah, this
holy place, where the holiness of God was on display and the
lightning and the thunder and the sounds and all of that, that
animal profaning the holy place of God, not being qualified to
be there, even that animal, never mind a person, should be stoned,
should be put to death, should be thrust through with a dart.
And so terrible was the sight, here it is, that Moses said,
I exceedingly fear and quake. You're not come to that mount. You're not. You know, there's
a lot of religion, calls itself Christian, and it preaches constantly,
week by week, that the place to be right with God is Mount
Sinai, where you come there and you seek to follow the law of
Sinai, the law of God as your rule of life. The law is holy. The law is right. The law is
just. But it isn't the believer's rule
of life. Christ is the believer's rule of life. We look unto Jesus. We run the race set before us,
not looking unto Sinai and its ten commandments. We run the
race set before us, looking unto Jesus. That God become man for
our salvation. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. As it said right at the start
of this chapter, verse two of chapter 12 of Hebrews. You'll
come to Mount Zion. That's where you'll come. There
is deliverance in Mount Zion, says Obadiah verse 17. You are
come to Mount Zion. You're come to the city of the
living God. Abraham looked for a city, which
we read in Hebrews 11, Abraham looked for a city which had foundations,
whose builder and maker is God. not foundations of a physical
city in this world, you'll come to the city of the living God.
You'll not come to Jerusalem in the Middle East of this earth,
you'll come to the heavenly Jerusalem. You'll come to an innumerable
company of angels. You can't count them, there's
so many. you come to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn,
which are written in heaven. It's Christ's Church, His Church,
whose names are written in heaven in the Lamb's Book of Life. There
are two books, the books of all the records of all sinners that
will be opened in the Day of Judgment. But there's another
book, which is the book of those whose names are written in the
book of the Lamb of God. and they have that eternal life
which comes from Him. You'll come to God, the judge
of all. You come to the spirits of just
men made perfect. They're not just by nature, they're
just by imputation, because Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin
for them, that they might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. You'll come to Jesus. the mediator of them. Our God
is Jesus. Our God is Jehovah Jesus. You'll come to Him and you'll
come to the blood of sprinkling, His blood that speaks better
things than that of Abel. What did Abel's blood speak when
Cain murdered him and his blood went down into the ground and
God said, where is your brother? And Cain said, I don't know,
I'm not my brother's keeper. And he said, the blood of your
brother Abel cries out to me from the ground. What was it
saying? vengeance required, punishment required, a debt of sin to be
paid. That's what Abel's blood said.
What does the blood of Jesus say? Better things. What does
it say? It says peace with God. It says
acceptance with God. Why? Because the anger of God
is propitiated, is turned away. Propitiation is the turning away
of the anger of God. You come to where Christ reigns
with his 144,000. We won't look at it now because
I've referred to it so many times, but Revelation 14 and verse 1. You see in Revelation 13 this
dreadful world, so much like Edom, the kingdom of Satan, of
the beasts, of the beast from the sea and the beast from the
earth. Picturing the kingdoms of this world trying to set up
a utopia without any reference to the justice of God and you
say what a terrible place because only those who have the mark
of the beast on their heads which is complete conformity with the
principles and the doctrines of this world can trade and operate
in it and the people of God who do not have that mark cannot
trade and yet where are they? Revelation 14 verse 1, I beheld
I beheld, and on Mount Zion was the Lamb with his 144,000. That
wasn't in heaven. He then heard a voice from heaven.
He was on the earth, and that's what he saw, the people of God.
I often think, you know, when we think about what it is to
be in this little flock, which is the people of God in this
world, that we're amongst that 144,000 with the Lamb on Mount
Zion now, now in this world. So then, we're with the church
of the redeemed. It's where Christ's blood speaks
better things than that of Abel. On Mount Zion there shall be
deliverance. Peace through the blood of the
cross, says Colossians 1 verse 20. He has made peace through
that blood. It's where Christ has redeemed his people from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. The physical
place, Mount Zion in the Old Testament, Jerusalem here, that
physical place was where Abraham took Isaac to sacrifice him to
God, at the command of God, Genesis 21, somewhere around there. It's that place and it's here
where that which he typified, Isaac, when he went to that sacrifice,
you know, where is the sacrifice? And they found the ram caught
in the thicket, and that was the one instead in the place
of the substitute for Isaac. It's there that Christ died.
It's there on that physical hill. We don't, these days, put any
spiritual value on place. This room is as much the temple
of the living God, if you like, as the most ornate temple that
there might be, because the gospel is here. and the living God is
here, and the Spirit of God is here. No, it's not a place that
we go to physically, but spiritually. We go to Mount Zion spiritually.
That's what Paul said in Hebrews 12, you are come to Mount Zion,
not moving with your feet to a place, but spiritually, by
spiritual sight. The place where divine justice
was satisfied for the multitude who were loved with everlasting
love, so that they have no charge to answer. You know what Romans
8 says, who shall bring any charge to God's elect? Christ has died. There's nothing left to answer.
The book of the cases that need to be answered has been dealt
with. It's where the purpose of God, which was unchangeably
fixed before time, was accomplished. I will read this one to you.
You know it well. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verses
9 and 10, well, verse 8. Be not ashamed of the testimony
of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, says Paul to Timothy, but be
thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God who has saved us and called us with an holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, when? the world
began. Can you just weigh the import
of those words, the power, the importance of those words? That
gospel grace, fixed before time, given to us before time, it can't
be altered. God cannot change. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. It's the place where you come
by faith and experience. It's where you're delivered from
sins, is how it's translated. It could be said like this, upon
Mount Zion shall be that which has been saved. That's you if
you're a believer in Christ. That's you. We could have looked
at so many more scriptures but the time has gone. Here is a
people purged from their sins. Jeremiah 50 verse 20, I looked
for the sins of Israel and Judah and they could not be found.
Why? Because he has taken them away. When he had, says Hebrews
1 verse 3, when Christ had by himself purged our sins so that
they're not there anymore. He sat down. With the job accomplished,
salvation accomplished, there's no other place of deliverance,
but it's for a limited time only. A limited time only. Seek the
Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near,
because it won't always be the case. Today is the day of salvation. I'll be very quick. The possessions
possessed by the house of Jacob. I was going to go in detail through
Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 14. We clearly haven't got time.
All spiritual blessings, all the riches of his grace. This
is what he has obtained for us. Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. This is the
possession of Israel. It's a thing, if you like. It's
tangible, if you like. He's obtained it for us. It has
effect. It works. The world, symbolized
by Edom, in this passage, cannot possess these blessings. They
belong to Jacob's house alone, by the grace of God. And if you
believe God, and the gospel of God's grace, you are Abraham's
child. Galatians tells us that. Just
by belief you are Abraham's child, you're a descendant of Abraham.
Abraham is your spiritual father, because you have the same faith
as Abraham. Therefore, you're a member of
Jacob's house, and these blessings are for you, and the possessions
are yours to possess. Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
says Romans 5.11, we have received the atonement. Wasn't it something
he did? Yes, but we've received it, because
we've received the good of it. But here's the interesting thing.
In Numbers chapter 24 and verse 18, this is one of the visions
of Balaam. who Balak tried to get to curse
Israel, and this is the fourth of his visions, and it says in
verse 18, because he's talking about a star coming out of Jacob
and a scepter out of Israel, and Christ is coming, God will
save his people, and Edom shall be a possession. Seir, that's
same, shall be a possession for his enemies, and Israel shall
do valiantly. there are going to be of the
people of Edom some amongst that great multitude that no man can
number. Edom, the very enemies of God's people, some of them
shall be possessed by the house of Jacob. And it's fulfilled
literally in the historical disappearance of Edom as a separate nation
in judgment, but by grace, some of Edom's people will make up
that multitude, that multitude seen in Revelation 7 verse 9,
I beheld and lo a great multitude, which no man can number of all
nations, which must include Edom. You know, we read in other places,
in Isaiah, around chapter 18, that Assyria and Egypt are called
his people. From amongst them, the very enemies
of God, those that will be God's people, of all kindreds and tongues
and tribes, they all stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands. In Mark's
Gospel, chapter 3 and verse 6, Mark's Gospel, chapter 3 verse
6, the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with
the Herodians against him, against Christ, how they might destroy
him. But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea,
and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea,
and from Jerusalem, and from Edom. People followed Jesus from
Edom and from beyond Jordan, and heard the things that he
did and the things that he spoke. They heard the truth of God from
the lips of the Son of God, from the Lamb of God. Descendants
of Edom, Edomians, deserving of hell, finding grace and deliverance. Where did they find it? Mount
Zion, and only in Mount Zion, by the salvation which Christ
accomplished. Where will you be when God brings
this world to its end? Will you be lined up with the
world that hates God and His grace, albeit you will bow and
acknowledge that He is holy and just and right? Or will you be
delivered from the wrath to come and qualified for eternal glory?