Tonight I want us to read together
the book of Obadiah. Obadiah, beginning at verse 1,
we'll read this very short little book, 21 verses, together. The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith
the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a rumor from the
Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen. 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
pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the
clests of the rock whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart,
Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself
as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
hence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. If thieves came
to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they
not have stolen till they had enough? If the great gatherers
came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the
things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought
up? All the men of thy confederacy
have brought thee even to the border. The men that were at
peace with thee have deceived and prevailed against thee. They
that eat thy bread have laid a wound unto thee, and there
is none understanding in him. Shall I not in that day, saith
the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding
out of the Mount Esau?' And thy mighty men, O Timon, shall be
dismayed to the end, that every one of the mount of Esau may
be cut off by slaughter, for thy violence against thy brother
Jacob. Shame shall cover thee, and thou
shalt be cut off for ever. 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. But thou shouldst
not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he
became a stranger, neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children
of Judah in the day of their destruction, neither shouldst
thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou shouldst
not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their
calamity. 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.
Neither shouldst thou have stood in the crossway to cut off those
of his that did escape, neither shouldst thou have delivered
up those of his that did remain in the day of distress. 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 mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yea,
they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall
be as though they had not been. But upon Mount Zion shall be
deliverance, and there shall be holiness and the house of
Jacob shall possess their possessions, and the house of Jacob shall
be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, 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. And they of the south shall
possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plain the Philistines,
and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of
Samaria. And Benjamin shall possess Gilead,
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 Shepherad, shall possess
the cities of the south. And saviors shall come up upon
mount Zion, to judge the mount of Esau. and the kingdom shall
be the Lord's." Now, we've just read the shortest book in the
Old Testament. At first glance, when you read
these 21 verses, it appears that this book of Obadiah has nothing
at all to do with you and me, or with folks of this generation
in which we live. After all, the whole prophecy
is addressed to some people by the name of Edom. some people
who have long ago passed out of existence by the judgment
of God. This nation of Edom just lies as a name in the dust of
human history. No one today exists who is called
an Edomite. No one. The Nutterab, the Nutterab,
nobody can trace his family tree back to Edom. And yet the fact
that this little book exists in the book of God, And that
fact alone, just the fact that this book of Obadiah is here
in the word of God, tells us plainly that this word from God
is specifically for us. Yes, it referred to Edom and
it referred to God's dealing with Israel and Edom in that
particular day. But the message of the book is
for you and I in this day, for God's people in every generation.
How can you be sure of that? Because this is what God says.
Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope. In other words, everything written
in this book is written to teach us patience, to give us comfort,
and to inspire hope in Christ our Lord. Does this prophecy
teach us patience in God's providence? Does this prophecy give us comfort
in the midst of trial? Does this prophecy inspire hope,
expectation of God fulfilling his purpose, grace in us? Indeed
it does. There are thirteen men in the
Old Testament called Obadiah. But none of those men, there
is no indication that any of those other men called Obadiah
are this man who wrote this prophecy. Obadiah's name means servant
of the Lord, or worshipper of the Lord. And like a true servant
of God, like a true worshipper of Christ, Obadiah keeps himself
deliberately in the background, in utter obscurity. He tells
us absolutely nothing about himself, absolutely nothing. Rather, he
simply steps on to the stage of history, delivers the message
that God had given him to deliver, and steps off the stage. We don't
know anything else about it. All we know about this man is
what we just read in these 21 verses, just the message he gave.
In fact, the very word Obadiah might not be a name at all. It
might simply be a pen name or a pseudonym. Obadiah riding deliberately
to take all attention away from himself to keep himself in complete
obscurity and deliver God's message so that folks had no thought
of anything except the word God had given him. Oh, what an example
there he is of a servant and a worshiper of God. I have no
purpose here but to tell you what God sent me to tell you.
The outline of these 23 verses is easy enough to follow. I would
suggest that you briefly mark them as we go along. In verses
1 through 9, Obadiah is sent to declare God's judgment upon
the nation of And they're proud, very, very proud, thinking themselves
secure and invincible. They had a place called Petra,
Place of the Rock, high, invincible, secure fortress. They thought
nothing could touch them, nothing could bring them down. It was
an impregnable fortress as far as they were concerned. But God
said, you're about to be destroyed. I'm going to tear you down. I'm
going to bring you down from your lofty, high habitation. In verses 10-14, Obadiah shows
Edom plainly, he tells Edom plainly that the justice of God's judgment
would be manifest, it would be evident, that God would destroy
them because of their proud rebellion, haughty unbelief, and their arrogant
persecution and hatred of their brother Jacob. Because of the
way you've dealt with my people, that's how I'm going to deal
with you. As you have done with them, I'm going to deal with
you. Just exactly the same, I'm going to return to your head
your own works. Now mark it down. That's what
God does in judgment. Whatever it is men and women
suffer in hell under the wrath of God, they only eat the fruit
of their own way. They only suffer exactly according
to their works, as they have done. Then in verses 15 and 16,
Obadiah shows us the result of God's judgment upon this proud
nation. I'm going to wipe you out of
memory. I want to wipe you out of this
mighty nation? Yeah. Edom? Yeah. Nebuchadnezzar came and crushed
them. A little later Cyrus came and
slaughtered them by the thousands. The Maccabees came and utterly
destroyed the nation, so that by the time the Romans took possession
of Jerusalem and ruled over Israel, Edom was only a name in history. And now you won't even find anything
in history recorded about them except what's written in this
book. And then in verses 17 through 21, the prophet of God speaks
to Edom. Now, I hope you noticed as we
read through these verses, the Lord interchanges the title for
this nation, Edom, with the name of one man, Esau. And he interchanges
the name of another nation Judah, with the name of one man, Jacob. There's a reason for that, because
God said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. And he's
speaking of these two peoples, Jacob and Esau, Edom and Israel. In verses 17-21, the prophet
speaks to Edom, the house of Esau. And he speaks to Edom in
these verses, having declared Edom certain destruction. He
here declares the sure and certain salvation of all the house of
Jacob. But what does all of this mean
to us? What's Obadiah's message to us?
What does God the Holy Spirit intend for us to learn from these
21 verses? Let's read a few other scriptures.
And I think the message of the prophecy will be clear. Begin
back in Genesis 3. Genesis 3. Genesis 3.15 has commonly been
called the first gospel sermon. Here the Lord God speaks to the
serpent about the salvation of his people. And I will put enmity
between thee and the woman. I will put enmity between you
and the woman, between thy seed and her seed. And it shall bruise thy head,
and thou shalt bruise his Right here in Genesis 3.15, the Lord
God declares what we find later in Luke 16, a great gulf fixed. A great gulf fixed between two
seeds, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
There is in this world a seed that shall serve the Lord Jesus
Christ. They are called God's elect,
the church of God. And there is a seed, the seed
of the serpent. children of the devil, reprobate
men who only persecute and oppose God's people, and God's Son,
and God's gospel, and God's throne. And when God gets done, when
God Almighty gets done, the persecutors, the seed of the serpent, Satan
himself, throughout the ages of time, shall constantly bruise
the heel of the woman's Gonna crush his heel. Just crush his
heel. Just about the most painful thing
you can experience in this body. Crush the heel. Crush the heel. But it's never fatal. It just hurts a lot. Makes you
uneasy. Makes you sore. But when God
gets done, the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his
body, the church, shall crush the serpent's head, shall crush
Satan and all who follow him in opposition to our God. Look
in Malachi chapter 1. Malachi chapter 1. The Lord God
speaks to you and I, many women beloved of him But who often use just the kind
of language that's described here in verse 2. The Lord says,
I've loved you, saith the Lord. Yet you say, wherein hast thou
loved us? God forgive thy unbelief. Wherein
hast thou loved us? Malachi chapter 1, verse 2. And
this is God's response. Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith 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 but I will throw down. 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. And your eyes, you who are loved
of God, your eyes shall see, and you shall say, The Lord will
be magnified. from the border of Israel. Let's
look at another passage, Romans chapter 9. Verse 11. The children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God, according
to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger." as it is written, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. In other words, the whole history
of Esau and Jacob, the whole history of Edom and Israel, is
designed and intended of God to teach us something about his
love for us, and his eternal purpose of grace in the saving
of his Now here's Obadiah's message. May God give us grace to learn
it, rely upon it, and expect its fulfillment. Though the seed
of the serpent hates, persecutes, and constantly bruises the heel
of the woman's seed, the woman's seed shall ultimately
crush the serpent's head. Now, to show you this message,
let me call your attention to seven things clearly set before
us in this book of Obadiah. As I started making preparations
for the message tonight, I thought, well, maybe I ought to bring
a message on Thanksgiving. And no sooner had I started working
on this, I thought, this is a good message for Thanksgiving. Oh,
we have reason to be thanks because of this first thing. The purpose
of our God, the purpose of our God cannot ever, to any degree,
by any means, be thwarted or even hindered or made to pause. Can you get that? He is the Lord. He does what he will. And his
will is the salvation of his people. Before ever they were
born, the Lord God declared Esau must serve Jacob. And even while
they were in the womb, there was a struggle in the womb, and
Esau said, No! I don't want to rule! And Jacob
will serve. but God fixed it so that the
elder was made to serve the younger. And so it is. This is much like
the word of God concerning Ham. Noah's son Ham, we are told,
was to serve Shem and Japheth. What does that mean? It simply
means this. All The peoples of this world
exist to serve God's people and their everlasting good. Do you really believe that? Oh,
bless God, I do. I do. I do. God takes men and
raises them up. created and given life and skill
and ingenuity in wickedness, in ungodliness, in rebellion
against God, in defiance of his throne, he uses them only for
the good of his people. Just as soon as Judy called today
and gave us that good report, the tumor began to shrink. I thought, how God uses the ungodly
for his people. How God gives men wisdom and
skill, and directs their thoughts and minds, develop medicine,
and give them wisdom to apply the medicine. And I don't speak
concerning her positions, I don't know them, but I'm speaking as
a general thing. I'm telling you that men medicine
and apply their skills here, there, and everywhere else, and
defy God. No, there's no such thing as
God. That's an old wives' tale. That's superstition. That's good
for ignorant people like you peons down there. But we know
better! We live in our high and lofty
habitation and will not be moved from it. to your souls everlasting good,
even when they raise their swords in persecution, and raise their
voices in slander, and raise their fists in opposition, all
they do is serve our souls and God's glory. Sometimes that heel gets a little
tender. It hurts. But bless God, all
they do is good for us. Remember what the book says about
Moses? There were some fellows back in Exodus 7, whom Paul calls
Jamies and Jambrees, who defied Moses and withstood him to the
face. Man, how he must have hated that! How he must have hated that. Aggravating. Frustrating. Disgusting. Kind of rile your
temper. I had nothing to get too riled. They shall proceed no further.
All they can do is wag their tongues. All they can do is yak. That's all they can do. All they
can do is beat the air. They don't cause anything to
happen to you. So it is. with all who oppose God's people
in this world, they only serve them. Here is the second thing. In the Edomites and in their
history, we see that the enmity of the seed of the serpent toward
the seed of the woman shall never cease, not as long as the world
You're not going to make folks who hate God, befriend him. You're not going to make folks
who hate the gospel, love it. You're not going to make folks
who hate Christ, worship him. It's not going to happen. It's
not going to happen. No, sir, it's not going to happen.
God Almighty can do it. You're not going to do it. The
enmity of Edom toward Israel, the enmity of Esau toward his
brother Jacob, As I said earlier, it began while they were still
in their mother's womb. It is an enmity manifest throughout
history. It's the enmity of Cain against
Abel. It's the enmity that Babylon
had against Israel. It is the enmity of Herod against
the new-born incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, that
little child. Herod's enmity attempts to kill
him. And Herod was from Idumea, who
was from Edom. He was an Edomite, this man opposing
the Son of God. that the Judaizers had for Paul.
It is the enmity of men against the gospel of God's grace, the
enmity of men who in their proud heartedness have decided that
they can go it alone, they don't need God, they don't need Christ,
they don't need grace, they lifted themselves high and they can
achieve what they call salvation by their own hands and they despise
the Son of God and all who proclaim him and all who worship him.
And it is enmity that will never cease. Read the 12th chapter
of the book of Revelation. It's the enmity of the dragon
against the woman. What is that enmity? It is the
vile, deep-seated hatred of all who proudly presume they can
be saved by their own works, their own will, their own doing.
Third, learn this. That which destroys all who under
the wrath of God. Hear me, God help you to hear
me. That which destroys all who perish
under the wrath of God is the self-deceiving pride of their
own corrupt hearts. I want you to read verses 3 and
4 again. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful. above all things, and desperately
wicked. Here in verse 3, the pride of
thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou that dwellest in the clefts
of the rock, whose habitation is high, that sayeth in his heart,
Who shall bring me down to the ground? I am all right. Thou
shalt exalt thyself as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest
among the stars, will I bring thee down, saith the Lord." Edom, in his proud heart, is
deceived with himself, because Edom thinks he's good and mighty
and secure, and that God Almighty wouldn't dare touch him, he's
so good. God Almighty wouldn't think about
destroying him, he's so good. Oh, how proud is the heart, and
how deceived, who imagines he can with his own hands, by his
own will, lift himself up to heaven in everlasting security. Here's the fourth lesson. the influence of evil reaches indescribably further
than any of us can ever imagine. It seems that good has little
influence among men. Evil has a tremendous influence. It is certain that a good example
will never bring repentance to anyone. Only grace can do that.
But an evil example brings multitudes to hell. All of this came to pass in Edom. A nation wiped out, cast down
into because they followed the example of their father. Oh, what a responsibility that
gives to you and me. What a responsibility. Oh, but
what about these people? Was it not because of what they
did? Indeed it was. They chose the way of their father.
But they followed the example of their father, and their father
is responsible. I sometimes try to imagine what
it will be like in hell, when an unbelieving child looks
in the face of an unbelieving father and cries, damn you! When an unbelieving wife looks
in the face of an unbelieving husband and cries, damn Damn
you forever! Damn you!" I followed you to
this place, where an unbelieving congregation looks in the face
of an unbelieving pastor and screams, Damn you forever! Forever! Evil has horribly long-reaching
arms. Fifthly, Obadiah goes to great
length in these verses. to show us that all who suffer
the wrath and judgment of God perish under the just judgment
of the Almighty because of their own sins. Now, I cannot state
emphatically enough or often enough that all things in this
world come to pass exactly according to God's everlasting purpose. Everything in this world is but
the manifestation of that text we read earlier where God says,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Everything is the
manifestation of it. Esau will never become Jacob,
Jacob will never become Esau. Vessels of wrath will never be
made vessels of mercy, and vessels of mercy will never be made to
be vessels of wrath. Now I hope I said that clear
enough. God's purpose is sure. God's purpose will not be changed.
But let me say this with equal force and vehemence. Nobody ever went to hell, and
nobody ever shall go to hell because God purposed to damn
them. No, sir. No, sir. Edom chose rebellion and ungodliness. And Edom rejected the revelation
of God, despised the purpose of God, as Esau taught them,
to despise the birthright in preference to sensual pleasure. So the sons of Edom despised
God's goodness and mercy in the sacrifice of his son, and worshipped
themselves and served themselves, and opposed God and his people
all their days. And for that, God says, I'll
bring you down. And that's the way it is. If you wish, you can sit around
and talk about blaming God's purpose and blaming predestination
and God's election, and say, Well, I wasn't chosen, so I'll
just have to go to hell. You can talk that idiocy if you
wish. And I'll be honest with you,
I won't even argue with you about it. I'm not going to fuss with
you about it. because you've chosen ungodly
rebellion for your way. But I'm telling you, the day
will come when you lift your eyes in hell unless God steps
in in mercy, and you're going to say, my God, this is what
I've chosen, and God's right. God's right. So, Pritchard, I
can't understand that. I can't either. I can't either. I don't pretend to understand
God's sovereignty. I'm just telling you it's so.
It's absolutely so. Number six. Let's look at verses
17 through 21 again, very briefly. And rejoice once more to see
that the everlasting salvation of God's elect is a matter of
absolute certainty. no matter what Edom does. Look
at it. Edom cried out against Judah
when Babylon invaded, said, Raise it, raise it, tear it down, tear
it down, amen! They're getting what they deserve.
Let's watch. But upon the mountain Zion shall
be deliverance. I think I've read that somewhere
else, haven't you? The Deliverer shall come out
of Zion, his name is Christ Jesus the Lord. And there shall be
holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess, watch it now,
their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall
be afire, and the house of Joseph aflame, and the house of Edom
stubble, just stubble. And they shall tend over and
devour them. And there shall not be any remaining
of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken it." You mean
there are not going to be any enemies left? You've got it! Not one of them! The Lord spoke it, verse 19.
They of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, That is, Judah
shall possess Esau, and there the plain, the Philistines. And
they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of
Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. And the captivity of
this host of the children of Israel shall possess the Canaanites,
even to Zarephath. And the captivity of Jerusalem,
which is in Shepherad, shall possess the cities of the south.
And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion, to judge the mount
of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. So Obadiah, with
the spirit of prophecy, just scales over all the hills of
difficulty and soars past the ages of time to eternity in that
day when Christ shall come. And he says, Christ shall sit
on Mount Zion, the King. And when he does, holiness shall
be everywhere. When he makes all things new,
holiness everywhere. And the whole house of Jacob,
that means, oh hear me my brother and my sister, the whole house
of Jacob, every one of us, shall possess their possessions. But what possessions have I got?
All things are yours. What possessions do I have in
heaven? No! Things to come are yours. What possessions? My possessions. We have obtained
an inheritance. Is that what the book says? It's
all really ours. How can that be? God gave it
to us in eternity. Christ purchased it with his
blood at Calvary, ascended up into heaven, and he took possession
of it as our forerunner! He's obtained eternal redemption,
not for himself, but for us! It's our possession. It's our
rightful, God-given, blood-purchased possession. All that heavenly
glory is. All my soul things I have not
seen, nor heard, nor even the heart of man considered. All
the possessions of glory are our possessions. And Jacob shall be afire to constantly burn up the stubble
he saw. there is more there than I understand. For this much is certain, as the rich man was tormented,
behold him, the blessedness of Lazarus. Esau shall be forever tormented,
made aware of the of Jacob possessing his possession. And when we see all things clearly,
when we see all things clearly, we are going to rejoice that
that's just the way it is. Turn to Psalm 137. Here is a
psalm about Jacob and Esau. smoke of their torments ascending
forever and ever, the Saints of God are found worshiping the
Lamb in Revelation 19. Here in Psalm 137, by the rivers
of Babylon, Israel had been taken into captivity. There we sat
down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our hearts upon
the willows in the midst of Babylon, for there They that carried us
away captive required of us a song. And they that wasted us required
of us mirth saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall
we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget the old Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cutting. If I do not remember
thee, let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chief joy, if I prefer not God's kingdom,
God's worship, God's people above my chief joy, remember, O Lord,
the children of Edom and the day of Jerusalem, who said, as
the Babylonians marched in and carried us away, Raise it, raise
it, even to the foundation thereof. daughter of Babylon, who art
thou, or who art to be destroyed, happy shall he be that rewardeth
thee, as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh
and dasheth thy little ones against the stone." Because, you see,
justice is right. Justice is right. justice is
right. And one of these days, we're
going to see it just as God does. And then in that day, the kingdoms
of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God. And one
last thing. The only hope for proud sinners is him who is Jacob's choice. Will you follow Esau, or will
you follow Jacob? Will you choose for yourself
the lust of your flesh, a little temporary gratification
to your flesh, or Christ the Lord? Just that
simple. Just that simple. He saw, smelled
those beans Jacob was cooking. He said, give me some beans. Give me a bowl of those. Jacob
said, well I'll do that. Be glad to. If you give me something
more valuable to me than this bowl of beans. If you give me the birthright.
I'll give you this bowl of beans." About that? Eternal life? The Son of God? Give that up? For just these bowl of beans?
Well, I wanted more than this little temporary gratification
to my flesh, do you? Now give me the beans, you can
have it. God help you to believe His Son,
to lay hold of eternal life in His Son. Amen.