Obadiah

From the men’s Thursday morning study of Obadiah:

1:1, Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom.

God had a word to the descendants of Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, whose father was the patriarch Isaac whose land lay south of the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba:  1:3, The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’

They thought they were invincible and very wise and thus safe.  Except God! (1:5-6)

1:10, “For violence against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.”  They had cheered when Jerusalem fell, turned Jews over to the enemy, and plundered what remained (11-14).  They loathed their kinfolk – their fellow man – they were deplorable.

Romans 1:21-22,“…did not glorify Him, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thinking…professing to be wise…”  To many Americans today God is not consequential and they are not thankful.  They are not thoughtful of God’s hand and protection in past days nor are they thankful for our founders, our heros, or our current prosperity.  Rather, thinking to be wise, they have become vain and now rationalize sin and promote self.  The nation of Edom had developed a disregard for God and their heritage and neighbors and then and as now:  God is aware and God deals!  Psalm 34:15-16, The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.

God’s judgment:  1:15,“For the day of the LORD upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head.”

The “day of the Lord” most often is associated with God’s heavy hand on peoples or nations.  In this case, the War of Armageddon is in view for God will call all nations into account.  In Revelation 16, we find God drying up the great river Euphrates (which for centuries has been a natural barrier between Israel and peoples to the east) and then Satan sending out three powerful demons to summon the nations to Israel to combat the coming of Jesus as foretold in Revelation 19.  There the nations will meet the wrath of Almighty God and will be judged based on their works.  Such is exactly true for every person ever – their works will be judged and they will be found guilty.  They will be found to not glorify God nor be thankful.

Then the judgment: 1:16, For as you drank on My holy mountain, So shall all the nations drink continually; Yes, they shall drink, and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been.

God has collected every man’s deeds, which are laced with the poisons of the rejection of God and arrogance along with greed and vengeance (hatred of Jews), and from their full chalice of “poison” they will drink and be eternally removed – sent to Hell.  The lesson is that every man will drink of his cup of sins OR submit in contriteness to the truth that Jesus drank his cup.

BUT!!! 1:17, But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.  This is again one of those great theologically intriguing and challenging passages, especially for many who claim replacement theology – that the church has replaced Israel with whom God is forever done.  But, not according to this passage – and many others (Isaiah 49 is another).  So after Armageddon and the return of Jesus to render judgment on men and nations that reject Him and step on others, here stands Jerusalem, Israel, and the Jews!  1:20, And the captives of this host of the children of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites.  Israel will once again be in vogue! – during the Millennial reign of Jesus.

The flow of Obadiah’s prophecy is peoples and nations moving away from knowledge of God and doing good to others – to pride and stepping on others (fellow citizens) which brings God’s just judgment and removal – to Israel once again being in the land and under God’s blessing.