Thy Kingdom Come

Israel was meant to be a light to the Gentiles. They were God’s Chosen people who were to show forth His glory to the whole of His Creation. God said that in Abraham all the nations of the earth would be blessed, and how?

At first with His Temple and dwelling place at the heart of Israel. He dwelt among them and as they sought Him first above all things, He promised to prosper them in such a way as the nations surrounding them would be jealous and drawn to His grace. They would have harvests of plenty, peace with God, peace among themselves, and peace with their neighbors.

But as Israel forgot their God, and looked elsewhere for their provision, He would bring judgment upon them, famines, floods, and war, as a warning to the other nations, and opportunity for all, Jew and gentile alike, to repent and find His mercy.

As we look at the Old Testament as a whole, this is what we see. God working in and through Israel to show the world His love and mercy, His wrath and His justice. Israel was a light in the darkness meant to guide the nations to the Light of the World, the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus.

We saw this in Obadiah last week. As Israel rebelled against God, Edom watched. As God destroyed Israel, Edom took part, rejoicing in the chaos. Edom received judgment because they saw the righteousness and justice of God in His work among His people, but rather than repent, they followed Israel into judgment.

God’s mercy showed them the path they were on and rather than turn, they ran full steam ahead, until they disappeared from history.

What Obadiah is going to show us today is that it is not just Edom that this warning is for. Yes, a charge was laid at the feet of Jacob’s brother Esau for his pride and his unbrotherliness, but Esau is just a picture of the nations.

Esau A Picture of the Nations

Obadiah continues his prophecy by showing that what began in the house of Jacob, the warning that came to Esau, is actually a warning to all the nations of the earth. There is a day coming when all the nations of the earth will be judged. Israel was an example meant to turn Edom back to God, and Edom is the symbol of what is to come for all who will not seek the God of all the earth.

We return to Obadiah and pick up his prophecy in verse 15, on page 653 in the pew Bibles.

What began as a message for Edom has transitioned in these verses to a warning for all the nations of the earth.

Obadiah 15–16 (NIV84) “The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head. Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.

The picture here is of a drunken celebration at the downfall of God’s people. The drinks flowing smoothly until all have drank themselves stupid and blacked out. What they thought was a party, turned into a nightmare, and what they they thought they could control, was turned back on them and brought them to the grave.

As we have been connecting these concepts to what we previously have been studying in Romans, this is Romans 1 being discussed here.

God gave them over to what they wanted. He let them go. You want to drink and rejoice over the fall of my people, fine. You want to rebel against me and my rule, have at it. The drink that you think is bringing you joy will be tuned back on your own heads and bring about your destruction. You can laugh now but the day of the Lord is coming. Psalm 2 says it this way:

Psalm 2:2–5 (NIV84) “The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. “Let us break their chains,” they say, “and throw off their fetters.” The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath,”

The nations want to throw off all restraints and follow their own hearts. We will make our own truths, and follow our own paths. We will eat, drink, and be merry but God interrupts and says”

Obadiah 16 (NIV84) they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.

The picture of the day of the Lord coming with a cup that must be drunk is a common Old Testament way to speak of the coming judgment of the world. God has held off His wrath, but when the cup of His wrath is full it will be poured out and the nations will drink.

Obadiah is clear, the day of the Lord is a warning for all nations. As was done in Israel will be done to all who stand against God and His Kingdom. As was done to Edom will be done to all who fight against their King. Jeremiah uses similar imagery when He writes:

Jeremiah 25:27–29 (NIV84) “Then tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.’ But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty.’

Judgement began in Jerusalem. The city that bears God’s name, but this is only the beginning. The warning goes out, “as goes jerusalem so goes the rest of the world.” The sword God is calling down is for all who live on the earth. The cup of His wrath will be drunk, No one escapes the judgment of God, it is for all peoples and all nations.

But just as we said last week that Obadiah’s message is God’s mercy to Edom, here we see it is God’s mercy to the nations as well. The cup is coming, and God’s wrath will fall, but until it does there is time to repent.

But why repent if we must drink the cup, if God’s wrath is already promised, if it is for all people as Jeremiah said?

Because what no one saw coming, what was proclaimed in the Old Testament but not understood until the new. Was what the Apostle Paul calls in Colossians 1 “a mystery hidden for ages”. God’s wrath is for all nations, but the mystery revealed in Romans 8 is what

Romans 8:3 (ESV) God has done ... By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Jesus, the Son of God, God’s Messiah, would drink the cup of God’s wrath for all who would repent and believe.

Passages like this in Obadiah point directly to what the cross of the Lord Jesus meant for the world. His death was the way out of the cup for us. Jesus knew what He came for and what it would cost. This is why He was praying and crying out in the garden of Gethsemane

Luke 22:42 (NIV84) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

The Sword that was called down in Jeremiah for all people of the earth, fell on Christ for all who believe. He drank the cup to the dregs and there is no more for us to drink. This is why He was able to cry out

John 19:30 (NIV84) “It is finished.”

His blood appeases God’s wrath, there is nothing left for us to do.

The call of the Gospel is to look at what Christ has done for the world. He has opened up a way to Heaven, into God’s Kingdom, for all people through His death, burial and resurrection. This is the Gospel in the communion we will be taking at the end of this service. As we drink His blood and eat his flesh, we are joining in His death for sin. We are proclaiming there is a way out for all who will have it. More than that, there is a way into His eternal Kingdom, Into the family of God for all who will have it. That is why we end communion with these words:

1 Corinthians 11:26 (NIV84) For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Communion is the proclamation that the cup of God’s wrath has been poured out on Jesus and in Him all are welcome to become Children of God.

And the mystery in all of this, as Paul calls it, is that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah. Jesus is a Jew, from the line of David and the house of Judah. And yet, Jesus is how God invites all nations into His Kingdom, because in Jesus the judgment of the nations has fallen for all who believe. In Jesus God conquers the world, flesh, and the devil and sets His people free.

In Jesus the transition is made from Israel, God’s chosen nation on earth meant to draw the other nations to God, to Jesus bringing His Kingdom to the earth through the transformation of His enemies into His friends. Through the proclamation of His finished work on the cross by ambassadors to His Kingdom sent out to reach every tribe, nation, and tongue, with the message that the enmity with God is over. The war has been won, and the pardon has gone out. For all who would have Him, Jesus reconciles the nations to God.

Paul says this very thing in 2 Corinthians 5:19

2 Corinthians 5:19 (NIV84) that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.

This hopeful view of the conquering of God’s Kingdom, the bringing of the Kingdom into the world, is where Obadiah goes next. After the warning to the nations, Obadiah adds a prophecy of blessing to Israel. Where they now stand as a conquered and defeated nation, laughed and pillaged by their brother Esau, the time is coming when things will change. The God who has chosen them out of all the peoples of the earth is not through with them yet, and so we read in Obadiah 17

Obadiah 17–21 (NIV84) But on Mount Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance. The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau.” The Lord has spoken. People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath; the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance. Judgement came for Israel, judgment was coming for Edom, and the rest of the nations will face God’s wrath, but deliverance is available on Mount Zion. The message changes here to an offer of hope for Israel foremost, but through them, for all the nations. The Holman Bible commentary says it this way:

Holman Concise Bible Commentary (Obadiah) - Edom and the nations are offered no hope; there will be “no survivors” (v. 18). Yet one may infer that deliverance could be theirs if they sought refuge on Mount Zion and in the house of Jacob (v. 17).

The fire of of Jacob and the flame of Joseph, again are ways of speaking of the two Kingdoms of Israel. What Obadiah is asking, what once was split in two and weakened. What once was torn apart, will be reunited, one nation Israel, that will go out into the world as a fire. This speaks not just of judgment, as fire does consume and destroy, but the image here is also of the rule and reign of God’s kingdom spreading across the earth like a wild fire. Isreal is set up here as the hope of the nations.

Israel Hope of the Nations

The imagery of fire going through the stubble of Esau. The nations are but dry grass set ablaze, and will be completely and fully consumed. This image of afield on fire is one the peoples of that time would have known all too well, but we too see this today.

Gianna, my daughter, and I were driving out towards East Troy a few weeks back, before all the drought, and we saw some fireman in a field. They had lit a corner of the dry grass on fire, and you could see the line of fire spreading across the field. There was a black burnt up ground, a line of fire, and the remaining dry grass on the other side. This not only protects from wildfires, as it is a controlled burn by the fire department, but it also can be used to refresh the land, choked by the weeds.

This what Israel is to be to the nations. They are the line of fire, God is using to remove the stubble, and prepare the ground for usefulness again. A field burnt out is ready to be replanted. After the weeds had taken over, the destruction can bring new life.

In Israel’s history this part of the prophecy was partially fulfilled through the Maccabbean Revolt. In the mid 2nd century BC Israelites staged a revolt against the Greeks who ruled the land of Israel. It was lead by by Judas Maccabeus among others and took back some of the land they had lost from even before the Babylonian captivity. These battles can be read about in the Apocryphal books of 1st and 2nd Maccabees. These are not Scripture, but they do tell of the history of this revolt.

What Obadiah is declaring in this section of his prophecy is that the land lost to the Babylonians, taken by the Edomites will be reconquered. And it was partially. At the southern most end of this map of Israel, we see the colored portion actually extends into what once was Edom. Edom went further south than was ever recaptured, but some of that land was retaken by the Israelites as prophesied here.

Actually the Edomites still living there were forcibly converted to Judaism, moved the the purple section at the bottom of this map, which is named Idumea if you can see it on there. The Idumeans, are the Jewish Edomites. if you remember the birth story of Jesus, Herod who tried to have Jesus murdered, was an Idumean. He was a Jewish descendant of Esau. So the animosity continued even into the time of the Lord Jesus, where Esau tried to have His brother killed.

This map shows what was recaptured, and the New Bible Commentary helps us to see it lines up fairly well with what Obadiah predicted would be recaptured.

The New Bible Commentary (Obadiah 19) - The foothills or lowlands (the Shephelah, NRSV) between the sea coast and the highlands are identified by its most famous inhabitants, the Philistines, who also will lose their land. Israel gained control of this area under the Maccabees (1 Macc. 10:84–89; 11:60–62), as it did of Samaria, the former capital of the northern kingdom of Israel (cf. 1 Ki. 16:24; 21:1), under John Hyrcanus in 106 BC (Ant. 13.5.2–3). The area surrounding Samaria (called after the main northern tribe, Ephraim) was controlled by Judah as early as 153 BC (1 Macc. 10:38). More unclear is the meaning of Benjamin, a small southern tribe, possessing Gilead, located directly to its east in Transjordan. This area also fell to the Maccabees, in 164 BC (1 Macc. 5:9–54).

Much of what Obadiah said was going to be recaptured, was. Israel did sweep through like a fire and reconquered for a time, but that time did not last. By the time of Jesus, a little over 100 years after the Maccabees, all of Israel was firmly in the control of Rome. Also, the Israelites at that time never did get all of Edom or even all of the northern Kingdom they had lost. That fulfilment will come later.

This passage is a prophecy that connects with many other Old Testament prophecies, of when God will bring His Kingdom fully to this earth. Where Israel will extend from Egypt to the Euphrates as God tells Abraham in Genesis 15:18-19

Genesis 15:18–21 (NIV84) On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates— the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”

The land is all mine God says and I will make a place for you, taken out from the nations. While you sojourn as a stranger now Abraham, one day all you can see, all you have traveled, from your home country to now, will be yours.

This is a map that has the Euphrates on the right and Egypt towards the center. You can see Israel has never owned all of this, but the promise remains, God will give Hsi people their inheritance.

This idea of Isarael covering the land even continues into the New Testament as the Book of revelation describes the New Jerusalem as being huge, 1400 miles square.

Revelation 21:15–16 (NIV84) The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.

12,000 stadia would be around 1400 miles. The city of Jerusalem alone is said to be 1400 miles square.

Does that mean the city will be 1400 miles square, maybe, but it think the bigger picture here is that the nation of Israel gets the land. The Kingdom of God fills the earth. Even one city in God’s Kingdom will cover more land than Israel ever conquered through all their years of battle.

What we see in Obadiah has a partial fulfilment in the time of the Maccabees, but is awaiting the complete fulfillment where as Obadiah says in the final verse of our passage

Obadiah 21 (NIV84) Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.

Jesus wins. In the end Jesus conquers the whole earth. The Kingdom of God stretches from shore to shore, from sea to sea. the promises of God will be fulfilled in full. The land will be conquered by deliverers, Mount Zion will rule the nation in holiness, and the Kingdom will be the Lord’s.

The Kingdom will be the Lord’s

Too often we live as though the sinfulness and foolishness of this world were winning, but they have already lost. Too often we worry as though the world was conquering, when they have already been conquered. Too often we feel helpless before the onslaught of insanity that surrounds us, when the writing is on the wall. The end has already been decreed. Jesus Wins.

As Psalm 110 already told us

Psalm 110:1 (NIV84) The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”

And Paul reminded us in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26

1 Corinthians 15:24–26 (NIV84) Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

The Kingdom of God will subdue every enemy on earth. All that think they are an authority now, all that think they are in control and have all power, are already being destroyed. The Kingdom of God is coming.

If that is the case, then what is left for us? Should we just sit back and wait for the world to destroy itself and God to come in and take over? Do we just wait out the rapture and leave the world to its own demise?

I certainly hope that is not our thinking. The message of God’s Kingdom coming in power is meant to give us confidence to go out into His world and live out His Kingdom now. To pray as Jesus taught us to pray

Matthew 6:9–10 (NIV84) ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

To do His will on earth as it is in Heaven. We are to live out our faith with boldness, because God has already conquered in Christ. The cup of God’s wrath was drank for all who have faith to believe, and the nations are already in the process of being placed under His feet. So we can go out with joy and celebration at the coming of our King. We can go out with hope and a message of peace for all who will believe. This is what Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:19-21

2 Corinthians 5:19–21 (NIV84) that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are to be inviting the world to the God who has already won. The invite into the kingdom comes with forgiveness of sins, and eternal life, if we will see the greater and leave behind the lesser that is dying around us. We must repent, turn from this sinful generation, and trust in the Christ who has already won.

When we do we join in the work of God’s redeeming of every people, tribe, tongue, and nation. We join in the message of Revelation 21:5

Revelation 21:5 (NIV84) He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

We don’t need to wait until Christ returns to begin in the work of setting this world in order. Of calling the nations to repentance. Of teahcing them all that Christ has commanded. Of living as though Jesus reigns, because Jesus reigns now. Not int he way He iwll reign in the future, no. We cannot travel to Jerusalem and see Him seated on His throne, but He is seated on His heavenly throne and from their He rules all of Hsi creation. From the right hand of th Father, Christ’s Kingdom is coming one soul at a time. The minor prophets commentary says it this way:

The Minor Prophets (Obadiah 21) Obadiah concludes his prophecy with a magnificent three word (in the Hebrew) declaration: “The kingdom shall be Yahweh’s.” Here the prophet is quoting David (Ps 22:28). This is the bottom line of all history. The struggles between Mt. Zion and Mt. Esau, the world and the church, fade from the prophet’s view. He sees the kingdom of Yahweh ultimately triumphant, surviving all the powers which have tried to destroy her. These words are the polar star to guide God’s people through whatever dark days may arise

And

The Minor Prophets (Obadiah 17–20) The inhabitants of Mt. Zion do not maintain a defensive mode. They go on the offensive to spread the message of salvation “in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

The reality is the gates of Hell will not prevail against God’s church. What Christ has accomplished is changing the world forever, and all the kingdoms of the earth will be His. As He has begun, He will finish.

In Christ, we enter into this work as we teach our children God’s ways. As we study the Scriptures and grow in our knowledge of God with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As we proclaim the message of God’s grace to all who will hear, and as we vote and run for public office. Seeking to bring God’s commandments to bear on this world.

All of life lived for Christ is the goal. Taking up our cross and following Him into every area of life witht the joy and the presence of God within us and the message of His conquering love in our mouths.

Again, this is where we come to communion, reminding ourselves that God reigns, and that in Christ He has redeemed us with His blood. The wrath of God has been fully satisfied and the relationship of children to our father, forged in the body and blood of our Savior. as we take this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. We declare the rule and reign of our mighty King until we see Him in His glory. We declare life has entered the world, conquering death for all who will join us at this table.

Let us pray as the ushers come forward to pass out the elements.