Obadiah (Chapel) (2)

Intro:

In the opening chapter to his book “Knowing God,” J.I. Packer quotes a section of a sermon from Charles Spurgeon who said:

(Quote from pgs. 17&18 Highlighted)

“A devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead.”

This is in reality the ultimate purpose that any believer shoudl carry into time in God’s Word, it is the proper goal of every sermon, it is the most right and proper task to which we can and should often set our minds and it is a task that can never be exhausted because the God whom we set out to know is eternal and though we have eternity ahead to enter into this task with minds unhindered by sin yet we will still never reach the end.

As we turn to this small book of Obadiah this morning I think it is good that we remind ourselves of this. The center of God’s Word is God himself and even here in this small, often overlooked, prophet this task is the primary task which sets itself before us. Packer goes on to talk about the grace that God extends to us in that we have no ability to come to a knowledge of Him unless He first stoops down in Grace and reveals and makes Himself knowable by us and the ways in which He has chosen to do so are through the world, the Scriptures or the written Word, and most ultimately through the Word made flesh, His one and Only Son, though even that most perfect revelation of God in the person of Christ is carried forward to us authoritatively in His written Word.

It is especially easy when reading and seeking to understand biblical prophecy to get lost in the particulars of the who, what, when, and wheres of the prophetic revelation. We have a natural bent to want to outline everything and stick it on a time line that fits neatly into the events of history both past, present and future and I would say that some day, on the other side of eternity we will indeed be able to see perfectly how all of these things line up with the arch of God purposes of redemption that span from the creation of the world to the consummation of His Kingdom and the arrival of the age to come in eternity.

However, while it is not wrong to seek to understand these things, and indeed a proper understanding of the text shoudl be sought and is necessary to achieve what is a far greater aim which is the further expanding our knowledge of and love for our great and glorious God. This s our aim this morning, to see our God presented before us in the text of this prophet. We will have to ask some questions of the text to understand it and we will have to understand the context that gave occasion to the prophet to utter these things but the chief aim, the crest of the mountain you might say, is that in the end, we see something of the glory of our great God radiating from these verses.

With that aim in mind lets take a moment to pray and then we will read this short prophecy of Obadiah.

PRAY & READ

As we jump in we do need to understand a bit of the history or the occasion for the prophecy. It was a vision or a supernatural revelation given to a prophet by God to be delivered to God’s people and there was a historical occasion for which God purposed this book.

You will have noted that the book is about and almost seems to be directed at the Edomites. These were the people of Esau, Jacob’s brother, the kinfolk of the people of Israel and most of you I hope are well familiar with the story of these brothers and the animosity that existed between them which carries through the pages of scripture. These people wouldn't even let the people of Israel pass through their land during the exodus on their way to the Promised Land. They cam out against them with a great force!

So what was it that Edom had done to illicit these strong words from God?

The truth is that we cant say for sure. It is one of the frustrating things about this book that it lacks the historical markers that other prophetic texts do. However, I believe that a great case can be made for this prophecy being written shortly after the time of the Babylonian destruction of Judah and specifically Jerusalem. There are so many parallels, indeed even shared texts between this book and Jeremiah 49 that I believe it is hard to see this text referencing any other event. As for the early exilic period? The feel of the text is important and the feel you get from this text is that the wrongs done by Edom against the people of Judah are fresh in their minds! For these two reasons this is where I pin this prophecy historically and where I find the occasion for it being written.

We see in verses 10 - 14 what Edom had done. We know that the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem was cruel and yet we read that these people, the kinfolk of Judah had used that opportunity to commit further violence against God’s people. (10)

They first stood aloof, they didn't lift a finger to come to Judah's aid.

They used the occasion to gloat over the people of Judah’s misfortune.

They had entered the gates of Jerusalem with malicious intent. They looted the wealth, likely what remained after Babylon had taken what it wanted. Some historical sources, albeit sketchy ones, even say that the people of Edom participated in the burning of the Temple.

Finally, we see that they had stood at the borders of their land and as the people of Judah fled the death and destruction these people of Edom captured them and handed them right back over to their destroyers.

The people of Edom ought to have taken pity on their brothers but they did not, the long standing animosity caused them to jump at the chance to line their own pockets and potentially expand their own kingdom.

We see that God now says he is going to punish them for these wrongs.

In verses 1-4 He delivers the message of doom and in verses 5-9 He describes the totality of the destruction.

We see in verses 1-4 that Edom was proud and felt themselves secure. The land of Edom was mountainous and it seems as though they lived in cities literally cut out of the cliffs. (3) However, we read that though they felt secure, God was summoning the nations soon against them! They were deceived in thinking they were secure because but against the God of heaven no earthly measure of security will stand. God had set himself against them and God will prevail.

In verses 5-9 we read as we have noted of the totality and extent of the destruction. (5) If thieves break into a house they take what they can carry but no thief takes everything, not so with the destruction of the people of Edom, it would be complete. When grape gathers work in a field some grapes are left behind, not so with the coming destruction of Edom. Pillaged, his treasures sought out, all his rocky hiding spots looted and laid bare. Their allies turned against them and their wise and mighty men destroyed. Slaughter is the word used to describe what is going to take place!

At this point though we need to understand a key principle and one that is often forgotten about when reading prophecy. Very seldom does God send prophetic messages to people who are not His. It does happen from time to time but especially in the case of prophecy that is recorded and included in sacred Scripture it is always for the sake of God’s people. Even the book of Jonah, though Jonah goes to the Ninevites, is ultimately a message for the people of God. So here though the book seems to be directed at Edom it is actually purposed for God’s people. It is unlikely that Obadiah went and preached this prophecy to the people of Edom like Jonah went to Nineveh. We will fail to rightly understand this prophecy if we do not read it as a message for the people of God not the people of Edom!

As we said at the beginning, our primary objective this morning is to see God in the text and there are three ways that I would like us to see this prophecy of Obadiah highlight the glory of God.

God’s Justice

The first attribute of God that we see so clearly in this text is His Justice!

King

Lover of His people