GOD S JUDGEMENT UPON EDOM (Obad. 2-9)

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1 GOD S JUDGEMENT UPON EDOM (Obad. 2-9) Judgement is a word that does not sit very comfortably on the lips of many people today who profess to know Christ. It seems to present a wrathful God Who is angrily waiting the time when He will rain His terror upon an unsuspecting world. The concept of the preaching of judgement, in general, has undergone developments over recent years. In the legal system, guilt is being dealt with in several various ways. For example, sometimes the person found guilty of a crime is sent to jail, sometimes he is given community service, sometimes he is given a suspended sentence the guilty person has more options open to him today than in any previous age. Therefore, society looks at guilt differently. You cannot always completely blame the guilty one there might be extenuating circumstances, or circumstances that contributed to him becoming associated with criminal activity maybe his parents did not love him enough or bring him up right, or maybe he comes from a poor family and guilt is looked at differently. For instance, fifty years ago a man who would have been found guilty of murdering 270 victims would have been given the death penalty, instead of being allowed home after eight years to die peacefully and honourably with his family! And, because of society looking at guilt differently, society s values have seeped into the Church, and the Church nowadays looks at guilt differently also. You must not talk about God s judgment, and the wrath to come, or Hell because you will turn people off you will frighten them and they won t want to come to church, - you will drive them away! However, even though society s opinions on judgement have changed, God s values have not. We may choose not to speak of God s wrath but it does not make it go away it does not change the fact of God s anger towards sinners who reject Him. God has never toned down His attitude to our rebellion against Him ( what the Bible calls sin ), and therefore, it is dangerous and uncaring to push it to the one side and ignore it. One of the greatest lessons of Scripture is the example of the priests and the false prophets in the Old Testament as they ignored God s law;

2 2 Jeremiah did not mince his words when he proclaimed, 5:30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; 31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof? Failure to preach the subject of God s judgement is unforgiveable because God will judge the ungodly and the disobedient, and if sinners do not hear of God s judgement we are doing them a great disservice because they need to hear how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? (Rom. 10:14). You might say to me again, David, there are other ways you can tell them Well, yes, that can be true but God s Word emphasises how the message must be preached. It is not entertainment to tell someone they need to be saved. It is a grave and a sombre responsibility. Here, Obadiah has a message of God s judgement to proclaim. I do not see him laughing his way through the message as he preached it. I don t see him trying to slip something in that will lessen the impact or make it easier for the people to cope with and accept. In fact, I don t see him using any of the antics used in many places today! Obadiah had a hard message to preach, and he had to preach it knowing God was listening. GOD S EXAMINATION I wonder if you put much thought into how a preacher puts his sermon together. Before I started to preach, I used to wonder. Since I have been in the ministry I have come across many different types of ways some accumulate their sermon notes. You can, of course, preach someone else s sermon. I m often tickled with a student I had on a practical year with me in one of my previous churches. He was telling me how he had been preaching somewhere and he had used my sermon! Poor man!! When the Lord calls you to preach, He gives you the message for you to preach! It is very easy nowadays too to read someone s sermon or download from the internet and preach it but again it might not necessarily be what God is giving you to preach.

3 3 Yes, I often read other men s sermons, - some of the greatest preachers God has used, I have hundreds of them at home, and many more on the internet, - and I often find them so helpful. But when God calls you to preach His Word, He places a burden upon your heart to do exactly that, and He brings you to the portion of His Word! You don t occupy a pulpit to fill a space, or to entertain a congregation for half-an-hour No, it is the opportunity God has given you, - for which He will call you to account, - and you must preach what He sets before you. It is an awesome task. It is not fiddling about with a few thoughts it is not for anyone, except those whom God has called. They do not need necessarily to be a Pastor, but they must be a man upon whose heart the burden and the ability to communicate that burden has been effectuated by God. Today, I believe many of our pulpits are filled with people who are not called of God, and the calibre of their preaching ministry is evidence to that. Many do not preach Christ crucified, or the need for souls to be saved, or the Sovereignty of God, or the principle truths of Scripture. Turn with me please to II Pet. 2:1-3, and you will find not a pretty picture! But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. In the Old Testament they had false prophets, now in the New Testament onwards Peter is warning us about the false teachers. They sneak into the church, and into the church leadership. These false teachers use the same vocabulary, but their words mean something completely different. They spoke and they speak about salvation and faith, but they have their own definitions, - they use a different dictionary! And not only was their message false, but their methods were false also. Peter called what they taught, damnable heresies. Imagine using such a description nowadays!! We live in such a nice cosy world, it is not right to refer to someone else s beliefs in such a way even if they are false and leading people to Hell!

4 4 Peter had no time for these false gospels, - as we should have no time for them either. Look at his language, - false prophets false teachers damnable heresies, 2 pernicious ways;... 3 feigned words... feigned words, the Greek word is plastoi/j lo,goij, - plastic words! Words that can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean. These were the type of people Obadiah had to contend with in his day also and he had to ensure he spoke to the people exactly what God set before him to speak. We do not know who Obadiah was, but we do know that he had a message from God for the people of Edom and he was responsible before God for being faithful in proclaiming exactly what God had for him to say. God s examination GOD S CONDEMNATION These people to whom Obadiah was prophesying were the Edomites, - the descendants of Esau; they had deserted God and the ways of God. Is. 56:11 they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. 12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. They were exalting themselves comparable to the grandeur, the beauty and the magnificence of the eagle flying high above the mountains and the valleys. They were in control, and untouchable, they boasted, v.3 Who shall bring me down to the ground? Who is like us! Edom was a proud nation who thought itself unconquerable because their land was bordered on each side by two sets of mountain ranges, v.3 thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock. They thought they were great, but God said they were small (v.2). The actual word (!j'q' qatan {kaw-tawn}) means insignificant and unimportant in God s great scheme of things, these people were as a tiny speck! God s Word says, Prov. 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. These people were about to discover the truth of those words. God judged them, v.3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee 4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

5 5 By turning against God s people, they were setting out to rob God of His glory, and God said, No! You won t! God is jealous of His throne and of His glory, and He loves His people. He said to His people, Is. 43:1 now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. These Edomites were located on several of the major trade routes, - it was a wealthy place to be! It was a real business community, and of course the mountains were rich in copper and many other minerals. Despite having major trade routes running through their country, they were so far from the larger nations they didn t have to make treaties and give money elsewhere, - they could keep all their wealth for themselves. They were happily self-contained, and responsible to no-one else. But they were forgetting God. Their success was only loaned to them. They had their friends, and there were times when these smaller countries formed an alliance when it was necessary and Edom was among them, for example, Ps. 83:2 For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head. 3 They have taken crafty counsel against thy people, and consulted against thy hidden ones. 4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. 5 For they have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee: 6 The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes; 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek; the Philistines with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assur also is joined with them they had formed an alliance against the people of God! But God said, Watch your friends! Edom, your friends are using you and they are going to betray you! God would turn Edom s friends into their enemies, and those who had fraternised with them and made alliances with them would break those covenants. Their friends would turn into traitors, they would set a trap, and the unsuspecting Edom would fall into it. Remember Esau-Edom was Jacob s brother, the son of Isaac and Rebekkah, and remember too God had a place in His heart for Edom, - God had written into the Law of Moses, Dt. 23:7 Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite; for he is thy brother Dt. 2:2 the LORD spake unto me, saying, 3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And

6 6 command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. 7 For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. 8 And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau And just as the Israelites had responsibilities to the Edomites, the Edomites had responsibilities to the Israelites, - brotherhood works both ways! Brothers have a bond because of birth, - they are of the same blood. They should get along, - or, at least try. They should be looking out for one other, not fraternizing with the enemy as the Edomites were doing. And don t you sense a sadness in the pen of Obadiah for the Edomites. They had no such compassion for Obadiah and his people because they were intending to side with the enemy for the overthrow of Israel but you can feel Obadiah s sorrow for Edom (see vv.5,6). Look what God is saying. Normally if a thief enters your home he only takes those things of value but here Edom is so severely punished by God that the people are going to lose everything. They are going to secretly enter the vineyards and not just take a few basketloads but the whole crop of grapes! v.6 How are the things of Esau searched out! What the Hebrew word really means is, they will be ransacked completely! Nothing left! The lament of David over Saul and Jonathan could be applied here, how are the mighty fallen! (II Sam. 1:19,25,27). The Edomites could not see the predicament they were in. They could not see their friends would not stand by them, but instead turn against them. And it had started in their hearts, v.3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, and it had developed from their hearts out into their company, v.7 the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and they went from being deceived to being dismayed (v.9 thy mighty men, O Teman [an Edomite clan], shall be dismayed), and then to being destroyed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. God s Examination, God s Condemnation

7 GOD S EXPLANATION This was a truly hard message Obadiah had to bring. Why was God dealing so harshly with the sons of Edom? Why could He not have left them alone and ignored them? Very simply, God was not prepared to stand by and watch His beloved people suffer. God s people are precious to Him. He brought Abraham from a land far away, through all the obstacles and yet He led him into Canaan. He looked down upon the Hebrews in captivity in Egypt, Ex. 3:7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. God does not ignore the distress of His people. Edom was falling at a very fundamental hurdle, Lev. 19:17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart. Edom hated Israel, and his hatred was the fundamental flaw that emanated from his pride (v.3ff.). Edom, - the descendants of Esau, - still felt bad-done-by. Esau always believed he should have been the master and received his father s wealth and blessing and the feelings Esau felt of being hard-done-by turned into hatred for his brother and it festered through the years until God had to deal drastically with it here in the prophecy of Obadiah. Hatred and ill-feelings towards a brother or a sister in Christ is often one of the devil s most effective weapons in his armoury. The Edomites gloated over the sufferings of Israel, they basked in their misery. It seems an awful long journey to get to somewhere very ordinary but the message of Obadiah here is a message needed preaching in many congregations. It is the challenge to the believer as to their relationship with another believer. The Israelites and the Edomites had a common hereditary, - they both came from Isaac and ultimately Abraham. They should have been on the same side, looking out for each other but instead, the Edomites were on the side of the enemy. The opening characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit is love (Gal. 5:22). John tells us, I Jn. 1:7 if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 7

8 8 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. On the day of Pentecost, Acts 1:14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication 2:1,46; 4:24; 5:12 Paul also instructed, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph. 4:3) Phil. 2:2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. 3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. God s explanation for the misery that was about to come upon the children of Edom in this prophecy of Obadiah, - very simply, - was because they had neglected and openly rejected their brethren. CONCLUSION God s Examination, Condemnation, Explanation More harm has been done inside the fellowship of God s people by God s people than the enemy outside could ever hope to do! Whereas persecution and oppression has made the church strong, the Church has weakened itself from the inside. In just about each of the churches in the New Testament Paul had to deal with conflicts between believers, - they were arguing among themselves, and hindering the blessing and the progress of the work. Euodias and Syntyche couldn t look at each other The Corinthian believers would have fallen out with you if you had looked at them the wrong way! Obadiah s message is still relevant for today! The people of Edom mistreated their family relationship with the people of Israel and God was about to deal with them. If you have a grievance against a brother or a sister, - for the sake of the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, - you should get it sorted. If you are holding a grudge you are wrong for you are holding that same spirit of Edom and you will suffer! Paul was often offended, but he told the Corinthians to give II Cor. 6:3 no offence in anything, that the ministry be not blamed: 4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 6 By pureness, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned. In the Garden of Gethsemane it was the prayer of the Lord Jesus too, Jn. 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. This is our responsibility to uphold. If you are finding your heart is cold towards a brother or sister, I trust the message of Obadiah will speak, so that our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ in this place would be to God s glory. Amen.