Sermon for Sunday April 19, 2018
Obadiah Part 1
The story is told of two ducks and a frog who lived happily together in a farm pond. The best of friends, the three would amuse themselves and play together in their waterhole. When the hot summer days came, however, the pond began to dry up, and soon it was evident they would have to move. This was no problem for the ducks, who could easily fly to another pond. But the frog was stuck. So it was decided that they would put a stick in the bill of each duck that the frog could hang onto with his mouth as they flew to another pond. The plan worked well--so well, in fact, that as they were flying along a farmer looked up in admiration and mused, "Well, isn't that a clever idea! I wonder who thought of it?" The frog said, "I did..."
Text
Obadiah 1:1-10
When I read Obadiah for the 1st, and the 2nd and 3rd times, and more times after that, I struggled with it. It resembles beautiful Old Testament poetry but it left more questions than answers. I’ve prayed and struggled with the text, having no doubt that the Lord has led us to examine this beautiful book and to grow from it, to learn from it, and to be more of the people he has called us to be as a result.
The subject of the book of Obadiah is not the nation of Israel, but rather, the nation of Edom. Edom was located in what is now modern-day Jordan, but as a people, the Edomites no longer exist. The message while directly written to and about Edom, is more than just about Edom as we examine it today, however. There are some major themes and some cautions to which we would do well to pay attention.
As you’ve already picked up in this passage we’ve read today, you wouldn’t want to be an Edomite about this time. Your days are numbered. But as we examine what led up to this passage, we can have an understanding of a sin the Lord seems to really hate more than other sins, and we can have a caution in our own hearts about how to please the Lord rather than incur His wrath.
Contained with our book today are actually not one but three examples of this sin that the Lord detests. As you know, the sins that the Jewish people committed over the years of the Old testament were frequent and they were harsh. They resulted in the northern kingdom of Israel being wiped out as a culture, and the southern kingdom of Judah being taken into captivity for many years by the Babylonians. Because the Jewish people were a sinful people who never could put God first and keep Him there, they received many punishments, some of which still linger today.
But looking at this book, we see that the Edomites ceased to be. Even the northern kingdom wasn’t annihilated like that – they intermarried with other religions and lost their own culture, but there were still remnants of what once was. Here in 2015 we still have Jewish people today, direct descendants of those Jewish people we read of in the Scriptures. But the Edomite people and culture was completely erased from history. Why? Why would the Lord do this? What was it that they did that resulted in such a harsh punishment? Let’s examine the answer to that in 3 different persons or peoples and see why these events may have come to pass.
Esau – Forsaking all for hunger
Turn to Malachi 1:2-3
2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?""Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob…
3 but Esau I have hated.
Well, how did this poor guy named Esau get drug into our sermon today, and why does God hate him? To know that, we need to know the origin of the nation of Edom. It is stated in Genesis 36:1, which says
1 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom).
And so we realize when we continue reading in Malachi 1 that God is talking about the nation of Edom, sometimes called Esau, just as the nation of Israel was named for Esau’s twin brother, Jacob, whose name was also Israel. It continues…
2 "I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How have you loved us?""Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I have loved Jacob
3 but Esau I have hated. I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert."
4 If Edom says, "We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins," the LORD of hosts says, "They may build, but I will tear down, and they will be called 'the wicked country,' and 'the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.'"
5 Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, "Great is the LORD beyond the border of Israel!"
So how did this wicked nation get its start, how did they take after their father, Esau, and what was the first instance of a sin that would be repeated over and over again by this nation.
Esau’s sin was self. It was pride. The Lord detests the proud. The Lord does not like it when we make ourselves #1. And pride can take many forms. Making life all about ourselves can manifest itself in many ways. And Esau put self #1 from the beginning. We see the famous story about Esau in Genesis 25
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted.
30 And Esau said to Jacob, "Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!" (Therefore his name was called Edom.)
31 Jacob said, "Sell me your birthright now."
32 Esau said, "I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?"
33 Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.
Esau despised his birthright. He was the elder son, the firstborn. He was to be his father’s heir. He was to be the ruler of the estate. He was to be the one in charge according to Jewish custom and practice, and yet, in this simple case of exchanging all he could’ve been for the satisfaction of a moment. Right then – did you feel that? Did anyone feel their toe being stepped on by the Holy Spirit? I did. How many times I’ve traded in the eternal promises and treasure of the Kingdom for the sin and satisfaction of the moment.
From the very beginning, this founder of the nation of Edom was a man who made it all about Himself. He was foolish and ignorant, and because of that, his father Isaac prophesied over him and the nation that would come, that Edom would always be subject to Israel, that the younger Jacob would have power over the older Esau.
My friends, in application of this first point, do not trade your birthright in. Every person in here has been given the kingdom of God. And yet many of us squander it for soup. For something that fills the stomach for only one moment, while leaving the soul woefully malnourished. I wish I had a quarter for everytime I talked to a person whose soul was destitute, and yet they had never fed it before. Don’t trade in what God has given you for what the world wants to give you. Don’t forsake it all for hunger.
Edom – Forsaking all for hostility
In this, the main thrust of our text today, Edom was a hostile, vindictive nation. Even though the Bible forbid the Israelites from hating the Edomites because of their close relationship, as you can read in Deuteronomy 23:7, the history between these 2 people is not good at all. Edom denied Israel’s permission to pass through their territory in the wilderness under Moses. Saul fought against Edom in 1 Samuel, and King David conquered them in 2 Samuel. At times they were subject to Israel, at other times they were independent. Under King Zedekiah around 594 BC, Edom actually allied with Israel against Babylon, but must’ve committed some hostile act or betrayal afterward, which explains a number of prophecies against Edom in Jeremiah, Psalms, Lamentations, and Ezekiel. Edom was to Israel what Esau was to Jacob – the brother who gave them more trouble than a brother ever should’ve. And Edom’s sins against Israel and pride against God – their hostility – ended up in their destruction.
Look at our text today in Obadiah. Does it refer to this hostile attitude of the Edomites towards the Jewish nation? We’re going to cover these verses more next week, as well as what happens when we develop a hostility toward God, but look with me beginning in verse 10
10 Because of the violenceagainst your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever.
11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them.
12 You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much in the day of their trouble.
13 You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster, nor look down on them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
Edom forsook it all for hostility. Never once did we find the nations of the 2 brother uniting. Never once was there reconciliation. Edom for centuries saw God moved, witnessed and heard about the glorious events and the chastising hand of God both, in Israel, and yet, our verses today indicate that they were only hostile towards their relatives, their neighbors. These verses here that they stood aloof while strangers carried off the wealth of Judah…they acted as if enemies.
Edom was a nation in the cliffs, in the high places – they thought they were unconquerable, they thought they could be dependant, and they thought they could demonstrate hostility toward God without consequences. But it was all a lie.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?"
As I mentioned, next week I want to develop this part of the topic more, but today, when one hears the Gospel message, one does not stay the same. You cannot experience the Holy Spirit tugging at your heart without…ramifications. When I call my child to come to me, they either come and I might be pleased, or they either do not come, and I am upset. My call is meant to have an answer. When I preach the Gospel message, your heart either responds to the inward work and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, pleasing God, or it becomes aloof and does not respond – and that was the sin of the Edomite people, all the way back to their single forefather, Esau…they became more and more and more hostile to God and His people, until their pride deceived them to their destruction.
I have one more Edomite to talk about. We discussed the first one, Esau. We discussed the group of Edomites as a nation, which God said he hated in Malachi. Now let us discuss King Herod.
Herod – forsaking it all for himself
What? That’s right. Let’s discuss King Herod! Yes, that King Herod! The one in the New Testament! There’s actually several King Herods, and they are all related – father, son, grandson, and we’re referring to these Herods who murdered the babies in Bethlehem, who met the wise men, who fought the early church, the one who met Jesus Christ personally before his crucifixion, and who ordered the execution of various new testament figures.
After the book of Malachi and before Matthew, there are 400 years in which God is silent, but those years are filled with political and military activity. These are the years in which Rome invades and conquers Palestine. During the wars of those years, we know that the Edomite people were completely conquered by the Jews and they were forced to convert to Judaism, but they did so with hate in their hearts and hostility continuing.
When Greek became the common language of the area, the Edomites became known by another name – the Idumaeans. As Rome became the prominent power, a certain Idumaean whose father had converted to Judaism was named King of Judaism was named King of Judea. The name of that son is known to us as King Herod the Great. Herod and his family were the last notable Edomites, and as a people, they slowly disappeared from history, fulfilling the prophecy of Obadaih and Ezekiel 35 and other chapters.
As Esau forsook it all for hunger, as Edom forsook it all for hostility, Herod – especially when we’re talking about Herod the Great or Herod Antipater his son, both of them forsook it all for haughtiness – and if you don’t want to spell that, you can write, “hissy fit!” Another H word – he forsook it all for himself.
Turn to Acts 12 with me to see what happened to King Herod the son in this early New Testament church account -
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people.
22 They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man."
23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
Herod’s sin was hostility, was evilness, and was especially pride. Verse 22 – the people shouted and proclaimed his godhood, little g, and He listened to them, he took the praise – he did not give praise to God, and committed an atrocious and detestable sin before God. And He was struck dead and the Gospel message continued to be spread.
My friends, it doesn’t matter what we put before God in our lives, we must put God and God only as first. If we put our own hunger, our own needs – or if we allow our hearts to grow hardened and we grow further and further away from the Gospel message, or if we allow ourselves to be the little g god of our own universe, declining to give him praise as we were meant to do, then we have failed to listen to the story of the Edomite people, from the first of them, to the last notable one.
What is our response? As we remember Esau forsook it all for hunger, Edom forsook it all to display hostility, and Herod forsook everything for himself, I want you to hold up your 5 fingers. Our response is faith not placed in ourselves or the satisfaction of our needs, but faith in God. How many letters in faith? 5! FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM. FAITH. FORSAKING ALL I TRUST HIM.
Worship is when we Forsake it all for Him. Idolatry is when we forsake it all for the world, or for something else. Pride is when we forsake it all for self. Today, I ask, are you fully and completely trusting God in the midst of your circumstances? Whether you are experiencing joy or sorrow these days, happiness or affliction, want or plenty, we must trust God and have him as first and foremost in our life.
Today – Forsaking all I trust Him
When you are hungry, when you have needs, when your life is filled with more thirst than there is water,
Take up your cross and follow Jesus
During hostility, when we don’t understand God, or he doesn’t seem present, or we’re struggling with our own belief system,
Trust him. He’s there, and He is more real to you than the world would have you think. Come down from that place of disbelief and trust God.
During haughtiness (hissy-fits), during the times we want to make it all about us
I am crucified with Christ, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
Let us pray
