Obadiah 1:1
Emphasizing God
Introduction
As I have studied and prepared for our study in the book of Obadiah, I began by wondering how I might present this material so that it becomes more to you than ancient history. The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Now if we believe that scripture tonight, then we necessarily believe that the 21 verses contained in Obadiah were also given by the inspiration of God for our benefit; that we might grow as the men and women of God through it’s study. I believe that tonight, and I believe that you do too, so as we begin our study, let us pause and pray, and may our prayer be that God would open our minds and hearts to receive the message contained in this short, but powerful book and make the appropriate application to our lives, so that we might be "doers of the Word, and not hearers only."
Verse 1 begins with the words…
"The vision of Obadiah."
Who was this man called Obadiah? The Bible mentions several men by this name, at least twelve of them, but none seem to be this particular one. In 1 Kings 18 we read about a man by this name that hid the Lord’s prophets in caves during the time of Elijah and Ahab. In 2 Chronicles 17 we are told about a law teacher named Obadiah that Jehoshaphat sent into the cities of Judah to preach the Word of God. There are several others mentioned, but none seem to be this man. Our prophet Obadiah raises from seemingly nowhere, proclaims the message God has given him, then returns to obscurity, leaving us only to think about God and the message pronounced. Is this so wrong or odd? Even Obadiah’s name – "servant of Jehovah" suggests that when we are true servants of God, it will not matter that our identity goes unknown to the world at large, because it is God and His Word that we want to draw attention to instead of ourselves.
It is for this reason that we find the next phrase…
"Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom;"
Obadiah didn’t proclaim his message, he didn’t express his feelings about Edom or what he might have thought about this sister nation. Instead, he got out of the way and proclaimed, "Thus saith the Lord GOD…" From this little phrase, I want us to consider a few of the attributes of God that will help to lay a foundation for what will be said in the following twenty verses.
God’s Sovereignty
How is it that over and over in the Scriptures we find this little phrase, "thus saith the Lord God?" Various prophets and other men in the Bible proclaimed that statement 277 times, and the phrase, "thus saith the Lord" a total of 430 times. I’ll tell you how – it was because they realized something of the sovereignty of God. There is great power and authority in that little statement. There is boldness and confidence – and it’s no wonder – after all, the God who created it all has complete power and authority to dictate how it will all unfold throughout history.
When you think about the sovereignty of God, remember Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:6. Hannah had been unable to bear children, but you remember that the Lord gave her a son. She took this son and gave him to the Lord at a very young age, and on the day she took young Samuel to the tabernacle, she broke out with a prayer of great praise to the Lord. In that prayer she said,
"The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the gave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he hath set the world upon them."
In Job 33:13, Job’s friend asked him this question,
"Why dost thou strive against [God]? For he giveth not account of any of his matters."
Later in the same book the Lord is speaking to Job and He makes this statement,
"Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine."
Listen, don’t ever doubt the sovereignty of God. He is omnipotent, that is, God is all-powerful and is able to perform all His holy will. He can do anything He wants to do, and His exercise of power over all His creation is His sovereignty. God’s sovereignty is His exercise of rule as Creator and King.
How do the prophets bring this out? How does a little book like Obadiah express the sovereignty of God? As we continue in the book, we’re going to discover that God pronounces judgment on the little nation of Edom, and in His own timing He executes that judgment. He does what He deems good and necessary because He is in perfect and complete control. Kings can say what they want, nations can do what they want, but in the final analysis of it all, none can escape the sovereignty of God. Do you remember what Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar? He said,
"Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his: and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding…"
The prophets show us that God is the sovereign Lord of history and that nothing happens, either to Israel or to the gentile nations, that is not the result of God’s direct determination. The great flood of Genesis 6 was the direct result of the sovereign will of God. The plagues on Egypt were His doing. The locust plague in Joel was His doing. The fall of Jerusalem was His doing, just as were so many more of the events of Scripture.
Whatever problems you might have with God’s actions, don’t ever doubt for a moment that God is in charge of what happens in your life. You may not like it, you may not agree with it, you may not want to go along with it, but you can be sure of this – that God is in control whether you like it or not!
Now, one thing you’ll have to admit is this – that no matter how much I think on the sovereignty of God, you just don’t get it sometimes. Does God decree all things that happen in the world? Can anything happen that He does not determine will happen? Every believer who meditates on God’s providence will sooner or later come to a point where he or she will have to say, "I cannot understand this doctrine fully." In some ways that must be said about every doctrine, since our understanding is finite, and God is infinite.
While we will never understand fully the nature of God, we can learn how to respond to it. For instance, we can learn to respond to God’s sovereignty…
· By not being afraid, but rather by trusting in God. Listen, if He is really sovereign, and your life is in His hands, then why should you fear? Trust Him, after all, who else cares for you the way He does? The prophets must have lived with this great sense of awe of the Lord. They heard firsthand His desire for people and nations and how He would bless or curse them according to how they responded to Him. These faithful men of God had to learn to trust God as their own lives were put on the line in order to serve Him.
· By being thankful for all things that happen. If we genuinely believe that God is in control of all things, and God always acts according to His goodness, then we are compelled to be thankful for what He does, even when we don’t understand it. We mentioned some of God’s judgments earlier. In the midst of the flood, could Noah be thankful? In the midst of the plagues, could Israel be thankful? As God judged the nations mentioned throughout the prophets, was there reason to be thankful? You bet! In fact, we are told to be thankful in all things aren’t we?
· By learning that there is no such thing as luck, chance or fate. All things come to pass by God’s sovereign will. The universe is not governed by impersonal fate or luck, but by a personal and loving God. Nothing "just happens." There is no such thing as coincidence. We need to learn to see God’s hand in events throughout the day, causing all things to work together for good for those who love Him.
God’s Holiness
If God’s sovereignty bursts forth throughout the book of Obadiah and the other writings of the prophets, then so does His attribute of holiness. Again, quoting from Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:2, she said, "There is none holy as the Lord." Exodus 15:11 proclaims,
"Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness."
Writer after writer throughout the Bible declared the holiness of God. I love to read Isaiah 6, where we find the prophet Isaiah standing before the Lord high and lifted up, and what does he recognize immediately? The holiness of God! God’s holiness means that He is separated from sin and is devoted to seeking His own honor. His articles of worship are to be holy. The place where God Himself dwells is holy. God Himself is the Most Holy One, and He demands that His people be holy.
An awareness of God’s holiness was the driving force behind the prophet’s sharp denunciation of sin. It makes no difference where the sin was found, whether in foreign lands like Edom or Ninevah, or among God’s people – it was an offense to God and called for judgment. Nowhere in the Bible will you find stiffer pronouncements against sin and heartier calls for a deep and persuasive repentance than in the writings of the Minor Prophets like Obadiah. Apart from repentance, judgment falls.
Has God changed over the centuries? Is He any less holy today than He was in the day of Obadiah? Of course not! His hatred of sin and evil are just as strong today as they were yesterday. His desire for us to be people of holiness is just as avid as it ever was. What we need as His people is a fresh glimpse of who He is! We need to come to the throne of God and see the Lord high and lifted up! We need to see that God in His holiness is a God who hates every sin in us, every part of our being that hasn’t been brought into conformity with His Word, and without true repentance, judgment will fall.
True repentance is more than just lip-service. True repentance means that you have godly sorrow for your sin and that you have turned away from the sin for which you are sorry. If you only felt sorrow, but you did not turn away, then there was no true repentance. If you recognize God’s holiness, then you’ll have no problem coming humbly to Him in a way that is pleasing to Him. It is my hope and desire that all of us, myself included, will walk away from our study in this little book with a renewed sense of the awesome purity and holiness of the Lord God of heaven.
God’s Love
Now for a great many people, it is difficult to see how God can be sovereign and holy, executing judgment against sin, and still be called a God of love. How is it that a loving God can judge the nations the way He does? If God loved Edom, then why does He lead Obadiah to pronounce its eventual destruction? The answer to this question is that God is a God of holiness and justice as well as a God of love. These moral attributes are complementary, not contradictory.
You see, God expressed His love for us by giving to us laws. The law is like a great fence that shows us where the boundaries are. If God did not love us, then He wouldn’t care what we did or whether we obeyed Him or not. We see this all the time with unfit parents. If parents really loved their children they would lay down some laws, some rules and make their children be obedient to those rules. When the laws of God are disobeyed there must be a judgment. God’s laws demand that sin must be paid for. God can still love someone but He cannot allow sin to go unpunished.
For instance, do you know why no parent in this room would allow your child to play in the busy street outside? Because you love them. You communicate that love first by laying down the law: "Thou shalt not play in the street." What happens when your child plays in the street though? Does your great love for them make you smile upon their disobedience? Of course not! If you really loved your child, you would run out there, get your child off the street and punish them for their disobedience. Now, suppose I came along and saw you spanking your child. Could I rightly say that because I saw you spanking your kid that you didn’t love him? If you loved him you wouldn’t punish him. How would you respond to me?
It is no different with God. God laid down the rules in the law. He sent His prophets out proclaiming His message to be obedient to Him, to repent of sin and enjoy His blessings or suffer the consequences. When nations like Nineveh or Edom or even Israel refused to obey, then God in His love had to execute justice.
So, it was because of God’s love for His people that he sent prophets like Obadiah with a message of judgment, and eventually, even the judgment itself. God knows that sin is an outrage against Himself, humanity, and even the one pursuing the sin. He knows that sin is destructive, so He judges it. His love demands it. Now I don’t know about you, but I am thankful that God brings judgment into my life from time to time. I am thankful for it because I know myself well enough to know that if God never brought that judgment into my life, whether it is as simple as causing me to be under heavy conviction or as harsh as physically punishing me somehow, I would not respond to Him the way He desires for me to. I wish that I did not need these things in my life to cause me to rightly respond to God, but I know my sinful tendencies well enough to know that I do.
God’s love is wonderful. Paul told the Ephesian church that he wanted them "to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge." It is universal; it is a John 3:16 kind of love – "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…" It is unconditional. Romans 5:8 tells us that "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." You can search the Scriptures from now till Jesus comes back and you’ll never comprehend the love of God for humanity. All we can do is to respond to it with hearts of praise and gratitude – for He is worthy.
Conclusion
The book of Obadiah emphasizes some wonderful attributes of God. It emphasizes His sovereignty. It emphasizes His holiness, and it emphasizes His love. We need to be reminded of these things today. As individuals, as a church and as a nation we need to be reminded of just who God is.
Who is God in your life? Is He the sovereign Lord and King? Is His will your will? Are His desires your desires? Is His nature becoming your nature? Perhaps today you have been resisting God’s sovereign will, you need to understand that He is not the Lord of your life. He wants to be, and He deserves to be, but He will not force Himself upon you. He wants you to make that decision.
We have talked about God’s holiness. In your own life today, have you been wrestling with some sin and running from God? Israel did. Other nations did, but God wouldn’t allow it to ride. He won’t allow it in your life either. Maybe when you think of sin you are thinking of what we all consider to be the standard sins – smoking, drinking and cursing, but there is so much more that God is interested in. How does your life measure up in the area of self-control? What about truthfulness? Do you find yourself wrestling with some ungodly ambition for something? What about in the area of sinful habits? Have you surrendered those to Christ? You see, there are so many hidden crevices in our lives that we have never allowed the light of Christ to shine in, and in His holiness He desires to bring all those things into conformity to His holy nature. Will you come to the throne of God tonight and recognize that the Lord is calling you today to a life of holiness and close fellowship with Him, and will you respond to that call in humble obedience?
God in His great love invites you to more than church and preaching. He wants to have a personal, intimate relationship with you, and no matter who you are or what you have done in your life, God is pursuing you. Have you ever experienced the love of Christ? Is He your Savior? Is He your Friend? Have you come to Him accepting the love that He so graciously extended toward you? If you haven’t, then tonight is your opportunity to respond to His invitation.
