The Godless Man

The Godless Man by Alan Vaughn

Obadiah 1:10-11

Obadiah 1:10-11 (New International Version, ©2011)

10 Because of the violence against 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.

Intro: This is a prophecy of two brothers that ended up being two nations.

The nations I am speaking of this morning are the nation of Israel and the hill nation of Edom.

How are we to reach that conclusion from just their names? The brothers by name are Jacob (Israel), and Esau (Edom) the father of the hill nation of Edom.

The battle between these two nations has been going on since the conception in the womb of their mother.

Genesis 25:26 (New International Version, ©2011)

26 After this, his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel; so he was named Jacob.[a] Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah gave birth to them.

It seems as though Jacob was always trying to get ahead of his twin brother.

ILL: Sometimes we are lured in very easily. Two brothers were getting ready to boil some eggs to color for Easter. "I’ll give you a dollar if you let me break three of these on your head," said the older one. "Promise?" asked the younger. "Promise!" Gleefully, the older boy broke two eggs over his brother’s head.

Standing stiff for fear the gooey mess would get all over him, the little boy asked, "When is the third egg coming?" "It’s not," replied the brother. "That would cost me a dollar."

There are times when we are not discriminating enough with the choices we make, and like the little boy with the promise of a dollar within reach, we believe that we’ll get what we want.

In order to understand the prophecy in the book of Obadiah we first have to have a little back ground on the two nations that will come one day to despise each other.

We find that background in the 25th chapter of the book of Genesis.

First of all we have to understand that the babies that were called Jacob and Esau were the direct results of a prayer offered up for Isaac’s wife Rebekah, by Isaac the father to be.

Genesis 25:21 (New International Version, ©2011)

21 Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. The LORD answered his prayer, and his wife Rebekah became pregnant.

Remember dads and dad’s to be careful what you pray for you just might get it.

When the babies crying at 2 am and no earthy presence can console them remember what you prayed for!

When your loving wife meets you at the door and gives you the look that tells you this cannot be my child,

Remember what you prayed for!

When the smell of a dirty diaper meets you at the end of a long day and you instinctively know it is going to be a longer night,

Remember what you prayed for!

When that cute little baby looks up at you with that cute little baby grin, that only God could have made,

Remember what you prayed for!

Genesis 25:22 (New International Version, ©2011)

22 The babies jostled each other within her, and she said, “Why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.

Folks have you ever seen brothers that were always arguing.

These brothers were arguing with each other in the womb they couldn’t even wait to be born.

This troubled Rebekah and she did what all good mom’s should do she went to the Lord in prayer and asked him what was going on with these two babies inside her.

In the next verse we read what the Lord told her and I wonder if she actually understood it or if she is like a lot of us today and just said, yes Lord, “whatever”.

Genesis 25:23 (New International Version, ©2011)

23 The LORD said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you will be separated;

one people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger.”

Now the two nations are fairly easy to decipher especially since we jumped ahead to the book of Obadiah.

The two nations are Israel and Edom. However, the two peoples that is a little harder and you may ask yourself why.

What could be so different between brothers with the same mother and father?

They were twins how different could they be?

Well not all twins are identical as we see in the following verses.

Let’s start with the oldest one first verse 25 says: