Our text this evening comes from the small Old Testament prophetical book of Obadiah. It's on page 895 in the Pew Bibles. It's right after Amos and right before Jonah. Obadiah was written most likely shortly after 586. That's when the southern kingdom Judah fell. just after 586, when Judah was taken into exile by Babylon. As we read this entire book, Obadiah, please remember that this is the Word of our God. The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom. We have heard a message from the Lord. An envoy was sent to the nations to say, Rise, and let us go against her for battle. See, I will make you small among the nations. You will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night, oh, what a disaster awaits you. Would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged. All your allies will force you to the border. Your friends will deceive you and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, but you will not detect it. In that day, declares the Lord, will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, Men of understanding in the mountains of Esau, your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified and everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. You will be destroyed forever. 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. 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. 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. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. Just as you drank on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and drink and be as if they had never been. But on Mount Zion will be deliverance. It will be holy and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance. The house of Jacob will be afire and the house of Joseph aflame. The house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau. The Lord has spoken. People from the Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau, and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan will possess the land as far as Zarephath. The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the towns of the Negev. Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord's. Thus far the reading of God's Word. A little girl and her family cower in the corner of their bombed-out house. The German troops were outside. The half tracks were clanking. The tanks were making noise. And mortars were falling all around. This scared little girl said to her father, How long are we going to be bombed, Daddy? How long are they going to take our families away and break our houses down? The daddy tells the little girl, Just wait. Not too long. Just wait. The day will come where the wicked will be punished and we will be set free from this captivity. That's sort of the situation in 586, shortly after 586, the exile here in Obadiah. Judah, the southern kingdom, has just been taken captive by Babylon. And Edom helped Babylon take Israel captive. So now Israel is in waiting mode. They've just been ransacked. They've just been taken over by wicked captors. And now, with the enemies at their doors and them being carted off to exile, they've entered the mode of waiting. Of waiting. And that's what Obadiah tells Israel of that day and us too. Wait. Wait, dear people of God. Obadiah says, wait, for God's justice will soon prevail. Simply put, Obadiah, the whole book says, God's justice will soon prevail. So wait. Wait, dear church. Have patience. But how is God's justice going to prevail? The wrongs seem oft so strong, don't they? This world with devils filled threatens to undo us daily. Heresy attacks the church from all directions. The world hates the church. How is God's justice going to prevail? It seems as if there is no God at all sometimes when His people are trampled, like by the Babylonians shortly after 586. But we're going to see that God's justice will prevail despite Edom's wickedness. We're going to see that God's justice will soon prevail through Edom's punishment. and we're also going to see that God's justice will prevail for the good of his people resulting in abundant hope for exiles so God's justice will prevail let's look then at Edom's wickedness God's justice will soon prevail despite Edom's wickedness verses 3-4 and 10-14 talk about how wicked Edom helped Babylon Hummel, Israel, just after 586. And if you know a bit about Edom, you remember in Genesis 25 when the twins were in Rebekah's womb, when they were fighting in the womb, Jacob and Esau were fighting in Rebekah's womb. We remember the prophecy that the older, that is Esau, shall serve the younger. The older shall serve the younger, which we'll see is going to happen. But actually, we can trace this battle between Edom and Israel back all the way to Genesis 3.15, can't we? Where God said there's going to be enmity. And this is that enmity showing up again between Edom and Israel. Between brothers, as it were. And also, if you remember in Numbers 20, when Israel was coming from Egypt, going up to the promised land of Canaan, they were going to pass through Edom. So they asked Edom's king, can we pass through your land? Well, what did Edom say? He said, no. Israel asked again, can we pass through your land? Edom said, no. And they brought out their whole army. So Edom was being wicked to Israel, even after Genesis 25 there in Numbers 20. And also, during the kingdom years when the kings ruled in Israel, first of all, under Saul and David, The Israelites had Edom pretty much at bay. They kept Edom away from them. They were stronger than Edom. But when Israel started falling apart, when the king started getting sinful and turning away from God, Edom became stronger. And at times, most of the time, Edom was a thorn in the flesh of Israel. And that brings us up to Obadiah and all the prophets. That brings us up to Obadiah where we see Edom once again fighting against her brother Israel. Esau, or Edom, is still fighting against Jacob, against Israel. We see in verse 3 that Edom was proud. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights. You who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? And Edom, their geography was rocky. If you look in Edom, which is south and east of Israel on a map, Edom was rocky, which would provide for great military encampments, great military protection. And Edom was proud because they had such great military protection. They had great cliffs that would provide good defensive positions. They had such good cliffs and good terrain. And they thought a good army that they said, who will bring us down from our heights? Edom was proud. They said, we're soaring on high like an eagle. You see that bird in the air? We're soaring like that. No one can touch us. You can't throw a net high enough to get us down. Edom was proud. Who can bring us down from our heights, Edom said. And in verses 10-14, we note clearly that Edom did not help Israel when she went into exile. When Babylon was taking Israel into exile, Edom didn't help. You see, verse 10, because of the violence against your brother Jacob, Your brother Jacob. Why were you violent to your brother Jacob? You shouldn't have helped Babylon. You should have helped Israel. Because naturally speaking, she is your brother. You should have helped her. And on that day, in verse 11, on that day is the day of exile, roughly the year 586. And in Psalm 137, verse 7, The day of Jerusalem there is spoken of. It's the same thing. It's the day of Edom's sin. It's the day of Israel's captivity. It's the day of Babylon's triumph. And on that day, Edom stood aloof. Edom stood by while strangers carried off Israel. Edom stood by while foreigners entered Israel's gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. Edom should have helped Israel. But she stood by and let Israel be taken into captivity. O Edom, you shouldn't have looked down on your brother. O Edom, why did you just stand there and let Israel be killed and pummeled and taken into captivity? Why, Edom? Genesis 3.15 is coming up again, isn't it? Esau is still fighting Jacob, though they're not in the womb anymore. Esau, Edom is still fighting Jacob. And this comes through in the Psalms several places too. Psalm 83 records Edom saying, Let us wipe Israel out and let's take her pastures for ourselves. When Babylon was carrying Israel away, Edom looked in and saw empty pastures and they said, Let's take those for ourselves. Let's take those pastures, Psalm 83 says. And in Psalm 137, as I mentioned earlier, Edom mocks Israel. Tear it down, Edom says. Tear it down. Tear Israel down to its foundations. When Babylon's going in there with her mighty armies, taking Israel captive, Edom's on the sidelines cheering and clapping, Tear it down. This is great. They said, Tear it down. Edom stands by and laughs when Israel's being beaten and taken into captivity. But this goes further than the Old Testament, doesn't it? This goes further than the Old Testament. We see at Jesus' birth, when all the infants were killed, the Spirit of Edom is still prevailing there, or trying to prevail. We see in Matthew 27 when the soldiers, or when the crowds say, Crucify Him! Crucify Him! The Spirit of Edom is still fighting for brother Israel. Crucify Jesus! Genesis 3.15 is still being played out. And in Acts 5, we read of people arresting the apostles and putting them in prison. And all of church history is full of the martyrs of the believers in Christ. The wicked spirit of Edom is found throughout history. Even today, isn't it? You don't have to look far to see people who hate the church. You only have to look to Hollywood to see those who hate Christianity. You only have to look to the government to see those who want to squelch Christianity and silence her. And the list goes on and on. You don't have to look far to see those who want to squelch the church and put the cross of Christ away and kill His people. In verses 13 through 14, there's a list that is almost like commandments. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster. You should not look down on them in their calamity. You should not seize their wealth. You should not wait at the crossroads. You should not hand over their survivors. Obadiah writes a list of things that Edom did. Edom didn't just stand by. Edom didn't just stand by cheering Babylon on. But they actually did the wickedness themselves. They marched through the gates of God's people Israel. They took some of their wealth. They even waited at the crossroads. We're not exactly sure here what Obadiah means, but waiting at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, it probably means that some people in Israel tried to escape. Edom was there with a sword killing them, helping them cut down or cut off, literally, their fugitives. So Edom shed the blood of Israel. She did much more than stand around and laugh. Edom took up the sword and killed brother Israel. And everyone knows that we shouldn't laugh and stand by when someone is wrongfully being hurt and beaten up, right? Even kids know this. This is a law written on people's hearts, as Paul tells us in Romans 2. You see, Obadiah is not necessarily going back to the Mosaic Covenant, to the Ten Commandments, or to any other Mosaic law, though they overlap clearly. Obadiah is saying, look, there's a natural principle here. You should know better than to kill your own brother and laugh when he's being beaten up. We know this by nature. This is the law of God written on our hearts. Even some ancient Near East documents say that when fugitives are running away, they should be treated with respect. So even the secular nations around knew better than this. But Edom, O Edom, because you transgress this law of God, you will be punished. God's justice will prevail even though you are wicked. For all these things, for all this wickedness, O Edom, you will be punished on the basis of laws that you should have known just by being a person, by being a human. God's justice will prevail, Edom. Obadiah is saying this. The covenant messenger is saying to the non-covenant people, God's justice will prevail. Wickedness, your wickedness, Edom, will be punished. Just wait and see. Indeed, God's justice will prevail through Edom's punishment as well. Even though Edom is wicked, killing Israel, God's justice will prevail. And God's justice prevails when we see the punishment of Edom. Yahweh, the Lord God, has now declared war on Edom. For all of Edom's sins, for all of Edom's wickedness to Israel, God has declared war. For the day of the Lord, verse 15 says, the day of the Lord is near. I will bring Edom down low. She thinks she's a soaring eagle on high. I will bring her down. She says, who will bring me down? The Lord answers, I will. I will bring you down from your heights, O Edom. Pride goes before destruction. Just like in the Tower of Babel. When their pride made them want to build a tower up high. Who brought them down but God? Just like in Matthew 23 when Jesus tells the crowd, all who exalt themselves will be humbled. Just like the proud and arrogant beast in Revelation. Who brings that beast down? But God. God will humble those who are proud. We also see a principle of an eye for an eye in verse 15. As you have done, Edom, as you have done, it will be done to you. As you have done, so it will be done to you. And this is justice. This is justice. You did this, even though you knew you shouldn't have. Well, divine justice prevails, Edom. Divine justice will prevail. And Edom, since you have turned your back to Israel, God's justice will prevail. In verse 13, there's a word play. You see several times it says disaster, disaster, disaster. Well, that word in the Hebrew sounds like Edom. It's almost as if Obadiah is saying, in the day of their Edom, in the day of their Edom, in the day of their Edom. There's a wordplay going on here saying, Edom, look, disaster is coming your way. Disaster is coming to you. You are Edom, you are disaster. You tried to cut Israel off, now Yahweh is going to cut you off. There's a great reversal. You were drunk with Israel's defeat. You drank on Mount Zion and you were drunk with arrogance and pride. But there's a great reversal. You're going to drink the cup of God's wrath soon enough. You turned on your ally Israel. You turned on your brother Israel. Well, verse 7 says that your brothers, your allies will turn on you. There's a great reversal. Divine justice prevails. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This is the justice of God. And God's justice will prevail. the older shall serve the younger as was prophesied so long ago in Genesis 25 and Edom the prophecies against Edom can be found in most of the prophets the prophetical books but in Isaiah 63 there's one that's quite notable there's a dialogue going on here between members of the Trinity God says who is this that comes from Edom crimsoned with blood and mighty. It is the Lord, the answer is. It is the Lord, Jesus. Well, why are your garments red like the one who treads the wide and press? Because I have trampled the wicked in my wrath and their blood has stained my garments. Indeed, it's a messy picture. It's an ugly picture. It's a scary picture. But Isaiah 63, just like Obadiah, tells us that God's justice will prevail, that Jesus will come on a white horse. and divine justice will prevail. We see that even in Romans 9. Jacob have I loved, but Esau I have hated. The Lord is just. Make no mistake, the wicked will be punished for their sins, because God is just. In Psalm 137, what we sang, if you look in the English text, as I said, it talks about Edom. The psalmist talks about Edom. And there's that troubling phrase in Psalm 137, verse 9 specifically, that says, Blessed is he who takes your infants and dashes their heads against a rock. The church has dealt with that text differently over the ages. But if we take that in context with divine justice here and what Edom did to Israel, What we're seeing is an imaginative, a metaphorical way to show that God's justice will prevail. You see, Obadiah and the psalmist there can't even really convey the justice of God in human terms. They're doing their best. They're doing sufficiently. But they're taking human pictures and showing us what divine justice is about. You think that's bad. It is bad when the psalmist uses imagery about crushing a head, a child's head. But God's justice prevails. And you're going to wish that was the worst that would happen. It's going to be so much worse. Obadiah and the psalmist shock believers and unbelievers with this language. They want us to know that God's justice will prevail. They want us to know that wickedness will be punished. And it's ugly. It's not something that makes us smile. But we must know that justice of God will prevail. Even in shocking language, we're reminded that God's justice will prevail. And it gets worse. There will be no survivor in Edom, as verse 18 of Obadiah says. Fire will consume Edom. All this imagery shows us that Edom will be punished. You know what happened at Babel. We remember what happened at Babel. They were spread out. God cursed them. Their languages were confused. We also remember what happened in Revelation. The beast was cast into the sea of fire. We know what happens to the proud. God's justice prevails. And today, too, wicked people think that they're on the throne. So many people think there is no God. Justice? Ha! Justice. I'll say what's just. I'll let my government say what's just. I'll let my friends say what's just, but God, no way. There's no justice. Not when there's wars all over. Not when the so-called innocent people die. Well, friends, believers, Christians, remember what Obadiah says. Though the wrong do seem oft so strong, God's justice prevails. Remember what Obadiah says. A day is coming, a great reversal. when those enemies of the church who are proud will end up in the dust, when those enemies of the church who try to tear the church in two with heresy and with other devices, remember there's a time when God will judge the wicked. Indeed, Edom as a nation would be punished in time. They would be dispersed. But the ultimate fulfillment of this text is the day of the Lord, that is, Jesus' return. judgment day it seems now as if the church might go under maybe but dear Christian take heart God's justice will prevail and he will win the day and wickedness will be punished and isn't that good hope isn't that good hope for us isn't that hope that makes us happy that makes us wait with more expectation you see the justice of God not only is shown despite Edom's wickedness You see, the justice of God is not only shown through Edom's wickedness, but that justice of God results in abundant hope for the exiles. You see, God's justice is good news too. Good news for His people. This justice of God, prevailing justice of God, means hope for the sorrowful exiles. For Israel then, as they were being taken to Babylon. But for us too, as we're in exile, far from the promised land of heaven, For our enemies will soon be destroyed. Be patient, Israel. Be patient, church. For God's justice will prevail. And wait, wait. God is just in delivering His exiled people. But we know from elsewhere in Scripture that salvation, however, demands that God's justice must be paid. Your sin must be dealt with. If God is just, your sin must be dealt with. My sin must be dealt with. God's not going to sweep that under the rug. So why is this good news for us then? Well, it's good news because there's one named Jesus. The true servant of Yahweh. Obadiah, the name Obadiah means servant of Yahweh, or servant of God. But Jesus Christ is the true servant of God. He is the one who faced the day of the Lord in our place. He is the one who faced God's wrath. God's wrath for sin. God's justice in the place of all who believe. He is the one who drank the cup of wrath. Remember the drinking illusion in Obadiah? Well, Jesus is the one who drank God's cup of wrath. Father, let this cup pass from me, Jesus said on that dark Friday. Jesus was exiled from God's presence for a time. Jesus was far from God, as it were. And Jesus also faced the reproach of Edom, the reproach of Edom's spirit on the cross. Let us split up His clothes. Let us mock Him. Let us beat Him. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. On the cross, our Savior faced God's justice, God's wrath for sin. And He also faced the taunts of Edom, as it were, still alive, those who hate Jesus. And Jesus was cut off from the land. Israel was cut off from their land, so was Christ. Put simply, Jesus Christ bore the curses of the covenant of works to free us from them. The wrath of God was absorbed by Jesus so that those who believe in Him no longer face that wrath. And God is still just. God is the just and the justifier of the one who believes, as Paul says. God's justice was on display when He punishes Edom. And God's justice was on display on the cross when Jesus was punished for our sins. Man has sinned. Man must pay for his sin. And Jesus paid. By the power of His divinity, the Catechism says, He bore the weight of God's anger in His humanity and earned for us and restored to us righteousness and life. And that's the Gospel. Those who are wicked by believing can be accounted righteous. That's a great reversal too, isn't it? A great reversal. For when you believe in Jesus Christ, these curses that Edom is facing will not fall on you. Even if your faith is weak, even if you doubt your salvation, if you are Christ's, you will never face these curses. You will never face this wrath of God. For the justice of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, shown on the cross, is for your salvation. And that's good news. That's hope for the exiles, isn't it? And Obadiah uses some imaginative language to portray this. To portray the result of the gospel. The result of Jesus' work as we know it today. Notice the Occupy language in verses 18 through the end. The house of Jacob will be of fire and so forth. There will be no survivors we mentioned. But in verse 19 and following, People from Negev will occupy the mountains of Esau and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines and so on and so forth. You see what Obadiah is doing here is he's showing us a picture of what Israel is going to look like after God brings them back. After God kills off Edom, this is what Israel is going to look like. And Obadiah shows us a map, as it were, of Israel, of Palestine. Only it's much bigger than it was in that day. You notice that people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines? Well, throughout the Israelite years, the Philistines were a thorn in Israel's flesh. Now the Philistines are going to be wiped out too. You're going to occupy their land. And the same goes for the north and the east and the south. The borders of Israel are stretched. And when the people of Israel would hear this in that day, they would say, No way! There is no way, Obadiah. How can this be? What are you talking about? We're going to go back in there and the Philistines are going to be gone? We're going to go back in there and sit on the mountains of Esau? Deliverers are going to go up and govern the mountains of Esau? There's no way. Think about this. Israel, their families were just broken apart. Their houses were destroyed. They were being carried off probably in stocks and bonds to Babylon. And Obadiah is prophesying this against Edom and to Israel. Don't worry. you're going to go back and your land's going to be a lot bigger as the people of Israel were bonded. It's like, no way. This can't be. You see, when Obadiah is doing this, he's stretching Israel's imagination. He's using this language of excess, of more than what's real, to give them hope. He's using amazing earthly pictures to give us heavenly realities. And we know that Israel was never brought back to what Obadiah said here. We know that Israel never again, since Obadiah's time, actually sat and governed in the mountains of Esau or possessed totally the land of the Philistines and so forth. But Obadiah is not lying, is he? Because these verses point us to heaven. They point us to heaven. You see, the language for them in that day is like the language of Revelation for us. The language of Obadiah and these sections of all the prophets in their day is like the language of Revelation for us now. We know in John, we know this language, the city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for God's glory gives it light. We know Revelation is talking about heaven. We know that no longer will there be any curse, Because Jesus bore the curse and in heaven there is no curse. We know that from Revelation that there will be no more night, no more darkness. Just read the last couple chapters of Revelation. And that comforting language for you is just like the comforting language here in the end of Obadiah. Using earthly, imaginative pictures to point us forward to heaven. To awaken our Christian imaginations and give us hope. Hope, even when we're being taken off to Babylon. Even when the enemies are laughing at us. Even when people are yelling, still today at our Savior, crucify Him! Ha! What a joke! Remember the language of Obadiah. Indeed, deliverers will go up on Mount Zion and govern the mountains of Esau. And this Zion is the place of God's saving and loving presence. This Zion is nothing less than heaven itself. A place where there is no more Edom. A place where there is no more wicked spirit hating the church. For those who hate the church are being punished forever. In the last few words of Obadiah, the kingdom will be the Lord's. The kingdom will be the Lord's. The kingdom will be the Lord's. Repeat that to yourself when enemies assail you. Repeat that to yourself when people laugh at Christ, at you. The kingdom will be the Lord's. The kingdom will be the Lord's. Just like in Revelation 11, after the seventh trumpet, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign, how long? Forever and ever. So dear Christian, today, the exiled church is cowering beneath the bombs falling. The bombs of those who hate us. The bombs of heresy. The bombs of those who would like to say that Jesus' death is not enough or anything else contrary to our doctrine. The mortar shells are raging outside, aren't they? And it's a spiritual battle. It's a spiritual battle being fought. And we cry in the midst of this battle, How long, O Lord? How long are your enemies going to hate us? How long are we going to hide out, as it were? How long are we going to be on the defensive? How long are our hearts going to be broken by people leaving the church? You could make the list go on and on. But the answer to that how long is in the last couple words of Obadiah. The kingdom will be the Lord's. The kingdom will be the Lord's. Dear church, the kingdom will be the Lord's. Dear elders, remember this when you're fighting. Heresy. The kingdom will be the Lord's. The kingdom will be the Lord's. O Lord, Thy kingdom come. Amen. Let us pray. Blessed God. Blessed Father. We thank You, O Lord, that despite wickedness and sin and rebellion, Your justice will prevail. It's so easy to doubt this, O Lord, it's so easy to cry how long but we pray oh Lord that this message of Obadiah would be burned upon our hearts to give us hope in the midst of this war this spiritual war continue to point us to heaven through Jesus' work we pray by your spirit's power we thank you for the resurrection of Christ we thank you that the kingdom will be his and yours forever in his name we pray Amen