I invite you to turn in your Bibles this evening to the Old Testament, to the prophecy of Obadiah. Obadiah, a minor prophet, not because his ministry is less significant, but because its record is much shorter than that of a major prophet like Daniel. So Obadiah, in fact it's the shortest book in the Old Testament, you'll find it after Daniel, and slipped in between Amos and Jonah. Page 980 in the Pew Bible, if you have trouble finding it. Obadiah. In this book, we find a single vision of Obadiah, a vision concerning Edom, that is, the descendants of Esau. And it's concerning them who has just taken up a battle against Judah and has shamed them and defeated them. And this vision is given to Judah, those who suffered defeat. From the very first verse, Judah is told, and we are told that it is the Lord who speaks, thus says the Lord, through his prophet Obadiah, whose name means servant of the Lord, to his people and to the nations. His vision portrays in living color the promise that is at the same time terrible and wonderful. Here comes the judge who will make everything right. In Romans 15, verse 4, Paul assures us that whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. And so we approach this Old Testament prophecy with the trust that this vision written to Judah years ago for the comfort of Judah is given for our comfort as well. There's comfort for us as God's people. Because the world and the devil hate God. They hate his Christ and they hate his church. And they are always in opposition to them all. And God's people have always been and will continue to be attacked and mocked by these enemies, God's enemies. Now the attacks may not come in the same way as they came in the day of Judah. At least not for us here today, although around the world there are attacks of this nature. against the church. But they still come. In our land, mockery, on the other hand, is especially present. Openly mocking the church, broadcast everywhere. And we, even though we are God's people, saints, saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, we're still entangled with sin, and we often find ourselves unable and unwilling to resist these attacks and to stand up under this mockery let alone prevail against it. So like Judah of old, we can feel powerless and we ask with the psalmist, O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? I don't know about you, and I don't know if it's just the media is so present, but that question weighs on me more and more as time goes on. How long? How long will the wicked exult? and the longing for Christ's return grows stronger and stronger at the same time, and I thank God for that. But this vision of Obadiah shows us the promise. Here comes the judge. He's coming to make everything right. And by way of this witness to the Lord's judgment, we are given a type, a picture, a shadow, a portrait of that which we confessed in the Belgic Confession tonight, and that's the return of Christ in judgment to judge the living and the dead. It's intended to help us reflect on that greater reality, a reality that our minds cannot comprehend, that we can't begin to appreciate. But this gives us a picture. And from this vision, we will learn two things about the coming of the Lord in judgment. First, that He comes with wrath against His enemies. And that He comes with salvation for His people. Hear now the word of God, the vision of Obadiah. Say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night, how, let me rephrase that. If thieves came to you, if plunderers came by night, oh, how you've been destroyed. Would they not steal only enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers came to you, would they not leave gleanings? How Esau has been pillaged, his treasures sought out. All your allies have driven you to your border. Those at peace with you have deceived you. They have prevailed against you. Those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you. You have no understanding. Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of Mount Esau? and your mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter. Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever. On the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you are like one of them. But do not gloat over the day of your brother in the day of his misfortune. Do not rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their ruin. Do not boast in the day of distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Do not gloat over his disaster in the day of his calamity. Do not loot his wealth in the day of his calamity. Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives and do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually. They shall drink and swallow and shall be as though they have never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape and it shall be holy. And the house of Jacob shall possess their own possession. The house of Jacob shall be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau stubble. They shall burn them and consume them and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau for the Lord has spoken. Those of the Negev shall possess Mount Esau and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistine. They shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The exiles of this host of the people Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Seppharad who shall possess the cities of the Negev. Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Here ends the reading of God's word. Well, the first thing we learn as we consider this vision of Obadiah is this. When the Lord comes in judgment, he will bring wrath against his enemies. That is the major tone of this vision. This vision is concerning Edom, that's the nation established of the house of Esau and his descendants. And it's on them that the Lord will bring wrath because of their sin, causing their destruction. Now children, you know who Esau is. You've heard the story of Esau. And you know who his brother is? Jacob. You know they were sons of Isaac, the grandsons of Abraham. And you also know that Jacob and Esau began fighting before they were ever born so that God revealed to their mother, two nations are in your womb and two peoples from within. You shall be divided. And Esau despised his birthright. He was the firstborn. He had all the blessings of the firstborn but some responsibilities as well and he didn't want that and he forsook his birthright for a bowl of stew. and Jacob became the one to inherit. So Jacob received the promised land, and Esau received mountains to the south, the land of Edom. And from the time of Saul through David, Edom was under the heel of Judah, of Jacob. They were the servant of the younger. But in time, when the kingdom was divided and sin started to rot the house of Judah. Edom found opportunity. And we read in 2 Chronicles chapter 21, and I would invite you to read that at a later time. It's a long narrative. But there we read how Edom revolted against Judah and set up their own king. They threw Judah off. 2 Chronicles tells us that that victory came from the Lord as part of his discipline against Judah because Judah had given way to the sins of Israel and were worshiping Baal instead of the Lord. And they built a temple for Baal in Jerusalem. And the Lord brought punishment upon them. Part of that punishment included Edom rising up. And he also stirred up the anger of Philistines and of the Arabians. And they came up against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions they found that belonged to the king's house and also his sons and his wives so that no one was left to him except his youngest son. I believe that's the incident that Obadiah has in view and to which this vision was given in a response from the Lord. And the Lord ordained that defeat of Judah for what Edom was responsible. Sovereignly ordained, human responsibility, it's a mystery, but it's true. And so Edom would have to pay for their sin against Judah. And so this vision opens with this announcement. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a report from the Lord and a messenger has been sent out to the nations. Rise up, let us rise up against her for battle. We might say today the Lord said, Game on, Edom. And in what follows, the Lord pinpoints the sins of Edom against which he will bring his wrath. Two major sins. First, the sin of pride against God in verses 3 through 9. And secondly, the sin of violence done to his brother Jacob in verses 10 to 14. Edom's pride is evident in their sense of self-sufficiency. And is that not the nature of pride in all of us? Edom rejected the God of his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham. And the Lord pointed out in verse 3 that the pride of your hearts has deceived you. And of course we know what that means, don't we children? That pride goes before destruction. And a haughty heart, a proud heart before a fall. And in verses 8 and 9 we see that Timon, that's a prominent city in Edom, trusted in themselves. They trusted in their wisdom, in their wise men. They trusted in their military might, in their mighty men. And the Lord said, you've been deceived. They were so deceived that they believed that their defenses were invincible. These high mountainous rocks, these deep crags that no one could take Edom. And so we read in verse 3, 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? Invincible. And they believe their wealth inaccessible. Verse 6. Verse 6 mentions his treasures, and the meaning there, his hidden treasures. Those treasures he stuffed away, locked up, hidden from view that no one could find. His 401k. And they believe their allies to be reliable. Verse 7, those who have peace with you, those who eat your bread. Speaking of those in alliance with Edom, they thought them reliable. But Edom had not only sinned against God in their pride, verse 10 charges them with violence done to their brother Jacob. They sinned against God and they sinned against man, in particular their brother. Verses 11 through 14 make it clear that on the day strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, divided the spoils, Judah suffered misfortune and distress. And his brother Edom, his brother Esau, didn't come to help. Instead, he piled on. And he turned that day of distress and misfortune into a day of calamity and a day of ruin for Judah. And in those verses, we find that Edom broke every law for how not to treat a brother. We all know it's wrong to do violence to our neighbor. How much worse to our brother. And most of all, when he needs our help, when he's down, everyone knows you don't kick a man when he's down. Well, at first, Edom stood aloof up on Mount Esau. He liked what he saw. Good for them. But then he, his smugness, his gloating, gave way to celebration. He rejoiced over Judah's distress. And finally, he openly boasted about it. He made it known to the nations. He opened his mouth wide, it says, and he told everyone how glad I am that Judah's been undone. If he'd been in our day, he would have posted it on Facebook for the world to see. But Edom could not help himself. He couldn't stay up on Mount Esau. He had to come down and be like one of the attackers. He had to join in the fun. And so they entered the gate of God's people, verse 13, and they looted as well. And they joined in a drunken party on Mount Zion, the holy mountain of the thrice holy God. They drank on his mountain, God says. They reveled on his mountain. They came into his sanctuary and they had, not a party, a rave in God's house. And others among them went to the perimeter. They went to the outside of the city and they waited for people to run to get away and they cut them down at the crossroads. And those that didn't die, they handed over to the Philistines and to the Arabians. Edom had done violence to his brother. And for all this, the Lord would bring wrath against Edom. And verse 15 tells us that when he brings it, he would bring it with perfect justice, with strict justice, With eye for eye, tooth for tooth, justice. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. You'll have no one to blame but yourself. For their pride the Lord would humble Edom. Verse 2, he says, Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You shall be utterly despised. You will be humbled. All that you trust in will be stripped away. Their strongholds will be conquered. Verse 4. Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars from there, I will bring you down, says the Lord. And their wealth will be plundered. That hidden wealth that's been tucked away. In verses 5 and 6, he makes an interesting point. He says, If thieves came to you, if plunders came at night, would they not steal only enough for themselves? And if grape-gatherers came to you, Will they not leave gleanings? In other words, thieves and gatherers will leave something behind. But when the Lord comes, He's going to leave nothing behind. He's going to plunder you of all your wealth. Their wisdom will be removed. Verse 8. Will I not destroy the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of Mount Esau? He would undermine their intellectual property. And their military will be crushed. Verse 9. Your mighty men shall be destroyed, O Teman, so that every man from Mount Esau will be cut off by slaughter. They would be taught to put no trust in princes and mortal men who cannot save. All that they trusted would be taken. And for their violence against Judah, Edom would suffer violence. As they betrayed Judah, so Edom's allies would betray them. Their foreign embassies would be closed and their ambassadors would be sent home. That's what verse 7 is telling us. It says, all your allies have driven you out to your border. Those at peace with you have deceived you. They have prevailed against you. They're going to disown you and go home. And Edom will discover that their allies have been using them. Nations who gladly took what Edom gave will not return the favor in their time of need. Verse 7, those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath. you. You have no understanding. You don't realize you've been used. You've been abused. But I'll make it known. They'll leave you high and dry. Indeed, verse 10 says, shame shall cover you and you shall be cut off forever. Words can't capture the devastation that God would bring on Edom. Obadiah has done his best to paint pictures for us and I've done my best to speak them to you, but words cannot express that kind of devastation. It's a terrible picture of what God's wrath will do to his enemies. It's an intended to be so. It's intended to get our attention for Edom deserved everything that God gave them. All the wrath that God poured out on Edom they deserved for their sin and their utter destruction was their due. And the reality behind this picture this picture that points us to the final judgment will be far worse than this the word of God would press that on us tonight that the judgment to come is not a mere fact to be remembered not a mere piece of information to file away it's a reality that will make people run for cover under the mountains and in the sea we can't imagine Obadiah offers a glimpse of this terrible reality in verses 15 and 16 where the Lord points to the height of Edom's arrogance and warns as you have drunk on my holy mountain so all the nations shall drink continually they shall drink and swallow they shall have to take it down they will take it to the bottom they will drink all that I give them and shall be as though they have never been. The focus of this vision is on Edom. But in those verses, the prophet through whom God is speaking opens a window for us to see that there's more at stake here. It's not just this nation and this place at that time. All the nations will drink what Edom will drink. Because here we see Edom placed before us as a representative. The Lord will repay Edom for what he's done, but with him all the nations, because all men have done likewise. As children of Adam, all have sinned and earned its wages. By nature, we think and live like we are on the throne. And with Edom, we stand on the heights and we cry, who will bring me down? We trust ourselves. We trust our wealth, our ability, our wisdom, our friends. Rather than trusting God. And we do violence to our neighbors. Even our own loved ones. Brother, sister, father, mother, child. In the end, when the Lord comes in judgment, all will be stripped away. Our foolishness will be exposed. and it will be too late to run for cover. As the author of Hebrews says, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Indeed it is. Sinners will drink to the full the cup of God's wrath. Not a drop will be spilled. This vision of Obadiah has revealed that vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. All men, even we, need to know this. Here comes the judge. But we can praise God tonight that that's not all that Obadiah would have us see. As we look further, this vision assures everyone who has counted among God's people, those who have been set apart in Jesus Christ through faith, All those who in that time were trusting in the Messiah to come, in our time all who are trusting in the Messiah who has come, God has other plans for his people. Jeremiah chapter 29 tells us that those plans are for our good and not for evil. They are plans to give us a future and a hope. If it were not for such promises of God to his people, there would be no hope for any of us. And so we turn again our attention to the vision of Obadiah, and the second thing we must learn is this, is that when the Lord comes in judgment, He brings salvation for His people. He brings rescue. In this vision, the Lord brings salvation to Judah because of His promises and causes their restoration and their expansion. But as we approach this good news, we must ask the most pressing question, why will the Lord save Judah? Why will he save this people whose king has erected a temple to Baal and whose people are worshiping there? Why will he save these people? They're just as sinful as Edom. Well, we can be sure that it's not because of anything in them. Just like it's not anything in us. He would, however, save them and bring salvation to Judah because of promises He had made. Our God is a promise making God. Our God is a promise keeping God. From the very beginning, Genesis 3.15, He promised to provide a Savior. He promised to send a Messiah to rescue His people. And He would send Him through the seat of the woman. In Genesis chapter 17, the Lord promised to provide this Savior through the seed of Abraham. There we read, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, Abraham, throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And this promise was continued down through Isaac to Jacob, to Judah, to the seed of David. 2 Samuel chapter 7, the Lord promised David, your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. It's because of these promises, from the beginning, through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, David, that God would bring salvation for His people. He would bring to fulfillment all the promises in the Messiah yet to come for Judah who's come for us already. Paul explains in Galatians chapter 3, he says, Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is Christ. All these promises are pointing to and realized in Jesus Christ. The Messiah. And for the sake of his promises, the Lord would deliver Judah. He would save Judah. Like the judges of old, he would raise up saviors. Obadiah says he'd raise up saviors to lead his people to victory. And restore the earthly kingdom. Verse 21 says, Savior shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau. The tables will be turned. God will have his man on the throne and Esau will be put down. Verse 18 tells us that from the south the house of Jacob shall be a fire and from the north the house of Joseph a flame. Together they will burn them and consume them and there will be no survivor for the house of Esau. They will be undone. And Jacob will repossess the land. Verses 17 and 19. 17 and 19. The house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. They'll get back what was taken. It'll be restored. And the borders of Israel will be restored to the south, to the Negev, to the west, to the land of the Philistines, to the north, to the land of Ephraim and Samaria, and to the east, to Gilead. We see, if you look at a map of Israel in your mind's eye, pushing out all the borders. Indeed, the kingdom, the house of Jacob, will be the Lord's. Verse 21. And the land will be at rest, he says. The Lord will gather His people to Himself. He'll gather them to His holy mountain. And there they shall be those who escape, he says. They will be holy. It shall be holy. A sanctuary. A safe haven. A place of rest. It's a picture of complete restoration. It's a picture of complete peace with God. And freedom from enemies. And toils. And snare. That's the picture that we're shown here. And what a wonderful picture it is of God's salvation for His people. Sinners that we are. Judah deserved nothing of this salvation. But received it as a free gift from God because of God's promises. And all of God's promises, the Scriptures say, in one way or another, are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are yes and amen in Christ. Sinless by nature, he's the true Obadiah, the true servant of the Lord, who came in the flesh and was faithful and obedient to all that God demands of his people. Though in every respect he was tempted like you and I are tempted, he is without sin. And in that life of perfection, instead of earning God's wrath, he earned eternal life in the flesh. And though he did not deserve it, he took to himself the wrath of God that our sins deserve. And both of these things he did, this servant of the Lord, not for himself, but for all who will trust him for it, all whom the Father will give him, all for whom he had been promised to come. Jesus Christ is the Savior sent from God, who has completed the work of a servant on this earth, and he ascended God's holy mountain. He's entered into the Mount Zion of heaven, and he sits on his throne, and he rules over all, over Esau for sure, but over sin and death and hell. And from Mount Zion he has established, and he is expanding his kingdom to every corner of this world, every tribe and language and people and nation, to the north and the south and the east and the west. And he will continue to expand his kingdom until the day he come to judge the living and the dead. And you can know that these promises of God are for you. When you are no longer trusting in yourself to survive that day, but you are trusting in Christ Jesus alone to rescue you, And I close with this promise from Galatians chapter 3, beginning in verse 26. Hear and believe, people of God. In Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. the salvation he brings will be for you. And with all of God's elect, you will stand and watch his judgment on his enemies. The people of God, the prophet Obadiah reminds us, here comes the judge. He brings wrath for his enemies. He brings salvation for his people. And because of that great hope that he set before us, God's people, cry out with the Apostle John, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Let's pray. Almighty God, our Heavenly Father, we are thankful for this word that you have given to us tonight from the prophecy given to Obadiah, a man we know so little about, we know nothing about him, other than he was used of you as your servant to bring this word to your people. A word of warning against your enemies and a word of hope for those who trust in the one you have sent, Jesus Christ. I pray, Father, that those who have heard this warning and who have not yet trusted in Christ will be cut to the quick and realize that the last judgment is not a fairy tale. It's not a bad idea. It's not anything that can be avoided. It will come. And with Edom, the wrath of God will be drunk to the dregs by every man, woman, and child who denies Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. By your Spirit, Lord, I pray you work repentance and faith. And for all here tonight, Lord, who are trusting in Christ, I pray that we have had our perspective reset as we face the struggles of this life and the difficulties that come and the attacks on the church and the mockery that we might encounter. And when we're tempted to cry out, how long, O Lord, we know that the time will come. The time will come when you will come to set all things right and you will deliver your people and you will seat us with you on Mount Zion and it will be holy, never to be violated again. Thank you for these pictures, Lord, you've given us from your word. And we pray that by your spirit you work them deep into our hearts, bring them to our minds that we might live this life with full awareness and not be deceived as was Edom. We ask these things, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.