Obadiah 1:10

God is continuing with His judgment upon the nation of Edom, and the Bible says in Obadiah 1:10, “For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.” The Edomites were violent. God is against violence. The first child born into the world, Cain, became a violent man, and he murdered his own brother. Because of Cain’s violence, God judged Cain and punished him. The situation is described in Genesis 4: 8-12, “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.[9] And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?[10] And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.[11] And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;[12] When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.” God placed in the Ten Commandments the great restriction against violence which says simply, “Thou shalt not kill.” God is the giver of life, and only He has the right to take life. Everyone has the right to live until God takes their life away. The writers of the American Declaration of Independence understood this “right.” They wrote, “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Not only did the Edomites commit the sins of violence, but they committed them against the nation of Israel. There are nations today committing the same kinds of sins that Edom committed and they will meet a similar judgment from God. God loves Israel. The Savior was a Jew who was raised in Israel. That did not happen by accident. That was part of God’s plan to save the world through Israel. The Savior has already come, but Israel is still part of God’s great plan. God made a promise to Abraham about the nation that God would bring forth in Abraham’s descendants. Whoever gets in the way of that promise will find themselves on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of righteousness, and they will be destroyed.

But it does not only take violence for God to be angry with those who oppose Israel. It says in Obadiah 1:11-14, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.[12] But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.[13] Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;[14] Neither shouldest thou have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.” The key phrase to understanding this principle is found in verse 12 that says, “neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction.” Because Christians have tasted of the love of God through Christ, we should be the most loving of all people on the earth. Yes, there are those who deserve punishment and judgment, and they will surely receive what is coming to them. But when we se them cast down and bearing the just consequences of their sins, we should never rejoice over that. Never rejoice at someone else’s misfortune. Always hope for the best for everyone. May they be successful, and may God give them the grace to recognize that God gave them the ability, the opportunity, and the good fortune to be successful.

The Bible says in Obadiah 1:15-16, “For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.[16] For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.” The principle found in these verses is found over and over again in the prophets of the Old Testament. It is the principle of just retribution: reaping what we sow. There is only one possible escape for such a principle: turn to the Lord Jesus Christ for the grace, and mercy, and forgiveness that only He can give. Jesus gave this same teaching in Luke 6:37-38, “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:[38] Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.”

One of the great declarations of this principle, especially in regards to reaping judgment from sin, and the solution to being in that situation is found in the book of Joel. It says in Joel 1:4, “That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten.” This describes what happens to us when we get what we deserve as a result of our sins. But it says in Joel 2:25-27, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.[26] And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.[27] And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.” The law that we reap what we sow can be very harsh and unforgiving. But it is an important law because how else will we learn to do better next time? Yes, the Lord chastises His children. Every believer can attest to that. But thank God that He says in Joel 2:25, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm.” In other words there is a spiritual principle that will un-do the principle of reaping what we sow. That is what forgiveness is all about. It is one of the benefits of being a Christian. The ultimate reaping what we sow is going to hell because of our sins. God should have struck me down with a lightning bolt years ago and placed me forever in the burning fires Hell. But He did not do that. That fact alone proves that we do not reap what we sow: under certain circumstances. You must be a certain kind of person from God’s viewpoint in order to find the place in life where God stops the locusts, and the cankerworms, and the caterpillars; and God says to you, “I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten.” God calls these blessed ones, “my people.” You must be one of the people of God. You enter into the family of God when you call out to Christ for forgiveness and receive Him into you heart and life. That is what Jesus was talking about when He said to Nicodemus in John 3:5-7, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.[6] That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[7] Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.”

It says in Obadiah 1:17, “But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.” The previous verse is talking about judgment. This verse starts with the word “but” that gives a solution to avoiding judgment. Because God loves everyone, He gives everyone a chance to be saved. God has a plan for salvation for the whole world. The word “deliverance” means “salvation.” Why does God say, “upon mount Zion shall be deliverance?” Salvation comes through the Jewish nation and the Jewish people because Jesus was a Jew. That was part of the promise that God made to Abraham. The Bible says in Genesis 18:18, “Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.” God said to Abraham in Genesis 22:18, “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” God also said in Genesis 26:4, “And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” This promise to Abraham explains a lot about the history of Israel, the origin and purpose of the Messiah, and the future of the world. Just in case there is any doubt, the “seed” of this promise is explained in the New Testament in Galatians 3:14-16, “That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” The seed is the descendent. God had one particular descendent in mind when He gave His great promise to Abraham, and that descendent is Jesus Christ. That is why the New Testament starts with the phrase in Matthew 1:1, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Deliverance comes out of Mount Zion. We are saved by faith through Christ. But God does not save us just to give us fire insurance. He wants us to live a holy life, or at least to head in a direction where our lives become more and more holy. Jesus certainly sets us a high standard. It says in First Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:[15] But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;[16] Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”

The Bible says in Obadiah 1:18-21, “And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.[19] And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.[20] And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.[21] And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.” These last verses in the book of Obadiah paint a very clear picture of who is going to win the great contest in the final analysis. Why contest are we talking about? We are talking about the competition between nations. There is a contest constantly going on for influence and control and power. That contest sometimes erupts into war. That contest between nations especially takes place between Israel and the other nations of the world when we get to the end times. People like to talk about and think about who will come out on top when there is a battle, or a fight, or a contest, or an athletic competition. God tells us ahead of time who is going to win the contest of nations. All the nations of the world will lose, and Israel will win. Israel will win because Jesus will come back and will save her. Then Jesus will set up His One Thousand Year Reign. That is why it says at the end of Obadiah 1:21, “and the kingdom shall be the LORD's.” Every Gentile is welcome to join that final estate by putting their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior of their souls.

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