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Okay, good evening. Please turn with me to the book of Obadiah. Good old Obadiah. As you're turning there, I thought I would give you some quick fun facts about the book of Obadiah. Obadiah is the minorest of the minor prophets. And by minor, I don't mean insignificant. It's called the minor prophets because of length.

They are the shortest of the prophetic books. And Obadiah is the shortest of the minor prophets. You'll see when you turn there, it's only one chapter. Fun fact, it is the only book of the Old Testament that is one chapter. So now you can all win Bible Jeopardy.

And I expect my share of the earnings, please. Another fun fact, Obadiah is not quoted in the New Testament. Obadiah is notoriously difficult to place in biblical history. Why is this the case? Well, first question is, who is Obadiah? We don't get a whole lot of details there in his book.

In fact, if you actually read through biblical history, there are over 20 individuals that have the name Obadiah. And as far as we can tell, they are all unique. And so the question is, okay, which one is it? Or is this just a different Obadiah? We also don't get any chronological details.

We don't know the king that he's writing under. If it's the northern or the southern kingdom. And the reason I'm mentioning all of this begs the question: why should we care about the book of Obadiah? I don't say that as a put-off. I don't say that to give the Sunday school answer, well, it's the Bible.

Of course, we should care about the Bible. Come on, John. No, I really mean it. If all Scripture is profitable, which it says that it is in 2 Timothy 3:16 through 17, and is useful, then what is useful about this tiny little book that's buried in the Old Testament that no one really talks about?

And it's my joy to have the chance to study it because, frankly, I didn't know what it was all about. I didn't know how this tiny little book could profit me. And after going through it, preparing for this sermon, I have an answer. And that answer is: I think we need to pay attention to Edom.

Now, who is Edom? Well, when you think Edom, think Esau, the Esau of Genesis, and we'll read about him here in a second. But Edom is the nation of Esau's descendants. And the book of Obadiah is all about Edom. And we'll see that here in a second. Now, as we read through the book of Obadiah, we'll see that there are a lot of eschatological implications for this prophecy, and that impacts.

Us, you know, that's future events, things that haven't happened yet. But there's also a lot of ethical implications for the book of Obadiah, and that's really what I want to focus on tonight. Think about Esau. Now, Esau was the grandson of Abraham, you know, this magnificent father of faith that we read about in Scripture, who receives a covenant from God.

And Esau is born into this family, this child of promise. So, how does Esau go from this child of promise to a nation destined for destruction? Well, because I believe we need to pay attention to Edom, I'm going to do a sort of a biblical survey tonight and go through some passages related to this nation.

And so, get your fingers ready. We'll be flipping back and forth quite a bit. And I'm labeling this survey the tragedy of the elder brother, the elder brother being Esau. And the reason I call it a tragedy is because if you think about the great tragedies of literature, you know, Oedipus, Hamlet, they all start out with a protagonist who has something going for them, something good, something awesome.

Yet this protagonist has a fatal flaw, a hubris. And then by the end of the tragedy, the reason we call it a tragedy is because it ends with death. It ends with destruction. And this is the storyline we see with Edom. And I'll just go ahead and give you the fatal flaw here.

It's pride. Edom's fatal flaw is pride. And we're going to read that real quick when we open the book of Obadiah. But before we do that, let's put a bookmark or a finger in the book of Obadiah and turn back to Genesis 25. We're going to start our tragedy with Act 1, the dawn of Edom.

I'll go ahead and give you the breakdown there. This is where we're headed. So before we read Genesis 25, I do want to start actually a little bit before then. In Genesis 12, verses 1 through 3, this is the Lord coming to Abram, and the Lord says to him, Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. Now, that is the Abrahamic covenant. I want you to log that away. We'll return to that in a moment. Now, Genesis 25, starting in verse 21.

Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife because she was barren. And the Lord Answered him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. But the children struggled together within her, and she said, If it is so, then why am I this way? So she went to inquire of the Lord.

The Lord said to her, Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from your body. And the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the older shall serve the younger. Okay, let's pause there for a minute. So, a lot of us are familiar with this story.

Rebecca is pregnant. She's got twins, and she can feel them struggling around in her body. My wife is pregnant right now. I know that she can feel the movements and the struggle. I know how that can be. And she is so concerned about this that she goes to inquire of the Lord, okay, what exactly is going on?

And she gets this prophetic revelation. This prophetic revelation that the older will be serving the younger. Let's log that away as well. But we can imagine that as the twins are born, and Esau is going to come out first, so he would be the older, and then Jacob will come out after him, actually grasping his heel.

Jacob will be the younger. So imagine that you're these twin boys being raised up, and you have this family prophecy that's just hanging over your head. Now, if you were Esau, how would that make you feel? Let's go back to Genesis 25, verse 27. It says, When the boys grew up, Esau became A skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents.

Now, Isaac loved Esau because he had a taste for game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. When Jacob had cooked stew, Esau came in from the field and he was famished. And Esau said to Jacob, Please let me have a swallow of that red stuff there, for I am famished.

Therefore, his name was called Edom. So there you go. That's the origin of Edom. It means red. But Jacob said, First, sell me your birthright. Esau said, Behold, I'm about to die, so of what use is this birthright to me? And Jacob said, First, swear to me. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.

And Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and he drank and he rose and went on his way. And here's the key part: thus Esau despised his birthright. We learn a little bit about this family. We learn, or we know that it's the family of promise, it's the Abraham covenant, it's the seed that's going to all the families of the earth is going to be blessed through this seed.

But we also learn that this family is highly dysfunctional. You see that in a couple ways. You see an uncaring mother in Rebekah. You see a deceitful brother in Jacob. Not to mention there's the prophecy that's hanging over their head that Esau will never rise above his younger brother.

That's got to be worth it. On him. But there is still one thing that Esau does have, one thing that's going for him, and that's his birthright. His birthright. This is still the custom for the birthright to go to the eldest son. Nothing has changed at this point.

But Esau, in a moment of, I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was unclarity, maybe it was true desperation. Although Hebrews 12, 16 is going to clarify a little bit and relate it to sexual immorality and unholiness. It was clearly the wrong thing for Esau to do.

But in this moment, he despises his birthright. And you see, this thing that should have been precious to Esau, because it was the one thing that he could hang on to and say, okay, this is how I know that I am safe and secure in the promises of God.

You know, that thing was discarded for what? For a meal of red stuff. That is what it means to despise his birthright. Okay, so what does Esau have left? He does still have one thing left. He has the favor of his father, the favor of Jacob. Well, let's move down to scene two, Genesis 27.

You can flip the page, turn there. Genesis 27, starting in verse 27, says, So he came, he being Isaac, came close and kissed him, and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, See the smell of my son. Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed.

Now may God give you the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth and an abundance of grain and new wine. May people serve you and nations bow down to you. Be master of your brothers and may your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who blessed you.

Now let's stop there and provide a little bit of context. Isaac is giving this blessing, and he thinks that he's giving this blessing to Esau, the son whom he loves. But what Isaac doesn't know is that Jacob has tricked him. Jacob has cooked this stew and dressed in hairy garments in order to deceive his father into taking this blessing from Esau.

And in Isaac's mind, Isaac is evoking this promise of Abraham. You read it there in verse 29. You know, cursed be those who curse you, blessed be those who bless you. Now, in Isaac's mind, Esau is the seed. Esau is the promised seed, you know, through whom the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And it's only through this deception of Jacob that kind of the plans from a human point of view are thrown, you know, thrown a curveball. Now, obviously, the Lord is working sovereignly and divinely through this story, but that doesn't mean that there are innocent parties here. You know, Jacob is still guilty of this deceit.

And Esau, for his part, he's furious. He's angry. He knows this blessing, this favor of my father, was the one thing I had left. You know, this promise of God, you know, is significant to me. And you read what happens and jump down to verse 38 here. Esau said to his father, Do you have only one blessing for me, my father?

Bless me also, O my father. Esau lifted his voice and wept. Then Isaac, his father, answered him and said, Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, away from the dew of heaven above. By your sword you shall live, and your brother you shall serve.

But it shall come about when you become restless that you will break his yoke from your neck. So Esau bore grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said to himself, The days of mourning for my father are near. Then I will kill my brother Jacob.

Now that right there, this grudge that Esau bears against Jacob, now that's going to define the culture of Esau's descendants. You see it there in verse 41. You see that Esau is so incredibly angry. And frankly, I don't blame him. He was wronged. But he doesn't take that wrong.

And seek reconciliation. He holds on to that wrong. He bears this grudge, and that grudge is going to provoke him to do what? Murder. Well, we're not done with the opening act. You can turn to Genesis 33. Now, the narrative between these two chapters is actually going to shift away from Esau.

It's going to follow Jacob for a little while. Jacob's going to flee the wrath of his brother. He's going to go to his uncle Laban, and that's where he's going to work seven years for his wife, which turns out to be not his wife, and then he works another seven years.

It's a great story. But we don't hear about Esau again until chapter 32. Jacob has his little family and his little flocks, you know, his shepherd clan. And he's wandering about, and he gets word that Esau is coming. Now, the last time they met, Jacob was fleeing the wrath of his brother.

So what do you think Jacob is thinking now? Esau has come to finish the job. And so we read what Jacob does, chapter 33, verse 1. Then Jacob lifted his eyes, and behold, Esau was coming, and 400 men were with him. So Jacob divided the children among Leah and Rachel, and the two maids.

And he put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times. Until he came near to his brother. Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

All right, we'll pause there. So, what just happened? Well, first, let's contrast the state of these two brothers. I already mentioned that Jacob has been blessed. You know, his clan is increasing, he has wives, he has sons, the Lord is blessing Jacob. But what about Esau? You see here that the Lord is also blessing Esau.

Esau has an army, Esau has 400 men. Esau has a clan that's at least twice the big as Jacob's clan, or else Jacob wouldn't have been so scared and have divided his family into thirds. You see, that the Lord has blessed Esau anyway. The Lord has blessed Esau anyway.

And the result of this, you know, we have to read between the lines just a little bit. There's two possible interpretations of what happens next. We read here that Esau is going to embrace Jacob in this scene of forgiveness and reconciliation, and it's beautiful. And if we assume the best, which I think is the accurate interpretation, we can assume that the Lord did a work on Esau's heart.

That somewhere in these 14 years, the Lord gave Esau a new heart. He repented of his murderous grudge and sought reconciliation. Truly forgave his brother Jacob. And that would be fantastic. And I think we can honor that illustration and learn from it. But there's another interpretation that isn't so positive.

Now, again, this is a bit of conjecture, but if you read on in chapter 33, after this weeping and hugging, you get a dialogue between the two. And if you read it, kind of my first impression when I read it is like, man, this is really awkward. You know, Jacob has prepared this great gift, but Esau doesn't want it, but Jacob insists, and then Esau says, okay, well, let me kind of escort you.

And Jacob says, ah, no, thank you. I'm okay. And then they leave. So what do you think is going on there? And this is the other interpretation: is perhaps upon coming across the fords and seeing Jacob, perhaps Esau realizes something in that moment. Perhaps Esau realizes, you know what?

I don't need to kill my brother because I've got an army. And he's just got a few sheep. You know, maybe this time that I've spent working and building my coalition and building my kingdom, you know, maybe that is the right way to go. And these promises of God, these promises of the Lord about the older serving the younger, well, thank goodness, that's not true.

And perhaps upon seeing Jacob, Esau feels vindictive. If you read the account, Esau never mentions Yahweh, never mentions the Lord has blessed me, the Lord has given me this great clan. We don't know the state of his heart. I hope it's good. But I do want to make a comment about the descendants from here.

You know, this is the last time that we encounter Esau, the man Esau. But Genesis 36 is going to give us an account of his descendants. And just think about the comparison here. You know, Jacob, who is the child of promise now, the seed that will bless all the families of the earth.

You know, what's happening to them? Well, they have migrated to Egypt and they are now slaves in Egypt. Meanwhile, Esau and Edom is over here getting larger and larger and larger and stronger and stronger and stronger. Now, imagine if that was your culture. Imagine if you were an Edomite and you grew up with the legend of Esau.

And you talked about, okay, well, you know, there were two brothers and one of the brothers went off to follow Yahweh, but the good brother, Esau, he pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Everything was against him, but he made his way in the world. And look at what we have now.

And I think that is the source of pride. Pride is recognizing, yes, I have blessings, but these blessings aren't from the Lord. I have forged these blessings for myself. Myself, and these blessings far exceed the blessing of God. Now, let's turn to the book of Obadiah. I know that's a lot of backstory, but hang in there, it's important.

This is the region of Edom up there on the screen, and just to get your bearings, that is the Dead Sea up there. So, the rest of Israel is right there above the screen. So, we're talking about southeast Israel. This would be kind of modern-day Jordan. Let's look at the book of Obadiah, starting in verse 1.

So, the vision of Obadiah, thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a report from the Lord, an envoy has been sent among the nations, saying, Arise and let us go against her for battle. Behold, I will make you small among the nations. You are greatly despised.

The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in the loneliness of your dwelling place. You who say in your heart, Who will bring me down to the earth? Though you build high like the eagle, though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord.

If thieves came to you, if robbers by night, O, how you will be ruined. Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? Oh, how Esau will be ransacked and his hidden treasures searched out. All the men allied with you will send you forth to the border, and the men at peace with you will deceive you and overpower you.

They will eat your bread and set an ambush for you. There is no understanding in him. Will I not on that day, declares the Lord, destroy wise men from Edom and understanding from the mountain of Esau? Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Timon, so that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

Pause there. Not exactly a cheery message for the nation of Edom. Well, let's see. What is the source of this judgment? Why is this oracle pronounced against them? Well, you get an answer right there in verse 3. The arrogance of your heart has deceived you. Depending on your translation, you might say the word pride, the pride of your heart has deceived you.

And we already have speculated where this pride might have come from, this pride of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, of thinking that I have forged these blessings for myself. They have not been given to me. They are mine. I earned them. And that has manifested itself in some specific ways.

And let's just go through and see what these ways are. Are. Verse 1, we get the author, both the human and the divine. We get the audience, we're talking to Edom. And then verse 2: Behold, I will make you small among the nations. Now, what does that imply?

That the Edomites thought that they were pretty big stuff. Verse 3, as I mentioned, talks about the arrogance of their heart, how deceptive it is. Now, why is pride deceptive? Because it promises blessings that only God can deliver. And the result of having these blessings and thinking that you are the master of these blessings is this rhetorical question that's thrown out at the end of verse 3: Who can bring me down?

Right? Who can bring me down? That's not a good question to ask because God is going to answer that question. He answers it at the end of verse 4: The Lord will bring you down. This is the judgment against Edom. Well, let's look at some sources of pride.

The first source of pride you see in verse 4 is security. Now, there's a picture up here of Petra. Many of y'all have seen it. Some of y'all have been to it, but these are magnificent buildings that are built into the cleft of the rock. And you see that here.

In verse 4, talking about Edom was this nation that's built into the cleft of the rock. They have set their nest on high in the stars. And what that means militarily is that there are. Very, very hard nation to subdue. You know, they can easily defend their fortifications.

You know, they can easily repel the enemy. And so that mindset has breeded this pride of saying, okay, who can bring me down? No one can bring me down. We are safe. We are secure. I have built up my fortifications. Look what I've built. Now, let's apply that to today.

We don't have massive military fortifications, but we do live in a country that has the strongest military. Do we ever get a little too comfortable with that, perhaps? You know, who can bring down the United States of America? Are we truly that invincible? Well, let's take it a level down.

Let's talk about maybe on the local level. You know, what do you put your security in? Is it the business you've built? Is it the home that you've bought? Is it the family that you've cultivated? Is it your bank account? Your retirement savings? You know, what is it?

And these, my friends, these are blessings. These are good, good things. But don't make the mistake of thinking that they are yours. These things are gifts. These things were given by a good giver. So the first source of pride is security. Second source of pride we read in verses five through seven is relationships.

You know, look, see who I know. And for Edom, it was these strategic alliances, you know, these men of peace that. Would pass in and out. And Edom took stock in that. You know, hey, we've got good allies. We have strong allies. Therefore, we are invincible. And the Lord says, hey, these allies are going to be the very ones that bring you down, my friend.

You have been a deceiver. And, you know, what you reap, you will sow. Now, what about us? What relationships bring us security and comfort? What relationships do we put so much of ourselves in that we forget that these relationships are from the Lord? It might be a romantic relationship, a boyfriend or girlfriend, a wife or a husband, might be kids.

Remember, good things, blessings from the Lord. But they are from the Lord. And lastly, last source of pride for Edom was wisdom. See what I know. And you see here in verse 8, this reference to the wise men from Edom and the Lord destroying the understanding from the mountain of Esau.

Edom was known for its sages. We get references to that in the book of Job and also in the book of 1 Kings. And this is also something that we today can find pride in. Look at what we know. Look at all of these educational opportunities we have in this college town.

We have access to the World Wide Web, to AI, for goodness sakes. We can look up how to do it. Anything we want. We are so much smarter now than we were back then. Well, does that make us holier? Does that make us better? I think the book of Obadiah is a warning.

No, it does not. In fact, that can make you more vulnerable to pride. Is it wrong to have security, relationship, and wisdom? No, these are not wrong, but these are things that have been freely given, and they can just as easily be taken away. And this is the warning to Esau and Edom.

God made Edom into a great nation. He has blessed Edom over and abundantly what Esau and his descendants deserve. And as a result of that blessing, their response is, Who can bring me down? They should have been giving glory to the giver of good gifts, not reveling in the gifts themselves.

Well, let's move on to Act 2 of our tragedy, the dealings of Edom. We'll go a little faster here. So as you go through the biblical narrative, we lose track of Edom for a little while, and then they're going to show up again in the book of Numbers.

Specifically, as the Israelites are wandering in the desert, you know, they are sojourning from Egypt to the promised land, and they're going to encounter some obstacles. And so Moses is. Actually, going to try and problem solve these obstacles with Edom. Let's read in Numbers 20, verse 14, which says, From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom.

Thus, your brother Israel has said, You know all the hardship that has befallen us, that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly. But when we cried out to the Lord, he heard our voice.

He sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And behold, we are now at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. I remember the map. The southern area is Esau, and the Israelites are passing through. They're right at the edge, and they want to do all things right.

So they're going to send an envoy and get permission before they pass through. Now, in verse 18, excuse me, in verse 17, please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard. We will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king's highway, not turning to the right or the left until we pass your territory.

Edom, however, said to him, You shall not pass through us, or I will come out with the sword against you. Again, the sons of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway, and if I and my livestock do drink any of your water, then I will pay its price.

Only let me pass through on my feet, nothing else. But Edom said, You shall not pass through. And Edom came out against him with a heavy force and a strong hand. Thus Edom refused. To allow Israel to pass through his territory, and so Israel turned away from him.

So, you see what's going on here. Moses is going to evoke the history, the relationship between these two nations. You see that he says, you know, this is your brother Israel coming to you. We have a small request, just let us pass through. We'll pay for everything. We won't harm anything.

Just let us pass through. And what is Esau's response? Might. A show of force, an unwillingness to aid their brother on the day of distress. And so Israel is forced to go the long way around. They have to swing way, way, way south, add many days to their journey.

But what's the point? This is the first hint that we get that this grudge that gripped Esau on the day that Jacob stole his blessing, that grudge never really went away. You know, maybe for Esau, the individual, it went away, but for the nation of Edom, this grudge is still alive and well.

And here's the interesting thing: is that God specifically tells Israel not to hold a grudge against Edom. You know, as, you know, I'm sure if we were in Moses' position, we would be shocked and dismayed and angry that Edom is not letting us pass through. But in Deuteronomy, God says, you shall not detest the Edomite, for he is your brother.

See, God cares about the The brother relationship. God recognizes that this is important, and even though you've been treated badly, you don't treat badly in return. Well, let's move on to the next scene. This is 2 Chronicles 21. Again, we lose sight of Edom for a while. They're going to pop up from time to time at war with Israel.

You know, King Saul and King David are going to war with Edom. And King David is actually going to subdue Edom as a part of the territory of Israel, excuse me, Judah. And then we pick up in 2 Chronicles 21, verse 8: In his days, which is Jehoram, Edom revolted against the rule of Judah and set up a king over themselves.

Then Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots with him. And he arose by night and struck down the Edomites who were surrounding him and the commanders of the chariots. So Edom revolted against Judah to this day. And skip down to verse 16. And the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians.

And they came against Judah and invaded it and carried away all the possessions found in the king's house together with his sons and his wives, so that there was no son left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. All right, pause there. Now, why bring this up in this account?

Well, there are four times in history that we can point to where the city of Jerusalem has been taken over by foreign invaders. There's the famous one, you know, Babylon, the fall of Jerusalem. But there's also this incident with the Philistines and the Arabs. Okay? You know, that's important because I'm of the strong opinion that this was the occasion for the book of Obadiah.

Obadiah is writing in response to this event that we just read in 2 Chronicles. I think there is a supporting passage in the book of Amos. Now, Amos, we do know when it was written. It was written after this first invasion, but before the Babylonian invasion. And Amos is going to refer back to the transgression of Edom.

In Amos 1:11, it says, For three transgressions of Edom, for four I will not revoke its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword, while he stifled his compassion. His anger tore continually, and he maintained his fury forever. This is describing Edom. Let me just read some of these descriptors again.

This is why the wrath of God is on Edom, because Edom pursued his brother with the sword. He stifled his compassion. His anger tore at him continually, and he maintained his fury forever. Now, what is that language? That's the language of a grudge. That is the language of perpetual hatred.

You know, Philadelphia is brotherly love, and we might call this unbrotherly hatred. You know, this is something that should not be. You know, Edom ought to be the ones coming to. Their brother's aid, but instead they are pursuing their brother with the sword. And I think Obadiah is riding against Edom because Edom was helping with this conquering of Jerusalem.

They were aiding the Philistines and the Arabs. And we'll see some ways that they aided the Philistines and the Arabs here. These would be the effects of pride. This is found in Obadiah chapter 10, or excuse me, Obadiah 10 through 14. Let's read it together. Because of violence to your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame, and you will be cut off forever on the day that you stood aloof, on the day that strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gate, and cast lots for Jerusalem.

You too were as one of them. Do not gloat over your brother's day, the day of his misfortune. Do not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction. Yes, do not boast in the day of their distress. Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their disaster.

Yes, you do not gloat over their calamity in the day of their disaster, and do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. Do not stand at the fork of the road to cut down their fugitives, and do not imprison their survivors in the day of their distress.

So, what phrase did you hear me repeat over and over and over again? The day of disaster, the day of calamity, the day of distress. And this, I believe, is an important instance. Insight as we're talking about the ethical implications of Obadiah and the result of pride. How do you know if you have pride in your heart?

How do you know if the blessings you have given you, if you're accumulating these things for you or for the Lord? Now, I think Obadiah offers us a test. I call this the test of brotherhood. And this makes sense. Think about it. If you have been given blessings from the Lord and you recognize that, then when your brother comes along and it is a day of his distress, what are you going to do?

If those blessings have been freely given, then you are inclined to freely give. You are inclined to help your brother. You're inclined to do these things. And when you don't, I think that reveals pride. And let's read some very specific ways that Edom sins in their pride because of this test of brotherhood.

How they reacted to the day of their brother's trouble says everything about where their heart is. So let's start in verse 11. What did they do? Well, they stood aloof. They stood aloof. You can imagine what that looks like. You know, this is the sin of omission. They could have stepped in, they could have protected, but they didn't.

And at the end of verse 11, it calls them out for the sin that it is. Standing aloof, standing afar off, is just as bad as being one of them. It gets even worse. Verse 12, they look down upon their brother. Now, you might see the translation to gloat, but that word in Hebrew is literally the word to look upon, to look upon their brother with scorn and contempt, to think, you deserve this.

You have gotten your just deserts. And then in verse 12, right after that, it turns into rejoicing. You know, to rejoice is to receive satisfaction from your brother's distress, to revel in their suffering. Now, let me stop there and point out that these three reactions are all passive.

You know, Edom is not going out and doing anything. This is just, you know, how the day of distresses is making them feel. But it is sin nonetheless. You might call these sins of omission, but this is pride. This is pride. This is what Jesus talks about as hating your brother, as having a grudge in your heart.

And the thing is, it doesn't stop with sins of omission. It goes from there. At the end of verse 12, you see the verb to boast. Now, this word literally means to make your mouth large. Now, this makes the jump from being a passive sin to an active sin.

This would be gossip and slander. You know, this is pointing to Israel on the floor and saying, ha, look at that little brother. And he thought that the older would serve the younger. Verse 13 takes it to another level. This would... Be entering the gates of Jerusalem and taking part of the looting.

This would be taking advantage of misfortune. And you think, oh, well, that's not as bad as causing misfortune. Well, just read the next verse. Now Edom is standing at the fork of the road to cut down those who escape and to deliver the survivors over to death. So you see here a progression.

You see a descent. And this is why Jesus can say on the Sermon of Mount, you know, if you hate your brother, you have already committed murder in your heart. How does Esau go from holding a grudge to seeking violence? This right here is how that happens. It's the pride in his heart.

So let's make it personal. What is the fruit of your life? How do you react to the day of your brother's distress? Because I guarantee you, there is someone in this church right now who is going through their day of distress. How do you react to it? Do any of these describe your disposition to it?

And if that's the case, then I encourage you, repent, because this is the sin of pride. It does not bode well for Edom. It will not bode well for you. Let's keep on reading the book of Obadiah. Let's finish up the one and only chapter in verse 15.

Now we've been Reading this emphasis on the day of distress, the day of distress, the day of distress, and that's that theme is going to lead right into verse 15, which says, For the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you.

Your dealings will return on your own head, because just as you drank on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow and become as if they had never existed. But on Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy.

And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions, and the house of Jacob will be of fire, and the house of Joseph of flame. But the house of Esau will be as stubble, and they will set them on fire and consume them, so that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

Then those of the Negev will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the Shephelah, the Philistine plain, also possesses the territory of Ephraim and the territory of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. And the exiles of the host of the sons of Israel who are among the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem, who are in Sephirod, will possess the cities of the Negev.

The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to judge the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's. There you have it. The result of Edom's promise. Pride. Where is this road headed? Edom is going to give several specific judgments on Edom's pride. Let's list them out real quick.

The first one is this idea of eye for an eye. You read that in verse 15. The day of the Lord is coming. Guess what? Israel had their day of distress. Your day of distress is coming. And as you have done, it will be done to you. Now, what is that?

That is called the law of retribution. Lex talionis. And guess what? It is a just law. Now, this is what happens. And you can expound on this through Scripture as you read not just Leviticus, but the prophets. And Ezekiel 35, for example, it's expanding on this prophecy of Edom.

It's talking about Edom has pursued bloodshed, therefore they're going to be a nation of bloodshed. Edom has pursued the desolation of Israel, therefore their nation is going to be desolate. This is the natural consequence, and we can see this today. If you deal in treachery, if you walk in the path of sinners, then you will be deceived against.

You will be slighted against. Every nation will have their day of trouble. How you deal with your brother now will affect how you are dealt with. Then. So that's number one. Number two, perpetual destruction. You read in verse 16, it's kind of a play on words. You know, it's just as you have drank on my holy mountain.

You know, this is referring to this fall of Jerusalem, where very likely the Edomites went up to the temple mound and were celebrating, celebrating the fall of Yahweh. I'm sure that they were mocking the promise of Yahweh that the older would serve the younger. They're like, all right, look at us now.

You know, we are the victors. We are on this mountain. And the Lord says, just as you have been drinking on this holy mountain, so you will drink the cup of my wrath continually. You see that word there in verse 16. The nations will drink continually, and they will drink and swallow and become as if they had never existed.

You know, this is also Lex Talionis. This is, you know, just as it has been done, just as you have done, so it will be done to you. I like this quote. I don't know the source of it, but the quote is: A grudge is like drinking a poison and expecting the other person to die.

I like that. Ezekiel 35, which we won't read together, but in verse 5, it talks about Edom holding this perpetual enmity. And it uses those phrases: perpetual enmity. And the result of a perpetual enmity is going to be perpetual destruction. This comes from the Lord. Lord opposes the proud perpetually.

And what else does he do? He gives grace to the humble. You see this in verse 17. You see that Edom is not just going to be made desolate, but the vehicle of their desolation will be none other than the younger brother himself. The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau will be as stubble.

And that is humiliating, right? There is nothing more humiliating than seeing your enemy take the throne that you think that you deserve. But we know that this is the way God works. Part of the judgment of Edom, you know, Esau, the great hunter, the violent man, the hunter will become the hunted, the one who had all the possessions will become the one who is possessed.

And lastly, verse 21, the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Think about it. The mighty kingdom of Edom, secure in their place, secure in their pride, will be the Lord's. And this is the ironic twist, right? Because was the kingdom of Esau ever not the Lord's? No. It was always the Lord that provided for Esau.

It was always the Lord that set Esau upon his throne. And if only the Edomite Had recognized this fact, and they wouldn't have provoked the wrath of God in the first place. And a great counterexample to this is Nineveh in the book of Jonah, right? Also provoking the wrath of God.

But when they are challenged on it, they fall on their faces, they repent, and the Lord saves them, delivers them. We don't see the same happen with Edom. We see actually the opposite: you know, in their pride, they receive this challenge to their kingdom. You know, this kingdom is not yours, it is the Lord's, and the Lord will come back and take his throne.

And they don't repent. And the application here hopefully is obvious to you. What is your kingdom? What is the kingdom that you are holding on so tightly to that when the message comes that says, hey, that's actually not yours, that is the Lord's, how will you react to that?

Now, I don't know what your kingdom is, but I know some of my kingdoms, you know, my bank account, that's the kingdom that I have built, right? That's a kingdom that I don't want to let go of. My job, my family, my health. I think it's important that I ask myself, that we ask ourselves, you know, is this, do we consider this throne to be impenetrable?

Because the day of the Lord will come on all nations. That means the day of the Lord will come upon all. On this nation. It will come upon your kingdom. And the quicker we realize that the kingdom will be the Lord's, the better it will be for us.

I want to end the tragedy. Act 3: the desolation of Edom. We won't read these verses out loud, but you can see the end of this storyline spelled out. Edom doesn't repent. They're going to actually take part in the second sacking of Jerusalem. They're going to aid the Babylonians.

We read that in those top verses up there. So there is no repentance. And what is not recorded in biblical history, but what we can read about elsewhere, is that the Babylonians are actually going to betray the Edomites, you know, in exact fulfillment to this prophecy of Obadiah, that they will be betrayed by their allies.

And the Babylonians are going to essentially wipe them out, take over their strongholds, and leave the region of Edom desolate, just as it is prophesied. Now, there's a few that escape this desolation, which is why I've included these last two verses in scene two. I'm going to read the one from Luke.

You don't have to turn there. But Luke 1:30 through 33 says, The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You shall name him Jesus. He will be great and be called the Son of the Lord Most High.

The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. So, what has this to do with Edom? Well, let me take you back to Act 1, Scene 1. Here we have another baby in another womb.

We have another elder brother. But unlike the first elder brother, Esau, this child does not despise his birthright. Unlike Esau, this child does not seek to elevate himself above his brothers. Unlike Edom, this child's kingdom will remain forever. And this child's name is Jesus Christ. And this is why I consider this to be the final chapter of Edom's story, the final conclusive mark of Obadiah's prophecy.

Do you know that when Jesus was born, when Gabriel was saying this to Mary, there was another king over Israel, Herod the Great, who, by the way, was an Idamean, which is a descendant of Esau. He's one of the ones who, or his father, Were one of the ones that escaped the Babylonian purge.

And he is set up as this great conquering king. And just like Esau, he gets a message. He says, You know what? There is this baby in Bethlehem, and he is the child of promise. And just like his forebear Esau, he is going to react with hatred and violence.

He's going to seek to kill this baby Jesus. And we won't go through the whole story, but the important question to consider right now is: who is on the throne? Is it Herod? Where is Herod's kingdom now? Herod's reign came to nothing. The Idomians are gone. They don't exist.

The house of Jacob, on the other hand, the kingdom of Jesus Christ has no end. And this is the legacy of those who are in Christ. A kingdom with no end. Christ will return. All the kingdoms of the earth will bow to him, including ours. We will either cast our crowns before the throne of God or they will be taken from us by force.

And let me leave you with this. This is the anecdote to pride. In Matthew 25, Jesus is talking about. The return of the king. You know, when the king comes, the son of man coming in his glory and all the angels with him, and he's going to sit on his glorious throne.

And what is he going to do? Well, he's going to divide the nations like a shepherd divides the sheep and the goats, right? And he's going to turn to the sheep and he's going to say, Come, you who are blessed of my father, come and inherit this kingdom that has been prepared for you before the foundation of the world.

This is the way to the eternal kingdom through Christ. But then notice what Jesus says next. You know, when the sheep are like, Why, Lord, why do we inherit the kingdom? And Jesus comes back to the way that you have treated your brother, even the least of these brothers, the way that you have treated them, you have done it unto me.

What a fitting conclusion to the story of Jacob and Esau. You know how we battle pride in our life. When our brother is hungry, give them food. When your brother and sister are thirsty, give them something to drink. When they need clothes, give them something to wear. When they're in prison, go and visit them.

Because as much as you have done it to the least of these brothers, you've done it unto the king. So don't be like the elder brother, Esau. Poisoned by his own pride, whose kingdom came to nothing, be like the elder brother Jesus Christ, who did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but entered this world in humility.

And God exalts him to the name that's above every name. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you for the story of Edom. As much as we have to cobble it together from several passages of Scripture, I do think that it is worth paying attention to, and I think that there is a lesson and a warning for us.

I pray that we heed this warning. I pray that we treat our brother not just the way we want to be treated, but the way that we would want to treat you. God, that we would not fall into the sin of Esau, that we would not stand aloof or despise or gloat or any of these things that Edom has done, Father.

But as much as we can apply this practically to our lives, that you teach us, that you root out any source of pride within us. We need your help. Jesus' name, amen.