Judgment is at the Door
June 9, 2024
Bethany ARP Church
Obadiah 5-9
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Again the text I would like to call your attention to this morning comes to us from the book of Obadiah. So if you’ll turn with me there, Obadiah of course comes right after the book of Amos and right before the book of Jonah. And so as we are in the book of Obadiah in the month of June, we are looking at verses five through nine of this morning, so please turn your attention to the word of the living God.
We are beginning there at Obadiah chapter one verse five.
Here’s the word of the Lord:
If thieves had come to you, if robbers by night, oh how you will be cut off, would they not have stolen till they had enough, if great gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleaning, oh how Esau should be searched out, how its hidden treasure should be sought out, all the men in your Confederacy shall force you to the border, the men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you, those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you, no one is aware of it, will I not in that day, says the Lord, even destroy the wise men from Edom and understanding to the mountains of Esau, then your mighty men, oh team, and shall be dismayed to the end that everyone from the mountains of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Thanks be to God for the reading of his holy and his perfect word. Let’s pray.
Gracious Heavenly Father as you provide this testimony in your providence on this Lord’s day morning. We pray that you would be an encouragement to us through this word and that you might remind us of the glory of Jesus Christ as we read of him on every page and in his name we pray. Amen.
Please be seated.
One of the difficulties sometimes we run into when we read of these words and events that happen in the days of the minor prophets is that they can seem so far removed from us as to not be of interest to us. And again, it’s okay sometimes to admit that some parts of the Bible seem more applicable to your daily life than others. When you are getting up in the morning to go to work tomorrow, I’m not sure the first verse that would come to mind is a random ceremonial law from the end of Leviticus. It may be something like the words of Philippians chapter 4, or it might be one of the words that we read in John 17, you know, there’s some passages in the Bible that just seemed more attuned to daily life. And it’s okay to admit that every now and then. But one of the things that we need to do when we come to the word of God is that we need to be reminded that Jesus loved Obadiah just as much as he did David.
The Edomites were as much of the concern of God as were the disciples of Jesus Christ. And so as we hear these words from Obadiah about the Edomites and as we hear the warnings of destruction that are coming upon the Edomites, it’s important for us to practically consider again why Obadiah is important. We touched on a little bit last week as we opened the first four verses, but as Obadiah gets into the meat of his message to the Edomites and to anyone else who is hearing this, we need to ask ourselves a few questions.
We talked last week about how we need to look at ourselves not so much as Obadiah, but as Edom. One of the difficulties that we must admit in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is that sometimes we are covenant breakers just like Edom. Sometimes we look at the inheritance that we have received, and we stomp it underfoot. And just like the Edomites, we sometimes carry generational grudges and sometimes it doesn’t even need to be a generation for us to continue to hate our brother or to consider a sin of our brother and hold it against them for our entire life. We talked last week about how this sin, which was a part of Edom’s destruction, is one that’s native to the human heart. Some of you have blessedly been a member of Bethany, maybe for your entire life, who have known the Lord Jesus Christ for decades, or some of you maybe even new believers, but in every case, again, we need to ask ourselves a simple question. If thieves had come to you with robbers by night, oh, how will you be cut off? Would they not have stolen enough? Would the great gatherers have come to you where they had not left some gleaning?
This word that God has for the Edomites is a word that is a reminder that they do not understand their predicament. They don’t understand, at least they don’t understand in any deep sense, what it means that the judgment is at the door. I’m sure the Edomites had in their mind that they would be able to hate Israel forever. I’m sure that’s something they were looking forward to, that not only did they get to stiff Israel in the days of the Exodus, and not only did they get to be mean to Israel in the days of David, but opportunity rears its head again as the Assyrians are at the gates of Jerusalem. Once more, Edom gets to see the judgment upon the people of God. And Obadiah, of course, is here to tell the Edomites, guess what, buddy? You’re getting yours as well. And we talked last week about how this is evidence for the grace of God, for the love of God, for the Edomites, a testimony to God’s mercy to sinners, because it shows
that God still loved Edom, that he sent a prophet to them, to warn them of the judgment to come, to talk to them about repentance, to talk to them about their need to flee from their own sin, to come unto the God who had provided sacrifice for Israel, and that that sacrifice was available to them as long as they put away this generational sin which
had afflicted the entire nation.
We talked about a passage like 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9, which says, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” And again, that’s what we’re called to do as the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is it not? We are called to be as our God.
We are called to witness his same mercy. And so when we see the Edomites, or we see whatever person you want to put in that place, if we see the judgment that is coming upon them, then what should we do? We should do as our Lord does, and we should call them to repentance. We should warn them of the judgment that is to come. We should be longsuffering towards those who sin against us, and we should not be willing that they should receive the due judgment that is coming upon them. And again, we are called, as Jesus says, to pray for our enemies. We are called to lift up those who hate us. We are called to witness unto those who have done evil to us. And why is that? Because we’re a people who know the truth, right? We’re a people who not only know the gospel, but we know what the judgment means. And the godly Obadiah, who has been sent by the Lord, does not want Edom to burn in hell forever. God wants the Edomites to become Israelites. But that’s not going to happen as long as the Edomites don’t understand the world in which they are living. Again, they are struggling. They’re weak, they’re dead, they’re covenant breakers, they’re evildoers, they are filled with wickedness from the top of their head to the tip of their toes.
And if we’re honest about ourselves, are we any different from the Edomites? Before we came to faith in Lord Jesus Christ, were we not covenant breakers? Were we not those who hated the people of God? Did we not hate God Himself? Was that not the nature of our own soul to lash out against righteousness, to speak against the good things, and to witness to the idols? What has God done for us? God has sent His Son to die for us. Not only has He done that, but what does Paul say but that Christ died for the ungodly? And so who are we to look at the ungodly and say that there is no sacrifice of sin for you when there has been sacrifice for sin for us?
And so there’s something that God is doing here in the sending of this prophet to Edom that’s as much a message to Israel and to Judah as it is for these people who are outside of the covenant family. And so go up with me again there to verse 5. It says, if thieves had come to you, if robbers by night, for how you will be cut off, would they not have stolen till they had enough?
The great gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleaning, so how Esau shall be searched out, how his hidden treasures shall be sought after? This is a warning again to all men. Again, we of our own account are very good at hiding our sin from ourselves and we’re
very good at kind of compartmentalizing our sin when we look at the sin of others. And we are very good at saying, well, you know, I know God is going to judge the sodomite, but God won’t bother with the Sabbath breaker. I know God’s going to judge these people who are doing this sin, but my sin is not nearly as bad as their sin. What do the scriptures testify? What does every sin bring upon it? Whether it be the most minor of sins or the greatest sin you can imagine, all bring upon them condemnation. What are the ways of sin? What does Romans 6:23 say? The wages of sin is death. And that means the death of anyone who sins. And the good news is everyone sins. And why is that good news? Because what does Christ come to do? Christ has come to save sinners, sinners such as I and you. And so the words that God is giving to the people of Edom is he’s telling them, look, the judgment is at the door, the Assyrians are here, you will be searched out. There will not be one single speck of dust in your house that will not be overturned when the Assyrians come in my judgment. And we know, of course, the Assyrians have no idea that they are an agent of the Lord’s judgment. And that’s how it usually works in the scriptures, right? The people who destroy are destroying out of their own desire to destroy. And God uses them in that judgment. He brings them to bear in order that his glory might be shown through it.
And so we see in Obadiah, again, if thieves had come to have robbers by night, oh, how would you be cut off? Would they not have stolen until they had enough? As those who are covenant keepers, who claim the covenant promises of Christ, who claim the baptism that you have received, who claim the confession of faith that you have given, who will in a moment claim the covenant promise of the table, again, do you worry about being cut off? Does it ever enter into your mind that there’s a possibility that you could be cut off from the covenant? Well, you should. Now, obviously, we believe that once you are truly saved that you will not be cut off from the covenant. But the testimony there is clear in Hebrews chapter 10. And Hebrews chapter 10, as Paul is warning his Hebrew brothers about the nature of the judgment that is to come, the nature of what they have received and what they are doing and what is going on in their life, he speaks to them, frankly, and he tells them in clear words of testimony:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us, though the veil that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.
And as Paul says this in Hebrews chapter 10, again, what comes before the therefore there? The therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter, again, this action word. We heard this over and over again in the book of Titus, that the people of God have to be actively involved in their own faith. They need to be diligent in the reading of the word. They need to be seeking after the mercies of God. They need to be daily putting to death sin, daily seeking the forgiveness of sins, daily confessing their faith. There has to be, again, fruit borne out of this verbal confession of faith. And why is that? Because what has he warned would come to those who denied the testimony? Verse 26 and following of Hebrews 10 says:
“For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God under foot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing and insulted the spirit of grace.”
Now these are words from the apostle Paul. These aren’t Moses. This is not an Old Testament prophet who we can kind of sloth off and say in our own kind of way. Well, that was the Old Testament, you know, the New Testament’s all about grace. Now Paul here is telling you that if you trample under foot the offer of grace that you will be cut off the covenant. There will no longer remain a sacrifice of sin available for you. And that is something that we must place on our own hearts. That’s why our confession of faith cannot just be skin deep. It cannot just be something that we confess on Sunday at 11 a.m. and be done with it the rest of the week. That’s why the Bible is so concerned that we search out our own hearts and ask ourselves these difficult questions because the judgment is at the door. The warning is before us, the Assyrians are laying weight for the word that God gives and judgment will be here.
The Edomites had told themselves this was never going to happen. The Israelites tell themselves this is never going to happen. The Judahites tell themselves this is never going to happen. The church in Laodicea says this is never going to happen. But it is going to happen.
That’s what Obadiah has a warning to us this morning. And yet we must take seriously the covenant promises that have been made. And we cannot be found covenant breakers, those who have trampled underfoot this gift of grace that has been provided for us by the Son of God. We cannot count the blood of the covenant as a common thing. Again, Christianity is not something we do on the weekends. Christianity is not something we do when we feel like it. But Christianity is not something we do when we’re not mad at somebody at church. We come to worship the living God because Jesus Christ has died for our sins and the cross and nothing can get in the way of that blessing. At least it shouldn’t get in the way of that blessing. But how often do we allow things that are fleshly, things that are worldly, things that don’t matter in the scheme of things to get in the way of our opportunity that God reminds us in the blessings of this work?
Because again, as this is being testified to, what does Paul then say about the nature of the importance of our preparing to come into the presence of God? Well again, in Hebrews chapter 10:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful and let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the matter of some, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see what the day approaches.
And what day, did Paul have in mind? It was the exact day that Obadiah is speaking of here. It is the day of judgment, the day when Christ will require your confession, the day when the Lord will require you to stand before him and confess and he will show you all of your works. He will show you all of your sins. He will show you every word that you have spoken. There’s a passage in the Bible that talks about two men standing in the field and one is taken. Now, we don’t understand that to mean the rapture because we don’t believe in the rapture. What we believe in is that two men are standing in the field and one of them has a heart attack and dies. The Lord required his soul at that moment. And what do you think both of those men needed to be ready for? They needed to be ready for the judgment. They needed to be ready for the moment that was to come. Again, we plan things and we think things. We make all kinds of testimonies of the world and of what the future holds, but how many of us know what is going to happen in a moment, let alone in a year or 10 years or 15 years? And so what best do we need to be doing right now? We best be holding fast our confession. We best be preparing for the judgment that is to come. And so as this judgment is coming down upon the people of Obadiah’s day, what again does Obadiah say to them in warning of this judgment that is to come? Oh, how Esau shall be searched out, how his hidden treasures shall be sought after.
All the men in your Confederacy shall force you to the border. The men at peace with you shall deceive you and prevail against you. Those who eat your bread shall lay a trap for you. No one is aware of it.
Again, the warning here, again, is clear for those with ears to hear. Those people that you trust will fail you. Now what people of those Obadiah have in mind? Well, the Edomites, see the Assyrians coming to destroy the northern kingdoms, and what do they think? Assyria’s our friend. We’ve made treaties with them. We’ve made agreements with them. We’ve made covenants with them. You know, we don’t have to worry about the Assyrians, and the Assyrians, of course, don’t think the same thing of the Edomites that the Edomites think of the Assyrians.
Again, we see something here about a warning that’s given in the book of Amos, concerning the way in which Christians and believers in general are to think about the agreements that they made. Again, can two walk together unless they are agreed? As Amos says that to the northern kingdom, he’s saying the same thing to them. You think Assyria’s your friend. You think that these people are going to save you, but what’s going to happen? Assyria is going to devour you.
Assyria is going to destroy you. And so as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, who should we be in agreement with? And who’s the only one we should be in agreement with? Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Because again, the difference between Jesus and the idols and wicked things in this world is that Jesus never lets us down, does he?
Jesus is never late, Jesus is never forgetful, Jesus keeps his covenant promises. And if we want to understand what a covenant keeper looks like in the Bible, who should we look to? Should we not look to the very God and the very Son of God? The second person Holy Trinity who has kept his word from the very beginning? And it was Jesus who made that promise to Eve in Genesis 3.15 that he would be born of her, that a seed would come, a seed would be born, a seed would be born of a virgin, a seed would live and die and be raised to the dead on the third day. And all who rest and trust in Jesus Christ know for a fact, for an assurance that he will never forsake that covenant. And so that’s why, again, as we see examples in the scriptures of covenant breaking, that we are meant then to immediately not look at our own covenant breaking hearts, but up to the Lord who has kept his covenant, who has kept that covenant of grace as we say it, who has made an agreement that the Father has made an agreement with the Son, that all from whom he died, he shall not lose. And as we work out our salvation, what are we meant to do according to the book of Ephesians? And what does it mean to work out our calling and our election in that way? Well, again, when you hear that word fear, right, we are meant to understand again the weird fear of God.
But how do we fear God?
We fear God as those who understand that he’s God and we’re not. That he is the Creator and we are the creature and that we are humbling ourselves before him. We are at his feet. We are at his, we’re tied into him by the union that we have with Jesus Christ. And if we are in the Son, then we are in the Father. And that’s what John 10 teaches. And so as that covenant is being kept by God, where must we look every morning, every afternoon, every evening to maintain this covenant peace, that we must be looking unto Christ? That we must be looking on to the one who is only able to keep that covenant. If we look to our own flesh, if we look to our own hearts, well, what do our hearts do? Our hearts deceive us. And if we want to keep the covenant, then we need to maintain the means of the grace of the covenant. And when we forsake the table of the Lord, we’re forsaking the covenant promise. But we’re forsaking the visible testimony of the keeping of the covenant on our behalf. In a sense, when we purposely skip out on the table, we’re trampling underfoot the covenant promise.
Because we don’t get to do this every week.
And we publicize when we’re going to have the Lord suffer months in advance. Do you think it’s wise for us to purposely schedule things, but we’re not here to eat and to drink at the table?
Well, hopefully I don’t have to complete that sentence. Because what Obadiah is telling the people at Edom this morning is that they have had lots and lots of time. They’ve had generations to repent, they’ve had generations to turn away from their idolatry, from their hatred of Israel, from their hatred of God, and they have now come to the end of God’s forbearance. And the judgment is at the door. Notice what it says in verse 8, Well, I not in that day, says the Lord, even destroy the wise men from Edom and understanding from the mountains of Esau. Then your mighty men, O team, shall be dismayed to the end that everyone from the mountains
of Esau will be cut off by slaughter. And those are not minor words.
We believe that God is a God of wrath and a God of judgment upon those who hate Him. This is the testimony of the Scriptures. And what’s the thing we see Jesus do in Revelation 19 as the end of days is here? Well, He is on a white horse with king of kings on His thigh, and what does He have in His hand? He has a sword, and what is that sword doing? It is threshing out the grapes of wrath, it is destroying the enemies, it is bringing this very slaughter that Obadiah prophesies about. And it’s the same thing that our brother Amos says as he follows these things up: Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has caught nothing? Will a bird fall into a snare on the earth where there is no trap for it? Will a snare spring up in the earth but it has caught nothing at all? If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in the city, will not the Lord have died?
Again, this is the God that Obadiah is warning the people of Edom about, and it’s certainly the God that Jesus Christ Himself has come to warn us about. But again, Obadiah has gospel grace for the Edomites as much as he has gospel grace for us. Because the offer is right in front of us, the offer is free, the offer is without requirements, the offer is without anything that you have to do in order to receive it. The offer is freely given to sinners. Come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ freely offers Himself to all men because all men are in need of repentance. All men are in need of the forgiveness of sins. All men are in need of the fixing of the covenant breaking of Adam. And the warning that Obadiah is giving to the Edomites is for all men as well. That’s why we must preach repentance, that’s why we must preach the gospel, that’s why we must preach Jesus Christ. And that’s why even those who have confessed faith in Jesus Christ need to hear the gospel. Because we need to be reminded how majestic the gift of the Son of God is for sinners. We need to remind in our own soul how much we need the grace of God each and every day. But there is no point in the Christian life where we kind of reach a pedestal where we can leave Jesus and his testimony behind and kind of walk in our own paths. For Solomon testifies we are not to walk in our own understanding. We are not to walk as Jeremiah says in the new paths, but Jeremiah 6.16 says we are to walk in the old paths. Because where do the old paths lead. The old paths lead to heaven. The old paths lead to the house of glory. The old paths lead to the place where God dwells. Because they’ve been well-worn by the saints who have gone before. And as we walk that narrow path, as we walk on the paths of righteousness for Christ’s name’s sake, what are we testifying as we walk? It’s the same thing that the psalmist testifies us. I walk through the valley of the shadow of death and we fear no evil why, for thou art with me. And why is God with us? For the simple reason that he’s our God.
And he’s called us out of darkness and into the light of his marvelous grace. And so we need to be in the Word. We need to be in church. We need to be in the sacraments. We need to be in these means of grace that we might be strengthened and that we might not backslide. We might not walk away. We might not lose this covenant blessing. For Jesus tells the disciples a very simple image in this. For what does Matthew chapter 7 testify to us? That many will come unto Jesus on the day of judgment and say, I cast out demons. I did all these things for you. And what will Jesus say to them? Begone from me. I never knew you. Those words are meant to cause us to consider once more our own testimony of faith. But it’s also to move us to remember the free offer that Christ has given unto us in his own life. That we are sinners. That we are sinners in need daily of the forgiveness of sins. We are in need of remembrance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are in need of remembrance of the fact that we are to be as our Savior. Who in his day of trial did what but called out unto his Father. And testified once more that his faith, that his trust, that it was comfort was not even in himself. But it was in the promise that the Father had made unto him.
And so here the word of warning this morning from the prophet Obadiah. Again the day of judgment is here. The man is at the door. And are we ready? Are we prepared? Or do we think that we have more time? You know there was a young, not young, but a man who once thought that. His name was Felix. And he told Paul, I’ll consider it again tomorrow. And Felix is in hell now. Because he did not take advantage of the opportunities beforehand. And so as we come to the table, as we consider again the testimony of grace again, let us consider again the covenant promise. Let’s consider again the free blessing of Jesus Christ. And let’s consider again what it means that we are kept in the covenant by our Savior. Amen.
Let us pray.