Postcards

Great.

Oberila, starting from verse 1. The vision of Oberdire. This is what the sovereign laws said about Eden. We have heard a message from the lord, an envoy was sent to the nations to say, rise, let us go against her for battle. See, I will make you small among the nations.

You will be utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you. You who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights. You who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground? Though you saw like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there, I will bring you down declares the lord.

If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night, oh, what a devastate what what a disaster awaits you? Would you not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes? But how e sword will be ransacked, his hidden treasures pillaged. All your allies will force you to the border.

Your friends would deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you, and you will not detect it. In that day declares the lord. Will I not destroy the wise men of edom? Those of understanding in the mountains of e of Eso.

Your warriors to man will be terrified, and everyone in Esoor's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. You'll be destroyed forever. On the day you stood a lot, aloof, while strangers carried off his wealth, and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. You were like 1 of them.

You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor a joyce over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast so much are in the day of their trouble. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster nor sees their wealth in the day of their disaster. You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives. They'll hand over their survivors in the day of their trouble. The day of the lord is near for all nations.

As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. Just as you drank on my holy hill, all the nations will drink continually, They will drink and drink, and be as if they have never been. But on Mount Zion will be deliverance. It will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance.

Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame. Eso will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Eso. The lord has spoken. People from negev will occupy the mountains of Eso.

The people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Sumeria. And Benjamin will possess Gilead. This company of Israelite exiles, who are in Canon, will possess the land of Zerephath. The exile from Jerusalem, who are in Sarah Frad, will possess the town of Naghev.

Delievers will go up from Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Isor, and the kingdom will be the lords. Tom. Alright. Thank you, Leon. Good evening, everybody.

Nice to see you. And, if you could keep that little book of obadiah open in front of you, that would be good. And, it's lovely to have some new people who are with us this evening. I've spoken to some who are, here for the first time, and it's great to have you. If we haven't met already, my name's Tom, and I'm 1 of the pastors here, and greetings to anyone who's joining us online as well this evening.

As Leon said, we are beginning this new series this evening, which which we've called postcards. And basically what we're gonna do for the next 4 or 5 weeks or so is look at some of the shortest bible books in the bible, just books that are only really a chapter long. And so their postcard length are not letter length or essay length, their postcard length. That's the idea. But it did strike me about 5 minutes ago.

I don't I I assume people do still send postcards and know what postcards are. Suddenly, Vena does. Vena, did you send any this summer? You did. Anyone else sent postcards this this summer?

Not loads. Not loads. I have to say, but I I get the sense that people at least know what what a postcard is. So anyway, that's the idea. The sort of sort of information you can get on the on the back of a postcard.

Now, normally, with postcards, and I think this is fairly obvious, when you write 1 and send it to your family, you tend to just include the the nice bits or the best bits of your holiday. So you would write, dear so and so, you know, arrive safely having a great time. Cottage is really nice. The weather's great. You know, we did this activity.

The pool was lovely. We're going fossil hunting tomorrow. All these sort of fun things that that that we might do, and and then we're wish you were here or, looking forward to seeing you. You know, that that's the kind of content. It's not a nice positive content that goes into a postcard.

But I want you to imagine this evening, a a really bad postcard, a really negative postcard. And so it arrives on your doorstep, and it says, you know, dear, mom, or, you know, dear, dear brother, we're having a terrible time. Our flight was delayed. The taxi that was supposed to take us from the airport didn't show up. When we finally got into town, I was pick pocketed within the first 5 minutes.

The hotel is filthy. There are bed bugs everywhere. There is no pool after all. Wish you glad you aren't here. You know, and just re really, really negative.

Try to picture a really negative postcard. And the reason I want you to do that is because as we come to this little book of obadiah, this postcard of obadiah, things are really, really bad. For god's people. This is, in some ways, the the lowest that they have ever been in, in their history. So in 587 BC, the Babylonians, they were the superpowers of the day, swept into Judah and Jerusalem, the southern kingdom, and, they just annihilated it.

They completely wiped it out. I haven't got time to show you all the different texts, but if you read the old testament story, that's what happened. They, you know, their town was flattened. Their temple was flattened. People were killed.

They were kidnapped. They were destroyed. They were pillaged. They were looted. It was a total disaster.

Total disaster for them. In 5 8 7 BC. The Lord had promised that that was gonna happen. If they didn't repent, they were gonna come. It was gonna be a judgment, but they didn't repent.

And so god was good to his word, and it came, and it was a disaster. And perhaps worse than that, for god's people, the edomites, the nation of edom, were involved with the Babylonians in that destruction. Now, we're gonna see later on why that was so galling for for for the people of, god's people. But that's what you need to know that it was the Babylonians and the edomites together who cooperated in order to wipe out, this southern kingdom. And so things are really bad for them.

And as we come to Obedaya, what we need to understand is that this vision comes at a time when all of those enemies were still at large. Okay? So the Babylonians and the edomites are flourishing at the point that Ober Dyer receives his vision. And so you imagine that as a postcard, you know, dear, you know, dear, sir, and so. You know, our temple has been destroyed.

Most of us have been kidnapped. I don't know what's gonna happen to us. The edomites have joined in. It's a de it's a disaster. It's a disaster.

You know, it's a really bad, it's a really bad sounding postcard. But then into that, at this dark day, we get verse 1. As you have a look with verse 1, with me, the vision of obadiah, the vision of obadiah. And so what we're gonna see here is that god's word is going to come to god's people when they are at their worst. And that's great, isn't it?

God's word is gonna come to god's people when they are at their worst. God is speaking. Now we know very little about this man, obadiah. In fact, if you turn to the back of your NIV Bibles, there's a Bible guides. You don't have to do it now, but another time.

There's a Bible guide for each book. And the first sentence for obadiah is is the shortest book in the old testament, and we know absolutely nothing about the prophet. And so that's the same. We, you know, we know very little about him. We don't know who Oberdye was.

We don't know much about his, his history, but we do know that his name means servant of Yahway. This man, whoever he was, is a servant of Yahweh in these dark days, and then he gets this vision from the lord. And basically, the essence of this vision or the essence of this little book is those words in the beginning of verse 15. The day of the lord is near. The day of the lord is near.

And if you've ever read any of the old testament prophetic literary before, you'll know that the day of the lord is a recurring and massive theme in the Old Testament, that the prophets look to head to this day when god would come with undeniable power, and he would bring about judgment for the enemies of god salvation for the people of god, and that combination of god arriving in judgment and salvation would be called the day of the lord. It happened time and time again in history, and still we await a great and final day of the lord. God comes in judgment and salvation. That's really what it's all about. And so this is the comfort that god's people are going to receive in their darkest days.

It may not happen tomorrow, and it may not happen next week. But god is going to come. And when he does, it'll mean judgment for his enemies and salvation for his people. And when we look at the vision together, and we've just had the whole thing read, what you see is that there are really going to be 2 great reversals or 1 great reversal that has 2 parts. The the mighty and the strong are going to be humbled and bought low.

The exiled and the oppressed are going to be raised up and restored. That's that's the great reversal that is gonna happen on this day of the lord. And so those are the 2 headings that we're gonna have this evening. We're gonna look at the first side of the great reversal, the mighty will fall. And then we're gonna look at the second side of the great reversal, and the oppressed will be restored.

That's that's basically the message in in a nutshell. And so let's look together under that first heading then, the mighty are gonna fall. Verse 1, the vision of servant of yahweh. This is what the sovereign lord says about edom. Now we're gonna have a think about edom in just a moment, but let's just survey the book together and notice what god says is going to happen to the nation of edom.

This book is primarily about edom and what is gonna happen to them. Verse 2, see, I will make you small among the nations. You will be utterly despised. Verse 8 and 9, in that day declares the lord, will I not destroy the wise men of edom? Those of understanding in the mountains of Esaw?

Your warriors' team will be terrified, and everyone in E source mountains will be cut down in the slaughter. Verse 5 and 6. If thieves come to you, if robbers in the night, are what disaster awaits you? Would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?

But how e sword will be ransacked? His hidden treasures pillaged. So you get a sense of the language, and what god is promising is gonna happen to the nation of edom. And it's very visceral, isn't it? You you can imagine all all these different images.

In verse 5 and 6, you've got these robbers that are gonna come, and they're gonna steal everything. It's not normally what happens when people get robbed, is it? If you've ever had your home broken into or your car broken into, the thieves might steal 1 or 2 things that are particularly valuable, but normally they'll leave everything else. Won't they? They might take your laptop, but they will leave your sofas behind.

Or they might take your jewelry, but they will leave your books behind. You know, they they take a few things that are valuable but when esau meets the judgment of god, everything is gonna be taken. The whole lot is gonna be pillaged. They're gonna be left with empty room from top to bottom. All of it.

They're gonna be totally wiped out totally destroyed. That's the flavor of the judgment that is gonna come upon this nation of edom. And notice when it happens to them, when it does eventually happen, it'll be a total shock. Did you get that sense in verse 3? You who live in the clefts of the rocks, and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, who can bring me down to the ground.

Though you saw like the eagle, and make your nest among the stars. From there, I will bring you down declares the lord. They are saying to themselves who can bring me down to the ground? It is just unthinkable that they would be destroyed and they would be wiped out. This is edom, and they're saying to us at themselves, we are edom.

Look at our understanding, and look at the wisdom that we've generated over the years. We understand the secrets of the world and the great philosophies. We know what is right to do. We've got the learning on our side. We've got a great army.

Look what we just did to Jacob and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, We annihilated them. Our mighty men did that to them. We're we're like the eagles who are flying high and safe above all predators. And apparently that that sort of was true of them. The edomites lived in a very mountainous region, about 1500 meters above sea level.

And with that kind of elevation, came protection. You know, who who will see everyone. They can't they can't get us. We like the eagles. We make our nest in the stars.

And that's hyperbole even for an eagle, isn't it? You know, an eagle might make its nest at the top of the mountain, but for an eagle to make its nest in the start, that's the highest of the high of the high. There is no way that we are going to be brought down by anyone or anything. It's just impossible. As I was preparing, it reminded me of that scene in Daniel chapter 4.

You remember when Never could neza the king of Babylon? Is on his rooftop garden, and he looks out over his kingdom. And as he surveys all that he has made, he says Babylon, Babolon, Babylon the great, fruit of my own hands. This is the kingdom that I have made. And the Bible says that just as soon as those words left his lips, the voice of the lord came to him and said, oh, nebuchan, there's a you will be humbled.

And you will be sent on all fours to live like an animal until you acknowledge that the most high is sovereign over the kingdoms of men. It would have been unthinkable for him in that position as he looks over Golden Babylon to think that he would be brought down, but he was mistaken, and so was edom. They would be brought down. And you know, this is a pattern that we really do see throughout the whole Bible. When the judgment of god comes upon the enemies of god, very rarely do they think, do you know, we saw that coming?

Yeah, we always knew that was gonna happen. We we we we've always thought we were pretty vulnerable and fragile. We we've had this coming for a long time. They they don't it's a it's a shock to them. They don't understand it given how strong and wise they were how could this happen?

And so the question is, what what what pulled the wool over their eyes. What has made them so secure in their position? Well, the answer's at the top of verse 3. The pride of your heart has deceived you. The pride of your heart has deceived you.

And isn't that the truth? That in every age and all across the world, pride makes the sinful human heart feel invincible. We look at our learning and we look at our progress in our technologies, and we look at our cities, and we feel safe inside our sin. We feel safe. Who could bring us down?

Now just occasionally, like during the the coronavirus pandemic, that charade dissolves before our eyes. Just a little bit, and we realize for a moment in time that we are far more vulnerable to forces bigger than ourselves than we thought, that the things we feel so secure in can be pulled like a rug from beneath our feet without warning. But the problem is we don't learn very well from those sorts of things. In fact, just as soon as they pass, we begin to feel safe in our sin all over again. In fact, we even congratulate ourselves for what we've done to survive.

Verse 3, the pride of your heart has deceived you. That was Eden. They thought they were so safe, but they were wrong. I don't know if you saw in the news this week, the the story of that, that Indian lady in Kuala Lumpur. She was she was it was quite quite a big headline earlier in the week.

She was walking along. I think she was on the way to a temple or something like that. And as she was walking, a huge sinkhole just opened beneath her, and she plunged 8 meters down, into the ground. This sinkhole just opened up in the road. And, for the last I saw, I don't know what's happening up, but the last I saw, they'd abandoned the search for her because they weren't gonna be able to get to her.

Amazing, isn't it? You're walking along. The road is so stable? I mean, who thinks that? Who would think it?

You know, you're just walking, going about your business. The road is stable, looks strong, strong concrete. You're on your way to the temple, going about your business, and all of a sudden this sinkhole opens beneath you, and you're down, and you disappeared. That was edom. That was edom.

They were so it they were so safe. They were walking along. They were so stable, but a sinkhole was opening up beneath their feet. And from their high place, god was gonna bring them down. And in verse 10, we see the reason for all of this.

Why is this going to happen? Verse 10, because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame. You will be destroyed forever. On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem. You were like 1 of them.

You should not gloat over your brother in the day of his misfortune nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction nor boast so much in the day of their trouble. You should not march through the gates of my people in the day of their disaster. Why was this judgment going to come on them because of the violence they did against their brother, Jacob? And in order to understand the depth of the sadness here. We do need to just side step for a quick history lesson.

Because this mention of Esaw and Jacob and Idam and Judah. This is very significant family in bible history. And so if we were to spin back hundreds and hundreds of years, we would have Abraham, you know, Abraham father of the faith. We would have Isaac. Isaac Marries Rebecca and in Rebecca's womb, she gives birth to Jacob and Esaw.

There are 2 twin boys in her womb, and even in the womb, the sibling rivalry is getting going. You know, they're wrestling, they're grabbing each other. They're competing for preeminence. You know, that that sibling rivalry is going on. And then throughout the Bible, you see that that rivalry only intensifies and gets worse.

So Jacob and Eesaw from the beginning are not friends. That's what we that's what we learned. There's a sibling rivalry here. It's interesting when I was preparing this, you know, when I first started reading this book of Over Dyer about a week or so ago, I I actually had, and I don't think I have ever wanted to include Liam and Noel Gallagher in a sermon before. And I was thinking sibling rivalry sibling rivalry.

Yeah. What what what might people know? Is it absolutely true, Nolan, Liam. And then 2 days later, they announced they were getting back together and burying the hatchet and going on tour together. And I thought this is not fair.

I mean, you know, I've never used them before. The 1 time I wanna use them, they get back together. And then I was thinking, man, what power do I have to influence global events? You know, what else if I think about it? It's, might change in the world.

And that's why I'll be brought down because the pride of my heart is is deceiving it. You know? Anyway, I was gonna but anyway, the the point is these are these are 2 brothers that that that that weren't friends at all. And you can read about their story in Genesis 25. And as I say, the further you go, the more intense and serious the rivalry gets.

And really, things start to hot up in numbers chapter 20. And if you would decide to turn there, you'll you'll see what I mean. So numbers 20, you can turn back in your bibles. It won't appear on the screen. I'm afraid.

So you'll have to you'll have to go there. Numbers 20, this is page 1 5 7 in your church bibles, page 1 5 7. And you'll see how this, this rivalry is playing out. And we'll pick it up in verse 14. So this is after god's people have left Egypt they're hoping to get to the promised land.

They're trying to get there. And here's what happens. Notice edom. Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of edom. So this is their historic brothers because the edomites descended from Esaw.

These are their historic brothers. This is what your brother Israel says. You know about all the hardships that have come on us. Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians ill treated us and our ancestors.

But when we cried out to the lord, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now we're here at Kadesh a town on the edge of your territory. Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard or drink water from any well. We would just travel along the king's highway.

We won't turn to the right. We won't turn to the left until we pass through your territory. We're just going straight through. But Edam answered you may not pass through here. If you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.

The Israelites replied, we will go along the main road. And if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we'll pay for it. Look, anything we take, we're gonna pay back. We just we only wanna pass through on foot. Nothing else.

Again, they answered, you may not pass through. Then edom came out against their brothers. This is their histones at their brothers. They shared a womb together, not that long ago. They came out with a large and powerful army Since Eden refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.

And on and on, it goes through the old testament. And even if you spring over the top of obadiah into the new testament, you see this rivalry continues. So herod, the great, and the herods, they were idimaeans, and the idimaeans were descended from the edomites. So herod the great is an edomaean descended from the edomites, And what has he tried to do? He tries to use his power to kill Israel's greatest son, the lord Jesus Christ.

And so this rivalry continues, and that is what we see here in Over Dyer. Have a look me at verse 10 again. On that day, you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth. Verse 12, you should not gloat over your brother. Verse 13, you should not march through the gates of my people.

Verse 14, you should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives nor hand over their survivors. And so this is the tragedy, isn't it? When Judah, the historic brother of Eden, was in his most needy moment His brothers did nothing to help him. In fact, they joined in the slaughter. They joined in the pillage.

And they joined in the destruction of their own brothers. I was trying to think of a waiter, you know, that has been in in the news the past few weeks. You've seen all these these riots and this looting that's been going on. You know, these are people who who are going down to the high streets that have served them so well over the years. High streets where they've done their shopping and bought stuff for their homes.

And they are looting and smashing the windows of the very shops that have been serving them for all these years because there's an opportunity, you know, quickness, man. You know, this that's that's your own high street. Those are your own shops. You're looting. Well, you think about brothers.

You know, I've got a brother. We're 18 months apart. You know, throughout our life, we've had arguments and spats and sibling rivalry, but you know, don't you? If you've got a brother or sister, that if you were to see that brother or sister in real trouble, you know, if someone was beating them up on the side of the road, you wouldn't just cross over the other side, pretend it wasn't them, put your fingers in your ears and turn your eyes away, neither would you go and join in and and lend your own foot and fist to beat up your sibling, you would do what you could in order to protect them. You wouldn't join in and beat up your own flesh and blood and then go have a pint with the people who were doing it.

And yet, that's what the Unomites did. When Babylon came to their historic brothers, they didn't just stand to 1 side. We get the strong impression here that they joined in to get what they could in the disaster. It's tragic, isn't it? That's where we are.

According to god, judgment will come on them for that decision. First 10, because of the violence against your brother, you will be covered with shame. And again, did you notice what a shock it will be when this finally happens? Look with me at verse 6. But how e sword will be ransacked?

His hidden treasures pillaged. All your allies will force you to the border. Your friends will deceive and overpower you. Those who eat your bread will set a trap for you. But you will not detect it.

In verse 3, we're told that edom is deceived by his own pride. In verse 7, we're told that edom is deceived by his so called friends. 1 day those they have joined forces with will turn against them. And you know in history, that is exactly what happened. In 553 BC, that edomites were destroyed by an alliance of the Navitarians and the Babylonians.

The very people they joined in with in the end betrayed them. And they were deceived. And so you see when Babylon was focused on destroying Judah, how clever it would have seemed to make an alliance with them. They're the superpower of the day. They're destroying our brothers.

Let's grab on their coattails and ride with them to victory. Let's feast with them. These are the strong ones. Let's make an alliance with them. But verse 7, 1 day, those very allies will force you to the border, and your so called friends will deceive you and overpower you.

The people that promised them security in this life betrayed them on the day of the lord. The people who promised them victory in this life betrayed them on the day of the lord. And still it is today. You see Satan, and we were having to think about this this morning, Satan doesn't care what alliances we make, or who we trust in, just as long as it's not the lord Jesus Christ, because he knows that all other ground is sinking sand. He knows that.

He doesn't care who we trust in, what alliances we make in this life. He knows that they will all betray us and let us down 1 day just as long as it's not Christ. Perhaps like an illustrate with a a parable. You know, the parable of the rich fool that Jesus tells in the new testament. Here we have a man who was just myopic.

He had he had 1 vision in life and that was to eat, drink, and be merry, and to take life easy. And in order to do that, he amassed wealth. He built bigger bonds for himself. He grew his bank account. Bigger bonds.

Bigger bonds. And then 1 day, the lord says to him, This very night, your life will be demanded of you, and then who will get what you have stored up for yourself. You fall. And so here was a man. Who made alliances in this life with wealth, thinking that they would be faithful to him, thinking that his riches would not betray him.

And yet in the end, that was proved to be a faulty alliance a failed alliance. And so we have to deal with the question here. What are we trusting in? What are we trusting in now, which seems so stable but may well betray us in the day of the lord. We all have choices to make.

What are we gonna trust him? Who are we gonna trust him? Are we gonna trust just in the things of this life? And in our own understanding, and in our own wisdom, or the treasures that we can amass, the things of this world, the experiences we wanna have, are we gonna place all of our hopes and faith in those things, which when we need the most will prove to be false alliances because verse 7 is as true now as it's ever been. Your friends will receive and overpower you.

And so you see that the mighty would fall on this day of the lord. The pride of the heart deceived, the false alliances deceived and they would fall. But secondly, second side of this great reversal is what would happen to the people of god. And so the second heading, which is the shorter of the 2, is the exile will be restored. Have a look with me at verse 17, the other side of this.

But on Mount Zion will be deliverance. It will be holy, and Jacob will possess his inheritance Jacob will be a fire and Joseph a flame. Esaw will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him. There will be no survivors from Esaw. The lord has spoken.

People from the negev will occupy the mountains of Eaw and people from the foothills will possess the land of the Philistines. They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead. This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canon will possess the land as far as Sarafath, The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Seth Harad will possess the towns of the negev. Delievers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Israel and the kingdom will be the lords. Now all of those names there and places and locations.

They don't mean an awful lot to us now, but it's it's an old testament way of saying that you are going to have everything from John Oates to Land's end. That's basically what it means, you know, right up in the north, right down in the mouth. Lower soft in the east, I think is the most easterly town. The westerly town is hotly debated and quite controversial. I don't know what it is.

But anyway, the point is the whole the whole of the UK is gonna be yours. It's all gonna be yours. Right in the north. Right in you're gonna possess everything. All gonna be yours.

And what a reversal of fortunes this really is? You see for edom to be bought down would be unthinkable. But for these exiles, driven out poor, almost completely annihilated for them to come back to such a position, to such a possession, only a miracle could accomplish that. And that's true today, isn't it? Think about some of our brothers and sisters all over the world, you know, in persecuted lands where their churches might just be a tiny little ember, just 1 glowing ember that feels like it's about to go out.

On the day of the lord, that will be breathed and every ember will be a flame, and they will take they will they will possess this new creation land that the lord has promised. That's what god is saying to them here. My people might be an ember now, but I will turn them into flames. And there is a sense in which that that did happen in history. You know, god's people did come back from exile.

They did re inherit the land. The temple was rebuilt. There was a partial fulfillment of this. But in the prophetic writings, and we see this all over, there there was a glory and a hope here that reached much further forward than just a temporal fulfillment. And that's there in the language of verse 21, isn't it?

Delievers will go up on Mount Zion govern the mountains of Esaw, and here's the great prophetic hope, which stretches all the way from creation to new creation, and the kingdom will be the law Again, I think 1 of the best places to go for illustrations here is the Bible itself. You know, if you think about nebuchadnezzar's dream coming back to him in Daniel 2, do you remember that dream he has? He has this dream of an enormous dazzling statue, and there's clay in it, and there's bits of silver in it, and there's bronze in it, there's big, impressive statue. And we come to understand that that statue stands for the kingdoms of men That's the kingdom's men, and they look glorious, and they look powerful. It's dazzling, and it's big.

Those are the kingdoms of men, the political kingdoms of this world. But then we're told that a great rock is cut, not cut by human hands. And this rock comes rolling down into the statue demolishes it flat and then grows until it fills the whole world. And what does Daniel say that rock represents? Daniel 2 44, the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed.

That is the prophetic hope for god's people that was promised in obadiah and promised all the way throughout the old testament that this great kingdom would come that would transcend the political and ethnic boundaries that we know and would fill over all and through all. The kingdom of god And that is the kingdom that was established by the lord Jesus Christ. When in Mark chapter 1, he begins his public ministry by saying, the time has come. The kingdom of god is near. Repent and believe the good news.

That is the kingdom promised in verse 21. And it's interesting because as you go through the new testament, you see the message of this kingdom kingdom of god beginning to take hold in the world, and it really does rise far above all the political and ethnic kingdoms of the day and even begins to include historic enemies in it. Historic enemies come together and form a kind of new humanity, a new brotherhood, a new sisterhood in Christ. And we do get the impression that even edomites would come and be part of that new humanity in Christ. Just have a look with me.

1 last cross reference to mark 3 verses 7 to 8. It is quite hard to follow the trail of edom. I think because their destruction was so total, but we do get a sense that these idumeans descended from the edomites, were still around. And just look who comes to hear the lord Jesus Christ in mark 3, verse 7, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idia Mayor, and the regions across the Jordan and around tyre and sidon.

And although it doesn't say for certain, I think the strong suggestion is that these descendants of edom would hear about the kingdom of the lord Jesus Christ and become part of that great kingdom foreshadowed here in the book of obadiah. That at least fits with what we find in the rest of the new testament, doesn't it? Where we see the church of Jesus Christ full of people who at 1 time absolutely hated each other and participated in each other's destruction, Jews, and gentile Civians, and barbarians, slave, and free who have all had the wall of hostility broken down and are now part of this new kingdom of god, which has made historic enemies friends at the foot of the cross. And by the work of the lord Jesus Christ. And it is him that can make this happen.

The lord Jesus Christ is the 1 who builds this kingdom. So if you have a look at verse 21 again, in obadiah, that closing verse. There is something, a bit unusual about it, really. Verse 21, deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esaw, and the kingdom will be the lord's. Now why does it opt for the word deliverers, which, by the way, in the ESV is actually saviors.

Saviors will go up from Mount Zion to govern the mountains of ESog. Given all of the military language we've seen in this book, wouldn't it make more sense to say commanders will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esoar? Governors will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esoar. Soldiers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esoar. That's not the word the author opts for.

The author opts for a deliverer word, a savior word. Now why would that be because it is through the work of a savior that this new kingdom will be built and not through the weapons and the old ways. And you know as you think about the life of the lord Jesus Christ, doesn't it mirror the experience of Judah here in this book? Who else was betrayed by his brother? Who else was handed over by his brother to his enemies?

Who else was gloat over in the moment of his desperation. Who else was looted and pillaged and made poor in the moment of his suffering? Who else had lots cast for his clothes and for his possession It's the lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? The man of sorrows had a day when he too was utterly despised, but you know the story, don't you? That on Easter Sunday morning, there was a great reversal of fortunes.

When that ember, the lord Jesus Christ who went out on good Friday fanned into flame on Easter Sunday morning, and now the kingdom is his, and the kingdom is his forever. And since then, the church has been looking forward to that great and final day of the lord. When we will 1 day all together, hear the angels say, the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever. That is the fulfillment of verse 21, the kingdom will be the lord's. And so as I said at the beginning, with all postcards, there is often a a kind of invitation of sorts you know, wish you were here or, look forward to seeing you.

And the invitation here in obadiah is to consider where we are going to be on that great day of the lord. Where are you gonna be? Where are we gonna be? Because when Christ returns, there will be a dramatic reversal like we have read about here in obadiah. If we have trusted in ourselves, if we've been deceived by the pride of our own hearts, or if we have made alliances with the things of this world, then we will be brought down.

And clearly, the language of obadiah is not 1 of, forgive and forget. It's not 1 of just letting off. It's not 1 of sweeping under the carpet. It's not 1 of letting bygones be bygones. The language here is of wrath and payback and justice.

And so what are we gonna trust in? Will it be those things, or will we repent of every false trust and look to the lord Jesus Christ who bore all of that wrath in our place? So that we, as forgiven children of god, might inherit this glorious new creation and be part of the singing people who say the kingdom of our lord. And of his Christ is here, and he will reign forever and ever. In just a minute, we're gonna sing together the mystery of the cross I cannot comprehend the agonies of cavalry.

You, the perfect holy 1, crushed your son, who drank the bitter cup reserved for me. That cup is the cup of god's wrath that was poured out on Eden that was poured out on Babylon, but was emptied by the lord Jesus Christ on the cross for us. So so that if we will repent of our pride and repent of our false alliances and trust in him alone, then we will not have to be part of that terrible bringing down. But be part of those people who rise up to inherit the promises of their god. That's obadiah's postcard, and it ends with that invitation, where will you be on the day of great reversals, where are you gonna be?

Let's pray together. Heavenly father, we, we confess that we we are so easily deceived by the pride of our own hearts and that we are deceived by the false allies that we have in this life that that we build bridges with things and we trust things and we partner with the things of this world, which appear so stable to us. And yet as we have seen today, those so called friends will in the end abandon and betray us. And so we must look tonight together to the 1 who will never ever deceive us, and to the 1 who will never ever betray us, to the lord Jesus Christ. And we thank you father that truly we know that the kingdom belongs to the lord Jesus Christ.

It is his kingdom. And we thank you that all over the world, the church is uniting people who perhaps would be enemies, in all other occasions, and in all other worlds, they would be enemies, and yet they can lay down their hostilities and be part of the church of the lord Jesus Christ. And we want to see that please more and more in our own setting here in Kingston. And so father, we pray that as we live our lives, you would help us to trust in this great day of the lord, to trust your promises, to prepare for this day, to preach in light of this day. And we ask all of these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.