We've all been hurt. We all have scars. And through a relationship with Jesus Christ,
we can all overcome and we can all be healed. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
Welcome back to the sanctuary, everyone. You know, sometimes things happen and we get downright angry.
The adrenaline starts pumping. We're seeing red. We're ready to chew bubble gum and kick.
Well, you know how the rest of that goes.
When this happens, it seems like there's always at least one person out there though that's trying to be the voice of reason saying,
let God sort it out. They'll get theirs.
Yet, when people reference the Bible, they do so from a vengeful viewpoint and tend to gravitate towards Matthew 538,
in which the Bible says, you've heard that it was said, eye for an eye and tooth for tooth.
But in their want for revenge, that need for vengeance, they tend to ignore the rest of that passage,
which goes on to talk about not retaliating and to actually love your enemies.
So what else does God have to say about this?
Well, we'll get the answer to this question and more today as we look at the Book of Obadiah.
Now, of course, I have a little background for you.
One, Obadiah is the shortest book in the Old Testament. It is not the shortest book in the Bible though.
And there's actually very little that is really known about Obadiah.
His name means servant or worshipper of the Lord.
We know he was a prophet and that he warned Edom of God's impending judgment.
The purpose of this book is to show that God does indeed judge those who have inflicted harm on his people.
The original audience of this were the Edomites and the people of Judah in the southern kingdom.
As we'll see when we get into it here in a moment, this book uses a very distinct and poetic language.
Specifically, the form that it's written in is referred to as a dirge of doom.
That phrase in itself makes you think of pirates, doesn't it?
Arrrrr. You know, historically...
Okay, bad joke. I know.
Historically, Edom had been a thorn in the Israelite side for a really long time.
As a matter of fact, their issues date all the way back to the Book of Genesis.
The country of Israel descended from Jacob and Edom descended from his twin brother Esau.
Depending on where you're at, you might have even heard that as Esau. That's perfectly fine.
Both of these two brothers, they were at odds with each other while they were still in the womb.
They hadn't even come into the world yet and they were already fighting with each other.
Later, Esau would sell his birthright to Jacob and Jacob would steal Isaac's blessing from Esau.
For those of you who aren't aware, Jacob was their father.
We'll go into that later on and we'll go into more depth on that whole situation in a later time when we go through that specific book.
Even the kings of Israel continued to have issues with Edom for generations.
Saul in 1 Samuel, David in 2 Samuel, Solomon in 1 Kings, Jehoram in 2 Kings, and Ahaz in 2 Chronicles.
It doesn't end there as we're going to see today. It just kept going and going.
Snowball started rolling downhill and it got out of control real quickly.
Join me now as we go through this. I am going to refer to it as chapter 1 or 1 even though the whole book is just one chapter.
Obadiah 1 and we're going to be looking at verses 1 through 3.
Obadiah 1-3, the Bible says, the vision of Obadiah, this is what the sovereign Lord says about Edom.
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 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?
So, the war flag has been hoisted.
Now, looking at this, Edom's capital was in Sella, which is what is being referred to here in verse 3 where it says clefts of rocks.
Sella, which later on may have become Petra, it was thought to be an impenetrable location because it was built into rock cliffs.
The only way in was to go through this narrow channel.
The Edomites had a choke point set up or times of conflict, this is what we call a no man's land.
That is typically easy to defend.
Not only did they have the choke point, but they also had the high ground.
It is an ideal situation from a military strategic standpoint.
Because of this, the Edomites were very prideful.
They had a bit of a chip on their shoulder.
They were very arrogant.
Their arrogance would ultimately be their downfall.
They were told, hey, people are going to hate you now.
You are done.
We see this today.
People will take that same blind faith that the Edomites had and the security of this situation and where they lived.
People today will take their blind faith and put it into weak managers, possessions, governments, and politicians for safety.
And many other things.
But you understand what I am saying.
I will remind you, people will disappoint us.
Possessions can be taken or destroyed.
Or they just fall apart after time.
Governments and politicians are weak.
Unstable.
And often, really today more often than not, self-serving entities.
They don't care really about anyone but themselves.
The only one who we can really put our trust in and know that we can count on at all times is God.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The Bible tells us so.
And we know this.
So continuing on in Obadiah, verses 4 through 9, the Bible says,
Though you soar like an 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 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 Esau 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 that day, declares the Lord, will I not destroy you, excuse me,
Will I not destroy the wise men of Edom, those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
Your warriors, Temin, will be terrified,
And everyone in Esau's mountains will be cut down in the slaughter.
Again, the sin of pride was a huge underlying factor.
As a matter of fact, if you go to Proverbs 16,
Proverbs 16, 18, the Bible says, Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Now, God didn't pass judgment out of spite or out of vengeance.
I'll remind you, God's perfect in all ways, and that includes his morality.
Unlike us here on earth, he's perfectly moral.
Instead, God, he passed his judgment in relation to the sins that were being committed and had been committed.
It wasn't just that current generation, but multiple generations of sin, and they were getting worse.
Like I said, it's like a snowball rolling downhill, just bigger and bigger and more and more out of control.
The Edomites, they murdered people, so they were going to get murdered.
They robbed people, so God was going to send people to rob them in return.
They used people and took advantage of them.
So as we're seeing here, God was going to even have the people who they believed were their friends take advantage of them as well.
So everything that they had been doing for generations and trying to one-up on, all that was coming back to them.
So even when Judah and Edom weren't in conflict,
Edom still went out of its way to either encourage others to attack them,
or if others were already attacking them, then they would aid those enemies, or worse yet, they stood by and laughed.
They stood by and laughed while Judah was being attacked by others, such as when Babylon invaded.
It was very much where they stood back like in The Simpsons.
They just stood back like Nelson.
Ha ha! They just laughed. They pointed and laughed.
They enjoyed it. It was good wholesome entertainment as far as they were concerned.
But as Christians, we should not laugh at the strife of others.
This is a hard one to remember, especially in the heat of a moment, but we shouldn't be laughing at the strife of others.
The attitude of, oh well, they had it coming. That's not right.
Instead, we should be praying on their behalf.
We tend to justify our own sin like that, don't we?
Even when we know something isn't right, we still try to justify it.
Oh no, it's okay because of this or because of that.
The whole idea that someone doesn't know isn't going to hurt them, or oh, I'm not going to get caught, or no one's going to care.
Well, you know what? God knows and God cares.
Just like Edom and Bethefil, we'll have to answer to God for those sins as well.
A humble person, when you humble yourself, you're much more secure than that boastful or proud person that's out there beating their own chest.
When we humble ourselves and we confess our sins to the Lord, this allows us to have a better view of the big picture,
a better perspective of ourselves and the world that is around us.
As you notice there, there's also a point there where it talked about the wise men because Edom was known for its wise men.
However, it didn't matter how wise they were because regardless of everything that they knew, it was only of the world.
They were still very ignorant because not only did they turn on God, but they mocked him.
They mocked him. You've seen this in your own life, the whole book smarts versus street smarts, if you would.
Even without that, we've all worked with somebody, we've all known somebody that thought a whole lot more highly of themselves,
and they probably should. They're quick to shoot down any mention of the Church of God if you were to try to bring it up to them.
Like, oh, I don't like organized religion and all that kind of stuff.
They always have something out there, some kind of opinion that they're just set in stone on.
They just know they're right and everybody else is ignorant.
They like to think they're in control of their own lives, but they don't realize that they're not.
They're being controlled and they're being manipulated and they're being driven by the devil and moving closer and closer to hell all the time.
They're just blinded to it. They're going and they're going happily because they don't know.
Lamps for the slaughter. So again, you come across these people, pray for them. They need it. Pray for them.
As Christians, that's on us. We need to be praying for them.
Let's go back to the word now. Obediah 1, verses 10 through 11 here.
So the Bible says, 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 one of them.
What Obediah is talking about here is that when Judah was in need because they were being attacked,
such as like when the Babylonians invaded, the Edomites, who could have helped, instead chose just to let it happen.
Like I said, they didn't care. They encouraged people to attack.
And they watched as Judah was absolutely devastated and destroyed.
Not only that, but they had an insult to injury because they waited until everything was over.
And then they went in and they plundered everything that was left.
So if there was something that hadn't already been taken by these other attacking forces,
they made sure that it was picked up and that they took it as well.
So James 4, verse 17, the Bible says, If anyone then knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
So in other words, it's a sin not to help someone when you know that they're in great need.
I've said it dozens of times before, and I'll say it several more times before I die.
You can do just as much harm, if not more, through your inaction as you can through your actions.
If you were to go to court, would there be enough evidence to convict you of this?
I hope so. It's our job to let His light shine through us to glorify God.
So join me back in the Bible now.
Obadiah 1, verses 12-16, the Bible says, 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, nor gloat over them in their calamity in the day of their disaster, nor seize their wealth in the day of their disaster.
You should not wait at the crossroads to cut down their fugitives, nor 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 drink on my holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually.
They will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.
So before we continue here, you might want to go back if you have a pen or a pencil for those of you who are taking notes or those who are following in the Bible, even a highlighter.
Go back just a little bit there to where it says, As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.
That's a very important passage.
Again, the Edomites took great joy in seeing Judah under attack and just getting slammed, getting beat up, getting beat down.
Their cities were destroyed. They were left in ruins.
The Edomites loved this. They loved it. They were literally the neighbors to Judah. They were the closest ones right there on the border.
And it was the only part of Israel that God did not promise mercy to. Why?
Because they were bullies. Their neighbor, their sister city, even with the brothers, they betrayed them from the very beginning.
And they kept doing it for generations and generations and passing this venom on.
They were full of hate and spite.
Now ask yourself, how often do you take joy and others misfortune?
It doesn't matter if it's a co-worker that's been denied a promotion or gets fired, or how about that guy who sped past you and got caught by the police?
How about the fact that we've all had someone speed past us or just flying?
What comes out of your mouth or maybe what gesture comes up from your hand?
We've all been guilty there. We've all been guilty. Myself included. We've all done.
How about that small child that's throwing a fit at the store or the restaurant, wherever you're at, and finally they're getting reprimanded by their parents and you're just like, haha, got them.
Maybe it's a politician that you don't like that's being investigated and so on and so forth.
There's so many examples here. But we're all guilty that we've all done this.
And I remind you, God judges us all fairly. None of us is without sin.
So knowing this, we need to remind ourselves that we should not ever be happy about the misfortune of others, regardless of how just we believe it is.
That's a hard pill to swallow, believe me. Especially being a veteran. There's been times where I'm just like, ooh, I don't know if I can swallow that one. It's hard.
Again, we should be praying for them, praying for these people. You very well may be the only one who does.
Did you ever think of that? All this turmoil that people are going through, regardless of how just it is, you might be sitting there just like, ugh, this guy.
You know what? All the more reason to pray for them, because you very well may be the only one doing it.
And we should continue to do our best faithfully to follow God.
Proverbs 24 verses 17 through 18. So again, that's Proverbs 24 verses 17 through 18.
The Bible says, do not gloat when your enemy falls, when they stumble. Do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and in turn, his wrath away from them.
So basically, don't sit there and point and laugh, because you're going to catch God's eyes. You know what? Nope. We're stopping right here.
Especially those of you as parents, even with your friends, you're sitting there and something happens and everybody's like, ha ha ha.
You're like, what are you laughing at? That's what God's doing here.
And did you notice what happened in verse 15? Obadiah changed God's judgment from just being Edom to a warning for all the other nations.
That's a pretty big change. Why did he do this? Well, because Edom wasn't the only one taking joy in Judah's troubles.
It's just like when a fight breaks out. People start cheering and they applaud the victor.
Doesn't matter if it's a schoolyard, doesn't matter if it's a parking lot.
Heck, it doesn't even matter if this is like a professional televised fight.
And for a lot of people, because they don't want to be seen as cheering for a loser, they change sides and support whoever the winner is.
We see it all the time in football, right? American football or even political races.
People will vote one way, that person will lose. And suddenly, oh no, I voted for this guy.
The same person that they've been bagging on and talking trash about for weeks leading up to voting day.
Like, oh, I had a last minute change of heart. It's like, no, you didn't.
It's very much that saying of when you point at someone, you have three fingers pointed back at you.
And if that feels a bit condemning, then good, because it should.
None of us are perfect. Verse 15, it's a stern warning to all of us and every nation for that matter
that everyone is going to be judged for the way they treat God's people.
So we need to be mindful of how we treat one another.
So continuing on, in Obadiah 1, verses 17 through 21, the Bible says,
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.
Esau will be stubble, and they will set him on fire and destroy him.
There will be no survivors from Esau. The Lord has spoken.
Wow. So there's, yeah.
You know, the people from Nezhev, oh, excuse me, let me go back here.
Not quite done, there are we. Oh, here we go.
Alright. People from Nezhev will occupy the mountains of Esau and,
sorry, I had to kind of flip back and forth between my notes and the Bible, got a little off there.
So people from Nezhev will occupy the mountains of Esau,
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 Israelites, exiles who are in Canaan, will possess the land as far as Zarephath.
The exiles from Jerusalem who are in Seferad will possess the towns of Nezhev.
Deliverers will go up on or from Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the Lord's.
So as we're seeing it, there's a bit of geography.
This is where I was starting to go because I was looking at my notes here and getting ahead of myself.
So there's a bit of geography here. Nezhev was the southern part of Judah,
while the foothills were the western part of Judah.
So the kingdom's boundaries were extended to include the northern Canaanites along the Mediterranean coast,
while Seferad was likely the city of Sardis there in Asia Minor.
So you can imagine the map of the land there in Israel, it was seeing a drastic change.
There was a lot of extension being done rather quickly.
So the Edomites downfall started approximately 164 BC,
and their nation, they were chased out and completely wiped out by the first century AD.
So it took a little while, but it happened.
They went on the run, they were chased down and done, wiped out.
They went from being a mighty nation, and they were, they were a big time right there.
They were a huge nation.
And when it comes to time, they were God in the blink of an eye.
When God says it's time for judgment, He means it.
You pay the piper, you pay the piper.
Obadiah, he brought God's message because God was displeased with Edom.
He wasn't happy with them at all. Why?
Because they were rotten to the core, not only in their hearts,
but their outward living for everyone to see.
They had just turned on their fellow man, but they turned on God.
And we see this in other nations today as well,
nations filled with greed, hate, arrogance, and dishonesty.
But don't worry, I'm here to tell you, God is still in control.
And Matthew 24, matter of fact, Matthew chapter 24 verses 6 through 13,
it tells us that these things are going to happen, that they need to happen.
Wars and rumors of wars, nation versus nation.
But as Christians, we can be confident and we can find peace
because we know that when the last war has been fought and the smoke clears,
Jesus is still going to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
Let me remind you, Edom was an example. They were an example.
And that example was made to show the follow through of God's promises.
He has promised to protect His people as Christians.
We need to be vigilant not to let our comforts and our securities
lead us down the same path as the Edomites by failing to help others.
As a society, we need to stop looking at people by class or position
or any of the rest of this nonsense that the woke movement and politicians
and all would put out there with race and everything else.
We need to stop turning a blind eye to the homeless, to the downtrodden
and others that the world has deemed to be less than.
What we need to do is we need to start seeing all these people as people again,
as fellow human beings, people who are deserving of love and kindness,
people who can use a hand up instead of a hand out.
And if you want to know what the difference on those is, message me.
Matter of fact, I go into a lot of detail here.
Basically, when you give someone a hand up, it's something that's going to empower them
and encourage them and build them up inside as opposed to a hand out
which does the opposite and makes them feel like they're not worthy of anything,
that they're just this crumb of the earth.
People are not. They are not.
Regardless of what they've done in the position that they're in,
everybody is deserving of love and kindness and God's light.
It's important that we recognize that this is a matter of heart
and acting outwardly on what we all have within us.
We've all sinned. We've all made grave mistakes.
We've all laughed at the expense of others at some point in our lives.
And that, that right there, that is why we need to confess these things to the Father.
And we need to make changes in how we live. That's what repentance is.
This is why Jesus sacrificed Himself for us as well,
that we can stand before the Father, saved by His blood.
That is our hope right there. That's the hope that we have to look forward to.
Everything that Jesus has done for us.
And we can lead others to knowing that as well.
So pray for others. Pray for others.
Again, you may be the only one who is. God bless you all.
Thank you for tuning in to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton.
If you would like to know more about our ministry or how you can support us,
you can find us on Facebook at Be The Light Sanctuary
or you can go to our website at BeTheLightSanctuary.org.
Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you next time. God bless.