Shabbat shalom everyone. Let's turn in our Bibles to the Old Testament Hebrew prophet that is called in English Obadiah. In Hebrew we call him Ovadiah, the servant of Jehovah. It is a very short book actually that has only one chapter and it's a prophecy that deals with the future days. we call the day of the Lord, or Yom Yehovah, and there in Ovadia, the prophet himself is speaking concerning those future days. I would like you to turn to that book, and I'm going to read the whole 21 verses of that one chapter. And I begin to read, and please follow me in your Bibles. The vision of Ovadia, thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom, we have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart has deceived thee. Thou that dwelleth in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till they had enough? if grape gatherers came to thee would they not leave some grapes how are the things of Esau searched out how are his hidden things sought up all the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee.

They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee. There is none understanding in him. Shall I not in that day, says the Lord, even destroy the wise man out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty man, O Teman, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the Mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob, shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever. In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, And foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger. Neither should thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. neither should thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress. Thou should not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity, yet thou should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. Neither should thou have stood in a crossway to cut off those of his that did escape. Neither should thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress.

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. but upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. And they shall kindle in them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it.

And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau, and they of the plain the Philistines, and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilad. And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Tzarefit. And the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south. And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the Mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the lords. And I'm stopping with the reading. Now, I just would like, beloved brothers and sisters, to give you a little bit of introduction to the prophet Ovadia.

Now, I know, and I took a note, that it took a little bit of time to open to the book of Ovadia. Now, why it is? It's simply because we don't usually turn to the prophet Ovadia. You know, we turn to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. We look in passages, something that is very easy for us to read, the subject that is very dear to us, and something that we often hear messages on. But the prophet Ovadia? Who really turned to the prophet Ovadia? It seems to be insignificant, this prophecy to us, humanly speaking, of the prophecy of Ovadia. But let me tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, The prophecy of Ovadia was given by this minor prophet.

He is called minor because of the shortness of the book, not because it is not important. But the prophet Ovadia message is important for us today. And I tell you why. There is a principle in the scripture that God said to us, both in the Tanakh, the Old Testament, and in the Brit HaChadasha, the New Testament. And the principle is this. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. In other words, the principle is this. If a man sow in wickedness and sinfulness, in pride and arrogance, there is coming a day that judgment will come. There is no doubt about it. The principle of what we sow, we are going to reap.

Unless we repent and confess it and say, Lord, I blew it, I've sinned against you, I repent. If we don't, the principle of sowing and reaping will surely come to pass. In this prophecy that Ovadia had given to us, this one chapter, 21 verses, there is that principle being presented before us. And that principle is this, that one day God is going to deal with the enemies of the nation of Israel and the enemies of God. Those that have turned against God and those that have turned against the people of God will surely have to face consequences sooner or later. So we begin by that introduction of the book of Ovadia.

You notice that Ovadia was a prophet, in Hebrew we call him Navi, a prophet that spoke judgment upon one specific nation, and that nation is the nation of Edom. It began with verse 1, you notice that, the vision of Ovadia, thus says the Lord God concerning Edom. That is the vision that Ovadia received. It is to do with a nation that is called Edom we'll find out in a moment who Edom is all about so here we find out that Ovadia you notice at the beginning of this prophecy we do not get any history about Ovadia we do not know who is his father we actually do not know which tribe does he belong to we do not know what he was and where he grew up it simply say in Ovadia in chapter 1 verse 1 the vision of Ovadia thus says the Lord God concerning Edom we do not know anything about this man in fact if you notice if you look back or forward in others of the prophets of Israel for example the previous prophets Amos it says the words of Amos who was among the herdmen of Tekoa which saw concerning Israel.

We know he was from Tekoa. We know something about Amos. If you go back and you look at Yoel, it says the words of the Lord that came unto Yoel, the son of Petuel. We see who was his father. But about Ovadia, we don't read anything. We don't know exactly the dates in which Ovadia spoke this message to our forefathers, to our people Israel.

But we do know that it was the lord who spoke to ovadia concerning a certain specific nation by the name of edom now the word ovadia and you notice i'm saying it in hebrew ovad ya evad ya it's two hebrew words evad in hebrew means servant and ya it's a short of jehovah jehovah it simply means the servant of jehovah he was a servant that served jehovah the god of abraham isaac and jacob sometimes we use the word for evid or avodah for worship we can also say he was not only a servant of jehovah but he was a worshiper of jehovah of the god of abraham isaac and jacob now thirdly we find out

by way of introduction about this book that the theme is a coming judgment and i told you beloved brothers earlier that the principle of sowing and reaping is surely seen throughout god's word and here we can see that god have a controversy with Edom god has something that he has to deal with this nation that is called Edom he will have to deal with this nation because from the beginning the start of this nation until the end of the tribulation Edom is seen as a nation that always opposed the people of God you notice I want to point another important thing you know that in scripture we learn for the believers in Yeshua the Messiah

we have two natures the old nature is the nature that we have the Adamic nature when we were born into this world we have inherited a sin nature from Adam but when we became believers in our Lord Jesus Yeshua the Messiah we received a new nature the spirit of God have indwelled the believers and therefore we have two natures and we experience this today, the struggles of these two natures.

The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit lusts against the flesh, and they are contrary to each other. Galatians chapter 5 speaks about this. And so we find out that Edom is a representation of the old nature, the flesh and Israel is a representation of the new nature that which God have intended to bless and therefore you will notice that throughout the history of Edom and Israel there is constant friction and hatred between the two so this is another lesson that we learn here by way of introduction from the name Edom. Now let's ask for a moment the question, who is Edom and how this name came about?

So for this, I would like you to turn back to the book of Genesis, right to the first book of the Bible. In Hebrew, we call it Bereshit. In chapter 25, we will find out who Edom is and how Edom began genesis chapter 25 we find out that rebecca rivka the wife of yitzhak isaac have now became pregnant she was barren for a while and now god in a supernatural way have somehow enabled her to conceive through of course her husband isaac and you notice that i'm reading verse 20 isaac was 40 years old when he took rebecca to wife the daughter of betuel the syrian of padan aram the sister of lavan the syrian and then it said that isaac entreated the lord for his wife because she was barren and the lord was entreated of him and rebecca his wife conceived.

And the children, notice, struggled together within her. And she said, if it be so, why I'm thus? And she went to inquire of the Lord. So she came to the Lord in prayer. And she said, Lord, I don't know what's happening with me. I feel like my stomach within me, there is a struggle, there is a fight between two. And so look what God is telling to her in verse 23 of Genesis 25. The Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb. Two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people. And listen to the last part.

And the elder shall serve the younger.

Here we see before these two children that were in the womb of Rivka came out to this world, god gave her a message concerning these two nations two nations two people but the elder the one who's going to be born first he's going to end up to serve the younger and so we know look at this go back to verse 24 of genesis 25 and when her days to be delivered were fulfilled behold there were twins in her womb and the first came out red and you notice that word red it simply means adom in hebrew that's where you get the word edom and then you continue all over like a hairy garment and they

called his name esav isa in english esav in hebrew and after that came his brother out and he took hold on isa's hill and his name was called yaakov hill holder and Isaac was three score years old when he bare these two now here we have the two boys that were born the first one called Esav he was reddish and that's why the name we're going to get it in a moment he's Edom and the second one was Yaakov now notice that it says in verse 27 and the boys grew and Esau was a cunning hunter a man of the field and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in the tents and Isaac loved Esau

because he did eat of his venison but Rebekah loved Jacob and Jacob sawed pottage and Esau came from the field and he was faint and Esau said to Jacob feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage for i am faint therefore was his name called edom you notice that here's the first time where the bible gives us the actual name that was given to a sub and the bible called him edom that is the first time in the history of this nation the name edom is given and it's really the father of the Edomites is Esav, Esav, the elder brother of Jacob.

I just want you to notice just one or two more verses here. Go to chapter 36 of Genesis, and that's where we get clearly the nation of Edom. Listen, I'm going to highlight four verses in Genesis 36.

Verse 1, now these are the generation of isa who is Edom look at verse 8 thus dwell isa in mount seir isa is Edom notice verse 19 these are the sons of isa a sub who is Edom and finally in verse 43 the last verse of chapter 36 it says at the end he is Esau or Esab the father of the Edomites so it is clear for us right now that we are clearly knowing who is Edom and who are the Edomites but apparently beloved brothers and sisters there was a constant friction between Yaakov Israel and Esav Edom and you remember from the story of Yaakov and Esav how one time as we have read

in chapter 25 that Esav came from the field and he was very hungry and Yaakov made for him this food that we have read in chapter 25 and he wanted to eat of it and Jacob purchased the birthright of Esau through giving him that red potage and from here on now Jacob in a sense kind of took in a sneaky way the birthright of Esau but God have intended to give the firstborn not to Esau but to Jacob now I think I have missed one verse that I wanted to give you and I don't want to forget that please bear with me turn to genesis 27 one more time and i want to show you

the hatred that were in the heart of isa against jacob look at verse 41 of genesis chapter 27 it says this in verse 41 and isa hated jacob because of the blessing was with his father blessed him and Esau said in his heart the days of the morning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother Jacob.

Esau had a plan I'm going to kill my brother Jacob one day my hatred towards him have already started from the beginning because of the birthright and the fact that his father Isaac gave the rights the blessing to Jacob and not to Esau and Esau have embedded hatred toward Jacob from the beginning all the way throughout the history of our people so what we see here that Esau and Jacob had conflict throughout the ages and now Ovadia is writing this prophecy concerning Edom and he shows us beloved brothers and sisters how the hatred of Esau of Edom throughout the history of Israel will one day come to pass in the judgment of God upon Edom

in the coming day so let's look over the actual verses that we have in the prophet of Vadya the first nine verses of this chapter we see the vision concerning Edom here the Lord gave a vision to ovadiah a chazon we call it in hebrew chazon he gave him a vision concerning Edom and i want you to notice first of all it says in verse one that a messenger was sent to awaken the whole world against Edom the vision of ovadiah thus says the lord god concerning Edom we have heard a rumor from the lord and an ambassador is sent among the heathen to arise saying arise ye and let us rise up against her

in battle now what happened it is god is saying to ovadia one day there will be ambassador that word ambassador is the hebrew word sir sir it's like a hinge on a door in other what God is saying, one day I'm going to hinge things in such a way that I will raise from among the nations of the world, those that will come to deal with this nation by the name of Edom.

God will be the one who will work it out. It will be in his pattern and plan, and he is going to raise an ambassador to raise a hinge that will change the direction of Edom you know when somebody is carrying on in his sinful life he or she do not realize that one day God can change hearts he can change circumstances he is in control of all the events that are going here in this world and he can change like he can change the wind in its direction he can change the hearts of men and what he's saying that he is going to send an ambassador the word is tzir in hebrew a shifting like a door hinge he will change the direction and he will raise up the nations of the world to come against the land of Edom.

In verse 2, 3, and 4, he's going to show Edom that all the pride that Edom had throughout the ages, one day he's going to bring it down. It says in verse 2, Be all I have made is small among the heathen. Thou art greatly despised. In verse 3, he said, the pride of thine heart has deceived thee thou that dwelleth in the cleft of the rock whose habitation is high that sayeth in your heart who shall bring me down to the ground though thou exalt thyself as the eagles and though thou set thy nest among the stars Thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord. You see, Edom was a nation that pride itself.

A nation that say, you know, I'm dwelling in the cleft of the rocks. By the way, that word for cleft of the rock, it is today, Edom actually is present day Jordan. And Jordan, if you drive along the highways of Israel in the south, in the area where the Dead Sea, The other side of the Dead Sea from Israel is Edom, it's Jordan. And Jordan is situated in such a way that there are many hills and mountains. And even this is the area where Petra is, the city of Petra, the city of Bozrah, the various Pela, all these cities that are in the cleft of the rock.

You need some time to get into those cities, into those locations. It seemed to be that Edom is being protected and they seem to say to themselves, you know, nobody is going to be able to do something to me. The pride of their hearts deceive them. And you that dwell in the cleft of the rock whose habitation is on high, that saith in your heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? The pride of the nation of Edom throughout the history of this nation, God said, one day I'm going to bring you down. I'm going to judge you in the coming day. So pride comes always before a fall.

And you know that's from the Word of God. We read, for example, in James and in Peter, that God resists the proud, but He gives grace unto the humble. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, we read in Scripture, and He will exalt you in due time. But with Adom, it was exactly the opposite. Adom prided itself, fought against their brother Israel, the nation of Israel, and thought that nobody is able to bring them down in judgment. so the lord is saying in verse 4 you that exalt yourself as the eagle going up exalting yourself and though thou set thine nest among the stars high thence will i bring thee down saith the lord this is also brothers and sisters something for us to learn from this we are exhorted in scripture again and again not to pride ourselves because god does hate pride i mean a verse that i'm just looking in the book of proverbs where shlomo the king of israel said in proverbs 16 in verse 18 pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall and here we see Edom in its pride will have to be brought down because they lifted themselves and thought that no one is able to bring them down.

So this is verse 1, 2, 3, and 4. A dom is a proud nation that will be brought down.

Then it says in verse 5 to 9 that not only that they will be brought down, God will cut them off completely God will make an end of this country this nation called the Edomites look at the verses again verse 5 and 6 Edom will be totally searched out and emptied verse 5 and 6 if thieves came to thee if robbers by night would they not have stolen till they had enough if the grapes gatherers came to thee would they not leave some grapes in other words what the lord said if somebody come to your house to steal something from your house at midnight he's not going to take everything he's going to take as

much as he can but something going to be left later on when you come you might find a few things that will remain in the house that's what he's saying if a robbers if a thief will come if a grape gatherers will come would they not leave some grapes it's natural to leave something on the tree or something in the house when a thief coming to steal he's not going to take every little thing out of the house but look what happened when it's come to Edom how notice that now verse 5 and verse 6 how are the things of isa searched and how are his hidden things sought up in other words when the

thieves or those who the destruction of Edom will be in such a way that Edom will be totally searched out that Edom will be totally sought for not only some of Edom but a total destruction of this nation that is called Edom, the Edomites.

He continues now in verse 7, Edom will be deceived by those that one time made peace with Edom. That's what we find in verse 7. All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border.

The men that were at peace with thee this is with Edom have deceived thee and prevailed against thee they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee there is none understanding of him what he's saying here that even your friends will deceive you at home those that made shalom made peace with you they made merely shalom with you peace with you only outwardly but actually they are intending to ultimately destroy you Edom he's saying here those people who made confederacy the people that brought the even to the border this is an expression very interesting expression those that have brought the even to the border you know what does that mean that you know

when you have a guest in the middle eastern custom when somebody come to visit you from another country or another portion of the lands in the middle east in order to say goodbye to them you will walk them all the way back to the border and then you're going to say shalom goodbye this is a custom so what they're going to do those that brought it to the border in other words you went to visit them and then they brought the even to the border they were at peace with you they were kind of telling you outwardly hey shalom and peace but ultimately they will deceive you and they will ultimately have no desire for

you Edom except to destroy you that's what God is saying to the nation of Edom look at the judgment that God is speaking concerning Edom notice in verse 8 and 9 now as we are moving along in our chapter Edom's wise men and mighty men will be destroyed verse 8 and 9 shall I not In that day, he's looking forward for a coming day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and the understanding out of the mount of Esau.

And thy mighty men, or teman, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. Again, beloved brothers and sisters, when we look at this, we realize the holiness of God, the righteousness of God, the principle of whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap. we can see this clearly in the way that God conduct himself in view of the coming judgment that will fall upon Edom notice the wise men in verse 8 the understanding men in verse 8b the mighty men in verse 9a all these people who are exalting themselves the wise of Edom the understanding one of Edom the mighty the strong one of Edom one day they are going to be totally cut down or as it says here in verse 9 cut off you notice that it's mentioned more than once cut off this is in verse 9 and also if you go back to verse 5 it says if thieves came to thee if robbers by night, how art thou cut off?

Total destruction that will come upon the enemies of God and the enemies of God's people, the people that are called the Edomai, the descendants of Esav, as we read here in the first nine verses. So, Ovadia received a vision concerning Edom, concerning the descendants of Esav, the country that is called Edom, and now in the next verses we learn why is this judgment so severe. After all, God is gracious, God is loving God, God is offering today the Messiah, and throughout generation He offers forgiveness for mankind, but again I would like to tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, here we learn the reason in verses 10 to 14 why God came with so severe prediction about the judgment of the land and the people of Edom and he gives us reasons in verses 10 to verse 14 and Ovadia pointing out to the sins of Edom.

Look at what he points out to us. Remember that we already have read in Genesis 27 verse 41, Esau hated Jacob. Then it says, he said in his heart, I will slay my brother Jacob. That's what Esau said right from the beginning.

And now notice we receive additional information concerning the reasons that Edom will be so punished so severe and Ovadia pointing from verse 10 to 14 let's look at them one by one first of all in verse 10 Edom committed violence against Jacob against Israel for thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shall be cut off notice forever now what happened he's telling to the nation of Edom you had continuous violence against your brother Yaakov Yaakov Israel Esav Edom there was an ongoing violence against Yaakov by the Edomites and you notice he called him thy brother you see we are today looking at the present day situation in the middle east

the nation the surrounding the jewish people the little jewish state the state of israel surrounded by family really neighbors some of them are cousins and some are brothers relatives of the people of israel descendants of israel descendants of esav isa descendants of amon and moab which are really lot the nephew of avram all the middle eastern issue that existing today have already started years ago long before america came to an existence and canada to existence or any nations that exist today there was this conflict that existed already from long long time ago and he says the violence against your brother jacob and he pointing out your brother You see, Jacob was not only a brother,

but a twin brother.

They were born at the same time, to the same mother and father, in the same location. They grew up under the same counsel and advice and teaching from God's word. But Esav had chosen to become an enemy of his very own twin brother, Jacob. There is a verse that I should point out, turn to Ezekiel chapter 35, there you notice what it says about Edom, in verses 1 to 5, but especially verse 5. It says, because you have a perpetual hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of thy sword, in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end.

you know perpetual means ongoing hatred it started in genesis 27 as we pointed out in verse 41 it continued throughout the generation and it is still continuing until the final day when god will set things in order and so we read the first thing in our chapter of vadia chapter 1 and verse 10 the violence against thy brother yaakov jacob shame shall cover thee and thou shall be cut off forever secondly notice now in verse 11 Edom not only committed violence against jacob against israel but Edom did not help israel when strangers took israel captive you know you would say you would help your brother right when israel had been taken captive instead of helping

their brothers israel they were not helping it says in verse 11 in the day that thou stoodest on the other side in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces and foreigners enter into his gates and cast lots upon jerusalem jerusalem even you was as one of them you know what happened and we know from the history of our forefathers our jewish people how many a time our people have been taken captive the assyrian came and took the 10 tribes of our people israel to the north the babylonian came and took the two tribes of judah and benjamin down as well the southern tribe took them to babylon and you know what esav

did what edom said edom was sitting there It was just like one of those nations that came against Israel.

It says, you stood on the other side in the day that strangers carried them away. And they took them captive. And foreigners entered into his gates, Jerusalem's gate. And they cast lots upon Jerusalem. You were just like one of them. You didn't help. He did not support. He did not stop them. He was sitting there, and actually he was just like one of them. Notice thirdly, what he said about Edom. In verse 12, it says, The dome rejoiced in pride when Israel, when Judah, was in distress. Look what it says here in verse 12.

You should not have looked on the day of thy brother, in the day that he became a stranger neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of judah in the day of their destruction neither should thou have spoken proudly in a day of distress you see what he did Edom have done and listen god remembered those things god knows the heart of nations and individuals in their conduct and behavior this is actually a warning for us as well we have to be careful not to have an animosity and hatred towards men towards people even our enemies never mind our brothers and our sisters because god will deal with sin he sooner or later have to

deal in righteousness with every sin that we have committed and here we see Edom rejoicing you remember what we learned in the new testament we are to rejoice with those that rejoice and we are to suffer with those that suffer but you know what happened here instead of being mourning over their brother yakov israel they were rejoicing they were happy to see the calamity of the nation of israel of the tribe that had been taken away as it says here you shouldn't have looked happily at the day of thy brother you know it notice the word expression the day that they became a stranger the day of their destruction the day of their distress you

know beloved brothers and sisters why was Israel in that day of distress and destruction?

Yes, Israel disobeyed God. Yes, God judged His people by bringing nations against them. And God will discipline His people, but He will not let anybody else to rejoice over that. He will not let other nations, those that persecute the Jewish people throughout the ages. God will have to deal with those nations. throughout the generation. God will help to deal with those that opposed and hated the people of Israel. So here we can see how Edom was rejoicing where the Jewish people were taken captive. Now, we do not know again what is exactly the reference to, because there were many times that the Jewish people were taken captive.

But I'm just thinking, for example, when the Babylonian took the Jewish people down to Babylon and I point to it many times Psalm 137 you remember when the Jewish people in Babylon he said by the rivers of Babylon there we sat down and he said then we wept when we remember Zion those that carried us away captive verse 3 they mocked us and they required from us to sing a song and they said sing unto us one of Zion's song you remember that Psalm 137 and apparently when the Jewish people were carried either by the Babylonian or other time of captivity how Edom instead of being sorrowful for the judgment that Israel faced they rejoice

over that they were happy to see the fall of Israel and the judgment of Israel you know what the psalmist said in that psalm psalm 137 the psalmist said to the Lord in prayer remember oh lord the children of edom in the day of jerusalem who said raise it raise it even to the ground thereof even to the foundation thereof apparently what edom was doing when they took the jewish people captivity the edomite said raise it just destroy totally the whole city of jerusalem the whole nation destroy it even to the foundation there's a brother the was born of the same father and mother the same nation they looked at the nation the jewish people

in such a way and they were rejoicing over the calamity of their own brother notice back i'm in chapter one of obadiah verse 13 now look what they did even more you know god bring it to light in verse 13 Edom had robbed Judah in the day of their distress look as it says in verse 13 thou should have not entered into the gate of my people Israel, the Jewish people in the day of their calamity yet thou should not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity You know what they've done?

When Israel was taken away from Jerusalem, when the Jewish people were taken captive, the Edomites entered into the city, entered into the country, and really looted, took everything for themselves, completely took that which not belonged to them. You should not have taken, laid hand on their substance. Can you imagine when some of the Jewish people left their homes?

maybe they were burned by the Babylonian or the Philistines or the Arabs around and so on and what the Edomites coming in and they destroy everything they take everything for themselves all that which not belong to them and this is a brother you know I oftentimes sometimes don't realize how sinful we are by nature how many families two brothers or sisters who were born to the same parent, how many are broken homes today between relatives the same flesh and blood the hatred that exists and that is the old sin nature that we have that unless we curb it and judge it and confess it, we would continue in our own evil way until we die,

and we see it here in Edom, in their relationship to their own brother israel look at the final thing in verse 14 about pointing out to the sins of Edom listen to the final thing that he's pointing out here in verse 14 Edom stopped those jewish people who sought to escape look at that neither should thou have stood in the cross way to cut of those of his that did escape neither should thou have delivered up those that did remain in the day of distress apparently when there was these captives taken some kind of succeeded to escape and they were running back towards their homeland they're trying to cross to the other side it may

have been very well the Jordan River and you know what the dom did they stopped the people who were escaping as it says in verse 14 they cut off those who did escape in other words they stopped them but not only that it says in the second half of verse 14 you shouldn't have delivered them up those who remain in the day of the distress what they have done they stopped those that sought to escape and then those that succeeded or those that remain and were not taken away they have Deliver them to their enemies.

This is a brother for you. You see, you know, brothers and sisters, the Bible is so true at all times. When God speaks, he's 100% correct. When he says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. When he says that he will judge sin because he's holy and righteous, he's surely going to do so. And you can see the history of two nations, Yaakov Esav, Israel Edom, the whole conflict, the flesh and the spirit, which is contrary to each other. And so now let's move on. So we can just finish with this interesting prophecy that Ovadia gives us. In verses 15 and 16, we find that there will be a final destruction for Edom.

And it's going to happen ultimately in the tribulation period, in the day of the Lord. It's called in Hebrew, Yom Yehovah, Yom Adonai, the day of the Lord. We know it today as the tribulation period. Verse 15 says, For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen. As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee. Thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually. Yet they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. Now what does he say here in these two verses?

that Edom will ultimately and finally going to be destroyed at the tribulation period, at the Yom Yehovah, day of the Lord. This is one of the Old Testament expressions that speaks about the tribulation period. In the Old Testament, we don't call it the tribulation period. It's called Yom Yehovah, the day of the Lord. It doesn't speak about 24-hour day. He speaks about a period of time, that is, we know it as a seven-year period of time. Daniel speaks about this. And these seven years call the day, the period of time of tribulation, where God is going to unleash judgment upon this whole world that rejected the Messiah Yeshua.

When God is going to deal with Jacob, Israel, in restoration, in order that Israel finally will be restored and will enter into the messianic kingdom, into the glorious kingdom that will come. And so he's saying, the day of the Lord is coming. He's near.

Upon all the heathen, not only about Adam, it's going to come upon all the nations of the world, as you have done, he's saying to Adam, whatsoever man soweth, it shall be done unto thee that you are going to reap the consequence of your disobedience and violation against me and my people will come to pass your reward verse 15 shall return upon your own head now let me for a moment if you bear with me just give you just couple of verses about the day of the lord if you go to the prophet sephania just turn to the prophet sephania and i want you to read with me just couple of verses there in the

prophet sephania in chapter one talk about the day of the lord yom yehovah sephania chapter one and verse 14 the great day of the lord is near it is near and hastes greatly even the voice of the day of the lord the mighty men shall cry there bitterly that day is a day of wrath a day of trouble and distress a day of wasteness and desolation a day of darkness and gloominess a day of clouds and think darkness a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fence city and against the high towers and i will bring distress upon men The day shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord, and

their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung, neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath.

but the whole land shall be devoured by the power of his jealousy for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwelt in the land what an awful day it's going to be people say and sometimes we might say God how is it that you can deal with the world in such a way but yet beloved brothers and sisters by nature we deserve this but because god had been so gracious and loving he provided the messiah the savior the redeemer to forgive our sins to pay for the penalty we could not pay but we need to turn many to be turning to him but here we see nations and people who rejected

the offer of the messiahship of yeshua and in the day of the lord they will have to bear the consequences one more verse in a new testament matthew chapter 24 and verse 21 here is yeshua the one who spoke about this day jesus the messiah himself said in matthew chapter 24 just before he died on the tree for our sins he said that he was speaking to his jewish disciples to the talmidim he said to them in these verse matthew chapter 24 and verse 21 and he said this for then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no no ever shall be yeshua said the

messiah said He is looking to the time of what we call the day of the Lord, Yom Yehovah, to the tribulation period, and a judgment that will come upon the face of this world that rejected him, and that day will be the day that a dom, total destruction, will come to pass.

notice i'm reading verse 16 in obadiah where we are in chapter 1 for as he have drunk upon my holy mountain apparently when the jewish people were taken captive the edomites enter into jerusalem went to the holy mountain and got drunk they had their parties there in mockery mocking the lord the god of isa mocking the jewish people that have been taken captive having parties with drunkenness so the lord is saying to them in verse 16 so shall all the heathen drink continually yeah they shall drink they shall swallow down they shall be as though they had not been Edom you will be like as if you have never been never existed what a sad commentary here you know when you read these verses it's really humbling us because we don't wish such a thing on anyone and listen the lord doesn't wish this on anyone but yet he is a righteous god and a righteous judge and he judged righteously and his will will ultimately prevail and those of us who have accepted him we are only here on the basis of the grace that had provided for us through the messiah yeshua now let me conclude with the last five verses verses 17 to 21 ultimately while Edom will be totally destroyed, Israel, the nation, will be delivered.

Israel, the nation, will enter into the messianic kingdom, the kingdom that belongs to the Lord. Notice those verses. First of all, verse 17, they shall be deliverance for Zion. It says in verse 17, but upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possession. You know that Jacob today does not possess their possession? But it's coming a day when Yaakov, Israel, the Jewish people, the Hebrews will possess their possession. Now what does it mean their possession? It was already given to them through Abrahamic covenant, but they never possess it. Today Israel not even having one tenth even less of what they actually was promised through the abrahamic covenant but in that day zion will be delivered zion is another word for yerushalayim every time you say zion you say jerusalem every time you say i'm a zionese you say i believe in the promises of god for the nation of israel of the city of jerusalem and the land of israel simply you accept the word of the lord So, Zion shall be delivered, and there will be holiness.

Israel will be restored. No more sinful disobedience to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be holiness. The house of Jacob, the house of Jacob, shall possess their possession. in verse 18 it says Edom will be totally devoured and the house of Jacob shall be fire and the house of Joseph a flame and the house of Esau for stubble and they shall kindle in them and devour them and there shall not be listen any remaining of the house of Esau for the Lord had spoken it what he says here that Yaakov shall be like a fire and Yosef Joseph if you remember the one who was the favorite son of Jacob in a sense he represents the nation he's going to be like a flame but Esau will be a stubble and Jacob will devour Esau and there will not be remaining anything of the house of Esau and then he says for the Lord have spoken it it's the word of the Lord Look at verse 19, the tribes of Israel will ultimately possess their possession, and they of the south, the Negev, shall possess the Mount of Ephraim, and they of the plain, this is the Shephelah, they will possess the Philistines, and they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilad.

notice the tribes of Israel in an individual name that I mentioned here you have Ephraim you have Binyamin you have Yosef mentioned here and so on they will ultimately receive their possession that have been promised to the nation of Israel by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in verse 20 Israel the nation will possess all Canaan the land of Canaan verse 20 and the captivity of the host of the children of israel shall possess that of the canaanites the canaanim and as it says here even unto tzarefet by the way tzarefet is in lebanon today and then it said and the captivity of jerusalem which is in sepharad you know sepharad is the sepharadim

you know the jewish community is divided to ashkenazim and sepharadim the ashkenazim are what you call the european and the Sfaradim are taking up if you will more the Middle Eastern Jewish community so even Sfarad shall possess the cities of the Negev of the south and he concludes here in verse 21 and I love that expression at the end the kingdom ultimately shall be the Lord's as it says here in verse 21 and saviors shall come up on mount zion to judge the mount of isa and the kingdom shall be jehovah's that's how he concludes this book he says ultimately there will be those delivered god will raise from among the nation of israel those

deliverers who will ultimately come to mount zion come to Yerushalayim, and they will be the one who will judge the Mount of Esau, Edom, and all those that belong as the descendants of Esau, and ultimately, beloved brothers and sisters, the kingdom, that is the Messianic kingdom, will ultimately belong to the Lord, when God will have his righteous rule over the nations of the world and if you remember we read today in Matthew chapter 6 that we read in our reading you remember that prayer that the believers are called to pray Yeshua taught his Jewish believers already in the city of Yerushalayim even before the church was born even before the assembly was born the called

out ones he taught the disciples to pray in such away and i think it is very very precious he says seek ye the kingdom of god when god will have his righteous rule upon the face of this world and then he says if you remember he's saying to them as he was teaching them concerning the kingdom he says to pray thy kingdom come god we long for the day when you and your kingdom will come no longer will be the kingdoms of the babylonian and the kingdom of the assyrians the middle persian or the kingdom of the grecians or even the kingdom of the roman empire lord we are longing for the day when your

kingdom will come and your will be done and then at the end of verse 13 he says for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever and that's how Ovadia closed his prophecy where he said the kingdom will be the Lord's no longer man will be the one that will be ruling here over the affairs of this earth I'm going just to conclude with one verse and that is the end John chapter 18 and 19 a verse from these two chapters just to close it Who is going to be the king?

Who is going to be the one that is going to rule over the affairs of this world? Look at John chapter 18 and verse 37. Yeshua was asked by Pilate. He said to him, Pilate, therefore he asked him, are you a king? He asked Yeshua the Messiah. And Yeshua answered, he said, you said it. You said that I am a king.

to this end was i born and for this cause came i into this world that i should bear witness unto the truth everyone that is of the truth he hears my voice pilot asked yeshua they would say are you the king he said you said it but my kingdom is not here for this world in other words it's not men who will place me as a king but god will set me as a king over this world a king that will rule in righteousness over the affairs of this world and when Yeshua was on the cross in chapter 19 and verse 19 we find out that the inscription on the cross was this Yeshua of

Nazareth the king of the Jews that's what was written on the cross above the cross about Yeshua the Messiah that he is the king of israel he is the king of the jewish people well i'm going to close right now in the prophet of vadiah one chapter 21 verses tremendous truth that we learn here from the prophet of vadiah the principle of whatsoever man soweth that shall he also reap god is surely going to deal with the enemies of his and the enemies of his own people and that's why it is so safe to be part of the people of god the redeemed company that belong to our lord jesus the messiah