Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2005 : August 28, 2005

Theme: The Kingdom Will Be the LORD's

Church year occasion: Pentecost 15

VE Day and VJ Day -- Victory in Europe and Victory in Japan, the days that ended WW2 -- those days are important and patriotic days to Americans. But to Germans and Japanese those days probably don't bring up good memories. It's all a matter of perspective. Someone gets in an accident on I-94. It usually doesn't affect us because we don't know the people involved -- they are strangers. We might even hope they get the accident cleared up so it doesn't slow us down on the freeway. But some day it might hit closer to home. When it does, I'm sure our reaction will be different. It's all a matter of perspective. My grandparents lived through the Depression. They understood the value of food not being wasted because there wasn't much food to go around. That impressed itself upon my mother, who impressed it upon me. Growing up, I remember once when I looked in the refrigerator and found some bread starting to get moldy, and I was about to throw it away. But my mother would unceremoniously take the piece of bread from me, examine it quickly, and pull all the pieces of mold off and throw them away. Then she would say something like, "Just think of all those kids whose parents can't afford a piece of bread for their children. Just eat it; it won't hurt you." And she was right, of course, as mothers usually are. It was all a matter of perspective.

The prophet Obadiah had much to say about perspective. Even though his book is the shortest in the Old Testament -- only 21 verses -- it brings all kinds of comfort for believers because it shows what the final outcome at the end of this world will be. The final verse summarizes it perfectly: The Kingdom Will Be the LORD's. That is good or bad -- depending on your perspective -- it depends on whose side you were on during your life. For unbelievers, it spells out retribution from a God who is not mocked. For believers, it says that we can expect restoration from a God who loved us so much that he saved us from all our enemies.

Obadiah begins in verse 15: "The day of the LORD is near for all nations." In other words, Christ will come again and on that Day, he will judge the world. How does it make you feel that "As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head"? That sentiment is sounded by many religions. Those who believe in reincarnation believe in karma -- if you do good during your life, you will be reincarnated as something better in the next life, like a celebrity or ruler of some sort. But if you do bad things during your life, you probably won't even return as a human being; you might be a lizard or worm or some such animal, and you'll just have to try to live a good life again so your good karma can return to you. That man-made idea is found nowhere in God's Word. But Jesus did say, "A man reaps what he sows." Through faith, Jesus will only see righteousness on believers; but for those who don't believe in Jesus as their Savior, Jesus will only see the filth of their sins.

Jesus would only see the sins of the Edomites. Obadiah speaks his whole prophecy against the nation of Edom, which was the country to the south of Israel in the Old Testament. The Edomites were descended from Jacob's brother Esau, who himself was called Edom. The Israelites were descended from Jacob, whom God had renamed Israel. But even though these nations were closely related, they hated each other. Remember when Jacob received the birthright from his brother Esau for a bowl of soup, and then Jacob dressed up like Esau to make sure he would get it? Well, Esau and his descendants never forgot that. They hated the Israelites because of it. When Israel came out of Egypt and were traveling to Canaan, the Edomites came out and attacked them. Later, in Obadiah's time, when an invading nation ran over Israel, the Edomites loved it. They gloated over the downfall of Israel. One verse in Obadiah describes the Edomites killing any Israelites who tried to escape from the invading nation and handing over the ones they spared into slavery.

But their time would come. "The day of the LORD is near," Obadiah says. Verse 18 describes that day: " 'The house of Jacob will be a fire and the house of Joseph a flame; the house of Esau will be stubble, and they will set it on fire and consume it. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau.' The LORD has spoken." This was quite a statement to say that Israel would overrun Edom because Edom was situated in the mountains. They were secure in their mountain stronghold and could defend themselves against an army many times larger than themselves. But they didn't consider one thing. God was on the side of Israel. This wasn't just a picture of one nation beating another nation; this was a prophecy of God's people finally triumphing over Satan's people -- unbelievers. There would be no survivors. Unbelievers will perish forever in hell.

In our time doesn't it seem like unbelievers are always winning over believers? Doesn't it seem like they usually have more things in this life? They don't have to worry about supporting their church with what God has given them because they can just spend everything on themselves. They seem to have more "fun." Unbelievers don't have the daily struggle that a believer has with his Old Adam because they don't have faith. So they can do what they want. It seems as if they can ridicule God and his people all they want. They show that they have no regard for God or his Word. And they are never punished for it. It seems like they always win. It seemed like Napoleon had won at Waterloo, too. General Wellington commanded the victorious forces at the great battle of Waterloo that effectively ended the Napoleonic Wars. The story has been told that when the battle was over, Wellington sent the great news of his victory to England. A series of stations, one within sight of the next, had been established to send code messages between England and the continent. The message to be sent was "Wellington defeated Napoleon at Waterloo." Meanwhile a fog set in and interrupted the message sending. As a result, people only saw news of "Wellington defeated_" Later, the fog cleared and the full message continued, which was quite different from the outcome that the people originally thought had happened! The same is true today. When many look at what happened on Good Friday, the death of Christ, they see only "defeat." Yet, on Easter, at the Resurrection, God's message was completed. The resurrection spelled "victory."

The fact is, unbelievers are already defeated. Whether they realize it or not, they are fighting against God, and so fighting a battle that God cannot lose and has already won because Christ won the victory on the cross. Believers receive that benefit of Christ's sacrifice for their sins through faith. The time will come for unbelievers. Because they have no time for God or faith in Christ, they will find that God has no time for them in eternity.

So we see that Obadiah predicted complete destruction of all unbelievers because Edom often represented all unbelieving nations. The Kingdom Will Be the LORD's. That is revealed in the retribution God will give to unbelievers for rejecting him -- he will reject them for eternity. The kingdom of God and Christ will be revealed also as a Restoration for believers.

Obadiah pointed forward to a time when God's people would repossess the entire land of Canaan. In other words, they would have what God wanted to give them -- their own land. That land of Canaan for the nation of Israel represents the spiritual land of Canaan for the spiritual descendants of Abraham and Jacob. Heaven is the believer's home. No matter how bad it might seem on this earth, our home in heaven is already assured. In fact, we have that eternal life right now through faith. How can we be sure of our victory when we go on from day to day at school or work or in our retirement and it seems like we're just spinning our wheels, not getting ahead, have nothing to show for it? How do we know we are victorious through Christ when we sometimes wish he would come tomorrow? We know it from the gospel of Christ. When Jesus said, "It is finished," he wasn't just talking about his work of redemption, but everything else that the completion of his perfect work for us means -- we don't have a meaningless life because Christ is our Savior. We don't have to fear death because death is the gate to eternal life. Our restoration as sinners is complete. Yes, we are no better than anyone else in this sin-filled world. Certainly, we stumble all the time as Christians and fall into sin every day. But we have the assurance of our forgiveness because Jesus not only died, but also rose again.

The kingdom will be the LORD's. Such a simple statement, but so full of meaning. We live in Christ's kingdom right now since Christ has come and lived and died and rose. But the kingdom will finally be the LORD's when Christ comes again as the King of kings. The prophecy of Obadiah concludes much like the much larger prophecy of Isaiah. In chapter 63, Isaiah gives us a beautiful picture our restoration.

Who is this coming from Edom,
from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor,
striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
"It is I, speaking in righteousness,
mighty to save."

Why are your garments red,
like those of one treading the winepress?

"I have trodden the winepress alone;
from the nations no one was with me.
I trampled them in my anger
and trod them down in my wrath;
their blood spattered my garments,
and I stained all my clothing."
(Isaiah 63:1-3)

A very bloody picture indeed. But this picture is of Christ coming back from Edom, coming back from the nation of all unbelievers, with his garments splattered with blood. It is their blood. Christ's victory is not partial, it is not insignificant. Christ's victory over sin, death and Satan is total. And so is his victory over unbelievers. How did he achieve that victory? By his own blood shed on the cross. How do we end up being on Jesus' side instead of on the side of Jesus' enemies where we belong? Simply by faith. Jesus took away your sins. Believe in him. Your victory is assured.

The Apostle Paul sums it up in Romans 8:37-39: "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So don't lose heart, believers. The kingdom is the LORD's. And he is coming soon. Amen.