Reflecting God: Devotions For Holy Living ~ Sunday, 16 February 2013 ~ “The Last Word” Obadiah 1

Reflecting God: Devotions For Holy Living ~ Sunday, 16 February 2013 ~ “The Last Word” Obadiah 1Reflecting God: Devotions For Holy Living ~ Sunday, 16 February 2013 ~ “The Last Word” Obadiah 1:15 For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been. 17 But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions. 18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, Yahweh has spoken.

19 Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead. 20 The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev. 21 Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.

“The Last Word” by Richard H. Neiderhiser

There is an interesting correlation between Obadiah 1, verse 15 and verse 21: “The day of the Lord is near for all nations . . . And the kingdom will be the LORD’s” (vv. 15a, 21b). The verses in between describe the downfall of Edom, thus fulfilling the earlier prophecy: “from there I will bring you down” (v. 4). Edom can expect to receive the same kind of treatment they had inflicted upon others, especially Judah.

Challenge to Holy Living

Jesus said in Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” If the Edomites could have adopted the Savior’s mind-set in dealing with their neighbors, their ultimate outcome would have been exceedingly different. Instead, because of their self-made and self-perceived security, they rejected God’s security and, according to Obadiah, would face the direct consequence that ultimately, “the kingdom will be the LORD’s.”

There is a distinct sense of finality to Obadiah’s last word. God always has the last word! For those who believe in the Risen Christ and plan life for the promise and hope of everlasting life, it is an eternal maxim: God always has the last word!

Hymn For Today:

“Once To Every Man and Nation” by James Russell Lowell

1. Once to every man and nation

Comes the moment to decide,

In the strife of truth with falsehood,

For the good or evil side;

Some great cause, God's new Messiah,

Offering each the bloom or blight,

And the choice goes by for ever

'Twixt that darkness and that light.

2. Then to side with truth is noble,

When we share her wretched crust,

Ere her cause bring fame and profit,

And 'tis prosperous to be just;

Then it is the brave man chooses,

While the coward stands aside

Till the multitude make virtue

Of the faith they had denied.

3. By the light of burning martyrs

Jesus' bleeding feet I track,

Toiling up new Calvaries ever

With the cross that turns not back;

New occasions teach new duties,

Time makes ancient good uncouth;

They must upward still and onward

Who would keep abreast of truth.

4. Though the cause of evil prosper,

Yet 'tis truth alone is strong;

Though her portion be the scaffold,

And upon the throne be wrong,

Yet that scaffold sways the future,

And, behind the dim unknown,

Standeth God within the shadow

Keeping watch above his own.

Thought For Today:

“Thus has Yahweh of Armies spoken, saying, Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.”(Zechariah 7:9).

Prayer Needs:

Many people in Ukraine will come to know Jesus the Christ (Yeshua the Messiah) and receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit.

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