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Pastor's Blog July 11, 2019
"Deliverance, Holiness, and Possession"
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Did you ever think that holiness might have something to do with your enemies being served justice? We find this kind of connection in Obadiah 1:17, which says, "But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions" (NKJV).
The book of Obadiah is a prophetic oracle against Edom. Edom was a neighboring nation that lived in the mountains south of the Kingdom of Judah; Edom was related to the nations of Israel and Judah through their ancestor Esau, who was the older brother of Jacob - Israel's and Judah's ancestor. While the relationship between Edom and Judah was never exceptionally warm, both peoples continued to recognize their common lineage through Abraham, Isaac, and his two sons, and endeavored to maintain a modicum of peace and respect.
This all changed, however, when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem with his Babylonian army in the sixth century B.C., destroyed the city, and took the Jerusalemites and most of Judah into captivity in Babylon. In Babylon's conquest of Judah, Edom helped loot and pillage Jerusalem; Obadiah even identifies their actions against the inhabitants of Jerusalem as "violence" and being "as one of them [the Babylonians]" in their savagery and malice (vv. 10-11). Nevertheless, God links his holiness with making sure Edom answers for their crimes against Judah.
Mount Seir, the mountain-capital of Edom, became proud and arrogant at its altitudinal height (vv. 3-4), but God promises Mount Zion will triumph to even greater heights. When God saves his people from the trauma of captivity and permits Judah to take Edom's possessions (a reversal of what Edom did at the fall of Jerusalem), this situation will be Judah's experience of holiness. Sometimes we erroneously believe that holiness is solely about moral perfection or ethical character development. While this emphasis is true, as we have seen in our reflection on previous biblical passages, Obadiah 1:17 shows us that God's holiness is practical and oriented to ensuring that his people are taken care of and sustained by his grace.
As we daily walk with God, let us remember that God wants our good - and that this is what God uses his holiness to accomplish.
God Bless.
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
