Unearth the profound insights and stern admonitions contained in the book of Obadiah as we delve into the intriguing parallels between the prophet’s vision and the present spiritual landscape. Hosting an in-depth discussion on God’s unfolding scenario for humanity and the pivotal role of Edom and Israel, this episode invites listeners to reflect on their own spiritual journey. With historical context from the prophetic timeline to the spiritual allegories of Esau and Jacob, this exploration of Obadiah is both deeply educational and spiritually enriching.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith. Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, your host, and I’m glad that you’re here as we begin a study of the shortest book in the Old Testament. That’s the book of Obadiah. But don’t let the size of the book fool you. It packs a punch as strong as any of the other prophets. And to help us get acquainted with the prophet Obadiah, and then to give us some context for what we’re going to be studying, let’s begin with an introduction by our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now that we have concluded the little book of 2 Peter, where he opened up new prophecy for us concerning the future, and we now are at the place in the Scripture where God’s program for the world begins to emerge here with the revelation of 2 Peter, which we just concluded. Certain tales are clarified for us. Others are still unclear. Insight into the book of Revelation, when we get there, will throw more light on the future. And we’ll be getting there, by the way, this fall. Now, God has a scenario that he is following. And he’s given to us some of the outlines and the overview of his program And he’s given us some of the details also. And I want to try to be helpful as I state my understanding of what is called the premillennial and the pre-trib position. This scenario is helped by most of the Bible teachers today. Three of our outstanding seminaries hold it. The next event on the scenario of God is the rapture of the church. It is undated and there are no signs given for it. Paul says the dead in Christ and the living are all going to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And that word caught up is harpazo. It means also to rapture. So rapture is in the Bible. And we’re to be caught up. Now, no signs are given for this event, except the apostasy in the organized church and the fact we have perilous times. But every century had perilous times. Every century also has had an apostasy that has characterized the church from the very beginning. It began even before the apostles passed off the scene. Now, after the rapture, the next episode in the program of God is the great tribulation. The sign of that event is the appearance of the abomination of desolation that is spoken of by Daniel the prophet. And that is a sign not given to the church. You see, the rapture concerns the church. It’s all about the church. It tells how the church will end its earthly career, and it will end it at the rapture of the church. And we today are actually in a great apostasy. But this is one of the worst, I guess, that the world has had. And also, there are perilous times today. But they’ve been perilous times, as we’ve said all along. But it’s a great time for sowing seed. The Word of God is getting out today in the world. And that’s the great encouragement that I have today. Now, after the rapture, the next episode on the program of God is the Great Tribulation. And the sign of that event is the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet. Now, the Great Tribulation is brought to a conclusion by the coming to the earth to put down all evil, the Lord Jesus Christ. The curse is removed from the earth. Nature will respond. The desert will blossom as the rose. This is the Millennium, and it is concluded by a final rebellion against God. Now, God’s program includes all of this. Satan is to be released. There’ll be a final rebellion of man. Then there’s the great white throne judgment. And the earth is to be destroyed by fire, as Simon Peter tells us. And all redeemed of the earth are removed to the new earth that’s to come into view. And they are the ones that are not in the church. The new earth is described in Revelation 21. Now, the church… is at home in the New Jerusalem. You find that in Revelation 21. And then eternity begins. We have that in Revelation 22. Now, some of the details are still unclear. I grant that. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Then shall I know, even as I am also known.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s going to be a great study. So hop aboard the Bible bus every weekday right here as we unpack God’s Word together. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to join our hearts together as we study your Word. We ask you to make your Word clear and plain to us as we listen. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now let’s begin our study of Obadiah on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 01 :
Now friends, we’ve come to a little book. with a great message. This is an example of the atom bomb in the Bible because it’s such a small thing and it has such a potent message. Now, Obadiah is one of the prophets that we know absolutely nothing about. We only know that he wrote this prophecy. Now, there are actually four prophets. that are cloaked in anonymity. We don’t know anything about them. The other three would be Habakkuk, Haggai, and Malachi. Now, Obadiah is like a ghost rider. He’s there, but we do not know him. He lived up to his name, by the way, for his name means servant of Jehovah. You see, a servant boasts of no genealogy. He doesn’t put himself forward. He has to demonstrate by what he does that he can even claim the place of a servant. And actually, What you have in Obadiah is that which is very much like the gospel of Mark. The gospel of Mark presents the Lord Jesus Christ as the servant of Jehovah. That character of our Lord is there. And in the gospel of Mark, there’s no genealogy because we don’t need that for a servant. And in the gospel of Mark, it’s the gospel of action. The question is, is he able to do what he claims that he can do? And so Obadiah is just a prophet who wrote one of the great prophecies of the scripture. Now, the great difficulty with Obadiah has always been where to date it. Where does it fit in to the history of the nation Israel? And very candidly, There’s a great deal of difficulty at this particular point. There are some who give the date as early as 887 BC, and that would fix the time during the reign of the bloody Athaliah. You find that record over in 2 Kings, the 8th chapter, verses 16 through 26, which we’ll not turn to. Dr. Pusey has placed it during the reign of Jehoshaphat. You find that in 2 Chronicles 17, 7. And by the way, he also made this statement concerning Obadiah. God is will, that is, name alone, and his brief prophecy should be known to the world. Now, actually, his name was as common in that day as the name John is today. And because you find it mentioned in 2 Chronicles 17, 7 would not mean that that Obadiah is the one we have here. And Canon Farah, he gave the date as 587 B.C. And Dr. Moorhead concurred in this as he suggested that Obadiah was probably a contemporary with Jeremiah. And the whole question seems to hinge on verse 11. And verse 11 reads like this. 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 as lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.” That would mean here that either this is historical or prophetic. And the natural interpretation, of course, is to accept the historical one. And that would give us the late date. Most likely, it was written subsequent to the Babylonian captivity. It was written in that particular time, around the time of Jeremiah, by the way. And the early dating, as far as I’m concerned, is out. Now, he’s going to discuss, actually, the little kingdom… of Edom. And the key to this entire little book is Obadiah, verse 6. How are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought out? And the outline that I have of the book is this. You have in the first 16 verses, And there’s only one chapter. And so that would be chapter one, if you want to identify it like that. The subject is Edom and is destruction. And you have the charge against Edom, crime of Edom, and the catastrophe that came to Edom. And then you have in verses 17 to 21, Israel, and that’s restoration. Condition of Israel, verse 17. Calling of Israel, verse 18. And consummation of all things in verses 19 through 21. Now, that gives you very briefly an outline of this book. Now, This opens with the vision of Obadiah. And I should read the entire first verse. The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God. Concerning Edom, we’ve heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, that is, the Gentiles, the nations. Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Now, this is the vision of Obadiah. And again, somebody is going to say, well, who’s Obadiah? Well, I don’t know. And I hope you won’t let that word get out because there’s some people here in Southern California that think I know. I don’t know. And the very interesting thing is that though I’ve read quite a few books on Obadiah, I never found anybody that did know who he is. So I don’t mind joining that illustrious group of those who do not know who Obadiah is. And I just have to answer that very truly. Now, his name, as we’ve indicated, was a very common name in Israel. It’s rather like Abdullah is among the Arabs today. And by the way, Abdullah means servant of God. So Obadiah and Abdullah, two names that are common among those people over there. But this Obadiah, we know nothing about. And we have here a book that a great many people feel like it’s, you know, something that’s not worth even fooling with. If it even dropped out of the Bible, you wouldn’t lose very much. And I frankly think you’d lose a great deal. It seems to deal with that which is past largely, yet in it is a great message for us today. And what you have here is not that which is cold ashes, but you have here spewing hot lava, and it has a message for you and me today. And Obadiah tells us immediately, bluntly and to the point here, he begins, as we have seen the vision of Obadiah, but right away he says, Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom. And we now are going to ask another question. Who’s Edom? Who are we talking about? Well, we find down in verse 6 that we gave you a moment ago as a key verse. It reads, and I’ll read it again, how are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought out? Now, I consider that, I believe, is the key to the book. And if we’re going to find out now about Edom, we’re going to have to go back and look at Esau. Who is Esau? Because we’re told something very interesting back in the book of Genesis. In the 36th chapter, verse 1, it says, Now these are the generations of Esau. Who is Edom? And so the little nation of Edom came from Esau, just as the nation Israel came from Jacob. And now notice another statement here in Genesis 36, now verse 8. And verse 9, thus dwelt Esau in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom. Now again, and these are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. And I’m of the opinion that when Moses wrote that, He did not know that the Spirit of God was having him emphasize that for a purpose. Because when we come to Obadiah now and also to Malachi, we want to know who Edom is. Well, Esau is Edom. The nation Edom came from Esau. Edom is Esau. The Edomites were those who were descended from Esau. And now the story of Esau and Jacob is something that’s before us also. And it’s quite interesting. They were twin brothers. sons of Isaac and Rebekah. They were not identical twins. Actually, they were opposites. And you go back to the 25th chapter of Genesis now, and let me just reach in and lift out a few verses there. Verses 22 and 23. It says, “…and the children struggled to gather within her.” In other words, what we have here is that Rebekah is going to give birth to twins. Now listen, I’m reading. “‘If it be so, why am I thus?’ And she went to inquire of the Lord. The Lord said unto her, “‘Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be born of thee. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.'” Now, these two individuals, one struggling against the other, that, first of all, was something that took place in actual life. We find that these two boys, twins, one of them was an outdoor boy, outgoing fella. That was Esau, a hunter. And then this man, Jacob, he was tied to his mama’s apron string. He was a mama’s boy. And they were very far apart. But the very interesting thing is that Jacob had a spiritual discernment that Esau did not have. Esau was a man of the flesh. He did not care for his birthright. He was willing to sell it for a bowl of soup. And it wasn’t that he was so hungry that he was about to perish. And there wasn’t anything to eat in the home of Isaac. There was plenty to eat, but he smelt the soup that this brother of his had made, and he so discounted his birthright that he was willing to trade it in on a bowl of soup, which he actually didn’t have to have at all. He just happened to be hungry, and it was the whim of the moment, and it was the desire of the flesh, and he was willing to trade away all of his spiritual heritage for that. And believe me, that’s a picture of Christians today, because this is an illustration of a great truth for you and me today. You see, a believer has two natures within him, and they are struggling against each other. Paul makes this point in the epistle to the Galatians. He says, speaking to believers now, “…for the flesh lusteth a wars against the Spirit.” and the Spirit wars against the flesh. These are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Now, these are the two natures in the believer, the new nature and the old nature. They are opposed to each other. And Esau pictures the flesh, Jacob the spirit. And you follow the history of this boy Esau, and you read, I’m reading now from Genesis 25, verse 30. Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. Edom means red. Our sun burned, actually. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. And Esau said, behold, I’m at the point to die. And what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, swear to me this day. And he swore to him, sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. And he did eat and drink and rose up and went his way. That is, he didn’t care. And thus Esau despised his birthright. Now, as we’ve said, Edom means red, red and hairy. It means sunburned. And a sunburn occurs when the skin is able to absorb all the rays of the light except the rays that make it red. And it’s quite interesting to see that the sunburned man in Scripture is the man who could not absorb the light of heaven, and it burned him. Friends, the light of heaven will either save you or burn you, one or the other. And you’ll either absorb it or you’ll be burned by it. That’s always true. Now, this is the story of Esau, a man who was opposite to Jacob, who became Israel, a prince with God. Esau represents the flesh, and he became Edom. Israel represents the spirit. Now, we have seen Esau in the first book of the Old Testament. Now, we come now to the last book of the Old Testament and read this strange language. I’ve loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, in what way hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother, saith the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau. That’s in Malachi 1, 2, and part of 3. Now, that’s a strange statement, is it not? Now, God says, In the last book of the Old Testament, I loved Jacob and I hated Esau. And that immediately presents a problem. A student came one time to Dr. Griffith Thomas. And he said to him, Dr. Thomas, I’m having a problem with this statement in Malachi. And Dr. Thomas says, what’s your problem? He said, well, I cannot understand why God says that he hates Esau. Dr. Thomas replied to the young man. He says, young man, I’m having a problem with that verse too. But my problem is different from yours. I cannot understand why he said that he loved Jacob. I can understand why he hated Esau, but I can’t understand why he loved Jacob. Now, the thing that lends importance to the little book of Obadiah, for it’s the only place in the Word of God where you have the explanation of why God hated Esau. And again, I turn to the key verse. How are the things of Esau searched out? How are his hidden things sought out? Now, Ginsberg, the great Hebrew scholar, translates it this way. How are the things of Esau stripped bare? In other words, in the little book of Obadiah here, there is open before us for the first time Edom or Esau. In other words, Obadiah puts a microscope down on Esau, and when you look through the eyepiece, you see Edom. Not only did Obadiah focus the microscope on him, but Obadiah’s God’s microscope. And you come here and look through the microscope, will you look? What do you see? One Esau now is magnified. And that has become a nation of 250,000 little Esau. And that’s Edom. And you can take a picture to a photographer, a little miniature, and he makes an enlarged picture. He says, I blew up the picture. Well, Obadiah is the blown up picture of Esau. You inflate a tire tube to find a tiny leak in it. You couldn’t find the leak until you inflated it. Just so Obadiah presents Esau inflated, so that you can see where the flaw was in his life. And you won’t maybe find it back in Genesis. You can see why God said he hated Esau. You see, what was at the beginning a little pimple under the skin is now a raging and angry cancer. What was small in Esau is now magnified a hundred thousand times in the nation. It’s interesting to note, God did not say at the beginning that he hated Esau. He had to wait until he became a nation and he could reveal the thing that caused him to hate Esau. And I want, therefore, we won’t have time today, but tomorrow, I want you to come and look with me under the microscope. God’s microscope that Obadiah put before us, and we are going to see why God hated Esau. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, it’s surprising what God’s microscope reveals when you look through it. Stay with us for the entire study of Obadiah to find out more. Do you have Dr. McGee’s notes and outlines for Obadiah? Well, if not, they’re available in the menu section of our app or visit ttb.org or download our free digital book, Briefing the Bible. In it, you’ll find all of Dr. McGee’s introductions as well as notes and outlines, charts and maps for our entire five-year journey through God’s Word. Or if you prefer to receive an abridged paperback copy by mail, well, we can help you. You can request that over at ttb.org or just call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE. And you can also reach us by emailing biblebus at ttb.org. We’ve got so much more to explore in the small but powerful book of Obadiah. And we’ve got plenty of seats on the Bible Bus, so be sure to hop aboard and invite a friend to join you. God bless you as you walk with Him in His Word. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left the prince unsaved, he washed it white as snow. Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?
