04/19/09

Sunday morning class: Proverbs 30:1-6 (3) "I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One."

Scripture reading: #472 “A Lamp and a Light” (three readers)

Vespers @ 5 p.m.: Overlooking Mistakes and Failures

Wednesday @ 7 p.m.: Luke's writings - to whom, what, and why. Discussion based upon the book "Desire of the Everlasting Hills" by Thomas Cahill.

Gideon Ministry presentation: Pete Jenkins

As you have done…it will be done unto you (Obadiah - 586-582 B.C.)

Obadiah 1.15 "The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”

This is not a threat. It is not a warning. It was a statement of fact that Obadiah was giving a nation called Edom. Isaiah (34) had given this prophetic statement of fact, so had Jeremiah (49) and Ezekiel (25 & 35). The nation of Edom was going to be completely taken over, wiped out, made so desolate that -

13 ...thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest. 15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs And hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, Every one with her mate. (Isaiah 34)

How well did that work? Do you remember the scene where Indiana Jones ("...Last Crusade") comes through this extremely narrow canyon into a wide area - right in front of a 'lost temple' in a 'lost city?'

That was Edom's Petra. It really had become 'lost' to history until 1812 when a Swiss explorer, Johann. L. Burckhardt, 'found' it. He 'found' Petra in exactly the condition Isaiah had said it would become. Today it is trampled by tourists. Desolate for centuries. Once magnificent - but they didn’t play fair.

So what, specifically, did God have against Edom? Well, the proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" was when, after the Babylonians had destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the Edomites attacked what was left of Judah. They didn't play fair. They didn't have mercy. They didn't acknowledge the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - they were descendants of Esau and had carried the burden of envy for more than a thousand years.

If there is a sin that might be most prevalent in our world and society today, it might be that of envy/greed. Be careful. It will eat your lunch and finally leave you devastated.

The Apostle Paul said, "You can't get past God, whatever you sow you are going to reap!" (paraphrased)