Words today is the day that the Lord has made so let us rejoice and be glad in it and everyone said Amen. Amen. I'm going to commit a cardinal sin I'm going to boil all of humanity down all of our population down into two categories Because I think basically everyone fits into one of these two categories. I'm curious where you find yourself I think all of humanity can be boiled down into those who love change and those who despise change.

So let's find out real quick, where are we at as a people, church, family? Who here loves change, let the future come, and with it all the change that is to come with it? Let me see, if you like change, let me see.

It depends on what the change is.

That doesn't count! John, you don't get that. Just blank it if you like it or not. So okay, okay, so I'm going to ask those of you Stoics in the house who want things to stay as they are. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Don't like change, raise them up high. Oh man, I got to be honest with you. I'm kind of in that category. I know you, I know, I know that you may think, oh Ryan, you're like the leader of a dynamic growing church with a million dollar build and there's a lot of all this awesome change happening. Yeah, doesn't mean I love to rush into it. I kind of like things where they were. I mean, I think humanity kind of peaked right around 1991. I think it's kind of been downhill since then. But, but if we had stayed in 91 and never would have met my wife, never would have had my four beautiful children come into my life. And so here's the thing we have to have to face. Change is inevitable. But if we press into a God led change, then The neck is a slot of hope and it should give us a lot of joy. And I think as we wrap up looking at the book of Obadiah, I think that's exactly what we're going to see today. That yes, God brings an immense amount of change, but there's something beautiful he's doing in the midst of it. So please turn in your Bibles to Obadiah. It is the smallest book of the Old Testament.

As you turn in there, I'm just kind of curious, who has been with us? This will be three weeks in a row, and now you would have studied with us verse by verse every verse of the book of Obadiah. Who's now running three weeks in a row, you've been to every sermon so far? Awesome. I'd love to see that. So Obadiah, we're looking at the last three verses. Mind you, remember Obadiah is so short, there's no chapters, only verses. We're going to be looking at the last three verses today. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you want to use the Bibles we provided, that's on page 981, as we are looking at this one idea here today, the hope of joy.

Now, remember, let me just kind of give you the context real quick, if you want to know the fuller context, because there's a lot going on, listen to the previous sermons, but I'll try to boil it down real fast. that God gives through this one man Obadiah. We don't know anything about him. There's other Obadiahs in the Bible. It's not referring to this guy. The only time we hear from this guy is in this book, Obadiah. God gives a prophecy through him to the nation of Edom, a neighboring country, neighboring kingdom to his people of Israel. Now what's happened now? Firstly, Edom has grown incredibly prideful as a people. That's going to bring God's judgment, but that's not all that's going on Edom what happens what was the kind of like the the catalyst for the prophecy? Was that God's people were attacked Jerusalem was sacked by the world superpower of Babylon Babylon comes in and sacks Jerusalem But Edom stands by and just watches this all unfold doesn't go to their help Even though we learned that Edom and Israel are ancestral brothers They have lineage that goes back and they're tied together.

They stand by and watch their brother be decimated. And if that wasn't enough, after Babylon decimates the kingdom, carts off the people to exile, Edom sneaks in like a bunch of snakes, picks up the leftovers, and anyone who did survive, Edom rounds up in human traffics and gives to Babylon. And God is like, had enough. That's it.

You're done for. And what the Prophet Obadiah does is that he announced that there will be a future for God's people. Yes, they're going into exile, but there will be a future for them, but there will not be a future for Edom. Edom will come to full devastation. And this is true. You can get an Israeli passport today, but you cannot get a passport from Edom. Why? Because God's prophecy came to fruition. Week one we looked at the warning of judgments that God was going to bring upon Edom. Week two we looked at the justice that God was going to bring. But today, today we're gonna be left with some joy. Yes, the path can be hard. Yes, the path can be difficult. But God is going to bring a restoration and a joy. But it comes at a The cost is change, a lot of change. But God is doing something. And so with that, let's wrap up our study of the prophets, this little prophet Obadiah. So if you are able, and if you are not, that is completely fine, but if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's Word as we finish up this little prophet. Would you hear the word of the Lord, Obadiah, verses 19 to 21.

Obadiah 19-21

19 Those of the Negeb bshall possess Mount Esau,

and those of the Shephelah shall possess the land of the Philistines;

they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria,

and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

20 The exiles of this host of the people of Israel

shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath,

and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad

shall possess the cities of the Negeb.

21 Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion

to rule Mount Esau,

and the kingdom shall be the LORD’s.

Amen. This is God's Word, and everyone said,

What? There is a lot going on right here. And there is woefully little attention given to these final verses of Obadiah because nobody knows what these places are, who these people are. But that's what we're going to study today because if there's anything I want to share about the prophet Obadiah, it's don't skip over the verses you don't understand. Take a moment, dive in, press in, read a good commentary and see that God's message is still good for us today. And so with that we say, Amen. Let's pray and we'll continue. Let's pray.

Father, we are thankful for the opportunity to gather here, Father, in this wonderfully comfortable place. Father, we are thankful for what you're doing in this world and here at peace. We thank you for your mighty word. As we conclude the prophecy of the prophet Obadiah, may you illuminate our minds and our hearts by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, that we may be challenged by this passage as we find our ultimate hope in our Savior and His kingdom come. For it is in the name of King Jesus that we pray these things. And everyone said, Amen and Amen.

You may have a seat. So typically at this point, if you listen to me preach long enough, I will try to give some sort of like main summary that we will spend our time thinking about, but we have to address the question I know that many of us are asking,

what in the world did we just read? And I'll just tell you, I resonate with that. For me, I cannot let things go. I love to listen to other pastors and other preachers.

I love to listen to other sermons, but I will say this, I'm a little peeved when I hear pastors read a text that has a bunch of these weird names and these people that I don't understand who they are. They read it, but they never explain it. And I don't know if you're like me, but my mind is just kind of like, I get hung up on those things. I need to get my head wrapped around this stuff. So what I want to do is I want to take some time and I want to help us understand what exactly we just read, because God wasn't just randomly shuffling people around. If you knew the geography like the people did originally, you'd understand that God was actually doing something incredibly strategic. And it's very, very powerful. And so for the ending of this prophecy, we're going to see that God has given his people a reminder that he is in control at all times. And in the, and because of that, there's hope to be had. So let's take some time and let's do a little study. Here we are, the map of Israel. Here is the land that we are talking about. Let's go through this as quickly as we can, verse by verse, so that we understand what exactly is being talked about here.

So please, if you have your Bibles, open it on your lap or your app, whatever you got. Keep this in front of you so you can see what we're talking about. Verse 19 says this, those of the Negev shall possess Mount Esau. So the Negev was this region here to the south. Again, remember God's kingdom at this point had been separated into two separate kingdoms, the northern kingdom called Israel, the southern kingdom called Judah. The northern kingdom, Israel, had already been decimated by the previous world superpower of Assyria. They come in and conquer them and wipe them out. And then 150 years later, a new world superpower rises to the world stage, Babylon. And 150 years after Israel is destroyed, Babylon comes in and destroys the southern kingdom, primarily speaking of Jerusalem. This is the context of Obadiah.

So, the people who occupied the Negev, the region to the south, the southern part of the southern kingdom, when the dust settles, after this is all said and done, and after the people return from exile, God will relocate them to Mount Esau. And if you remember from our study, Mount Esau is just a prophetic, poetic name of the kingdom of Edom, because Edom was the descendants of the man Esau. So, again, we're talking about the people of the south. You have to kind of think of Jerusalem as the center. These are the people of the south. But then God talks about the people to the west, just to the west of Jerusalem. It goes on to say, and those of the Shefilah. Now the Shefilah, you're not going to hear a lot about it because there's not much really to be said. You probably won't find it on a lot of maps. You gotta dig a little deep to find it. Now the Shefilah were the foothills between the coastal lands of Philistia, right there on the Mediterranean Sea. They were the footlands between the coastal lands and the mountainous region that was just west of the Dead Sea. That's where Jerusalem was. If you remember, Jerusalem has a very high elevation. They're kind of up in the mountains.

So when you go from the elevation of those mountains down to the coast, the coastal line, in between you have the foothills of Shefilah. Now God says that the people who live there, they're going to expand out. They're going to now inhabit the territory of Philistia on the coastal lands, as well as Ephraim. Now Ephraim was one of the tribes of the northern kingdom that was decimated. This is about where the land was. They will get Ephraim as well as the land of Samaria. And that's where this is, right to the further north of that. And then God points to Benjamin. Now, remember, of the original 12 tribes of Israel, the northern kingdom had 10 tribes. The southern kingdom, while it had Jerusalem, only had two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. The southern kingdom is given the banner term of Judah, but Benjamin is still part of these people. So God says the people of Benjamin, is that up on the screen yet? Right there, Benjamin. They were on the northern border of the southern kingdom. They're going to expand into the land of Gilead, there to the east. Now listen, this is what happens to those who are part of the southern kingdom.

But God knows that his people are elsewhere, and God addresses them too, calling them to return. These are the people who existed right then and there, but there were people who were already displaced, who were already exiled, and God does not forget about them. So verse 19 is about those who existed there, who are going to go into exile, but then verse 20 is speaking about those who were already exiled and dispersed throughout the land. Verse 20 says this, the exiles of this host of the people of Israel, host typically means army or military, but right here it's probably referring to the remnants of the northern kingdom that you remember were destroyed by Assyria.

For whoever survives, God says they shall possess the land of the Canaanites. So the people who were exiled will come back, they will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. Now you can't see it on the screen, but Zarephath was just north of Tyre, right as a northern city, right off the edge of our map. So they're encompassing the northern section, the northern part of our map. They return, and if you know your biblical history, they essentially, quote-unquote, evolve into the Samaritans that we read about in the New Testament. But they're not the only exiles to return. Verse 20 continues, that the exiles of Jerusalem who were in Sepharad... Now again, I know, listen, I know these are all weird names, but you have to follow and understand what's happening here. Now, Sephard is kind of a disputed place.

We're not exactly with 100% certainty what is being referred to here, but most scholars believe it's referring to the ancient city of Sardis, which is on the western coast of Turkey. So these people were far away, which just reminds us, it doesn't matter how far you are, God has not forgotten you. It doesn't matter how far you are from Him, God has not forgotten you.

Those who are part of the Sepharad will come back and shall possess the land of the Negev. And then God, what He does is He ties a bow on all of this by saying that Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion. Mount Zion here is referring to Jerusalem, right there in the center of the map. Speaking of the people returning to Jerusalem, Saviors shall go to Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau. Again, Mount Esau, referring to Edom. Now listen, this verse, this last verse here, I think is less about relocation and more about the fulfillment of prophecy. For Edom had not only helped, not only not helped Jerusalem when they were attacked, but they sided with Babylon. And so God says he's going to destroy Edom, Jerusalem and his people will have a future and they're going to rule over Mount Esau, they're going to rule over Edom. I think what that actually is kind of just saying is Israel, God's people, they will remain, they will continue, they will have a hope and a future, but Edom will not. They will continue to exist even though Edom won't. And now that you see, what you see here is that essentially every part of the map is now covered. When we read that, we don't see that because we don't know the biblical geography, but when the original hearers heard this, they would have known God just is describing every part of this map, which is why we see such a powerful line with the very last thing that Obadiah says with these words, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's.

As you can see, these final verses reveal God's immediate plan for Israel and the promised land. But make no mistake, this prophecy is about so much more than what happened 500 years ago.

And that's what we want to understand here today. That though it may not be found on the immediate surface, if we don't know biblical geography, if we dig a little deeper, we may see something beautiful here, and this is what I want you to hold on to here today. Do you believe God is shaking things up in this world? He totally is. And as we see this shaking up, this shuffling around of people, let it be a reminder of this, that God shakes things up to reveal the hope of joy, that there is a future. It is good. God is doing something, and we need to press in to Him. And so three verses that we're looking at today, let me give you three ideas that we're going to be entertaining as we walk through our passage. Number one is this, God changes things to bring conformity to His plan.

God changes things to bring conformity to His plan. Verse 19, we'll look at verse 20 and here's something we want to pick up, that God redeems people to restore justice to the land. And then our final verse, as we read it, I think we're going to pick up this, this idea

that God speaks prophecy to foreshadow salvation to the world So first thing first we're gonna look at here today. God changes things to bring conformity to his plan So as we as we just saw God shaking things up. He's moving people around. He's relocating. He's redrawing the map, but he's not just Relocating people what he's doing is he's expanding his people's territory so that God's promise and his plan can come to fulfillment So let me just speak to the peace church family real quick God's promise and His plan can come to fulfillment.

So let me just speak to the Peace Church family real quick. You in the venue, you in the chapel, you online. Let me speak to the Peace Church family for just a moment. Very, very soon, we will be worshiping in a new space.

Hallelujah.

But listen to me, it'll be a change. It'll feel like a big change. But remember, God changes things. When God's in control and God changes things, it's to bring conformity to His plan. And that's where we want to stay, right? We want to stay in His plan. We don't want to stay with the way things are. We want to stay within God's plan. He's not just relocating our place of worship. He's about expanding us in order to grow our impact upon our community for His glory and for the renown of the name of Jesus. Amen?

So, let that provide you some comfort when in a few short weeks things feel a little different. Just remember, God shakes things up to bring conformity to His plan and it's good. But let's go back. Why does God take time to tell us about this relocation plan when He knows that in 2,500 years, a bunch of Americans are going to have no idea what he's talking about. Here's why. Because we must remember something about what was going on. Remember, the reason that Babylon even comes in in the first place and destroys Jerusalem is because the people had abandoned God. His own people had turned their back on him. They are forsaken him. And so God allows Babylon to come in and bring punishment and judgment. But even in the midst of this suffering, even in the midst of this judgment for abandoning God, God does something he does not have to do and something they do not deserve. God gives them hope for a future.

This is a very, very interesting time in biblical history. And if you remember last week, we made reference that there was another person alive during this time that we're very familiar with, Daniel. But there's also a very prominent biblical figure who was alive and doing ministry at this time, Jeremiah. Jeremiah was alive at this time and he saw this all unhappening. He saw Jerusalem come in and be destroyed. He saw God's people being carted off into exile and it's in the midst of that that Jeremiah gives a very profound prophecy. I want to read it for you. Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 10 to 14. Here's what Jeremiah says as a contemporary of Obadiah. He says this, for thus says the Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. That's just what Obadiah was talking about. And then God says this through Jeremiah, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future. We know that verse, don't we? We hear that avert, that we hear that verse a lot, don't we? Oh, we love that verse, don't we?

You would not have loved the context in which that verse was first spoken. These are people whose homes were destroyed and they were carted off to exile. Verse 12, then you will call upon my name and come and pray to me and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from the nations and all the places

Where I have driven you declares the Lord and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into This is exactly what Obadiah is talking about what Jeremiah describes in general right here Obadiah details with specifics Because listen to me God's plan is not just good, it's detailed. God knows exactly what's happening. God is in control of every aspect. This is why you must lean into him.

This is why you must trust him. This is why you need to have hope in the midst of hurts. I know this is hard to hear when you are in the midst of pain. Jeremiah gave this prophecy to people as they're probably being carted off and changed to a foreign land. I know this is going to be hard, but listen, when you're in the midst of pain or something that even feels like spiritual exile, when it feels like God has abandoned you, just remember this, if you lean into Him, if you press into Him, there is hope and there is a future. Yes, not all change feels good, but if we believe God is sovereign, then we must remember that God changes things to bring conformity to his plan. The process can be painful, but the destination can be beautiful.

Remember that, because we're going to come back to that in a second. The second thing we're going to see in our next point is this. God redeems people to restore justice to the land. Now, verse 20 is where we see God's promises to bring his people who have already been exiled back to the promised land, back into his sovereign plan. Yes, let's go ahead and let's read it again. Verse 20, keep your Bibles open. The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath. Again, all the way to the north. And the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of Negev. This is God's plan to What is his purpose here? Let me give you a word. Justice. Because remember, biblically speaking, justice isn't just bad guys going to jail. Justice in a biblical sense, justice is making things right, putting things as they should

be. And that's what we see here. God is making things right. He's fulfilling his promise to the way that things should be. Because listen to me, there is no true justice that does not conform to God's will. And this is what God does. God still does this. When he redeems people here and now through salvation that we have through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When God saves us, we are not just saved so that we can have eternal life. Yes, we are saved so that we can be welcomed into the presence of God. Yes, we can be saved so that we can go to heaven when we pass from this life to the next. But our redemption is not just for our personal salvation and our future glory. Our salvation is so that we can take part in the immediate mission of what God is doing here and now.

God saves us because we can't save ourselves and because He has a mission for us here and now to take part in ushering in as God does his kingdom into this world, to take part in the prayer of Jesus who himself prayed that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. But before we talk about saving the starving children or before we talk about abortion or who we talk about who to vote for, Christians in the house, you need to ask yourself, when you look in the mirror, are you truly seeing an ambassador for Jesus staring back at you?

This is where it starts.

As a wife, do you love and honor your husband in the ways that scripture calls you to? Men, are you providing and protecting your family in the ways that God is calling you to? If justice is setting things right, if justice is the way that things should be, then how is that starting in your life and in your home? Christians, you're not just saved so you can go to heaven. That's a wonderful, beautiful part of our salvation. But we are saved so that we can be a part of announcing the kingdom here on earth and take part in that. But I know it's hard when we are in the midst of pain and uncertainty and hurt. I know this can be hard to hear when you simply just feel like a spiritual exile from God or you feel like God's abandoned you, you feel like there's no hope.

But trust that when God is in control, He is working out something amazing. I hope you see that Obadiah is reminding us that it's not that God is part of our plan. We are part of God's plan. He hasn't forgotten you. You have to remember He's actually doing something amazing. If you trust in that, then you can have hope no matter what.

It's like this story that C.S. Lewis wrote. I think C.S. Lewis is mostly known for writing the Chronicles of Narnia, but did you know that C.S. Lewis also wrote a science fiction set? It's called the Space Trilogy. And in the very first book of the Space Trilogy, C.S. Lewis writes this book called Out of the Silent Planet.

Now in this book, what happens is that there's this man named Ransom. That's his last name. This man Ransom, he's kidnapped and he's put on a spaceship and he's brought to a distant planet called Malchondria. Now he's kidnapped. He's a prisoner on this spaceship.

And what you see is him on this entire journey from earth to Melchondria, ransomed as a prisoner, and the entire time he is absolutely terrified of what's going to happen, as understandably so. He's terrified about what's going to happen to him when he gets to this planet. He's terrified about what's going to happen. He thinks about all the horrors that are waiting for him, and he fills his head with all these unimaginable fears

about how terrible this place is going to be. And then the day finally comes and he arrives to this planet and he is just absolutely fearful and anxious and terrified. And he steps off the spaceship to this new planet. And this is what is written. But something he learned before anything else, he learned that Melchondria was beautiful. And he even reflected how odd it was that this possibility had never entered into his speculations about it.

What was going on was Ransom spent his entire journey in constant fear, constantly telling himself about how terrible things were going to be, how terrible things were going to be for him. He was a prisoner for Pete's sake, it's understandably so, but what we come to realize is that he was firstly a prisoner to his own fears. And he couldn't see beyond that.

But when he gets to Malacondra, it's beautiful. He's shocked because throughout his entire journey, he never once imagined that the outcome could actually be good and beautiful. Some of us are in a hard spot. And you only have despair about the future. You only have uncertainty. And so what do you do? You fill your head with all about the terrible fears about what could happen. You are in darkness, so all you see is darkness. So you fill your head with dark thoughts. But when God is in charge, there is hope. So try and treating that idea just for a moment that maybe, just maybe, the outcome could be better than the place you're coming from. This is why we need to stay in God.

This is why we need to hide ourselves in Thee. This is the hope we have that God gives to His people, that we need to trust Him when we don't understand what's going on. It's like God is saying to these people, yes, you are going into exile, but there is hope for you on the other side of this. There will be and there can be. So hope for the joy that is to come. That's what we're going to see in point three. As we close this up, God shakes things up to reveal the hope of joy. And the last thing we'll see is that God speaks prophecy to foreshadow salvation to the world. And here we come. Our verse by verse walkthrough

of the book of Obadiah is coming to a close. Remember, verses 19 and 20 were about relocating God's people so his plan could unfold, but this last one is more about God fulfilling his prophecy as we see his plan come to life. Verse 21 says this, Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule over Mount Esau. So God is contrasting these two mounts, Mount Zion, which is Jerusalem, and Mount Esau, which is Edom.

The idea here is that God's plan... Don't miss the words that are actually on the page. God's plan here is to raise saviors, not authoritarians, not dictators, but saviors who are to rule over Edom, but rule with justice. Rule with God's justice, because ultimately what we see here is this is not about a people and their rule. This is about the Lord's and His kingdom. And the last line of Obadiah is this, and this we conclude our journey, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Amen. While we saw on the map how God is relocating His people and brings them all over the map, He expands their territory, expands what they're doing. What we truly see is God fulfilling his promise to his people.

But we must remember the point here that God speaks prophecy to foreshadow salvation to the world. So when God says in this last line, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's, this is not only a promise of what is to come immediately for them. This is a foreshadowing of the fulfillment that we all desperately long for. For this is the gospel of Obadiah, that we are not just saved from our sin, but when we are, we then look to the future where Jesus has restored us, not just from our exile from sin, but Christ restores the world to how it should be. This is the hope that we are to have, that not only will things be restored, but joy comes when God's full redemption is complete, where all of the world is under his kingship. And what the book of Obadiah does is it reminds us and challenges us and tells us at all times, don't lose God's eternal plan for the immediate moment that it's happening. For in your immediate moment, we must always remember that God has an internal plan that is unfolding. No, God's not part of our plan. We are part of His plan. And that's beautiful. God is certainly shaking things up in this world. God is changing things in this world. And whether we like it or not, we must remember that God shakes things up to reveal the hope of of joy. This is the beauty and the power of the book of Obadiah. Amen.