Coffee With Pat
Written By: Pat Aman
copyright 2006
All rights reserved

The final verse of Obadiah, " 21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the Lord's. as you see makes reference to "saviors" through whom God would exercise His dominion over the mountains of Esau. They would function as "judges" or "deliverers" from their center of Mount Zion or Jerusalem. Hebrew judges were "saviors" for the people. They liberated them from the oppression of foreigners, provided help for the widows and orphans, and executed justice in disputes among men. These saviors foreshadow God's ultimate Deliverer, Jesus Christ Himself, the Messiah who comes as the final Judge, both to be and to bring God's most glorious Word concerning the kingdom. Through Jesus, God offers His lordship and His dominion to all mankind. Especially to the downtrodden and oppressed does He carry the message of deliverance. Luke 4:16-21 16.He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. 17. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: 18."The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19.to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." 20.Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21.and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." The "day of the Lord" and the kingdom of God proclaimed by Obadiah anticipate the entry of Jesus Christ into the world. The prophet's announcement that the kingdom shall be the Lord's is a theme that occupied much of the teaching of Jesus Christ. Time and again He spoke of the "kingdom of God"or the "Kingdom of Heaven. The nature of that kingdom and the manner of its coming are different from the image of Obadiah. Jesus ushers in the Person of Christ. But truly, the "day of the Lord" and the coming of His kingdom are inseparable from Jesus Christ. The Second Coming of Jesus will conform more closely to the picture painted in the prophecy of Obadiah than did His first coming. Nowhere in Obadiah also is there specific reference to the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God. His working, however, must be assumed. He serves as Obadiah's source of inspiration, as the One who imparts the "vision" that constitutes Obadiah's message. In addition, although not specifically identified as such, He functions as the One who instigates the judgment of Edom, calling forth the nations to rise up against the enemy of God's people. Thought God uses human agents to carry out His justice, behind it all is the working of His Spirit, pushing, prompting, and punishing according to the plan of God.

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