A JUST RETURN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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. Just as you drank on My holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.”

Obadiah 15-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Thus far in this book, we have found God revealing a coming judgment on the nation of Edom to Obadiah in a vision. We know the pending consequences surrounded Edom’s abandonment of the Israelites as they were going through their own punishment at the hands of the Assyrians, who attacked the northern kingdom of Israel and the Babylonians, who assaulted the southern kingdom of Judah.

The ignoring of Judah and its holy city of Jerusalem was most damning for Edom as the nation, founded by scorned former Israelite Esau, failed to act when their brother nation was in need. Rather than come to the aid of Judah, Edom sat back and watched, actually gloating and rejoicing over the misfortunes of their sibling neighbor. They even went as far as swooping in to steal away Judah’s riches after they were hauled away into exile. This obviously did not sit well with God who promised to bring destruction to the Edomites, a just return for what they had done (or not done) to His people in Judah.

Today, as we turn to the last third of this book, we find the attention of God turn from Edom to the world at large and all the nations within.

What was God’s message to these nations?

Look again at these two verses:

“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. Just as you drank on My holy hill, so all the nations will drink continually; they will drink and drink and be as if they had never been.”  Obadiah 15-16

The day of the Lord here is not a day of blessing but rather a day of reckoning as God directs His consequences toward all the nations. No one will escape His judgment.

What will dictate what that judgment is?

Well, we get a sense that it will be not be a one-size-fits-all kind of punishment but rather one that will be tailored differently for each nation. Each would be penalized based on the things they had done and the wicked actions they had performed would be the same actions that would constitute the judgment they received. It was a judgment based on the matter of just return. The nations sowed sinfulness and they would reap punishment as a result.

And note that the judgment was not going to be mild. For as we see in our passage for today, God uses an analogy that anyone in that day or this one could understand, an analogy centered on drinking. The nations would not just get a sip of the Lord’s consequences but rather they would drink of His judgment until they were drunk from it, drinking and drinking all the way to oblivion.

It’s a rather harrowing imagery, wouldn’t you agree?

It’s one that I’m sure would have gotten the attention of nations in Obadiah’s day and it should be one to get the attention of nation’s today as well. For the Lord has not stopped watching what is going on in the world He created. He still has a watchful eye on every continent and every country within those continents, assessing each for their level of righteousness. And rest assured that if the nations continue to live opposed to Him, choosing to live in wickedness, then He will once again bring judgment in equal measure and relation to the sins that nation has committed, a judgment based on a just return for their transgressions.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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