“The vision of Obadiah.
Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom (We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let us rise up against her for battle”): 2 “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ 4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says the Lord. 5 “If thieves had come to you, If robbers by night—Oh, how you will be cut off!—would they not have stolen till they had enough? If grape-gatherers had come to you, would they not have left some gleanings?” Obadiah 1:1-5 NKJV
Lord God,
The shortest book in the Bible and perhaps the most often skimmed over. Certainly I have been guilty of that. But there is so much in so few verses. Judgement on Edom. But hope would come from Mount Zion. The people of Edom were not strangers to Your people Lord God, many were related through Esau, who went to live in Edom to get away from his brother Isaac. And Edom also took advantage of Israel when the Babylonians took Jerusalem.
Obadiah then switches to show that no nation will escape judgement (Obadiah 1:15). No nation is innocent of mistreating their neighbours! But then he speaks of hope. That God will restore his Kingdom and there will be a faithful remnant. From there, God’s Kingdom will expand to include all the territory and nations surrounding Israel. Yes, we see how Your Kingdom has expanded to all nations through Jesus, but we also look beyond Obadiah’s vision to another day of the Lord. A day there will be no more war – and one King – You Lord God and one Kingdom. Meanwhile we continue to pray an end to war and bloodshed.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Worship Friday 14th August 2026
If He did come back today would I be ready? Certainly I would be taken by surprise! Do I expect it in my lifetime? Yet I love this song and the vision of Jesus coming back as He promised.
Lo! he comes with clouds descending,
Once for favored sinners slain!
Thousand, thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of his train.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
God appears on Earth to reign.
2. Ev’ry eye shall now behold him,
Robed in dreadful majesty;
Those who set at naught and sold him,
Pierced and nailed him to a tree,
Deeply wailing, Deeply wailing, Deeply wailing,
Shall the true Messiah see.
3. The dear tokens of his passion
Still his dazzling body bears,
Cause of endless exultation
To his ransomed worshipers;
With what rapture, With what rapture,
With what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars.
4. Yea! Amen! let all adore thee
High on thine eternal throne!
Saviour, take the pow’r and glory,
Claim the kingdom for thine own.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Everlasting God come down.
Lyrics: Charles Wesley