Introduction Of The Text:
Today, this is a message to our country, “the good old U.S.A.” The “home of the brave,” the “land of the free.” Where opportunity is available to just about any and everybody! Now, let me set the record straight, I love this country. I would not want to live anywhere else in the world! I have been to several others counties: I have been to Paris, France, to see the Eiffel Tower, I have been to London, England, to see the changing of the Palace Guards, I have been to Lucerne and Geneva, Switzerland, to see the Alps Mountain, I have been to Rome, Italy, to see the Valcan, but there is no place like the “good old U.S.A.!” This country has not always been right; we have not always done things correctly! But, it is the greatest country in the world!
The prophet Obadiah reminds us today; that there is no such thing as “National Security!” I know what you are thinking, the C.I.A, (Central Intelligent Agency) has always been our intelligent agency on national security, and since (9-11) the president of the United States, has instituted a commission on “Homeland Security.” Yes, he may have started a commission on homeland security, but God has the final say-so on national security!
That is the very thing that the “Edomites” in our text found out! You see the idea of invulnerability is a delusion, in other words, it’s a fantasy. What are you saying preacher? “No one is safe now!” Before,(9-11)we thought we were the safest nation on planet earth, after(9-11)some of us have come to a ruled awakening that we are not so-safe anymore!
The last big major attack on this land, “the land of the brave, the home of the free,” was on December 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. For over fifty years, “the good old U.S.A”. has enjoyed her “national security.” Before (9-11), we were like (M.C.Hammer), “can’t touch this!” The “good old U.S.A.” the super-power in the world, at Olympic games we would chant, U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.
Therefore, I want to point-out two vital truths in this text today:
I. First, The Insecurity Of All Nations (VV-3-9)
The nation of Edom was so strongly established in her natural fortress that she considered her defenses impregnable.(V-3) Yet her doom was sealed and that which she had done to others she herself must now suffer. Isn’t it something in life when you get a little taste of your own medicine? Listen; from a “personal” and a “national” standpoint, we must watch how we treat others! Well, let me break it down, as “Christians” and as a “Country,” we must beware how we deal with others people! We are guilty as Christians and this country is guilty of mistreating others! Let me “bust” your bubble, God does not favors this county any better than any other country! Instead of singing, “God bless America,” why not sing; “God bless the world!”
The judgment of Edom will be by conspiracy (plot).
(V-1) In others words, God will raise up another nation to bring them down! There are historical forces operative in this world that make the position of any nation, however strong it may appear, actually weak! This includes the “good old U.S.A.”
The prophet Obadiah remind us that every powerful, wealthy, and well-established nation does well to heed his prophetic saying! Now, it is the Lord who declares that he will bring (Edom) down.
(V-4) In other words, you make your houses uphill, but I will come up there and tear them down!
World History, American History, The History Of Christianity, all three exhorts us to see the hand of God behind the collapse of nations. The “good old U.S.A.” has only been a nation for about(227)years! Folks, that is a very short period of time! I would say that we only been a “super-power” for about (50) years! Our fundamental insecurity lies in the fact that from God there is no escape; and he is capable of raising up instruments to effect moral retribution.
There are such events as national ruin, the breaking up of a nation, the disappearance of one dominant world power and the emergence of another. In such events we are bidden to see the might and justice of God.
The Bible tells us that: “righteousness exhorts a nation, but sin is a reproach!” It was “sin” that cause the Romans, the Greeks, Medes-Persians and the Babylonians to fall!
II. Second, The Guilty Bystander (VV-10-14)
In these five verses, the prophet Obadiah drives home the charges against Edom through the repeated formula, so terrible in its literary restraint, “thou shouldest not…Neither shouldest thou…” (V-12) You see, Edom dissociated herself from the miseries of her kinfolk in Israel; worse than that, she rejoiced over Israel’s suffering and took advantage of it. Have you witness people getting pleasure out of your “failures?” This friend is what merits the retribution(payback)of God.
America has made the same mistake. In 1815, the Quakers and Paul Cuffie-an American seaman and merchant, encouraged the colonizing of blacks in Sierra Leone, Africa. It was Cuffie who financed the voyage of 38 free blacks in 1815. Cuffie was part black and part Indian, was born on Cuttyhunk Island, Mass. He also became a minister among the Quakers. But, the government of America didn’t recognized Liberia as a nation until after the Civil War! And from 1815-2003, Americans, the British, and the French have been “bystanders” in Monrovia, Liberia. Yes, all those years they have taken all the “gold, diamonds, and natural resources” from this country but want give them military aid!
On July 22, 2003, the Boston Globe stated that more 300,000 people have been misplaces because of this civil war! The “good old U.S.A.” is as the prophet Obadiah has stated in his prophecies, a “bystander.” This is what “Edom” did to his brother “Judah.”
In 586 B.C., the Babylonians came and took Judah captives to Babylon, and all “Edom” did was just looked at his brother!
It is amazing how America can have “double” standards, she will let the “Cubans” swim on trucks, boats, homemade-crafts, anything that will floats, to get to Miami, Florida. But, when the Haitians try to come here, very few “Haitians” will remain here as citizens!
The “land of the free, the home of the brave,” has always had “double-standards” when it comes to “race!” Here we see the painfulness of man’s relationship to man. One stands aside and lets another suffer! One takes pleasure in another’s misfortunes. Despite all that can be said about the amiability of human nature, this is what happens again and again all down the line of human social life!
The “good old U.S.A.” needs to be asking herself about her neutralities, her inward cruelties, and her ruthlessness. The prophet Obadiah suggests an application on the national scale of certain parables of Jesus.
The parable of the Good Samaritan(St. Luke 10:25-37) here we find a similarity in the phrase “in the day that thou stoodest on the other side” (V-11). Again, there is the saying: “Thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger” (V-12). This application not only applies to “personal” life, but it also applies to “international” life! You see, as Christians we must get involve, and as a nation we must not have a "double standard!"
America must understand, that there is no “National Security” without God! Every nation will be judge by God Almighty! (St.Matt.25:31-46) We must understand, that nations rise and fall under the power of God Almighty! God has no "picks" and "pets" in the nations of the world; he love all nations! What we must do as a nation is give our lives to him and be obedience to him and know that God is the one who prosper a nation!
America needs to "confess" and "repent" for the wrong that she has done at home and abroad! We need to see ourselves as other nations see us, we do have faults! We have used other people and nations to get our way! It is time for us to come clean! You can only hide “sins” for so long!
As a prophet, I am crying out, “Come clean America, Come clean America, Come clean America!” And when we as a nation have “come clean,” then and only then can we sing:
“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord, He is tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the fateful lighting of his terrible swift sword-His truth is
marching on.
Glory! glory, hallelujah!
Glory! glory, hallelujah!
Glory! glory, hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.”
By: Roy Wade, Sr., D.Min.
