A Message: To The Good Old U.s.a.

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.