Two Mountains | Obadiah 15-21 | March 15, 2026 | Pastor Mike Gibbons

In Obadiah 15–21, this message frames the passage around two mountains—the pride of sinful humanity that will be brought low, and Mount Zion, where God rescues and restores His people. First, it emphasizes that sin will be judged: the “day of the Lord” is real, and God’s justice will come, even while He remains patient and calls people to repentance.

Second, it highlights God’s promise to deliver His people in holiness. The Lord gathers a people for Himself, preserves them, and invites all who call on His name to be saved—showing that God’s rescue is both personal and global.

Finally, the sermon lifts our eyes to the end of the story: the kingdom will be the Lord’s. No earthly power lasts forever, but Jesus reigns, and His people can live with confidence and hope as we wait for His final, perfect rule.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, church. Hey, if you have your Bibles, open them to Obadiah. We are going to finish up that short Old Testament book today. As some of you know, I buried my dad last Saturday. And I don't bring that up to gain sympathy or I'm not trying to be morbid. I bring it up only because my sisters found this hat in his belonging, and you may not be able to see it from there, but it says Philmott since 1938. My dad was the assistant scoutmaster of Troop 157 of Lubbock, Texas. And in 1976, along with about eight or 10 other Boy Scouts, he and I, with those other eight or ten other Boy Scouts, spent time in Philmont hiking over 70 miles for 10 days with just our sleeping gear and food and clothing, everything that we needed was on our backs. We hiked through the Sangra de Cristo Mountains of Filmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. And coming from Lubbock, which is so flat, you can see your dog run away for two weeks. The mountains were incredible. And this hat just reminded me of that trip and the mountains. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but spending time with my dad allowed me to learn more of him in the mountains than almost at any any other time. Just those 10 days in the mountains. It was a mountaintop experience, and we we got to know each other really well. And mountains are common in Scripture. They are places of encounter with others, like my dad and I experienced, or they're places of encounters with God. God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain with Peter, James, and John watching. The prophets of Baal met God in a different way on Mount Carmel. So mountaintops are a common theme throughout scripture. They're places also of pagan worship that God denounces, as well as places of true worship. So you can trace almost the whole course of biblical history just looking at mountains and the events that took place there or will take place. And mountains are a central symbol in Obadiah that we're going to look at today. So let me pray for us first and then we'll we'll get started. Father, astonishing as it is, you have entrusted the good news of the gospel to us, the weak and the unworthy. But in the power of the Holy Spirit, even in weak and unworthy vessels, you make yourself known. And I pray that today we would hear from you. Don't let me get in the way. Don't let our foolish hearts rob us of an encounter with Christ today. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enter our assembly with saving power and do not let the word fall on deaf ears. You promised your word would not return to you empty, but would accomplish all you purpose. Make it so even now, Father. Let us not leave this place today the same as we came in. It's all for the glory of the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen. So if you have Obadiah, I'm going to read verses 15 through 21, which is where we're going to be focusing today. So this is Obadiah, verses 15 through 21. For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually. They shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been. But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy. And the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble. They shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. Those of the Negab shall possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shafi Shafilah shall possess the land of the Philistines. They shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sephirod shall possess the cities of the Negab. Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Just a quick review. And Obadiah receives a divine vision in verse one calling the nations to rise against Edom. The Edomites had grown proud in their mountainous stronghold. They were surrounded by mountains, and they believed themselves to be unassailable. They believed themselves to be totally protected. But God promises to bring them down from their lofty heights despite their confidence. And Obadiah's vision in verses six through ten depicts total devastation, total design. There's nothing left behind. Edom's former allies will betray them, just as Edom has betrayed his brother. Edom's supposed sources of strength, their wisdom, tradition, and their military might will not help them. And then we get to verses 11 through 14 that provide the rationale for this harsh judgment. Edom had robbed and killed Jacob's descendants. They stood by while enemies breached Jerusalem's gates, and they participated in looting the city with the foreign invaders that came in. And they gloated over Judah's misfortune. Entered the city to seize wealth. They situated themselves at escape routes to turn the fugitives from Jerusalem back into their enemies and handed the survivors over. This cruelty toward their brothers was not going to be forgotten by God. Judgment will come to Edom. And that's where we pick it up in verses 15 through 16. And if you're taking notes, this is the first thing. Sinful people will be judged. Sinful people will be judged. And this is the first mountain that we see in these final verses. You can find other mountains in those other 14 verses. We didn't really pick up on them too much, but you can go back and find those. You'll see holy mountain. A holy mountain is a common expression throughout the Old Testament. It refers to Jerusalem or Mount Zion. And despite the destruction of Israel, God still claims this mountain as his own. And you'll see that it says nations, plural, not just nation, but nation. So despite the short-term fulfillment of the judgment against Edom, it has to refer to something more than just Edom alone, because it's using the plural nations. You'll see in there also the day of the Lord. And the day of the Lord is a day of judgment. Edom's fate, because it says nations, Edom's fate illustrates what awaits the nations in general on the first day of that final judgment. And the prophecy had been directed exclusively against Edom up to this point. One other phrase that may cause some confusion, it says, Drank on God's holy hill. The Edomites had entered Jerusalem and drank on God's holy hill. Drinking in the Bible is often associated or related to judgment. Edom will drink again, but this time the cup will not hold wine. It will be the cup of the wrath of God. And along with all the other nations and people will drink this cup as well, if they are not God's people. And finally, in those verses, it says the day of the Lord is near. And just a Bible study tip, if you will, ask questions of the text. And this should raise a question. In what sense is Obadiah declaring this judgment near? This was written 2,000, 3,000 years ago. Was Obadiah mistaken? We need to ask that. And the answer to that is first of all, no, the day of the Lord was not delayed for Edom. The day of the Lord was not delayed for Edom at all. Obadiah in most in all likelihood was written after after the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 587 BC. And 30 years later, Edom fell to the Babylonians as well. And then from the 5th to the 3rd centuries, the people remaining in Edom had kind of shifted westward and were known as Idomians or Idomians. So Edom was judged. In the sense of the term near, that relates to Edom. Now, secondly, the Bible's view of nearness is more than just immediately. When we think near, we think it's happening now. And the Bible, it's more than that. Nearness in Scripture is near in a sense that it can occur at any moment. Therefore, one must be ready for it to occur at any moment. Illustration, very simple. If I balance my Bible on the edge of the pulpit here, you're looking at it, you're concerned, you're anxious, you're thinking, boy, if he touches that pulpit, it's going over. If he steps away from it, I'm not worrying anymore. I'm not so much more anxious. But as we get closer to it, maybe I hit the pulpit, or I maybe he just hit the book itself, but off it goes. That's the sense of nearness that the Bible is talking about. It's it's it's a sense that the judgment is near when when when we just have to be ready for that to come. You were looking at that, you were distracted, you were anxious, you were worried it's gonna fall if he gets too close or it gets pushed over. That's the sense of nearness that the Bible is talking about. Times when things are quiet, when I'm away from the pulpit and we don't anticipate the judgment so much, and there are other times when we hear of wars and rumors of wars and we wonder if God's final intervention in history is just around the corner. We become anxious and distracted from our mission. Perhaps as we are distracted from the Word of God, if we see the Bible placed precariously on the pulpit, we become distraction when we hear these wars and rumors of war. Distracted from our mission, which is to magnify Christ and share the gospel. We can become distraction, distracted, but judgment is no less near in quiet times than it is in the stormy ones. At any moment, God may set the wheels of his final reckoning in order. And this is must, this is why we must prepare for the day of the Lord at any time and be ready. Jesus Himself said, Keep watch, because you do not know on what day the Lord will come. So his holy mountain is returning to its rightful place at some point. Edom's day has come, and it's only a preview of that final universal day of judgment. So if Obadai is saying there's another judgment coming, the next question is why is he waiting? We see all these wars and we see the moral mess that we are in as a country, as a world. Why is God waiting? What is he waiting for? And this is where God's character shows through so clearly. The day of the Lord has not yet come, in order that God may show grace to more people. In the Apostle Peter's time, skeptics were saying that because things, things seem to continue as they had been from the beginning, there's therefore there's no judgment. But Peter answered this in 2 Peter 3 with the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but all should reach repentance. God is delaying the ultimate working out of his judgment on people and nations until those whom he will call to faith come to him. This is the day of his grace. The day of the Lord could be tomorrow. This is the day of his grace. If you are not a believer in Christ, God is calling you to believe in him now. Run to Mount Zion for salvation and deliverance. So sinful people will receive their just reward. And then Obadiah moves in the next verses to God's people, the people of Judah. And this is the second point if you're taking notes. God will deliver his people. God will deliver his people. Though Edom will be destroyed by God's wrath, Israel, in God's grace, will experience deliverance and be freed from her enemies. Just a brief mention on those names that I stumbled over in verses 19 and 20. All those are literal, literal places. Those are places that are geographically literate, and they speak to the short-term fulfillment of this prophecy for Israel. But they also reflect, if you look at the geography, they also reflect the four points of the compass for north, south, east, and west. And it follows a pattern that we find throughout Scripture that speaks to something bigger. Just like it used the plural word nations, it also used the specific nations to speak to something bigger. So let's come back to verse 17. Look at verse 18. And it says, the house of Esau stubble. Remember, Edom became Idumea as they merged into other nations. And in around 134 BC, according to Josephus, a Jewish historian, the previous nation of Edom were compelled to receive Jewish circumcision. They were required to get circumcised. And in God's, so over time they were absorbed into the Jewish nation, losing their national and ethnic identity. So in God's providence, it was the loss of their nation that proved to be the salvation for some as they had the opportunity to encounter Jesus in his time in Israel. And here is, I think, the key to the significance of Obadiah for Christians today. This new identity in Christ that many of those in Edom would experience is exactly what is happening today. In Christ, Gentile believers are being grafted into the vine and made heirs of the promises of God. In Christ, the high and mighty are cast down and the humble are exalted. In Christ, citizens of the kingdom of darkness and sin are delivered and brought into the kingdom of light. But the question again, ask questions as you read. And the question is: how do we know that Obadiah is truly speaking of the kingdom of Christ today? And not just the kingdom of Israel. Why isn't this just about Israel? Well, it is in some regards, but how do we know that he's truly speaking of the kingdom of Christ today? Stay with me on this one because this is the beauty of Scripture. Oftentimes the New Testament, most of the time, the New Testament will cast light on how the Old Testament prophets can be understood. Unfortunately, Obadiah is not directly quoted in the New Testament at all. Obadiah is never quoted. There is still a connection, though, that will help us interpret Obadiah in our time. And this is important as you study the Bible as well. Let scripture interpret scripture. Let scripture explain what other scripture means. Let me explain that. In the New Testament, Peter cites the book of Joel in his Pentecost sermon in Acts. If you go to Joel and look at those verses, you'll find that Joel references Obadiah. The way Peter uses Joel and Joel uses Obadiah means that Peter's sermon helps us to understand Obadiah. I'm afraid I'm going to lose some of you here, but continue to track with me because these connections in Scripture are truly amazing. We have a book, you know, 2,000 years old, written by 40 different human authors, yet one author and one story. And those connections just speak to the character of our God and the amazing beauty that he gives us. So Obaniah looks forward to an intervention of God in which God's people will be delivered. In verse 17, it says, But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape. Well, let me read Joel 2, verses 30 through 32, that Peter quotes in Acts and listen for that same phrase. This is Joel chapter 2, verses 30 through 32. And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke, the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall. Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said. And among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls. When you compare Joel and Obadiah, and you can see it when they're side by side, you compare those two, and you'll see the same phrase. There shall be those who escape. Now Joel adds Jerusalem, but he quotes Obadiah, who was that was written before Joel. In Mount Zion, there shall be those who escape. So Joel is associating the deliverance that Obadiah promises as a time when God's spirit will be poured out, and one world will end while another begins. One kingdom will end while another begins. So if we go to Acts chapter 2, verses 17 through 21, I'm not going to read it because that's where Peter quotes Joel. So the same thing that I just read is in Acts 2, verses 17 through 21. And Peter is trying to explain why the apostles were speaking in other languages in that Acts chapter. He replies to the charge that the apostles are drunk by quoting Joel. So he's saying, Hey, people, wake up. The world has changed. The Spirit has now come. With the death and resurrection of Jesus, the old world is in its last days. The sun is dying, the moon is bleeding because this is the longed-for Messiah, the longed-for intervention of God that Joel was speaking about. So the outpouring of the Spirit, which allowed them to speak another language, is the beginning of the establishment of a new covenant and a new world. And this is the deliverance mentioned in Obadiah 17 as quoted in Joel, which Peter then quotes on the day of Pentecost. This is the deliverance which comes to anyone that calls on the name Jesus Christ. The deliverance that Obadiah prophesied is now. The deliverance that Obadiah prophesied is now. We are living out that prophecy. People from all nations are responding to the gospel by calling on the name of Christ, and a new kingdom is being established. Just as some in Edom came to Christ when they were absorbed into Israel, so they are as the gospel is spreading throughout the world. And I'm not going to get into the details as much, but the same two-stage connection happens in verses 18 through 20. In Amos chapter 9, Amos 9 says, the time is coming when God will restore his people and they will possess the remnant of Edom. Two centuries later, Obadiah says the same thing in verses 18 through 20. He says, God's people will subdue Edom and possess Mount Esau. When you jump to the New Testament in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, the early church is discussing how the Gentile believers should be treated. And James addresses that. Let me read Acts 15, verses 16 and 17. It says, After this I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord. And all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old. So James quotes Amos, Amos, Obadiah quotes Amos. James is arguing that because of the work of Christ, the promise prophecy of Amos is being fulfilled in the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. So the takeover of the world is proceeding as the apostles and the disciples preach Jesus. There are some differences. James replaces Edom with mankind and possess with seek the Lord. And he's doing that because he sees now what neither Amos or Obadiah could see. Obadiah couldn't see past the Babylonians, overtaking Edom. And he couldn't foresee how eventually all the nations are being overtaken by Jesus through the gospel, preaching in the power of the Spirit. So if we look at the New Testament to understand Obadiah, we see it indirectly through James' use, James's use of Amos, which Obadiah built on. We see it in Peter's use of Joel, quoting Obadiah. You put Joel, Amos, and Acts together, and you see that the intervention of God in salvation and judgment, which Obadiah predicted, is confirmed through the book of Acts. The takeover of the world by Israel, which Obadiah says is going to happen, is the spread of the kingdom through the Gentile mission, as the Lord Jesus, who has all authority in heaven and earth, disciples nations and saves the world. Obadiah rightly understood through Joel Amos and Acts is about gospel deliverance and gospel takeover. It's about the advance of the kingdom of God, the building of the church, and world missions. And that's what's happening right now, today. Prophesied and written about thousands of years ago, we are living out Obadiah. Right now, around the world, the gospel is being preached, and Obadiah 17 through 21 is being fulfilled. The kingdom is the Lord's. And that is what verse 21 closes with. The kingdom will be the Lord's. Now don't get hung up on the word saviors. We know there's only one true savior. The saviors are just those that God uses to bring the kingdom to others by sharing the gospel. But we're left with an image of two mountains. We have Mount Zion and Mount Esau. And Mount Zion rules Mount Esau. In the battle of the mountains, Zion wins. But this isn't rule, this rule is not one of vengeance and violence. It's the rule of righteous judgment and godly kingship. In this sense, every time we pray, our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done as on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying the book of Obadiah. The world put to rights, the world set straight, God's people delivered from their enemies. More importantly, God's people delivered from their sin and then used by God to spread the gospel. So the prophecy ends with a promise, and the kingdom will be the Lord's. Regarding the nation of Israel, it means that God will settle his people in their land and give them victory over their enemies. But the New Testament shows us that there is a wider interpretation and a more comprehensive fulfillment. It is a promise that God's kingdom will spread far beyond the boundaries of Israel into all the lands of the earth, that men from every tribe and language and people and nation, according to Revelation, will be the subjects of that kingdom. And that ultimately, at the consummation of all things, the kingdom of the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. So the closing verse provides both warning and hope. It warns those who oppose God that they will not succeed. But it comforts those who suffer that God's justice will prevail. The day of the Lord demonstrates God's rule over all people and all places. It was true in Obadiah's time, and it's true in our time. Obadiah 15 through 21 is the view from the top of the mountain, the mountain of salvation, Mount Zion. And these verses describe the world as it should be, the world put back together through the saving deliverance of Christ. And God is kind enough to warn. God is kind enough to warn. But yet He's righteous enough to judge. A day will come when our choices will be judged. What you have done will be revealed. As Obadiah 15 declares, for the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you. Your deeds shall return on your own head. You can either enter God's kingdom, which means trusting and obeying Him, or you can eventually drink the cup of God's judgment. The merciful God who warned Edom is warning us now. May we embrace His rule. So sinful people will be judged, God will deliver His people, the kingdom will be the Lord's. And we are all sinful people, right? But through repentance and faith, our judgment is different because the kingdom of our heart is ruled by the Lord. And knowing the destiny of all nations, the believer may not we not only take encouragement from the assurance that right will ultimately triumph, but we're also challenged both to purity of living and following the commands of Christ and to greater missionary endeavor. I close with one question. Who will you invite to join the kingdom this week? Let me pray for us. We ask that you shine brightly in a dark world and that we as your people would act as agents of the gospel. Help us to seek your kingdom first, setting aside our own desires for your perfect purpose. Come, Lord Jesus, come and let your kingdom grow in us and throughout the world. Amen.