Obadiah utterly condemned Esau, or Edom (Genesis 25:30; 36:1, 8).
But how does Esau relate to us today? It's about His END-TIME Church
“The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi” (Malachi 1:1).
The word burden here means a prophetic oracle—or warning.
Malachi 4:5-6 shows this is an end-time book.
Why or what reason that God discussed Esau in the book of Malachi?
This book is actualy a strong rebuke for God’s own Church today.
Why Jacob and Esau? They were twin brothers who had a long history of war.
If we apply this to the Church today, the main problem is family division.
His message is primarily for God’s divided Church today
(Malachi 1: 4-6). There is deep spiritual division in God’s Family,
just as there was deep division between Jacob and Esau!
Both Jacob and Esau dishonored their father. There is a spiritual counterpart today.
God’s Laodicean Family dishonors Him in this end time, as Jacob and Esau did.
When Jacob was converted, His name was changed to Israel.
So Jacob represents an unconverted attitude in God’s own Church today.
But Esau represents an even worse attitude. God has “indignation for ever” against
him! He was incorrigible. And many of God’s people are becoming that way today!
Only a small minority of God’s people serve Him in the end time (Malachi 3:16).
God’s firstfruits have been called out of this world (John 6:44).
They now have a birthright to be the Bride of Christ (Revelation 19:7).
But like Esau, many of God’s people are selling their birthright for a bowl of soup.
Fifty percent of God’s people today are going to lose their salvation (Matthew 25:1-13).
Obadiah means worshiper of God. That is all we know about this prophet.
The “vision” of Obadiah is a technical term for an end-time prophecy.
Verse 21 states that it is a time just before God’s Kingdom rules this Earth—
obviously the time we are living in right now. Verse 15 states that “the day of the Lord
is near.” So this sets the time frame for Obadiah’s message.
“The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom;
We have heard a rumour[report] from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among
the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle” (Obadiah 1).
Turkey is the modern-day nation of Edom. This prophecy may well apply to betrayals
of Jacob—or Israel—by Turkey, but the primary meaning is directed to a spiritual Esau.
The physical man Edom and God’s Laodicean Church today both received a birthright
promise from God. Edom was accepted into God’s congregation (Deuteronomy 23:7-8).
Edom has a history of betraying the nations of Jacob, or Israel. The historian Josephus
records that 20,000 Edomites, or Idumeans, were accepted as defenders of Jerusalem in
a.d. 70. Once inside, betrayed the Jews by robbing and killing them—their own brothers!
The book of Obadiah applies to the nation of Turkey. But also a type of what will
happen to the incorrigible Laodiceans in this end time church.
They are going to betray their spiritual brother—their own family.
Esau is referred to in the masculine gender every place in Obadiah, except verse 1.
Here Esau is referred to as her. this prophecy is actually referring to as a church.
Esau drank upon God’s holy mountain, Only God’s Church drinks spiritually upon God’s
holy mountain today. the Laodicean era, Half of God’s Laodiceans are selling their
birthright as Esau did! The other half is being very deceptive about working to receive
that birthright, just as Jacob was! Today, God is warning His spiritual birthright people.
“Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?
“Who shall bring me down to the ground?”—a proud and defiant question.
These Laodiceans are so proud, they refuse to hear God’s warning message.
The Hebrew word for rock in Obadiah 3 is sela. In Greek, rock is translated as petra.
The capital of ancient Edom was Petra. Today, Petra is located in the southern part of Jordan.
petra which means a large massive rock. Christ—Matt 7:24,Matt 16:18,27:60 , 1 Cor 10:4
The Edomites found it to be the best place to protect themselves from their enemies. It was so
good that their pride led them to believe they were invulnerable. That attitude led their downfall.
Edom “dwellest in the clefts of the rock.” The Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon defines
clefts this way: “places of refuge in the rocks (perhaps dwellings carved in the rocks) …”
Petra could be the place God uses to protect His Church during the Great Tribulation .
Rev12:12, 14. - The clefts are “places of refuge” in this prophecy,
Jesus spoke of the man who built his house on a rock. The Greek word is petra
These Laodiceans are “blind” and “have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17).
Perhaps Petra is used to indicate how secure they feel about their spiritual welfare.
“Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord” (Obadiah 4). In Revelation 12:14, we see
that God’s people are going to be taken to a place of safety on “two wings of a great eagle.”
The Laodiceans think they have this miraculous help from God, but they don’t. Obadiah
says they are exalted as the eagle. But these lukewarm Christians are in for a rocky fall.
God is going to bring them down.
There is a small riverbed in Petra called the Wadi Mousa. Recently, the water was cut off
and it is now dry. This is exactly what has happened to the Edomite Laodiceans, spiritually.
Water is a type of God’s Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). Wadi Mousa in English means
“stream or river of Moses.” Apparently, Moses spent time in Petra.
“Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom,
and understanding out of the mount of Esau?” (Obadiah 8).
Jeremiah also has a version of Obadiah’s message in Jeremiah 49:7: “Concerning Edom,
thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the
prudent? is their wisdom vanished?” Here is what Barnes’ commentary relates this verse:
“He speaks as though Edom were a known abode of human wisdom, so that it was strange
that it was found there no more. He speaks of the Edomites ‘as prudent,’ discriminating,
full of judgment, and wonders that counsel should have ‘perished’ from them. They had it
eminently then, before it perished. They thought themselves wise; they were thought so;
but God took it away at there utmost need".
“Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of
Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him” (verse 8). Dedan was Esau’s commercial ally.
Its inhabitants were told to flee, or suffer Esau’s fate!
“But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able
to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not.
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me”
(Jeremiah 49:10-11). Esau fell apart, just as the Edomite Laodiceans are collapsing today
In this end time, these Laodiceans have rejected God the Father and Jesus Christ their
Husband! They have no spiritual Father or Husband. Spiritually they are orphans and widows
In Jeremiah 49:10, God says of Esau, “he is not.” That is where these rebellious saints
are headed—to a condition of “he is not”—forever!
God tells the leaders to “[l]eave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive.”
This means that many of these leaders have moved beyond being saved spiritually!
God makes no appeal to them! They are already lost.
“Thy terribleness hath deceived thee”. These people don’t see how horrendously terrible
they have been toward God and their brethren. And most of them refuse to hear God’s warning.
“And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of
the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter” (Obadiah 9)
Teman was the grandson of Esau (Genesis 36:1-11). Obadiah 9 refers to him as “O Teman.”
This refers to the 50 percent of the Laodiceans who are going to lose their salvation.
Thankfully, 50 percent of them will repent in the Great Tribulation.
“For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut
off for ever” (Obadiah 10). This is not referring to their physical lives.
Notice, they will be cut off forever. They will lose their eternal lives.
It is very likely that the name of Esau, or Turkey, will be cut off forever because of its
treachery to the nations of Jacob. But this verse says thou, or you—Esau—shall be “cut
off for ever.” This could only refer to God’s own Laodicean Church in this end time—
Church members losing their eternal lives!It appears that their greatest shame will be
what they do in the future to their Laodicean brothers (Jacob).
“In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away
captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even
thou wast as one of them” (Obadiah 11).
We know God’s repentant Laodiceans reject the mark of the beast.
They are killed for doing so (Revelation 12:11, 17; 13:15).
The Edomite Laodiceans accept the mark of the beast. This is the day that they “stoodest
on the other side.” They were “as one of them”—the beast power. They went from God’s
side to Satan’s side! These treacherous Laodiceans are in the grip of Satan.
(Obadiah 12-14). The Edomite Laodiceans “entered into the gate of my people”—God’s
Church! They “stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his [Family] that did escape.”
The Edomite Laodiceans kept their own spiritual Family from escaping physical death.
They helped the beast power capture God’s repentant Laodiceans and kill them physically.
The people who once loved God now hate Him and His people.
“For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done
unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head” (Obadiah 15). When this is all
being fulfilled, it is a time when “the day of the Lord is near.”
God states that Esau has “drunk upon my holy mountain.” This is where God’s temple is.
Physical Esau, or Turkey, has never drunk upon God’s holy mountain in this end time!
This verse does not make sense unless you apply it spiritually today.
These Laodiceans will “be as though they had not been.” It’s going to be as if they were never
born—completely destroyed! They will be left with “neither root nor branch” (Malachi 4:1).
Malachi is discussing the same Edomite Laodiceans.
“And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau
for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining
of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it” (verse 18). None will remain alive from the
house of Esau! They will be only stubble—ashes under the saints’ feet (Malachi 4:3).
God’s Laodiceans desperately need to see that their spiritual lives are in serious jeopardy!
“And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau;
and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s” (Obadiah 21).