The Fire of Evangelism Text: Obadiah 1:15-18
Introduction: Two Kinds of Destruction
The Word of God is sharp, and it makes distinctions. It separates bone from marrow, and it separates two very different ways in which God destroys His enemies. The first way is what we might call the old school method, the one that leaves a smoking crater. This is the way of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from heaven, and no survivors. This is the judgment of utter, final ruin. And there are certainly times for that.
But the New Covenant reveals a far more glorious method of destruction, a conquest that is at the same time a rescue. This is the kind of destruction that happens when God destroys an enemy by turning him into a friend. This is what happened to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. He was breathing out threats and murder against the church, an enemy of the gospel, a son of Esau in spirit if not in blood. And the Lord struck him down, blinded him, and then raised him up as the apostle Paul. The enemy was destroyed. The man was saved. This is evangelism. It is not recruitment; it is conquest.
This is the interpretive key we must use for the prophet Obadiah. This tiny book, the shortest in the Old Testament, is a prophecy of white hot judgment against the nation of Edom, the descendants of Esau, Jacob's brother. Edom had sinned grievously against Judah, gloating over Jerusalem's destruction, looting the city, and cutting off fleeing refugees. For this, God promises a reckoning. But as we come to the climax of the prophecy, we see something remarkable. The destruction of Esau is tied to the deliverance of Zion, and the result is that the kingdom will be the Lord's. The fire that consumes the house of Esau is the very same fire that purifies the house of Jacob. And this fire, as we shall see, is the fire of the gospel.
Obadiah is not a book about an ancient tribal squabble. It is a book about the ongoing, historical conflict between two seeds, two posterities, two ways of life: the way of the flesh (Esau) and the way of the promise (Jacob). It is about the conflict between the church and the world. And it prophesies the certain victory of the church, a victory that looks like a fire consuming stubble. But we must be careful to define that fire as the New Testament defines it.
The Text
"For the day of Yahweh draws near on all the nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you.
Your dealings will return on your own head.
Because just as you all drank on My holy mountain,
All the nations will drink continually.
They will drink and swallow,
And they will be as if they never were.
But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape,
And it will be holy.
And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions.
Then the house of Jacob will be a fire
And the house of Joseph a flame;
But the house of Esau will be as stubble.
And they will set them on fire and consume them
So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau,"
For Yahweh has spoken.
(Obadiah 1:15-18 LSB)
The Great Reversal (v. 15-16)
We begin with the principle of divine justice, which is strict, symmetrical, and unavoidable.
"For the day of Yahweh draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head." (Obadiah 1:15)
The "day of Yahweh" is a common prophetic theme. It is not always a reference to the final judgment at the end of the world. It refers to any time in history when God intervenes to bring a particular nation or city to account. Isaiah spoke of the day of the Lord against Babylon, and he used cosmic language to describe it, the sun and moon going dark. But he was talking about the fall of a temporal empire. Here, Obadiah says this day is near for "all the nations," with Edom being the prime example. This is the principle of lex talionis, the law of retaliation. An eye for an eye. As you have done, it will be done to you. This is not petty revenge; it is the structural grain of God's moral universe. What you sow, you reap. Edom stood by and gloated when God's people were judged; now Edom will face the music.
This principle is woven into the fabric of reality. Haman builds a gallows for Mordecai and ends up swinging on it himself. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. And nations that build their empires on pride, cruelty, and contempt for God's people will have their own dealings return on their own heads. This is not a question of if, but when.
The prophet continues this theme of reversal with the metaphor of drinking.
"Because just as you all drank on My holy mountain, All the nations will drink continually. They will drink and swallow, And they will be as if they never were." (Obadiah 1:16)
The Edomites "drank" on God's holy mountain. This was a celebratory feast, a drunken party over the corpse of Jerusalem. They toasted the destruction of their brother Jacob. But God says that this cup will now be passed to them, and to all nations who behave as they do. They will drink the cup of God's wrath. And notice the finality. They will drink and swallow, and be "as if they never were." This is the judgment of historical annihilation. Where are the Edomites today? You can't find one. They have been completely swallowed by the sands of history, precisely as God promised. This is a sobering warning to every proud nation today that sets itself against Christ and His church. God is not mocked.
The Great Escape and Restoration (v. 17)
But in stark contrast to the annihilation of Edom, there is deliverance and holiness for the people of God.
"But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess their possessions." (Obadiah 1:17)
This is the hinge of the prophecy. "But on Mount Zion..." While the world drinks the cup of wrath, on Mount Zion there is deliverance, an escape. This points forward to the gospel. Who are "those who escape?" The Apostle Peter, quoting the prophet Joel, who himself quotes Obadiah, tells us plainly on the day of Pentecost: "And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Acts 2:21). The escape route from the day of the Lord is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mount Zion is no longer a particular hill in the Middle East, but is now the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the firstborn (Hebrews 12:22-23).
And this Zion will be holy. It will be set apart for God. And the house of Jacob will "possess their possessions." This is not simply about getting their old farms back. This is about inheriting the world. Paul tells us that Abraham was promised that he would be the heir of the world (Romans 4:13). Through Christ, the true Jacob, we who are in Him possess our ultimate possession, which is the whole earth. "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).
Fire, Flame, and Stubble (v. 18)
Now we come to the central image of the passage, the consuming fire.
"Then the house of Jacob will be a fire And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau will be as stubble. And they will set them on fire and consume them So that there will be no survivor of the house of Esau, For Yahweh has spoken." (Obadiah 1:18)
This is where we must be careful. If we read this with carnal eyes, we imagine a literal, bloody conquest. But how is the house of Jacob, the church, a fire? What is this flame? The New Testament gives us the answer. On the day of Pentecost, what descended on the heads of the apostles? Cloven tongues, as of fire (Acts 2:3). John the Baptist said that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3:11). Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).
The house of Jacob, the church of Jesus Christ, is a fire in the world because we are filled with the Holy Spirit. We are a fiery people in a world of dry stubble. The house of Esau represents the unbelieving world, spiritually dead, dry, and combustible. When the fire of the gospel, preached in the power of the Spirit, touches the stubble of the world, one of two things happens. Either the stubble is utterly consumed in judgment, or, gloriously, it is transformed into fire itself. The enemy is destroyed by being made a friend.
This is the great commission. This is how there will be "no survivor of the house of Esau." It does not mean every last Edomite will be damned. It means the corporate identity of "Esau," the rebellious, God-hating world system, will be utterly consumed and replaced by the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. The fire of evangelism spreads, and what was once stubble now becomes part of the flame. The Gentiles, who were once part of the house of Esau, are grafted into the house of Jacob. As James says at the Jerusalem council, quoting Amos, the purpose of rebuilding David's tent is "so that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name" (Acts 15:17). That remnant of mankind includes the remnant of Edom.
The Kingdom Will Be the Lord's
This is not a prophecy of retreat or defeat. It is a prophecy of global conquest. The fire that started in Jerusalem on Pentecost is destined to fill the whole earth. The house of Jacob, the church, is God's appointed instrument for this task. We are to be a people made of fire, walking among stubble. Our words, empowered by the Spirit, are to be flames.
The pride of Edom, dwelling in the clefts of the rock, saying "who will bring me down?" is the same pride we see in our secular, unbelieving world today. They are arrogant, boastful, and they despise the people of God. They celebrate what God condemns and they mock what He loves. They are dry stubble, ripe for the fire.
And so we have our task. We are not to be timid or ashamed. We are to be bold, full of the fire of the Holy Spirit. We are to preach the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation. To those who reject it, it is a fire of judgment. But to those who believe, it is the fire of new life. This is how the house of Esau is consumed. This is how the nations become the possession of Jacob. And this is how the final verse of this prophecy comes to pass: "And the kingdom will be Yahweh's."
The world will not end in a whimper. It will not be handed over to the devil. The church will not be helicoptered out of a losing war. No, the house of Jacob will be a fire. The house of Joseph will be a flame. And the stubble will be consumed. For Yahweh has spoken.