Obad. 17. Upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness ; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
IT is curious to observe throughout the prophetic writings, that the richest promises relating to the Christian Church follow, and, I had almost said, arise out of, denunciations of vengeance against the ene- mies of God : the design of God being to display thereby, in a more abundant measure, the riches of his grace towards his chosen people. The great scope of Obadiah's prophecy is to warn the Edomites of the destruction that awaited them. But, regarding them as representing all the Church's enemies, by whatever name they are designated, he proceeds to declare, that the Church shall triumph over them, and, through the power and grace of Christ, be established in the full enjoyment of all her privileges. The time to which he looks forward for the accomplishment of these things is the latter day, when the Jews shall be restored to their own land, and be, in their national capacity, an emblem of the success that shall be given to the Christian Church throughout the world.
In elucidation of the prophecy, we shall consider,
I. The deliverance here spoken of —
It certainly, in its primary and literal sense, refers to the contest which shall take place, between the Jews at the time of their restoration, and their ene- mies who will oppose their settlement in the land of
Canaan. But the spiritual sense is that which was most prominent in the writer's mind. The deliver- ance is certainly that which the Lord Jesus Christ had undertaken to accomplish for his Church and people3.
This has already come to Zion —
[The Lord Jesus Christ has come according to all that was foretold concerning him ; and has entered the lists against the enemies of his Church, and has triumphed over them. " By his death he overcame him who had the power of death, that is, the devil :" and having " spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them openly upon the cross," he, in his ascension, " led captivity itself captive ; " and has left his people to fight only with a vanquished enemy b. By his atoning blood he has delivered his people out of the hands of justice, which demanded the execution of the sentence de- nounced against them by the law. Having " found, and offered, a ransom for them," he has authoritatively said, " De- liver them from going down into the pit" of hell. By his all- powerful grace, too, he has communicated this deliverance to thousands and tens of thousands, whom he has turned from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. To millions of prisoners he has said, Go forth, and shew your- selves ; and they have broken their bonds, and come forth to light and liberty.]
It is also experienced yet daily —
[How many witnesses are there in this place, and wherever the Gospel is preached with fidelity, who can set their seal to this blessed truth ! Many can say, ' I was once a slave to sin, and led captive by the devil at his will : but now " the Son of God has made me free; and I am free indeed :" he has brought my soul out of prison, and set my feet at liberty. Nor am I any more " in bondage to the fear of death" and judgment; for " I know whom I have believed, and that He is able to keep that which I have committed to him" ' ]
But it will be yet more largely experienced in the latter days —
[Zion shall then lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes ; and all the nations of the earth shall flow unto her, as the centre of their union, and the treasury of their bliss. Then shall " Satan indeed fall from heaven like lightning:"
3 Compare Joel ii. 32, with Rom. x. 13. and xi. 26. b John xvi. 11.