The Pulpit Commentary — Obadiah — Section 36

cry for the song of heaven to bo hearcl, "Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of God, and the power of hie Christ." It is an earnest longing to join in the Hallelujah chorus of the great multitude, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderinge, saying, " Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent re1gneth ! " "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." At present, although the kingdom of natwre is hie, creation groans, being burdened. At present the kingdom of providence is his, but man keeps blotting the pages of history, and things are not as they ought to be. At present the kingdom of grau is hie, but his gre.ce is often frustrated. and the subjects of hie grace live far below their privileges and bigh calling. Ere long, and the three kingdoms shall be no more imperfect. They shall be consummated in the full Christo- cracy-" the kingdom shall be the Lord's." The kingdom of glory shall come, and shall have no end. In closing our study of the Book of Obadiah let us carry with us the sweet echoes of its last words. May the Holy Spirit, in al1 the vicissitudes of earth, keep us in mind that " the kingdom shall be the Lord's" I Ere long, and he shall come whose right it is to reign; In the interval before the advent let us be alive to our duty. I., LET us DE BEADY FOB IT, No one who is impenitent and unbelieving can be ready. Like Ethel_red, he is all unrea.dy. To be prepared for Christ's coming, we must be washed in his blood, justified by his righteousness, and sanctified by the Spirit of holiness. , II. LET us BE LOOKING FOB IT. Let us_ sa.y with St. Paul, "We wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it ma.y be conformed to the body of his glory." Let us mount our heimwehjfoh in longing expec;tation and hope. Christ's Jisciples are to be not only servants, but like unto servants who wait for their lord. The servant who expects his lord, has him in mind,. and is on the look-out, lest, coming suddenly, his lord finds him sleeping. III. LET us BE WORKING FOB lT, The absent Saviour has given to every man his work. Each one has something to do. Every true disciple is a worker, called to prepare the way of the Lord-to make some crooked path straighter, some rough place smoother, some mountain lower, some valley higher. "The kingdom shall be the Lord's." IV. LET us BE LIVING FOB lT, "What manner of persons ought ye to be?" How weaned I How unworldly! How heavenly-minded! How Christ-like! For "the kingdom shall be the Lord's." V. LET us BE PRAYING FOB IT. "That it may please thee shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect, and hasten thy kingdom." "Come, then, and added to thy many crowns Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, Thou who e.lone art worthy." VI. LET us BE GLAD, We ought to rejoice. We ought to lift up our heads. Advent bells are ringing. The sound of the bells on our High Priest's robe may be heard as he comes forth to bless. Hallelujah! "The kingdom shall be the Lord's."-A. C. T. Ver. 1.-God and bad men. "The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We he.ve heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and lot us rise up against her in battle." Of the history of Obadiah we literally know nothing. His name, which signifies "Worshipper of Jehovah," and his short prophecy afford the only information concernin"' him. b'rom vers. 11 to 14, which are thought to contnin an allusion to the exultation of the Edomites over the final capture ond plunder of Jerusalem, we might with some confidence infer that he flourished after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. In all probability he must have lived near the time of Jeremiah; and indeed there is almost a verbal agree- ment between his ulterances in vers.1-8 and those contained in Jer. x.lix. If we take this ~iew we might suppose that his prophecy we.s delivered between the year B.O, 588, when Jerlll!e.lem was ta.ken by the Che.ldeans, and the terminaticn of the siege of Tyre by Nebuohe.dnezze.r. As to his prophecy, it is the shortest in the Bible: one chapter com- E_rehends all. Its subject is the destruction of Edom on account of its cruelty to J Utlah., Edom's brother, and the restoration of the Jews. Its style is marked by animation,  THE BOOK OF OBADIAH. [i-21,