Obadiah 15–16
There are certain days in life that we wait for with both eagerness and uneasiness such as a child’s birth, a long-anticipated wedding, or medical test results that carry the weight of our future. We live in the tension between expectation and uncertainty. In many ways, that is exactly where Obadiah takes us when he speaks of the Day of the Lord. It is a day that Israel longed for, a day that the nations ignored, and a day that still stands before us with startling clarity.
Obadiah’s words are only twenty-one verses long, yet they carry the weight of a thunderstorm. As the prophecy reaches verses 15–16, God lifts the prophet’s eyes from Edom, Israel’s historic enemy, and broadens the message to all nations. The judgment that is coming is not isolated. It is not selective. It is not merely historical. It is universal.
And as we enter December, we are reminded that the Day of the Lord has already broken into human history once before. When Christ was born in Bethlehem, light entered the darkness, and the Judge stepped into our world through a cradle. His first coming was marked by mercy; His second will be marked by unveiled justice.
The Day of the Lord, then, is both prophetic and personal. It warns every nation. It searches every heart. It should sober us, and yet it should stir us to live faithfully in the light of the God who judges justly.
Main Idea: God’s justice may seem delayed in our eyes, but it is never denied.
Obadiah shows us three unchanging realities about the justice of God.
- God’s Justice Is Universal (Obadiah 15)
Obadiah begins simply: “For the day of the LORD draws near on all the nations…” The Day of the Lord is the moment when God brings all things under His perfect rule. In our time, the kingdom is present, yet not fully consummated, what theologians call already, but not yet. The world still groans under sin, injustice still flourishes, and judgment still seems delayed. But delayed does not mean denied.
Edom was not the exception. Edom was the example. As Isaiah 34:2 declares, God’s judgment stretches far beyond one nation. His justice recognizes no boundaries or borders. He searches kings and commoners, empires and individuals, nations and neighborhoods.
Obadiah then gives us the principle that governs God’s justice:
“As you have done, it will be done to you.”
This is echoed throughout Scripture (Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy), and it surfaces again in the words of Jesus (Matthew 7:12), and is confirmed by Paul:
“He will render to each person according to his deeds.” — Romans 2:6–8 NASB95
This is the idea behind lex talionis; the principle of reaping what we sow. The world often mocks this truth. God quietly enforces it.
And this brings us to Christmas.
The first coming of Christ reveals the depths of God’s mercy, but it also affirms that He will return. The Child in the manger is not sentimental decoration but rather He is the future Judge of all the earth. The universal scope of justice should remind us: we do not escape the gaze of God, but we may receive the grace of God.
- Sin’s Consequences Are Inevitable (Obadiah 16a)
Obadiah continues: “Just as you drank on My holy mountain…” The Edomites had entered Jerusalem during its downfall and celebrated with drunken pleasure in a place that belonged to God. Their mockery of Judah became a mockery of God Himself.
But Scripture often pictures God’s judgment as a cup to drink, a bitter reversal from celebration to devastation. Obadiah says, “All the nations will drink continually.” No one outruns God. No one escapes sin’s consequences.
Psalm 15:1–2 paints a picture of the kind of person who may dwell in God’s holy place. Edom was the opposite, and so are the nations that reject God today. Judgment is not merely historical; it is eschatological. It is coming in the end.
But here is the wonder of the gospel:
We cannot escape sin’s consequences on our own, but One came who could.
Christmas is not sentimental nostalgia; Christmas is a rescue mission.
If judgment were not real, then Jesus would not have needed to enter the world at all.
Hope is here because Christ drank the cup of wrath that was ours.
- God’s Word Is Unshakable (Obadiah 16b)
Finally, Obadiah declares that God’s decree is fixed: what He has spoken will happen.
No nation can overturn it.
No person can rewrite it.
No power can resist it.
“But on Mount Zion there will be those who escape…” (Obadiah 17)
Judgment is certain, but so is salvation.
What does this mean for those who belong to Christ? Revelation 21:1–7 paints a breathtaking picture of the future: a new heaven, a new earth, no more tears, no more pain, no more death. The One who judges is the same One who redeems.
Think of it:
The baby wrapped in cloths and placed in a manger is the One who will one day sit upon the throne and declare, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:5)
From cradle to throne, His justice and mercy move together.
So How Should We Live?
If God’s justice is universal, inevitable, and unshakable, then the Day of the Lord should both sober us and stir us.
The Day of the Lord should sober us.
- Our sin is no small matter.
- God sees everything—even what we excuse or explain away.
- Yet we may repent before a Savior who offers mercy before judgment.
The Day of the Lord should stir us.
- Pursue holiness intentionally. Holiness is not perfection, but direction, such as walking toward Christ in surrender.
- Practice repentance quickly. Confess rather than conceal.
- Love sacrificially. Seek the good of others as Christ has sought your good.
- Treasure Christ daily. Remember: the Judge first came as your Redeemer.
The Day of the Lord is near. But for those who belong to Christ, the Judge who comes is the same One who once lay in a manger, who died on a cross, and who rose again in victory.
God’s justice may take time as we see it—
but it is never denied.
And His mercy is always within reach.