Obadiah is said to have been a servant of Ahab, Jezebel's
husband. He is believed to be the one
who hid and provided for the one hundred prophets of Yahweh from persecution by
his master Ahab. He is also believed to
have been a convert to Judaism, an Edomite by birth. Edom was the alternate name for Esau, against
which his prophecy is directed. Esau was
the son of Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob/Israel's brother, who sold his birthright
for a mess of pottage. He was born to godly
parents but walked away and followed the "devices and desires of his own
heart" and stomach. Obadiah is
chosen to prophesy on behalf of Yahweh against his own kinfolk, the descendants
of Esau, that God will judge them and give their land to their ancestors, the
tribes of Jacob. He had become so
identified with Israel that he is able to forcefully prophesy against his own
people. Have we identified so fully with
Jesus that we can speak painful truth to even our own family if need be?
It is better to be a beggar and inherit the kingdom than a
rich man standing outside the gates of heaven.
The ultimate gated community is indeed the kingdom of God. Jesus speaks here of the difficulty of
entering the kingdom if one is rich in this world, having just proven how
difficult it can be. Difficult, however,
is not the same as impossible. Then, as
now, there was a prosperity gospel that believed if you were wealthy it was a
sign of God's favor and the presumption was that if you were struggling there
was something wrong with your walk with God.
The disciples' reaction to Jesus' words shows that they were not immune
to this idea, essentially they are saying that if rich people can't get in who
has a chance. Jesus has consistently
taught that the kingdom of God is such that a man will forsake everything he
has or could want on this earth to get it.
What did the disciples hear when Jesus spoke of those who leave
everything behind (as they had done and reminded Him they had done) receiving a
hundred fold more? They weren't yet
prepared to measure rewards like that spiritually. They had left everything but they were still,
like Lot's wife, looking back with some level of regret.
Peter is reminding them that they, like the Israelites, have
been redeemed out of the world, out of captivity. He says, "you are a chosen race, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his
marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are
God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." In those lines he recapitulates the identity
of Israel and applies it to them, not as though they had replaced the nation,
the Lord has with the nation an everlasting covenant predicated completely on
His faithfulness. They were called by
God a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation for his own possession,
that is an exact quote from Exodus 19.
The remainder of the passage is from Hosea who named two of his children
not my people and no mercy. Hosea did so
as a metaphor for the nation who was then restored to being His people and
receiving mercy. Peter applies these to
the church, a mixed group of Jew and Gentile believers, equally, an
extraordinary step for a man like Peter.
All identities outside Jesus no longer matter for all eternity. We are called out of every other identity
into the identity of Christian. How does
that look in your life today?
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