Build an Altar
- After Jacob's long journey home and his reconciliation with Esau, he eventually comes to Shechem and builds an altar, calling it "El-Elohe-Israel," meaning "God, the God of Israel.” — Genesis 33:18-20
- Jacob had been moving, traveling, fleeing, wrestling, and returning, but at this point he stopped. He stopped long enough to remember the God who had carried him through it all.
- The altar reminds us that God is worth stopping for.
- Life has a way of keeping us moving from one thing to the next, but there are moments when we need to stop and remember who has brought us this far. Jacob also gave the altar a name. He wanted this place to stand as a reminder of what God had done.
- God is worth remembering.
- He is worthy of being remembered for His faithfulness after the crisis has passed. And ultimately, Jacob built an altar because God is worth worshipping.
- The altar was a visible declaration that Jacob's life belonged to God.
- The God who had protected him, provided for him, and brought him safely home was worthy of his worship.
- Jacob stopped. Jacob remembered. Jacob worshipped.
Obadiah
- Edom was the nation descended from Esau, Jacob's brother.
- What began as a family relationship in Genesis became a relationship between two nations.
- Obadiah's vision is therefore not simply a prophecy against a distant foreign nation. It is a message concerning Israel's brother.
- The Lord declares judgment against Edom because of its pride and because of the way it treated Jacob's descendants when Jerusalem was attacked.
- Edom stood by and rejoiced over Judah's destruction instead of coming to the aid of its brother.
- The language of Obadiah makes the connection unmistakable.
- "Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be cut off forever.” — Obadiah 10
- The sins of Edom were rooted in pride, hatred, and a failure to snow brotherly compassion.
- Obadiah's vision reminds us that God sees not only what nations do, but how they treat those with whom they share a history and a brotherhood.
<< Previous Sermon | HOME | Next Sermon >>