Nostradamus and Obadiah's prophecy

The Frenchman Michel de Nostradamus lived from 1503 to 1566. He was by profession an apothecary—a hybrid chemist and drug dealer.

In 1550 he published an almanac with zodiac predictions that were all the vogue, and for some reason are still found in magazines today, known as horoscopes. He fancied himself an astrologer but was so bad at doing the zodiac calculations that he usually insisted that his customers hire another astrologer to do the calculations of their birth year and zodiac charts first and then he would merely interpret them.

He got quite good at describing the future predictions in such a way that people could in retrospect see how his words fit their situation. These predictions were so vague they could not be understood except with hindsight. He was the forefather of the “You will meet a tall dark stranger” prediction – just before his gullible client gets run over by a brown horse and everyone says, “Aha! Nostradamus predicted that.”

In his lifetime Nostradamus became widely regarded as a prophet though he never made that claim himself. He feared the Inquisition accusing him of practicing magic. But since all he did was prophesy, the only way to prove he was a fake was to catch him in a failed prophecy.  So, he took to predicting the distant future instead of the near future.

One such example is the prediction of the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001. After the terror attack of 9/11, modern followers of Nostradamus circulated this prophecy to prove he was able to predict the future…

In the year of the new century and nine months,

From the sky will come a great King of Terror…

The sky will burn at forty-five degrees latitude.

Fire approaches the great new city…

In the city of York there will be a great collapse,

two twin brothers torn apart by chaos

while the fortress falls the great leader will succumb

third big war will begin when the big city is burning

Immediately people began debating whether this was truly referring to the events of September 11th. But New York City is at 40 degrees latitude, WW3 didn’t begin, and Nostradamus didn’t actually say that. The closest he said was…

The heaven shall burn at five and forty degrees,

The fire shall come near the great new city…

when they shall make a trial of the Normans (Century 6:97).

In other words, people who wanted to prove Nostradamus right, found a passage that they thought was referring to the 9/11 attacks but knew it was too vague, so they edited it to sound more convincing.

Why did this work? Because people have a fascination with prophecy and are too lazy to confirm it for themselves.

People feel comforted when, no matter how bad something is, someone saw it coming. Well, the Edomites were a race of people who received a devastating prophecy of their destruction. And one man saw it coming. His name was Obadiah. Let’s confirm his prophecy for ourselves.

We see the prophecy of Edom’s certain doom reiterated but done against a backdrop of promise and comfort… not to Edom, but to Israel.

3 CERTAINTIES THAT FLOW FROM GOD’S WORD SO WE WILL BE ENCOURAGED BY HIS PROMISES TO US

1.      EDOM WILL GET WHAT GOD PROMISED

Obadiah 15-16For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so all the nations shall drink continually; they shall drink and swallow, and shall be as though they had never been.

Lest anyone feel sorry for Edom, be reminded that they are only getting what they deserve. Their violence against Israel and their collaboration with Israel’s enemies came back to bite them. What you sow you will reap.

Obadiah 17-18 But in Mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their own possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble; they shall burn them and consume them, and there shall be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

The tables have turned. Not only will Edom be destroyed, but Israel will escape that destruction and even be involved in punishing Edom.

We need to realize that God is aware of what happens and that he keeps score.

2.      ISRAEL WILL GET WHAT GOD PROMISED

Obadiah 19-20 Those of the Negeb [South] shall possess Mount Esau [West Jordan], and those of the Shephelah [lowlands] shall possess the land of the Philistines [Gaza]; they shall possess the land of Ephraim and the land of Samaria [in the North], and Benjamin shall possess Gilead [East of Israel, i.e. Northern Jordan].  The exiles of this host of the people of Israel shall possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the Negeb.

The book of Obadiah is replete with references to God’s covenants to Israel. This one is referring to the Abrahamic Covenant, which included the land promise.

Gen 15:18-21On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring, I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites.”

This is why the land of Canaan was called the Promised Land. This prophecy is spanning into the distant future to reiterate a promise to Israel that one day they would have all the land God promised. He hadn’t forgotten the covenant.

So the promise to destroy Edom is a tacit comfort to Israel that she will be restored to the land… eventually.

God takes promises very seriously.

3. THE WORLD WILL GET WHAT GOD PROMISED

Obadiah 21 Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

You may ask, ‘And why is God picking on Edom?’ He’s not. He’s giving Edom this prophecy by the hand of a Jew so that the Jews would find comfort in knowing their family feud would one day be put to rest by God himself.

BUT, Edom was not the only nation that deserved punishment for cursing God’s people. Go back to vs 15…For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.

The phrase day of the Lord appears frequently in prophecy and refers to the time God changes his approach from patience and offering mercy, to the destruction of the wicked throughout the whole world.

Eight different Old Testament prophets describe the day of the Lord as the time when God will punish worldwide wickedness.

The day of the Lord is the scariest time period in the history of the world. No matter if you interpret the prophecies literally or symbolically, everyone agrees that what God is saying is that when the world gets what it deserves, you will want to be on God’s side. Here is one of many examples in the Old Testament:

Isaiah 13:9-11Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

And in the New Testament:

1 Thessalonians 5:2-3For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

And after that?

Obadiah 21 Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

There will be a time that the world is at peace, where God’s will is done on earth as it is in Heaven.

When Jesus gave the Lord’s prayer to his disciples he was saying, pray for what Obadiah prophesied.

We should be encouraged that God’s promises to us are certain. Israel must have felt at times that the promises were slow to arrive. Edom must have doubted God’s ability to see through his promise to destroy them. But God is not slow.

Every single hint of a detail given in Scripture will most certainly come to pass.

CONCLUSION

Nostradamus might not have been able to see the future, but we who have the Bible have the ability to see what is coming, thanks to God’s prophets, like Obadiah. The only fool is the one who knows what is coming and does not act – God will save his people and he will judge the wicked. Repent, trust in Jesus and be part of his glorious Kingdom.

Author: criplegate