Obadiah 1:17 Commentary and Bible Study

This brings us to the climax of the book: ‘But upon Mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.’ It is an amazing and a magnificent prophecy. In spite of all the destruction, upon Mount Zion shall be the place of deliverance, and the Hebrew word translated ‘deliverance’ literally means ‘escape’ – the escapees will gather there. Who will experience this escape? Who are the escapees? First it refers to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. It is a word of hope to them, that they will not be away from their own land forever. God has planned a time when they will return, and when they do, it will be a time of great blessing and genuine salvation and holiness for some. The promise was that those in exile will be brought back to Jerusalem, and will again worship God, however unlikely it appeared at the time. We can imagine that among those who were in Jerusalem were some proselytes to the Jewish religion. Perhaps there were even some Edomites. If so, then they were coming to the very land which their nation had despised. That place was the only place they were going to get any mercy and any consideration and deliverance. That is the short-term fulfilment of the prophecy. But no doubt, as Matthew Poole says, ‘In the mystical sense or typical, it refers to the gospel church, the setting up of the kingdom of Christ, and the salvation and redemption of God’s Israel.’ That would be the secondary fulfilment, a more ultimate fulfilment, and frequently in Old Testament prophecy there is a dual fulfilment of prophecy, the primary fulfilment being literal relating to Israel, and the ultimate fulfilment spiritual and including Jews and Gentiles in the New Testament church of Jesus Christ. At the end of the verse we read, ‘and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.’ We give our all to Jesus Christ. In the first place, it refers to the land which God had given to the children of Israel. That was their God-given inheritance. But the possessions of the church of Jesus Christ are not on earth, but in heaven, ‘for here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come’ (Hebrews 13:14). Conversion is the entire person. When we come to Christ for mercy we give to him our minds our souls, our plans for the future, our pleasures, our obedience, even our substance. We say, Lord, ‘Everything I am and everything I have, unworthy as it is, shall be thine. If only I can know my sins are forgiven and that my soul is saved.’