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News | Nate Talks. . . Handlebar Hulkster
27 January 2009
Nathan Morgan Locke, Christianity Explored's Youth Evangelist, opens up the Book of Obadiah
Hulk Hogan was definitely my favourite wrestler.
I always liked the Ultimate Warrior of course (who didn’t?), and I thought Bret ‘the Hitman’ Hart was pretty cool and I obviously had to support The British Bulldog, but the Hulkster was always my favourite. He was huge, he had massive arms, he wore a bright yellow bandana, and he got away with a handlebar moustache. One of the great things about Hulk Hogan though was his pre-fight rant, in which he would snarl into the camera, calling upon the ‘Hulkamaniacs’ to get behind him, as he threatened to bring vengeance of truly biblical proportions onto his opponent. A particularly memorable line was:
“Whatcha gonna do when the largest arms in the world run wild on you?!”
He must have read Obadiah.
Anyone wanting to get into the book of Obadiah should read it finger-pointingly-loudly into a camera wearing a ripped T-shirt, a bandana and a handlebar moustache. This is a message designed to bring fear into the hearts of those to whom it is delivered.
Humiliation
Looking at verses 1-9 we can see that the book of Obadiah is full of destructive intent towards Edom. The Lord God is ready to humble and humiliate the pride of those who “live in the clefts of the rocks” and make their “home in the heights”, those who say to themselves, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” Boiled down into its most potent form, the initial message of the vision of Obadiah is found in verse 4,
“‘Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,’ declares the Lord.”
I will bring you down. Powerful stuff. Scary stuff.
But as the declaration of the Lord continues the people of Edom are told just how bad things are going to get,
“If thieves came to you, if robbers in the night – Oh, what a disaster awaits you – would they not steal only as much as they wanted? If grape pickers came to you, would they not leave a few grapes?” (v 5)
Obadiah speaks of the Lord’s lack of mercy in his dealings with Edom; he won’t leave them even a few grapes, they will be “pillaged”, “ransacked”, “deceived” and “overpowered”.
Perhaps the scariest part of verse five is the fact that the Living God breaks off mid-sentence to think upon the disaster that awaits the Edomites. The Lord’s destruction is total, not only all the grapes, but also all the people of Edom; he will destroy the “wise men”, the “warriors”, “everyone in Esau’s mountains”.
Next week: Find out why all this has come about in Part Two of our series
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