Minor Prophets January 27, 2019
Overview
Getting Your Bearings in the Minor Prophets
To read the prophets well, three dates anchor the storyline: 722 BC, when Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel; 586 BC, when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and carried Judah into exile; and 539 BC, when Cyrus the Persian released the people to return home. The "minor" prophets are not lesser in importance—their books are simply shorter. Together with the major prophets, their messages do four things: expose sinful practices, call God's people back to His law, warn of judgment, and anticipate the coming Messiah.
Before the Fall: Amos and Hosea
Amos prophesied around 760–750 BC against the northern kingdom. His central image is the plumb line: a nation whose walls of immorality, religious apostasy, and social injustice stood crooked before a holy God Amos 7:7-9. The priest Amaziah opposed him, but Amos was no professional prophet—he was a herdsman called by God. Yet judgment is not the final word. Amos closes with a flower of mercy: God will restore His people and plant them in their land, never to be uprooted again Amos 9:14-15.
Hosea prophesied in the tragic last days of the northern kingdom. His own family became the sermon: God commanded him to marry Gomer, whose unfaithfulness pictured Israel's spiritual adultery Hosea 1:2. Even after the marriage was broken, Hosea was told to take her back—because the Lord still loved His covenant people and longed to restore them Hosea 3:1-5. The flower here is God's stubborn faithfulness toward those who have wandered.
Joel and Habakkuk: Repentance and Trust
Joel calls God's people to genuine repentance—not torn clothing but torn hearts Joel 2:12-13. His best-known promise is the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh, fulfilled at Pentecost in Acts 2: "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved" Joel 2:28-32.
Habakkuk, prophesying just before 605 BC, is structured as a dialogue. He asks why evil in Judah goes unpunished; God answers that He will raise up the Babylonians Habakkuk 1:6. When Habakkuk presses further—how can a just God use a wicked nation?—God assures him Babylon, too, will be judged. The book ends with one of Scripture's most stirring confessions of faith: though the fig tree does not blossom and the fields yield no food, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord" Habakkuk 3:17-19.
This is the heart of Christian endurance. Our joy is not manufactured by good circumstances; it rests on the Messiah, the cross, and the certainty of eternity. When stress rises, that is the call to pray and to rejoice. And when others ask, "What do you have to be so happy about?"—there is the intersection of perplexity and opportunity, an open door for witness.
After the Exile: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi
The final movement of the prophets comes after Cyrus released the people. The threat of foreign invasion has passed, but the returned community still needs correction. Haggai, the first post-exilic prophet (520 BC), spoke to discouraged people rebuilding a humbler temple. His flower: the Messiah Himself will one day fill this house with greater glory Haggai 2:6-9. Zechariah points ahead in vivid detail to the coming King Zechariah 9-11. Malachi (around 430 BC) closes the Old Testament anticipating the day when the righteous and the wicked are separated, and the sun of righteousness rises with healing in its wings Malachi 4:1-3.
Across four centuries and three empires, the prophets sound the same notes: God exposes sin, calls His people back, warns of judgment, and promises a Savior. The flowers they point to bloom fully in Christ—and they bloom for us, too, in every weeping and dry season of life.
Transcript
Well, last week we took a look at one of the more rugged parts of the prophetic 0s
books and that was Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Habakkuk and Zefania. And we 6s
saw the weeping prophet Jeremiah, but amidst his weeping we saw the flowers. We 13s
heard of Ezekiel and the dry bones that will receive the breath of God in 20s
them. Daniel, how he pointed to the Savior, Habakkuk that we're called to live 27s
by faith. Zefania, where it really is a hard word until you get to the very end. 32s
And this flower is the last word. And really we see in our own lives, amidst the 39s
weeping our flowers, amidst the times of dryness comes the breath of God. We live 47s
pointing to Jesus, we live by faith and that indeed the flower is the last word. As 53s
we as we move through the prophets, it is very easy to get confused in terms of 62s
where we are. And so if you if you keep in mind three sections, you'll always be 68s
able to find your find your bearing. And so one of the big, big markers in the 74s
Old Testament is 722 BC. That's when the Assyrians destroyed Israel and there 82s
was a deportation at that point. The other other main is with the Northern 90s
Kingdom of Israel. 586 you've got the fall of Jerusalem by the by the Babylonians 96s
and you've got the deportation of most of the Jews, not not all, but most of the 104s
of the Jews. And then the last is 539 BC. And there you have Cyrus the 110s
tolerant Persian who releases the people to go back to their to their homeland. 119s
If you keep these three major historical movements in mind, you're always able 125s
to place where the where the prophets are and where the storyline is. So 722 131s
Assyrians destroying the Northern Kingdom 586 you've got the fall of the 139s
Southern Kingdom which was Judah and that's the fall of Jerusalem. And then 539 144s
you've got the release here by Cyrus the tolerant Persian, the Persians who had 150s
then defeated the Babylonians, the Persians were in power and then the release of 157s
the people to go back to their to their home. Today I want to focus with you 162s
on the minor prophets and you recall from a couple lessons ago in terms of the 169s
minor prophets that does not mean prophets of lesser importance. What it means is 175s
their books are shorter. So you've got the major prophets of Isaiah and Jeremiah 182s
Ezekiel and Daniel. Then you've got the minor prophets and it's in the minor 187s
prophets. So I want to give you a little bit of a flyover so you can see the 193s
landscape and you can see the different flowers in bloom. And also you can 199s
relate them historically to these major dates here. Assyria, a Babylon fall of 205s
Jerusalem and then the release of the people to go back. And so throughout this 214s
study today I want to help you get your bearings if you're unfamiliar with 218s
where the where the prophets fall. I am not a builder. I'm not a not a repair 224s
person either. God gave me zero gifts in that in that department. So I'm going 232s
to going to say something totally based not on experience but on study here. 240s
What is the most important tool you can use when you frame a house? It's the 246s
Leveller, isn't it? It's the Leveller because if you don't have a level floor 252s
and if your walls are not perfectly perpendicular to it, you're going to have 258s
you're going to have problems to it. Let's start in the book of Amos, the seventh 263s
chapter. Good way to find Amos is open up to the to the book of Psalms right in 271s
the middle of scripture and then start moving right. You're going to hit Isaiah, 278s
Jeremiah, lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, then you hit Hosea, Joel, and Amos. Amos 282s
chapter seven verse seven. A key word to keep in mind with regard to to Amos is 295s
the communication that this was a message that the nation was out of plum. 309s
In other words, the people were not straight. There was not a straight line here 316s
for the house. You had immorality, religious apostasy, social injustice. That 322s
was rendering the nation's walls to be useless. It was a nation out of plum. The 331s
major part of Amos, it was most likely between 760 and 750 BC. So he is announcing 341s
judgment just to get the bearings here. He's announcing judgment upon the northern 352s
kingdom. So about 760, 750 BC. So his judgment has to do with the destruction of 357s
Israel, the northern kingdom by the by the Assyrians. And let's start chapter seven 367s
verse seven. This is what he showed me. The Lord was standing beside a wall built 376s
with a plum line with a plum line in his hand. And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do 385s
you see? And I said, a plum line. Then the Lord said, see, I am setting a plum line in 393s
the midst of my people, Israel. I will never again pass them by. The high places of Isaac 401s
Shelby made desolate. The sanctuary is of Israel, Shelby laid waste. And I will rise against 408s
the house of Jeroboam with the sword. This is the prophecy now of the destruction of the 416s
northern kingdom of Israel. Amos incurred the wrath from the north, particularly from this 424s
priest by the name of Amaziah. And Amaziah accused Amos of mounting a conspiracy against Israel. 434s
Let's look at chapter seven verse 12. And Amaziah said to Amos, oh, see your go, 445s
flee away to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and prophesy there. But never again prophesy 454s
at Bethel. Ford is the king's sanctuary and is at a temple of the kingdom on in verse 14. 464s
The name is answered Amaziah. I am no prophet nor prophet son, but I'm a herdsman and a 478s
dresser of sycamortries. And the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, 483s
oh, prophesied to my people Israel. Now therefore hear the word of the Lord. You say, do not 488s
prophesy against Israel and do not preach against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus says the Lord, 497s
your wife shall become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and your daughters shall fall by the 505s
sword. Your land shall be parceled out by line. You yourself shall die in an unclean land. In Israel 510s
shall surely go into exile away from its land. Although the message of Amaz, he was primarily a 520s
prophet of doom. In the ninth chapter is this beautiful flower in terms of God's mercy for those 531s
who repent. And it's the last two verses of Amaz, the ninth chapter. I will restore the 540s
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. And they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. 561s
I will plant them upon their land. They shall never again be plucked up out of the land that I have 569s
given them. Says the Lord, your God. Let's go now to Hosea. So you're an Amaz, so turn, turn left. 576s
They'll cross over Joel and then you bump into Hosea. Hosea prophesied about the mid-8th century. 587s
So he's living in the the tragic last days of the northern kingdom, the tragic last days of the 601s
northern kingdom. So remember, 722 is the Assyrian destruction of Israel. So when you come to Hosea, 608s
it's in these tragic last days that he is living. And let's go to Hosea chapter 1. We'll pick up 621s
verse 2. Because the family of Hosea is used by the Lord as a symbol to convey the message 632s
that the prophet had for his people. So in chapter 1, verse 2, we read, when the Lord first spoke 645s
through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, go take for yourself a wife of Hortam and have children of 654s
Hortam. For the land commits great Hortam by forsaking the Lord. So he went and took Gomer, 662s
daughter of Diplium, and she conceived and bore him a son. After the children are born, 672s
the marriage is broken by unfaithfulness. And that affair, it graphically represents the relationship 683s
between God and his people. That they had gone after other loves, that they had turned to 693s
worshipping of Canaanite deities, and that Israel was going to go through a period of exile. 703s
So God uses the very family of Hosea to communicate then this message of judgment. 712s
But the Lord continues to love his covenant people and long to take them back. And Hosea is 721s
ordered to continue to live with her. Let's go into chapter 3, verse 1. 727s
The Lord said to me again, go love a woman who has a lover and is an adulteress. 744s
Just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes. 751s
So I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a home of barley and a measure of wine, 758s
and I said to her, you must remain as mine for many days, you shall not play the whore, 764s
you shall not have intercourse with a man, nor I with you. 770s
For the Israelites shall remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, 775s
without ephod or tariffin. Afterward the Israelites shall return and seek the Lord their God and 781s
David their king. They shall come in awe to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days. 788s
Hosea then pictured as continuing to love her a picture of exile and return. 796s
So if you're a Bible writer you might want to put with regard to the book of Amos, you might 804s
want to put plumb line that the people were out of a straight, their walls were not straight. 809s
They had fallen apostasy sin, etc. Hosea, you might just want to put 817s
family as the symbol, family as the symbol of this rebellion, but yet God's faithfulness 824s
to these people who had committed adultery against the Lord. The marriage relationship then 833s
is understood here as the relationship between God and his people and the unfaithfulness 841s
that had occurred on the part of the people. But what is the message once again? 848s
Where is the flower that emits all of it? God is faithful to his promises. God is forgiving. 854s
God is not abandoned. God is not abandoned. Well Amos and Hosea, let's go to Joel. 863s
Joel is the very next book to the right. The book of Joel and this book doesn't contain any 874s
dateable events. So it's really hard to date it. And so you will have folks that say that 887s
that it ranges from the ninth century all the way to the post-exilic period in the sixth century. 895s
That is a swath of time, is it not? And that is simply the acknowledgement that there's no 904s
dateable events here to specify it. Joel called the people to repent. 911s
Joel is oftentimes or is. The text associated with regard to Ash Wednesday in the Lenten period. 919s
You hear the prophet Joel. So let's take a look at Joel chapter 2, verse 12. 929s
You hear the prophet Joel. 938s
Yet even now says the Lord, return to me with all your heart with fasting, with weeping and with 947s
morning. Rend your hearts and not your clothing. In ancient days an expression of repentance people 955s
would oftentimes tear their clothing. They would put on sackcloth and ashes as an expression of 964s
their grief for their sin and repentance for their sin. And here God is saying what I want here 971s
is a rending of the heart. What I want is not just the outward act of tearing your clothing, 978s
but I want the repentance indeed of the heart itself. Perhaps the best known passage from Joel 983s
is in the second chapter and go over to verse 28. 992s
Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. 1005s
Your old men shall dream dreams and your young men shall see visions. 1014s
Even on the male and female slaves in those days I will pour out my spirit. 1019s
I will show portance in the heavens and on the earth blood and fire and columns of smoke. 1025s
The sun shall be turned to darkness in the moon to blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 1031s
Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem 1039s
there shall be those who escape. As the Lord has said and among the survivors shall be those whom the 1044s
Lord calls. When you look at this section of Scripture does it remind you of another book 1050s
that we have been studying for a while? The book of Acts, right? Acts the second chapter. 1060s
Here's the prophetic word applied to the situation that was going on in terms of the 1067s
stole on the spirit on the day of Pentecost. Well we've touched on on Micah. Let's go to 1074s
Habakkuk and to get to Habakkuk keep turning right. You're going to hit Joel Amos, 1085s
Obediah Jonah, Micah, Nehem and then you run into Habakkuk. 1093s
Habakkuk is prophesying a little bit before 605. So right around 605. So we see the 1106s
event has already occurred obviously. So now we're talking about the destruction of Jerusalem 1121s
by the Babylonians. So Habakkuk is sitting just above that in 605 and what he prophesies is he 1126s
prophesies the Babylonian invasion. Let's go to verse 6 of chapter 1. Verse 6 of chapter 1. 1136s
For I am rousing the Keldians that fears an impetuous nation who march through the breath of the 1152s
earth to seize dwellings on their own. That's the prophecy of the Babylonian invasion. Habakkuk is 1161s
really a dialogue. So if you want a key word with regard to Habakkuk, a key word with regard to Joel, 1171s
maybe a repent, a key word with regard to Habakkuk could very well be this dialogue, 1177s
just dialogue because there is this dialogue between the prophet and God. 1184s
And so he cries out to God and he says, why does the evil in Judah go unpunished? 1193s
And God's answer is he's going to use the Babylonians to punish Judah. 1200s
Habakkuk cries out and he says, how can a just God use the wicked Babylonians to be the source of his 1206s
discipline? And God's answer to that is Babylonia is going to be judged. Also, the flower here in 1215s
Habakkuk is he concludes with this prayer of trust and joy. And I think it's one of the most 1226s
inspiring verses in the entire Bible. And that's Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 to 19. Habakkuk chapter 3 1232s
verses 17 to 19. So here Habakkuk is having this dialogue with God. It's sitting right above here, 1244s
the Babylonian invasion and the deportation destruction of Jerusalem. He's crying out and saying, 1252s
how come Judah isn't punished here for all of this rebellion? And then he gets the prophecy and 1259s
then how can he use the wicked Babylonians to do this? There are a lousy lot of people here. God's 1266s
just so glorious and rich. Though the fig tree does not blossom and no fruit is on the vines, 1282s
though the produce of the olive fails in the fields yield no food, 1292s
though the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls. 1298s
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will exalt in the God of my salvation. 1305s
God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer and makes me tread upon 1311s
the heights to the leader with stringed instruments. Is that not a glorious portion of Scripture? 1318s
You know, just apply that to your own life. Though the fig tree does not blossom, no fruit is in 1327s
the flock is cut off from the fold and there is no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord. 1339s
You see it is easier to rejoice in the Lord when things are going well, isn't it? Is then you say, 1349s
and we all do, oh my Lord, how blessed and how good you are. Notice here what Habakkuk is saying. 1357s
He's saying, everything's fallen apart here. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. 1365s
That's the statement of faith that we belong to God and God will never let us go. His promises 1376s
apply to us and even though life may be falling apart around a person, the promises of God remain 1383s
and that God is still on God's throne. And that our trust in Him is not dependent upon the circumstances. 1392s
Is it? It's not dependent on the circumstances. In fact, God uses the difficult circumstances 1403s
in life to mature us. It's how He, like how one author puts it, it's how He gets us to leave kindergarten. 1411s
Right? He keeps pushing us into greater and greater maturity. The concept that we can have is that God 1420s
simply exists to make our lives good. That that is his reason for being. Instead of understanding, 1431s
we exist to bring Him glory. That's why we exist. And so amidst the difficult circumstances, 1442s
we can still say, we know the Messiah, we know the cross, we know that we have redeemed, 1452s
we are redeemed, we know that we are destined to live in all of eternity in the glory of heaven, 1458s
which is so far greater than life this side of heaven. It is so much better. And indeed, we know 1465s
our future. And therefore, we also know our present because God is the one who is still sovereign 1471s
and still on the throne. And so even though all of the circumstances of life may still be, 1478s
may be falling apart, we join in the chorus with Habakkuk and say, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 1483s
I will exalt in the God of my salvation. 1491s
It is the person who is going through the difficult time who is still joyful, who gets the question, 1497s
what do you have to be so happy about? Now see there, the bar a little bit from my sermon, 1503s
I hate to do that because if you haven't heard it, then it steals where I'm going in the sermon. 1512s
But just, just, act surprised when it happens at 11. It's the intersection, right, of perplexity 1516s
and opportunity. And there's the witness point. There's the witness point. 1523s
And so when someone says, and what do you have to be so happy about, or how can you be joyful, 1529s
or at peace amidst all that you are going through, there's the opportunity for witness, right? 1536s
Because it's a joy not of our own manufacturing. It is not some kind of acting job that we're doing. 1542s
It's the peace and joy of the Lord. That's Habakkuk saying, even though life is falling apart, 1548s
yet I will rejoice. And what happens when we do that, when life is falling apart? 1554s
That is a profound release, is it not? It is a profound release. You see, when we start to feel the 1560s
stress rising up inside of us, that is the call to pray, isn't it? It's a call to pray. 1570s
It is a call to say, yet I will rejoice in you, Lord. And I know you are in control of this 1576s
situation. And I know you are sovereign and on your throne. And in that I rest, I will rejoice. 1582s
Rejoicing is a release in terms of what we feel and the struggles. Habakkuk has one of the most 1588s
beautiful, beautiful verses. Okay, very, very quickly here in just a couple minutes I've got left. 1598s
When you move to the, to the, really the ending of the Old Testament, when you get the 1606s
Haggai in Zechariah and Malachi, you enter into the third part of the prophecy. So this is after 1613s
Cyrus has released the people to go back to Jerusalem. So it's the third part of the prophetic move. 1621s
And in the third part, you don't have any major threat. You know, with the prophets, 1631s
they're dealing with the potential doom that's going to come from the Assyrians. Or with the 1639s
prophets, you're dealing with the potential doom that's going to come from the Babylonians. 1644s
When you get to the third section here of Haggai Zechariah and Malachi, there's no major threat 1649s
like the Assyrians and the Babylonians hanging over their head. 1657s
And yet, the Israelites have a set of sins that deserve the prophets condemnation and correction. 1663s
And that's the major, the major theme in those, in those three books. Okay, Haggai, the messages 1671s
are given during a four-month period in 520 BC. So again, just to relate where this is. 1679s
This is after Cyrus has given the word that the people can return from that Babylonian captivity 1688s
and can return to Jerusalem. So Haggai is in that four-month period. He's the first prophet given 1695s
after the Babylonian captivity. So if you're a Bible writer, you might just want to put that first 1704s
prophet after Babylonian captivity. The people were facing very humble conditions in contrast with 1709s
with the glory that they thought God was going to give to them upon their, upon their release. 1721s
And that they come across these flowers. When the Jews returned to Judah, when they returned 1731s
to Jerusalem, they had to rebuild the temple. The rebuilt temple was a more humble expression 1739s
than the original temple that had fallen by the hands of the Babylonians. But there's this flower 1749s
that emerges in Haggai saying that when the Messiah comes, the Messiah will indeed worship in this 1757s
temple and will bring glory into this temple. For the sake of time, just write Haggai chapter 2 1764s
verses 6 to 9 and there's your flower there. When you go into Zechariah, it's a post-exilic 1774s
prophet points ahead to the days of the Messiah. And the flower, you might want to write on the first 1782s
pages Zechariah, Zechariah 9 to 11. And there's the flower that emerges. When you come to Malachai, 1793s
Malachai is prophesying, he's around 430 BC. And what Malachai pictures is the separation of the 1802s
wicked from the righteous. And there is the flower. And the flower there is Malachai 4, 1 to 3. 1813s
The minor prophets then, they cover a 400 year span, moving through the Assyrian and the Babylonian 1823s
and then the Persian Empire. And there's four basic messages of both the major and the minor 1835s
prophets. One, they expose the sinful practices of the people. Secondly, they call the people back 1843s
to the moral, civil, and ceremonial law. They warn of judgment and they anticipate the Messiah. 1853s
So as you're reading through the prophets and you're getting your bearings of where they're 1862s
falling here with these three dates, look for those four prophetic messages in both the major 1867s
and the minor prophets, exposing sinful practices, calling people back to moral, civil, and ceremonial 1874s
law, warning of judgment and anticipating the coming of the Messiah. Well, in the weeks ahead, 1880s
I want to transition the class here. And we're going to go to the New Testament and we're going to 1890s
back at the prophets. And what we're going to see in the New Testament is we're going to see the 1895s
flowers, but we're going to see them in bloom. And we're going to take in their fragrance and enjoy 1902s
their beauty. Well, continue next week. 1910s