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Zechariah is the second-to-last book in the Old Testament. It’s far from the longest book in the Bible, and Zechariah is far from the most famous prophet. But the book of Zechariah is incredibly important to the overarching theme of the Bible: its prophecies clearly and plainly predict the coming of Jesus Christ.

The prophet Zechariah is believed to have carried out his ministry at the same time as Haggai, who we looked at last week. It was a dark time for God’s people; in the aftermath of a long captivity in a foreign land, it was unclear what the future held for the remnant of Judah.

But in an uncertain time, Zechariah’s preaching rang out with hope and the promise of restoration. In chapter 12, Zechariah predicts a trying future—but promises that God will preserve His people through it:

The LORD will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. On that day the LORD will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the LORD going before them.

But beyond these general prophecies, the book of Zechariah is sprinkled with predictions that seem to point strongly at Christ and His saving work. Early in the book, God promises that He will “bring my servant, the Branch”; later comes a reference to God as “the one they have pierced”, and even a mention of thirty pieces of silver!

Zechariah’s clear hints about Jesus Christ make it a fascinating book to read, and especially appropriate as Easter approaches. It’s also filled with very memorable imagery, evocative descriptions of angels, and a strong message of reassurance. For all its import, it’s only 14 chapters long—consider adding it to your Lent reading list this week!

Have you ever reached a breaking point? A point when a bad situation had gone on too long, and there was a need for justice?

The book of Amos grimly recounts the sins of humanity and God’s promises of justice and retribution. At the time the book of Amos was written (750 BC), Israel and its neighbors were devoted to no one but themselves. In Israel’s case, their devotion to their faith had devolved into little more than figuring out ways to exploit it.

The first chapter and a half of Amos details the transgressions of the various nations, while the second half of chapter two turns the lens onto Israel itself. Lawerence Boadt’s book Reading the Old Testament has an interesting insight into the beginning of Amos on page 318:

One can almost feel the people of Bethel swelling with pride as the prophet denounces one foreign power after another. Six times Amos thunders out Yahweh’s judgment against an enemy people… then he turns on a seventh—Judah… That seemed close to home… Suddenly the prophet continues: “For three sins of Israel and for four, I will not revoke punishment against them” (Am 2:6). Such was not supposed to be. Prophets were to condemn and give judgment against others, but not to turn on one’s own.

In a shift from typical prophetic works, God—through Amos—shows that He is concerned with every nation. We read of God’s displeasure with all humanity, not just His chosen people. It seems that everyone is ignoring Him, and the Day of the Lord is upon them.

In the following chapters we read the specific details of Isreal’s transgressions. Chapters 3-6 overflow with tales of extreme injustice and the Israelites’ negligent spirituality. As Amos writes in chapter 5 verse 11:

You trample on the poor
and force him to give you grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.

The last few chapters contain Amos’ visions, including his pleadings with God for mercy. It’s here that we get God’s chilling promise to judiciously separate the good from the bad in chapter 7 verses 7 through 9:

This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in his hand. And the LORD asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”
“A plumb line,” I replied.
Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
“The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

Amos shows us in vivid detail what kind of iniquity to avoid. It brims with stories of injustice and with God’s reactions to those injustices, and it calls all nations to serve and obey the one true God.

For more information on Amos, start with the wikipedia entry, or jump over and read it at Biblegateway.

When’s the last time you heard a sermon preached about the book of Nahum?

It isn’t too surprising that Nahum isn’t exactly a regularly-occurring character in most sermons and Bible studies. For one thing, the book of Nahum is extremely short—it’s only three chapters long. But more challenging than its brevity is its subject matter: the book of Nahum is essentially a prophetic poem predicting destruction for the wicked Assyrian capital city of Ninevah.

The book of Nahum describes in vivid and sometime disturbing detail the fate of a mighty empire whose cruelty and mistreatment of its subjects was legendary. It’s a cry to God to administer justice to a powerful enemy that Israel cannot defeat or escape on her own:

O king of Assyria, your shepherds [c] slumber;
your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.

Nothing can heal your wound;
your injury is fatal.
Everyone who hears the news about you
claps his hands at your fall,
for who has not felt
your endless cruelty?

It makes for an interesting read—but how could anyone today relate to any of this?

In his book A History of Prophecy in Israel, Joseph Blenkinsopp suggests that to really understand the spiritual impact of the book of Nahum, we have to remember what this prophecy meant to its original audience:

The tone of these poems will not easily find sympathetic resonance in the mind of the modern reader, or at least the modern reader who has not suffered under such conditions as the Assyrians imposed on their subject provinces. But it may help to recall that what was at stake for the poet and his audience was the reality of divine power and the possibility of justice in the world of international affairs. (p. 123)

Nahum’s prophecy, then, was a promise that Israel’s oppressor would not escape God’s justice—and beyond that, it’s a reminder for all readers that God takes note of His people’s suffering, and that when God acts, not even the most powerful human forces in the world can stand against Him.

That’s a message that might not resonate strongly with many Western Christians today; few of us have experienced the brutality that Israel did under Assyrian conquest. But for brothers and sisters in the persecuted church around the globe, Nahum’s assurance that God is ultimately in control of human politics and empires is a powerful one.

Have you ever watched as someone you loved—a friend, a child, a spouse—made choices you knew were foolish and wrong? From your perspective, you could clearly see that their decisions would end in disaster, but they refused to listen and insisted on doing it their way?

If you’ve ever been heartbroken by a wayward loved one, you’ll find a lot to relate to in the book of Hosea. It’s a short book—easily readable in a single sitting—but Hosea is packed with insight into God’s character and love for us. It tells the story of a man stung by his wife’s repeated adultery and betrayal, but who actively seeks her out and forgives her long after even the most patient person would’ve given up on her.

Hosea’s life, and relationship with his straying wife, is a living metaphor for God and his love for his people. Hosea’s story is interspersed with poetic statements of alternating anger and love from God to Israel. The mingled anger at Israel’s rejection and promises of forgiveness if they would repent make for an emotionally powerful reading.

If you’ve never read Hosea, take a look—you might be surprised how interesting it is. In it, we learn all sorts of things about God’s love for us, like:

• God is hurt when we choose to reject Him and follow our own ways. His love for us is like a father’s for his children—our actions may hurt and anger Him, but he never stops loving us.
• God uses the natural consequences of sinful behavior to point people back to Him. He doesn’t force us to obey Him—He wants us to see the error of our ways and come back to him of our own accord.
• God stands ready to welcome you back no matter how far you’ve strayed from Him.

Hosea closes with a beautiful call to repentance and promise of forgiveness:

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God.
Your sins have been your downfall!

Take words with you
and return to the LORD.
Say to him:
“Forgive all our sins
and receive us graciously,
that we may offer the fruit of our lips.
 
“I will heal their waywardness
and love them freely,
for my anger has turned away from them.

See also an excellent short devotional that draws from the book of Hosea.

What if your home was decimated and no one was concerned with rebuilding it?

What if instead of your home, it was God’s home?

Haggai is an extremely short book about an extremely important task: rebuilding the Temple. After the Babylonian exile, God’s people were allowed to return to their homeland by the Persian king Cyrus. They immediately set to laying the Temple foundation and reconstructing their houses, but for one reason or another they neglected to finish the Temple.

Many years passed before God finally spoke to his people through the prophet Haggai.

From chapter 1 verses 4-6:

“Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

He continues in verses 9-11:

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”

After that, God’s people hurried over the next five years to finish the Temple, and as a result God’s blessing returned to them.

We know very little about Haggai other than that he was willing to be used by God in a time when many weren’t. Take a few minutes and read this inspiring book of the Bible.

[The above image of Haggai is from a sculpture at the Sienna Chapel.]

What springs to mind when you think of Old Testament prophets? Famous names like Samuel, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Isaiah probably stand out—they certainly play a key role in the history of Israel, and in their prophecies, judgments, and calls for repentance can be found many pointers to the eventual birth and saving work of Jesus Christ.

But these oft-quoted heavy-hitters weren’t the only prophets in the Bible. In fact, there’s a large group of ancient preachers whose stories have always lived in the shadow of the so-called “major prophets” like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Some of these “minor prophets” spoke of love and forgiveness; others of justice and repentance; all burned with a desire to see God’s people brought back into a relationship with their Creator.

There are twelve minor prophets: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habkkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malach. How many of those names do you recognize? If you can’t remember what these prophets did, don’t feel bad! This week we’ll be looking at some of these fascinating characters. To start with, here are some overviews of these prophets, and why their ministries were anything but “minor”:

• Which prophet’s name meant “wrestler”? Which prophet was married to a prostitute? Which was famously swallowed by a whale? Uplook Ministries has a helpful two-part introduction to the minor prophets. It includes a map to show you where each of the minor prophets lived, and a short paragraph with some interesting facts about each.
• Here’s another overview of the minor prophets from a Jewish perspective. This summary talks a bit more about the historical context in which these prophets delivered their messages.
• The Bible books about the minor prophets tend to be short—some just a few chapters long—so why not try reading a few of them this week? Joel, Nahum, and Habakkuk are brief and representative. As you can see, many of their prophecies are poetic calls for justice and repentance, usually (but not always) directed at Israel.

[Painting of Elijah by Antonio Cifrondi.]