Category: Scripture

"Minor" Prophets

11/22/2019

But know this first of all, that NO PROPHECY OF SCRIPTURE is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. II Peter 1:20-21

What makes a prophet "minor"?

The books of the Old Testament prophets are divided into "major prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah/Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) and the remaining twelve "minor prophets."
Usually the distinction is one of length (except that the book of Daniel is only 12 chapters long).
Usually the content of the major prophets includes prophecies concerning Israel and many nations and spans great periods of time, whereas the minor prophets often speak to one issue or have a narrower focus. Let's take a look at 4 "minor" prophets in particular.

Joel, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk.

These four "minor" prophets have almost no biographical details attached to them.
Compare the opening verses:
"The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel." (Joel 1:1)
"The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God concerning Edom..." (Obadiah 1:1a)
"The oracle of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite." (Nahum 1:1)
"The oracle which Habakkuk, the prophet, saw." (Habakkuk 1:1)

Notice: they all credit the source of what they are seeing and saying to God.

The message was from GOD.

The message they are writing down is revealed.
They are not making up words out of their own minds.

The contextual background of the prophet is not the most important piece in understanding the message. Yes, it is helpful to know that these were written during the times of the kings, between the impending Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. But it is not essential to know the exact time of the message, or the prophet's hometown, or his personal life, or daily struggles.
The MESSAGE is the primary focus.

The message was short.

How long does it take to read through these messages?
Joel: 12 minutes
Obadiah: 4 minutes
Nahum: 8 minutes
Habakkuk: 9 minutes
And yet, Obadiah's 4-minute message about Edom is not "less" Scripture than Isaiah's or
Jeremiah's or Ezekiel's 3-1/2 hours covering years of writing which included many personal life details.

The message was enduring.

Apart from these "one time" messages, we wouldn't even know about these faithful prophets of God.

The rest of their lives of faithfully following God was not insignificant--but it was unknown. It took a lifetime of persevering endurance for ONE message
that was 4-12 minutes long...the Word of God.

I'm not a prophet. I'm not writing oracles. So what is the point of application?
There is always a subtle danger in Christian "ministry" to want to have a great accomplishment to attach our names to in order to feel satisfied with our contribution to God's work. In the end, it is not what we "do for God" that is of significance, but what He has done for us and through us. Let us then focus on faithfully persevering in following our Lord Jesus, whether in big or little things.
Should He use us over a lifetime or for a 4-minute message--that is His prerogative.

"So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, BUT GOD who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive HIS OWN REWARD according to his own labor." (I Corinthians 3:7-8)

Praise the Lord!

10/1/2019

Praise the Lord!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty expanse.
Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness.
...Let everything that has breath PRAISE THE LORD!
Psalm 150:1-2

The End...

The Psalms are the hymnbook for any situation--fear, failing, faithfulness, family, following God...but the very last Psalm summarizes the End of it all: Praise to God!
Here, in the structure of the book of Psalms, we have the foreshadowing of the book of Revelation:
trials, tribulation, troubles--but at the end: a great multitude that no one could number, and angels, and elders, and four living creatures worshiping God and saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” (Rev. 7:9-12)

...is Jesus.

Here, in the structure of the book of Psalms, we have the foreshadowing that at the NAME OF JESUS, every knee will bow of those who are IN HEAVEN, and ON EARTH, and UNDER THE EARTH, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)
In Jesus, the Psalmist's admonition is finally fulfilled: everything that has breath WILL be praising the Lord!

Praise is not dependent on the situation happening at hand in our lives, but the situation going on in heaven for the rest of eternity, which is based on the unchanging character of God and the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Praise to the Lord!

"Don't Believe It!"

9/18/2019

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God.
“Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. Luke 8:11-12

The Seed Doesn't Change.

In the familiar parable of the four soils, the sower goes out to sow the seed.
Jesus explains that the "seed" in the story is The Word of God. The seed never changes. It is good and effective in its ability to produce fruit. It is the soil of the heart that makes a difference in the results.
How often does a teacher or proclaimer of God's Word "see no results" or have someone seem to respond and then watch their excitement "fizzle" and think that there is something wrong with the message? The temptation is to think that something other than God's Word would be "more effective" in producing transformation--or that the power of fruitfulness is in a method rather than the message.

Satan is Actively Involved.

All three accounts of this parable mention "Satan" or "the devil" or "the evil one" but only Luke's account tells us what his aim is..."so that they will not believe and be saved."

Whenever and wherever the Word of God is proclaimed, no matter how small or how young the group is, Satan is ACTIVELY involved in blocking understanding.
His purpose is always to destroy a genuine response to what God has said.

Twelve men walk to Egypt. All of them die. One walks back.

8/23/2019

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.” Genesis 50:25

Twelve men walk to Egypt.

I can't imagine what was going through Joseph's mind when he was walking down the dusty road to Egypt, bound as a slave to be sold at the market. The only thing "objective" he had to hold on to was that somehow what was happening to him at that moment was connected to two dreams God had given him that he would be the Ruler over his brothers...the brothers that were exulting in their triumph over him and the profit they had made from his sale.
I can't imagine what the brothers were thinking as they took their sheep back to report to their father, but I am certain they did not envision that one day they would be traveling the same dusty road to Egypt, begging the vice-Pharaoh for food! After all...they didn't believe Joseph's dreams!

Yet by the end of Genesis, the exact fulfillment of the dreams has happened in reality!
All twelve men have walked that road to Egypt and their families are there with them.

All of them die.

Jacob, their father, dies in Egypt. He knows that Egypt is not his home, not his "final resting place." Because of the promise God had made to Abraham and Isaac and his descendants, Jacob makes his sons promise to bury him in Canaan. (Genesis 50:5) After the burial, the twelve sons of Jacob once again walk down the dusty road to Egypt, where their families and possessions are waiting for them.
Time passes, and they die...in Egypt. For eleven of them, it is their final resting place. But one of them knows he will return to the land of Canaan to "claim" his inheritance.

One walks back.

Joseph had seen the faith Jacob had in the promises of God and in hanging on to his inheritance. Jacob was residing in Egypt at the end of his life, but he had not assimilated into Egypt.
Joseph had seen the fulfillment of the God-given dreams, worked out through the lowest valleys of distress. God's faithfulness had been proved through the darkest nights of his own life in Egypt.
The very last verse of Genesis ends with his solid faith in God's continued faithful care...no matter what low valleys or dark nights the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren would go through.

Joseph knew the outcome. The inheritance promised to Abraham was a sure thing. His death would not keep him from getting there, because it was dependent on God's faithful care to bring it about.

In Exodus 13:19, almost 400 years after Joseph tells his brothers to take him back to Canaan, the footnote is given: "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him."
The Joseph who had waited...lifeless...helpless...now was "walking" out of Egypt! (with a little bit of assistance from Moses!) But then Moses dies before getting into the land...and there is Joseph, still in his boney, helpless, dead condition.

One of Joseph's great-grand-descendants, Joshua, comes into the land and receives his portion.
The final footnote is attached in Joshua 24:29-32: "Now they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up from Egypt, at Shechem."

Maybe the faith Joshua displayed when he spied out the land and knew with certainty that "God will give it to us!" was a direct result of Joseph's faith that had been carried down for the generations before it got to him.

What about the eleven brothers who hadn't believed Joseph's dreams? Evidently their bones stayed in Egypt. And their unbelief was also passed down for hundreds of years to their descendants so that when it came time to go into the land, ten leaders said to the rest of the family: "God can't do this."

May I be living for the promises of God that will only be realized after my death, certain that God's faithful care will bring them about! May I not look at the situation in front of me and think for a second that it is a picture of reality, without viewing it in light of the end of the story that God has already revealed.

No Matter How You Say It.

8/18/2019

"I don't know what to say."

In Exodus 4:12 Moses has been giving his excuses to God about why the idea of sending him back to Egypt to deliver the Israelites from slavery is not going to work. His main objection centers around his INABILITY to speak...to say the right words in such a way that both Pharaoh and the Israelites would listen to him.
God's response is repeated: "I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.”

Moses didn't have to figure out what words to use. God was going to give him the exact script to deliver. Moses' job was just to repeat what God said.

"They won't believe."

God has told him in Exodus 3:18 that "the people will listen," but that Pharaoh won't let them go "except under compulsion." Having nothing to go on but his prior failed experience (plus 40 years of thinking of the failure!), Moses requests some sort of sign that the people will believe his words, and that Pharaoh will let the people go. Even after the signs, Moses comes back to "I've never been eloquent."

Hard hearts won't respond to words or signs.

As the story plays out, it becomes apparent that Moses' ability or inability at saying "the right thing"...or saying it in "the right way" had no bearing at all on persuading Pharaoh. Why not? Because his words merely uncovered the hard stubborn rebellion that Pharaoh harbored against God. The "unresponsiveness" of Pharaoh was a fight he was in with God...not Moses.
The message was very simple: "God says, 'Let My people go that they may worship Me."

The message was very simple. It did not need an eloquent speaker, it needed an obedient repeater.

Moses never "persuaded" Pharaoh by his words to release the Israelite slaves. When viewing the task from his imagination in the desert, he was consumed by his inability. But the thing that he saw as essential for God's plan to work was a non-factor, because the goal was not to win Pharaoh to a reasoned understanding of God's plan, but was to showcase the glory of God in redeeming the Israelites out of their helpless slavery.

How easy it is to think that there is "something more" than the simple Word of God that will persuade a proud and stubborn heart. To imagine that if only I had "the right words" a "more winsome personality" or "said it in just the right way" it would produce some amazing result in the heart of someone who has rejected God.

The truth is that if someone has a stubborn heart toward God, they will not respond to His simple and clear words, no matter how those words are said. 

What is our response to be? Not to trust in a new method or change the message to be "more appealing" but to continue obediently speaking the simple words of God with clarity, knowing that God is working out His own purposes. Paul provided an example in II Cor. 5:20 when he said, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Put it in Writing!

8/2/2019

Why do you make a note of something or put a contract in writing? It might be to compensate for a faltering memory, or to recall an exact detail later on, or to hold someone to an agreement they made. Once it has been committed to paper, the words stay there as a testament to what happened or was spoken at a particular moment in time.

There is one underlying quality about things that are written down: They don't change.

"Don't Write That Down!"

So why would someone NOT want to write something down? Why would someone speak "off the record"? Usually it is either to leave options open to change later on, or to avoid putting one's name with something that was said. But that is not what is happening in Revelation 10.

When the seven peals of thunder had spoken, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up the things which the seven peals of thunder have spoken and do not write them.” Rev. 10:4

Although, there is so much from the book of Revelation that I don't understand, one thing stood out from this statement in chapter 10--there is a LOT MORE going on than we are told about! John has seen and heard something, and he knows what has been said, and he's about to write it down when he is specifically instructed NOT to write it down! I've often wondered: "Why tell us that you aren't telling us?!" The book of Revelation is mysterious enough without adding, "I have a secret!"
The reality is that what we are not told is just as TRUE as what we are given in writing.

God's WORD on a matter is the decisive Truth on that matter. It is enduring because He is enduring. It is undiminishable by time because He is eternal. If He speaks it, there is no higher court of appeals.

There is nothing that must be memorialized or remembered later because it is sure to be done from the time it is spoken. So the real question is not why the peals of thunder were not written down, but why was the rest of the book (and the entire Bible!) put into writing?

It is written so that we can come back to God's character again and again and realize that what He has said is permanent and endures throughout all generations.

"Write it Down!"

God had John write down exactly what we needed to know about what He has already said. It was written for our benefit in order that we might fully trust and align ourselves with His purposes and plan.

And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Rev. 21:5

Scriptures are from New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

What's in a Name?

7/11/2019

I must confess that when I come to I Chronicles in my Bible reading I find myself debating whether or not to listen to someone read chapters of foreign-sounding names from an audio-Bible, or whether I should tackle the list myself. This time four little verses stood out from I Chronicles 1:24-27....

Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah, Eber, Peleg, Reu, Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abram (that is Abraham). I Chron. 1:24-27

Wait a minute! Did I just cover TEN GENERATIONS and hundreds and hundreds of years in those four verses?! I recognized Shem, the son of Noah. I recognized Abraham, from whom the rest of the Old Testament story emerges, but what about the third son of Shem...Arpachshad?! No details. Just a name of a man who had a son, and a grandson, and a great-grandson... They lived. They died. No details.
For the first time it dawned on me:

these lists of names included in Scripture are not to showcase the greatness of the people, but God's greatness and faithfulness in working out His purposes using generation after generation of "just-a-name" people.

These seemingly uninteresting verses connect the very earliest chapters of Genesis 10-11 (before there is an Abraham!) to God's chosen king, David, who is promised an enduring Kingdom.
What's in these names in I Chronicles? The Psalmist penned it:

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
The plans of His heart from generation to generation. Psalm 33:11

But You, O LORD, abide forever,
And Your name to all generations. Psalm 102:12

Forever, O LORD,
Your word is settled in heaven.
Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; Psalm 119:89–90

What's in these names in I Chronicles 1:24-27?
Luke 3:34-36 quotes them, and connects the family tree to the NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES--
Jesus, the Son of David.

It is Written

4/28/2019

Comments

Why was it Written?

When Jesus was alone, weak, and being tempted by Satan, three times He said, "It is written..." and, once uttered, that was the end of the matter--Satan left Him for the time. (Luke 4:1-13)
But if the SPOKEN Word of God has all Authority to accomplish the intention of God (see Genesis 1--"And God said..."!!) then what was God's purpose in directing that what He spoke should be written down?

Three answers come out of reading Mark 11 and 12--
And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of
prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” The chief priests and the scribes heard
this, and began seeking how to destroy Him. (Mk 11:17–18)

1. A written document ensures unchanging permanence for future generations.
2. A written document gives equal access to its objective message.
3. The written Scriptures demonstrate the condition of the heart responding to it.

Unchanging Permanence.

Just days before His crucifixion, Jesus is teaching in the same Temple court where He had sat as a twelve-year-old listening and asking questions. (Luke 2:46-47) Now He asks another question to the chief priests: "Is it not written??" These were the descendants of the people who had heard the verbal message given directly through God's prophets. What God had said "way back then" was just as relevant to the descendants standing in front of Jesus because it had been written down for them.

Equal Access.

The Word of God that Jesus used against Satan when tempted in the Wilderness was not piped in directly from a mystical experience that Jesus had during a contemplative exercise. It was the same Word that He had studied, memorized and learned from His childhood and through His young manhood years. It was the same Word that was read in the synagogues every Sabbath. It was the same Word that the chief priests had learned and debated. It was the same Word that you and I have access to now.
The written Word is there.
The religious Leaders and the Chief Priest were supposed to be on board with the same standard, living according to the same rule of life. So if they had equal access, why weren't they living with the same love for God and others that Jesus had?

Heart Condition.

The written Scriptures showed the true heart condition of those who heard it--whether they turned to it or away from it. As Jesus concludes His teaching in the Temple for that day, He tells the leaders a parable about a vineyard and concludes with:
“Have you not even read this Scripture:
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?” (Mk 12:9–11).

Again, He shows through His question that although they could recite the passage from Isaiah, they had no thought that it could be remotely connected to their own response to God: they were the rejectors! After He asked the question, they got it! But rather than be grieved by the hate in their heart toward God, they continued working out a way to get rid of the Messenger shining the light on their true condition.

It is not enough to merely have a passing acknowledgement of the Scriptures, it was WRITTEN so that we might have an anchored trust, an equal access, and a contrite response to God's will.