Jonah
Yesterday, when I called this “a big fish story,” I was trying to be clever. Contrary to some Bible scholars, I believe Jonah is fact, not fiction. It’s a story about a big fish, but it isn’t a “fish story” in the manner of fishermen’s exaggerations. Here’s why I think so:
Jesus twice spoke of the Jonah account, and both times he assumed its factuality:
“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40) Jesus assumes the factuality of Jonah’s 3-day fish adventure.
“The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (Luke 11:32) Here, Jesus upholds the factuality of Jonah’s preaching adventure! Can you imagine the fictional repentant inhabitants of Nineveh rising up to condemn anyone?
And so, I am happy to assume and uphold the factuality of Jonah. Nevertheless, Jonah doesn’t read like the other prophets. In fact, we have very little of Jonah’s actual prophetic preaching. How little? “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” That’s it. That’s all we know of Jonah’s prophetic utterance. Yet, his account is here, among the prophets. Perhaps the account is preserved to teach succeeding generations of believers just what being a prophet is all about.
If you’ll read it again, this weekend, you’ll see that Jonah is about responding to God’s call, experiencing God’s sovereignty and finding God’s heart for lost people like the Ninevites!
Monday, we begin a few days with the prophet, Micah!
Pastor Gary
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Friday, September 12, 2014
SEPTEMBER 12 OBADIAH
Obadiah
Who was Obadiah, and when did he write?
No one knows! His name means “servant of the Lord.” But the best of the scholarly guesses is that Obadiah prophesied at the same time as Jeremiah; when Babylon was attacking Judah and Jerusalem just before the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem (from 605 – 586 BC). Obadiah 1-9 is very similar to Jeremiah 49:7-22; maybe they prayed together; perhaps they prophesied together, too!
Obadiah writes about Edom. What does Edom have to do with the Babylonian attack?
Imagine yourself in an ancient besieged city. As the invading army breaks in and begins to kill indiscriminately, you see a cavalry of your cousins riding in. Thank God, you think, they’ve come to defend us! But to your horror, they stop, dismount, line the streets and cheer the invaders on! When some from your city attempt an escape, these wicked cousins point them out to the invaders. That they are treacherous enemies is plain to see; that they are cousins, as well, makes their treachery even worse!
This is how Edom, the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau, Judah’s “cousins,” reacted to the attacks of the Babylonians. The prophecies of Jeremiah and Obadiah not only scold Edom, but pronounce the Lord’s judgments upon them. “As you have done, it will be done so to you,” Obadiah says (v. 15)
Judah, however, the nation whose destruction Edom cheered, will one day be restored. Not so, for the wicked cousins.
This weekend, we read a big fish story!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Who was Obadiah, and when did he write?
No one knows! His name means “servant of the Lord.” But the best of the scholarly guesses is that Obadiah prophesied at the same time as Jeremiah; when Babylon was attacking Judah and Jerusalem just before the exile and the destruction of Jerusalem (from 605 – 586 BC). Obadiah 1-9 is very similar to Jeremiah 49:7-22; maybe they prayed together; perhaps they prophesied together, too!
Obadiah writes about Edom. What does Edom have to do with the Babylonian attack?
Imagine yourself in an ancient besieged city. As the invading army breaks in and begins to kill indiscriminately, you see a cavalry of your cousins riding in. Thank God, you think, they’ve come to defend us! But to your horror, they stop, dismount, line the streets and cheer the invaders on! When some from your city attempt an escape, these wicked cousins point them out to the invaders. That they are treacherous enemies is plain to see; that they are cousins, as well, makes their treachery even worse!
This is how Edom, the descendants of Jacob’s brother Esau, Judah’s “cousins,” reacted to the attacks of the Babylonians. The prophecies of Jeremiah and Obadiah not only scold Edom, but pronounce the Lord’s judgments upon them. “As you have done, it will be done so to you,” Obadiah says (v. 15)
Judah, however, the nation whose destruction Edom cheered, will one day be restored. Not so, for the wicked cousins.
This weekend, we read a big fish story!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Thursday, September 11, 2014
SEPTEMBER 11 AMOS 8-9
It’s September 11. Let’s pause to pray for Christ’s peace to find a place in people’s hearts all around the world!
Amos 8-9
Amos finishes his prophecy with a flourish. God used a plumb line to introduce the judgment in Amos 7, He uses a basket of ripe fruit to introduce the same judgment in Amos 8. The ripeness of the fruit signifies that the time is ripe for judgment!
Here are the signs of their ripeness for judgment:
God’s people trample on the needy, and try to “do away with the poor” in the land. (8:4)
During worship, they can only think about getting back to work and making more money. (8:5)
In an effort to make more money, they use dishonest scales and cheat people.
They are especially unfair in their dealings with the poor. (8:6)
As a result, the land itself will tremble, darkness will descend, the people will mourn and famine will descend. This is not necessarily a famine of food, but a famine of God’s Word! The idolatrous will fall, never to rise again. And Israel, no matter what she does, will experience historic destruction.
Yet, there is hope. God says, “I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob” (9:8). On some future day (future, even to us), God will “restore David’s fallen tent,” meaning: God will restore Israel as a whole and united nation. Exiles will be brought home. Cities will be rebuilt. And the land will produce its fruit.
Tomorrow, we read Obadiah in one fell swoop!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Amos 8-9
Amos finishes his prophecy with a flourish. God used a plumb line to introduce the judgment in Amos 7, He uses a basket of ripe fruit to introduce the same judgment in Amos 8. The ripeness of the fruit signifies that the time is ripe for judgment!
Here are the signs of their ripeness for judgment:
God’s people trample on the needy, and try to “do away with the poor” in the land. (8:4)
During worship, they can only think about getting back to work and making more money. (8:5)
In an effort to make more money, they use dishonest scales and cheat people.
They are especially unfair in their dealings with the poor. (8:6)
As a result, the land itself will tremble, darkness will descend, the people will mourn and famine will descend. This is not necessarily a famine of food, but a famine of God’s Word! The idolatrous will fall, never to rise again. And Israel, no matter what she does, will experience historic destruction.
Yet, there is hope. God says, “I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob” (9:8). On some future day (future, even to us), God will “restore David’s fallen tent,” meaning: God will restore Israel as a whole and united nation. Exiles will be brought home. Cities will be rebuilt. And the land will produce its fruit.
Tomorrow, we read Obadiah in one fell swoop!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
SEPTEMBER 10 AMOS 6-7
Amos 6-7
What a picture of Israel’s complacency: the notable men of the nation lounging on comfortable couches, sleeping on ivory beds, dining on choice foods, listening to music, and sometimes “jamming” together. They drink wine continuously, but they do not grieve over the ruin of their nation. Because of this, God says: “Woe to you!” and “You will be among the first to go into exile” (6:1-7). The rest of Amos 6 outlines God’s plans for judgment against them!
Who among us grieves over the ruin of our nation? Who is warning America of coming judgment? And who is paying them any attention?
Amos was just such a man for the nation of Israel; he interceded for her twice, and the Lord listened (7:1-6). Finally, the Lord took a plumb line used to build a straight wall and showed Amos that the people of Israel were out of plumb, and He could “spare them no longer” (7:8).
Simultaneously, it seems, Amaziah, the religious leader of Israel (operating as a priest, but not in Jerusalem as the law prescribed) tells the king that Amos is prophesying against him. Then, on the king’s behalf, he tells Amos to return to Judah and do the prophet thing there. This is when Amos famously answers, “I am neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but a shepherd and a tender of fig trees.” Nevertheless, Amos goes on to pronounce judgment against both Amaziah and the nation of Israel.
There is a delicate balance here. God says to submit to earthly authorities (Romans 13), but here is Amos openly defying both the religious and civil authorities of his day! The former is the general rule, it seems, the latter is the exception. When? During times of great moral complacency!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
What a picture of Israel’s complacency: the notable men of the nation lounging on comfortable couches, sleeping on ivory beds, dining on choice foods, listening to music, and sometimes “jamming” together. They drink wine continuously, but they do not grieve over the ruin of their nation. Because of this, God says: “Woe to you!” and “You will be among the first to go into exile” (6:1-7). The rest of Amos 6 outlines God’s plans for judgment against them!
Who among us grieves over the ruin of our nation? Who is warning America of coming judgment? And who is paying them any attention?
Amos was just such a man for the nation of Israel; he interceded for her twice, and the Lord listened (7:1-6). Finally, the Lord took a plumb line used to build a straight wall and showed Amos that the people of Israel were out of plumb, and He could “spare them no longer” (7:8).
Simultaneously, it seems, Amaziah, the religious leader of Israel (operating as a priest, but not in Jerusalem as the law prescribed) tells the king that Amos is prophesying against him. Then, on the king’s behalf, he tells Amos to return to Judah and do the prophet thing there. This is when Amos famously answers, “I am neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but a shepherd and a tender of fig trees.” Nevertheless, Amos goes on to pronounce judgment against both Amaziah and the nation of Israel.
There is a delicate balance here. God says to submit to earthly authorities (Romans 13), but here is Amos openly defying both the religious and civil authorities of his day! The former is the general rule, it seems, the latter is the exception. When? During times of great moral complacency!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Tuesday, September 9, 2014
SEPTEMBER 9 AMOS 3-5
Amos 3-5
Farmer Amos is finished with the nations around Israel, in these chapters He speaks with spiritual force to Israel, the idolatrous northern kingdom.
God says: “Israel does not know how to do right,” (3:10); nevertheless, the Israelites themselves may be saved (3:12), while their idols and idolatrous altars in Bethel (3:14) and Gilgal (4:4) will be destroyed. God mocks the wealthy women of Samaria by calling them the “cows of Bashan.” “Go worship at your idols,” He tells them in so many words, “See what good it will do you!” (4:4f)
God says, “I tried to reach you again and again, yet you have not returned to me.” (4:11) “Therefore...prepare to meet your God!” (4:12)
We can tell, as we read, that God does not want to bring judgment upon His people. In chapter 5, He continues to call out to them:
- “Seek me and live!” (5:4)
- “Seek the Lord and live! (5:5)
- “Seek good, not evil, that you may live! (5:14)
- “Hate evil, love justice! (5:15)
What if, after all this, Amos’ listeners are complacent and unmoved? We’ll find out tomorrow!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Monday, September 8, 2014
SEPTEMBER 8 AMOS 1-2
Amos 1-2
Amos is a farmer. He calls himself a shepherd and a tender of fig trees (1:1; 7:14-15). Some might have looked down on him for his back country, hick town ways, but a stronger prophet would be hard to find. He prophesied just before Isaiah during a time when both the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah) were experiencing material prosperity. God used Amos’ prospective to challenge the social injustices that seem to attach themselves to comfort and wealth. His words sting...down to this day!
Amos is a sneaky farmer. In chapters 1 and 2, he begins with strong judgments against the nations around Israel. I once plotted these out on a map of the Holy Land and saw that these judgments begin far away (Damascus) and circle ever closer until they hit home (Judah and Israel). At first, those listening might have been cheering the prophecies, but by the end of chapter 2, I bet there was silence. God repeats, “for the three sins of each nation, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.” And God uses the same words for Israel, as He did for all the other nations!
Tomorrow, Amos focuses on Israel’s sins and desperate need for repentance!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
Amos is a farmer. He calls himself a shepherd and a tender of fig trees (1:1; 7:14-15). Some might have looked down on him for his back country, hick town ways, but a stronger prophet would be hard to find. He prophesied just before Isaiah during a time when both the northern kingdom (Israel) and the southern kingdom (Judah) were experiencing material prosperity. God used Amos’ prospective to challenge the social injustices that seem to attach themselves to comfort and wealth. His words sting...down to this day!
Amos is a sneaky farmer. In chapters 1 and 2, he begins with strong judgments against the nations around Israel. I once plotted these out on a map of the Holy Land and saw that these judgments begin far away (Damascus) and circle ever closer until they hit home (Judah and Israel). At first, those listening might have been cheering the prophecies, but by the end of chapter 2, I bet there was silence. God repeats, “for the three sins of each nation, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath.” And God uses the same words for Israel, as He did for all the other nations!
Tomorrow, Amos focuses on Israel’s sins and desperate need for repentance!
Your fellow pilgrim through the Prophets,
Pastor Gary
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