Scripture Reading: Micah 5:2; Jonah 1:17; Hab. 2:4
In the foregoing message we covered the introductory word, the first dialogue between the prophet and Jehovah, and the first part of the second dialogue between them, and in the next message we will cover the second part of this dialogue and the prophet’s song to Jehovah. In this message, which is an insertion, I have the burden to say a word concerning two matters: Christ as the linking factor in the books of Micah, Jonah, and Habakkuk, and the Bible as the divine revelation given by God’s speaking through man.
Apparently, the books of Micah, Jonah, and Habakkuk are separate and are not linked together by anything. However, if we get into the intrinsic contents of these three books, we will see that there is a linking factor and that this linking factor is Christ.
Micah 5:2 says, “You, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, / So little to be among the thousands of Judah, / From you there will come forth to Me / He who is to be Ruler in Israel; / And His goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity.” Here we see that Christ is the eternal One; His origin is in eternity. But one day He was born as a man in Bethlehem. Thus, here we have Christ’s origin and birth.
Jonah 1:17 says, “Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah up, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish for three days and three nights.” Here Jonah is a type of Christ, who died, who was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, and who then was resurrected (Matt. 12:40-41). Thus, in the type of Jonah, we see Christ’s death and resurrection.
In the book of Jonah, Jehovah’s salvation was brought to the most evil city of the Gentiles through the preaching of the prophet. Today God’s salvation has come to us through the preaching of the gospel. We have received and applied God’s salvation by faith. This is what is mentioned in the one golden verse in the book of Habakkuk, 2:4: “The righteous one will live by his faith.” By faith we have received the salvation that was prepared, completed, and consummated by Christ’s coming forth, and as a result we now are believers constituting the Body of Christ. Eventually, those believers who are the overcomers will be with Christ when He comes to defeat His enemies and to set up His kingdom on the earth.
From the foregoing we can see that Christ Himself is the linking factor in the Minor Prophets. We have seen His origin, birth, death, and resurrection. We have also seen that through His going forth after His resurrection, God’s complete salvation has come to us and that we have received it by faith.
Whereas we can see Christ as the linking factor, the worldly people see only the consuming factor (the locusts) and the suffering factor (Israel). For twenty-seven centuries Israel has been suffering under the locusts with their cutting, swarming, licking, and consuming (Joel 1:4). The newspapers are full of reports concerning the locusts and Israel. We need to see something more than what is reported in the newspapers. We need to see something intrinsic. This means that we need to see that Christ, the eternal One, has gone forth in His incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection and that His going forth is continuing today as more believers are added to Him. We may compare His going forth to the movement of a train that makes various stops so that more goods can be loaded onto it. Christ is the “train” and we are the “goods” that are in Him. Eventually, this train with its goods will reach its destination.
The Bible is the divine revelation through God’s speaking. Regarding this, we need to realize that it is not easy for God to speak to human beings directly. In the Old Testament the incarnation had not yet been accomplished; however, God knew that He intended to become a man. His being incarnated was the first step of all His goings forth, and God was anticipating this. The principle according to the divine revelation is that God would not do anything directly but would do everything through man, with man, and in man.
The matter of God being in man is not clearly seen in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament, especially beginning from John, there are phrases like in Me (14:20) and abide inMe (15:4). We believe into the Lord Jesus (3:16), and now we are in Him. Before believing we were outside of Christ; we were in Adam. But one day we were transferred out of Adam and into Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God. Now we are persons in Christ. Unfortunately, not many Christians realize that genuine, living Christians are those who are actually and practically in Christ. The importance of being in Christ is stressed by Paul in his Epistles, where, especially in Ephesians, the short phrase in Christ is so frequently used.
In the Old Testament it is difficult to find a case which proves that God’s people are those who have been transferred into the Triune God. Nevertheless, in each of the prophets’ books, wherever they speak concerning Christ, that is the great point, the strong accent, of that book. For example, the strong accent of the book of Joel is not the locusts but the outpouring of the consummated Spirit. Actually, this is the accent of the entire Old Testament, for the outpouring of the Spirit is the practical realization of Christ, who is the living, compound, consummated, life-giving, and indwelling Spirit. This Christ is just the Triune God, consummated through the processes of incarnation, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension. But this is not all. Following His ascension is His being poured out, His coming down, to indwell man and mingle with man. This mingling implies a dispositional sanctifying, renewing, transforming, conforming, maturing, and glorifying. Eventually, this mingling makes us one with the divine person of the processed Triune God, whose embodiment is Christ and whose reality is the Spirit. Today this Spirit is the all-inclusive One indwelling us, moving in us, anointing us, and mingling with us.
Christ is revealed in the Old Testament by the types, the prophecies, the historical writings, and the Psalms. The types of Christ, the prophecies concerning Christ, and the historical writings do not need to be purified, but we must study the Psalms in a purifying way. Among the first forty-one psalms, only seven present a clear revelation of Christ (Psa. 2, 8, 16, 22—24, 40). Psalm 1 is good, but it is good according to the natural concept. Still, this psalm is necessary, for without it, how could the beauty of Psalm 2 be manifested?
Let us use an orange tree as an illustration. In order to grow, an orange needs not only its peel but also the whole tree with the roots, the trunk, the branches, and the leaves. However, none of these should be eaten. Actually, to eat or drink, the only thing we need is the orange juice. This illustration points to something crucial related to the enjoyment of Christ, the eating of Christ. In order to see Christ in reality, we need all one hundred fifty of the psalms, but to enjoy Christ, to feed on Christ, we need to come to the revelation of Christ in the Psalms.
The Bible is the divine speaking, but this divine speaking is not something that has come directly by God Himself. This speaking is by God through man. For instance, God charged David to speak what is in Psalm 2, but because David was full of opinions and concepts and because he loved the law to the uttermost, he spoke Psalm 1. He added something of his own. Today when we come to the Bible, we may not know what is the real message and what is the human addition. This may be our situation when we come to the Minor Prophets. In these books there are some human concepts. When Jonah was angry with God and argued with God, he was expressing his own human concept. The vital point here is that whereas the entire Bible is the divine revelation, it is the kernel, the intrinsic part, that is good for eating and drinking to nourish us.
