Scripture Reading: Micah 5:2a; Hosea 11:1; Matt. 2:15; Micah 4:7b; Hosea 3:5
With this message we begin the Life-study of the Minor Prophets (except Zechariah, which we have covered in a separate series of messages). The burden of these messages on the Minor Prophets can be expressed in the following four statements:
1) From Bethlehem will come forth the Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2).
2) The Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights (implying resurrection) for the salvation of God to all the sinners (Jonah 1:17; 2:10; Matt. 12:40-41).
3) Christ is the Desire of all nations and will come as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Hag. 2:7; Mal. 4:2).
4) Christ will dwell in the holy mountain of Zion, to be a shelter and a stronghold to Israel, and rule among them from Jerusalem (Joel 3:16-17; Micah 4:7).
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.” “The days of eternity” refers to Christ’s eternity. Christ is the eternal One, but in His incarnation He became a man in time by being born in the small town of Bethlehem.
Matthew 12:40 and 41 say, “Just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. Ninevite men will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something more than Jonah is here.” As typified by Jonah, Christ, the Son of Man, was in the heart of the earth three days and three nights (implying resurrection) for the salvation of God to all the sinners. At the time of Jonah, God’s redemption and salvation spread from Jerusalem to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. It was a surprise to the Jewish prophet Jonah that God would care for the Gentiles and send him to Nineveh, an evil city built by Nimrod (Gen. 10:9-11). The significance of the type of Jonah is that Christ died, was buried, and was resurrected to spread God’s redemption and salvation to the far away Gentiles.
Haggai 2:7a says, “I will shake all the nations, and the Desire of all the nations will come.” Malachi 4:2a declares, “Unto you who fear My name will the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.” Today all the nations are full of darkness and unrighteousness. On earth there is darkness upon darkness, and there is unrighteousness upon unrighteousness. Who can deal with this situation? No one can. Our only hope, our only expectation, is that Christ is coming as the Sun to shine and to swallow the darkness and also as righteousness to be the righteousness to the nations. He will come with healing in His wings to heal the nations from darkness and unrighteousness. We are waiting for Him as the Desire of the nations and as the Sun of righteousness.
Joel 3:16 and 17 and Micah 4:7 speak of the millennium, the time of restoration. Joel 3:16b and 17a say, “Jehovah will be a shelter to His people / And a stronghold to the children of Israel. / Thus you will know that I am Jehovah your God, / Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.” Micah 4:7b says, “Jehovah will reign over them in Mount Zion / From then on, and even forever.” These verses reveal that in the millennium Christ will dwell in the holy mountain of Zion to be a shelter and a stronghold to Israel and will rule among them from Jerusalem. In the time of the restoration Christ will not remain in the heavens but will come physically to the earth, to the Jewish land, to the city of Jerusalem, to Mount Zion, to dwell there and to be a shelter and a stronghold to Israel. This is Christ’s future.
In these verses we see many things concerning Christ: His eternity, His incarnation in time, His death, burial, and resurrection for the spreading of God’s redemption and salvation to all the nations on earth, His coming as the Desire of nations and as the Sun of righteousness, and His being the One dwelling on Mount Zion to be a shelter and a stronghold to God’s elect. As He rules among them, Christ will rule the whole earth from Jerusalem.
In this introductory word, let us now go on to consider the composition, the contents, and the central thought of the Minor Prophets.
The Minor Prophets are composed of twelve books, from Hosea to Malachi. In ancient times these books might have been considered one book. “The book of the prophets” mentioned by Stephen in Acts 7:42, in his quoting of Amos 5:25-27, might refer to this collective book. Although these books are minor, they complete the divine revelation concerning God’s economy in His dealings with His elect — Israel — and the nations, which is covered in detail in the books of the Major Prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. All the books of both the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets were called by the Lord Jesus “the Prophets,” in which things concerning Him were written (Luke 24:44). This indicates that the central point of all the prophets is not chastisement or judgment but Christ. When we come to the books of the prophets, we should care mainly for Christ.
The contents of the Minor Prophets include God’s economy in His loving chastisement of Israel, Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy, and a number of crucial points.
God’s economy in His loving chastisement of Israel, in His governmental dealing with Israel, and in His judgment upon the nations issues in the manifestation of Christ as the centrality and universality in God’s economy to bring in the restoration. According to Psalm 2, Christ, God’s King, is the Lord, the Possessor, of the earth. The entire world is under Christ as the “General Manager.” He is not only the Lord but also the Manager, managing the entire world situation. At present this is somewhat hidden, but one day He will be manifested. God’s economy on this earth will eventually issue in the manifestation of Christ. When this manifestation takes place, all people will see that Christ is the centrality and universality of God’s economy to bring in the age of restoration. This is the first aspect of the contents of the Minor Prophets, an emphasis which is also found in the Major Prophets.
In the Minor Prophets Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy is emphatically unveiled. In the Minor Prophets (not counting Zechariah, which reveals other aspects of Christ) this unveiling, this revelation concerning Christ, has sixteen points. We will now briefly consider these points according to the sequence of the facts.
We have pointed out that Micah 5:2c says that Christ’s “goings forth are from ancient times, / From the days of eternity.” This refers to Christ’s eternal origin.
Micah 5:2a says that from Bethlehem would come forth the One who would be the Ruler in Israel. This is the only verse in the entire Old Testament which tells us that Christ was to be born in Bethlehem.
Malachi 3:1-3 reveals that in His first coming Christ came as the Messenger of God. As God’s Messenger, He brought people God’s word, God’s message. This word, this message, is actually Christ Himself. We may say that He is the letter sent by God to us.
Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, / And out of Egypt I called My son.” This speaks of Christ in His union with Israel as the Son of God loved by God and called out of Egypt by God. The fulfillment of this prophecy is in Matthew 2. Not long after Christ was born, while He was still in His babyhood, Herod tried to kill Him. But according to the word of an angel, Joseph took Jesus and His mother and departed into Egypt and remained there “until the death of Herod, in order that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son’” (v. 15).
A further aspect of Christ is typified by the prophet Jonah. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and was vomited out of it for the spreading of God’s salvation to the Gentile Ninevites (Jonah 1:17; 2:10). This is a type of Christ in His death and resurrection for the salvation of God to sinners, even to the Gentiles (Matt. 12:39-41).
In Haggai 2:7 we see that Christ is the Desire of all the nations. Even though the nations do not know Christ, they still desire to have Christ. All the nations desire to have peace and a good life, but the situation in the world is the opposite of this. Christ is peace; Christ is also the good life. For the nations to desire these things means that they actually desire Christ. He is the Desire of all the nations.
Elijah will be sent before Christ to prepare the way for His coming back (Mal. 4:5-6; 3:1a; Rev. 11:3-4).
“There cause Your mighty ones to descend, / O Jehovah!” (Joel 3:11b). This reveals that Christ will be sent by God the second time with His overcomers. Today Christ is making overcomers, those who will be with Him in His coming back. When Christ comes back, He will come with His overcomers to fight against Antichrist.
In the universe there are two sources: God and Satan. God is embodied in Christ, and Satan will eventually be embodied in Antichrist. Both Christ and Antichrist will have an army. In His coming back Christ will descend with His army, composed of the mighty ones, the overcomers. This indicates that at the time of His coming back, Christ and His army will defeat Antichrist and his army.
As we have seen, according to Malachi 4:2 Christ will arise as the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings.
Hosea 6:3b says, “His going forth is as sure as the dawn, / And He will come to us as the rain, / As the latter rain which waters the earth.” In 10:12 we are told that Christ will come and rain righteousness upon us. Christ’s going forth has not stopped. He is still going forth as the dawn. Also He will come as the rain, even as the latter rain. How much Christ is to us! He is the dawn, the rain, and the latter rain.
“The Angel of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, He will come, says Jehovah of hosts” (Mal. 3:1b). This speaks of Christ in His second coming as the Angel of the covenant, whom Israel desires. The covenant of which He is the Angel is the new covenant.
In Joel 3:11 Christ is unveiled in His coming as the mighty One with His overcomers to defeat Antichrist and his army.
Christ is also unveiled in His judgment of the nations — the judgment of the living (Joel 3:2a, 12, 14; Matt. 25:31-46; Acts 10:42; 17:31).
Joel 3 unveils Christ in His dwelling in the holy mountain of Zion within Jerusalem to reign among Israel to be their God, their shelter, and their stronghold (vv. 16-17, 21b).
David was a type of Christ as the King. In the Minor Prophets Christ is unveiled in His reigning in Zion as Israel’s King, the Ruler in Israel, in the millennium (Micah 4:7b; 5:2b; Hosea 3:5a; Zeph. 3:15b; Rev. 20:4, 6).
Finally, Christ is unveiled in His shepherding of Israel, becoming great and being their peace (Micah 5:4-5). In the millennium Christ will be not only the King and the Ruler but also the Shepherd.
Let us now go on to consider come crucial points in the Minor Prophets.
Amos 4:12 says, “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” There is no other verse in the Bible which tells us to prepare to meet God. Are you prepared to meet your God?
These books speak in different ways concerning God’s forgiveness. According to Micah 7:18 and 19, God pardons our iniquity and passes over our transgression, treading our iniquities underfoot and casting all our sins into the depths of the sea. This reveals how willing God is to forgive our iniquities.
Another crucial point, prophesied in Joel, is the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (2:28-32a; Acts 2:16-21). This outpouring was a great matter, for it initiated the church life.
The matter of the righteous one, or the just one, living by his faith was not initiated by Paul but was prophesied in the Minor Prophets. “The righteous one will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4). This word was quoted by Paul in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38. To live by faith implies having life by faith. Thus, the righteous one has life and lives by his faith.
God is light (1 John 1:5). The Lord Jesus said that He is the light of the world (John 8:12). But even in the Minor Prophets it is prophesied that God would be light to us, His people, and would bring us into the light (Micah 7:8-9).
The central thought of the Minor Prophets involves many things, beginning with God’s judgment. God will judge the world (Joel 3:2a). Sinners should prepare to meet God (Amos 4:12). Christ as the eternally divine One came to the earth and was born to be human (Micah 5:2). He entered into death and resurrected from it for the extending of God’s salvation to all the nations (Jonah 1:17; 2:10; 3:2). Sinners who repent and believe in Him will be forgiven of their sins and justified by God to have the divine life that they may walk in the divine light and become the mighty ones of Christ, sent with Him by God in His second appearing (Amos 4:12; Micah 7:18-19; Hab. 2:4; Micah 7:8-9; Joel 3:11b). He will arise as the Sun of righteousness (Mal. 4:2) and come as the Angel of the covenant (Mal. 3:1b) to reign in Zion (Micah 4:7b) and shepherd Israel (Micah 5:4). Then the millennium of the restoration will be brought in (Micah 4:1-3; Hosea 14:4-8; Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 19:28). When we put all these points together, we have the central thought of the Minor Prophets.
The Minor Prophets are minor, but the revelation they bring in is major. The central point of the divine revelation in the Minor Prophets is the same as that in the Major Prophets.
The crucial emphasis of the revelation released by all the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi is that God wants to have an organic union with His chosen people, like the union of Adam with Eve. In the writings of the prophets, God expresses His desire to have an organic union with His chosen people, making Himself their life and making them His expression. In this way God and His chosen people become a couple, a compound person, just as Adam and Eve became a couple. Originally Adam was alone, but later Eve came out of Adam. Eve was built from Adam’s rib to match Adam, to marry Adam, and to be Adam’s counterpart (Gen. 2:21-22). Eventually, the two became one in nature and in life. This is a type of what God desires. God’s desire is to be united with His chosen people to be a universal couple, which in Revelation 22:17 is called “the Spirit and the bride.” Because this is God’s intention in His eternal economy, both the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets speak of God as the Husband and of God’s chosen people as the wife. This thought is fully developed in the New Testament, but it was unveiled first through the prophets. It is very important that we see this in our study of the Major and Minor Prophets.
God’s intention, God’s desire, makes Christ the centrality and universality in God’s economy. In the New Testament Christ is all and in all (Col. 3:11). Christ is everyone and in everyone. Eventually, the whole church is nothing but Christ.
We have seen that part of the contents of the Minor Prophets is that God’s economy in His loving chastisement of Israel, that is, in His governmental dealing with Israel, and in His judgment of the nations issues in the manifestation of Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy to bring in the restoration. God’s instrument to chastise Israel has been, and still is, the nations.
World history is displaying the fulfillment of what was prophesied through the prophets. After their prophecies, given seven or eight centuries before Christ, God came in to chastise Israel by sending Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, to destroy Jerusalem. Since that time, Israel has not been recovered. Israel has been under Babylon, Medo-Persia, the Macedonian-Grecian Empire, and the Roman Empire, which continues to influence the entire world. For twenty-six centuries Israel has been suffering under a long, divine chastisement. Today God is using the Arab nations to chastise Israel.
This chastisement has been for the purpose that Christ would be manifested as everything, as the centrality and universality in God’s economy. This manifestation will bring in the age of restoration. Thus, God is moving, working, and managing the world affairs to fulfill His eternal economy, that is, to make Christ everything to mankind for the bringing in of the kingdom, the age of restoration.
