Now, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning in verse number 8
there where the Bible reads,
The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against
many countries and against great kingdoms of war and of evil and of pestilence.
The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass,
then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him.
Now what did Jeremiah mean by that?
He's explaining the fact that pretty much most of the prophets in the Bible prophesied
negative things because the world's a wicked place, the world's a sinful place, and so
they always had a lot to say about God's judgment and God's wrath.
Now this other preacher that he's up against in chapter 28 has a really positive feel good
message, but he's explaining to this guy, well you're more important than every preacher
I've ever heard that was a real preacher because they all talked about negative things.
You're prophesying all these peace and blessings upon a wicked people and he said, you know,
when you hear the prophet of peace in verse 9, when the word of the prophet shall come
to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him.
He said when you hear somebody prophesying a bunch of wrath and doom and gloom, you can
pretty much take it to the bank that they're probably right.
But he said when somebody's prophesying of peace, well I guess we'll wait and see if
that really happens, then we'll know he was telling the truth because it's probably not.
Now I chose to read that passage because tonight I want to preach about the minor prophets.
This morning I taught you about the major prophets, tonight I want to teach you about
the minor prophets, and I think that this scripture probably sums up the message of
the minor prophets more than any other verse I could read when he says the prophets that
have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries and
against great kingdoms of war and of evil and of pestilence, and that's pretty much
the message of the minor prophets.
Now look if you would at the table of contents of your Bible, I just want to explain this
to you briefly about the minor prophets.
Hopefully in the front of your Bible there's like a table of contents that lists all the
books of the Old Testament and the order in which they appear.
Now we talked about this morning how the Bible is not in purely chronological order but it's
broken into sections, and so we have the law of Moses, then we have the historical books,
and those all follow roughly a chronological sequence, and then we get into the books of
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon, and then when we get into the
major prophets we have Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
Hopefully you see that there in your table of contents.
Now those five books in that section of the major prophets are in chronological order.
We talked about that, how Isaiah prophesied around the time of Uzziah and so forth, and
then we talked about how Jeremiah prophesied right before they went into the Babylonian
captivity, and then Ezekiel prophesied while they were in captivity, and then Daniel prophesied
while they were in captivity and beyond the captivity.
So those five books are in chronological order.
Well when you get into the 12 books of the minor prophets, right after Daniel you see
the book of Hosea, that's the first of the minor prophets.
The 12 minor prophets are also roughly in chronological order.
So that will help you to understand where these prophets ministries fall when you realize
that they are in chronological order as well.
So if you look at the list there, the first seven on the list, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, and Nahum, those are contemporaries of the prophet Isaiah.
Those guys preached around the time that Isaiah preached.
And then if you look at the next few, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, they preached around the time
that Jeremiah preached.
And then if you look at the last three, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, they would be contemporaries
of Daniel, and especially the end of Daniel's ministry, you know, when they're basically
coming back from the captivity.
So you can see that these books are also chronological, and there's a little bit of overlap, but they're
roughly chronological.
And they cover the same period of time that Isaiah through Daniel covers.
It's just through the mouths of these different prophets.
So I just want to quickly blow through these prophets and just give you the highlights
of what they preach and what their message is.
First of all, go to Hosea 1-1.
Let's go to Hosea first of all.
These 12 books of the minor prophets that are found at the end of the Old Testament
there.
Look at Hosea 1-1.
The Bible tells us the word of the Lord, they came unto Hosea, the son of Beerai, in the
days of, and look at these kings listed, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the exact kings
listed in Isaiah 1-1.
So these are contemporaries, Isaiah and Hosea preached at the same time.
And it says those are the kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, the son of Joash,
king of Israel.
Now the reason there's only one king of Israel listed there is because Jeroboam, the son
of Joash, reigned for 41 years, so his reign spanned the reign of some of these other kings.
And so go if you would to chapter 4, I'm just going to show you basically the most famous
passages and the highlights out of these books of the minor prophets.
This is probably the most famous verse in the book of Hosea, Hosea chapter 4 verse 6.
The Bible reads, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest
to me, seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.
And so this is a key verse explaining why we need messages like we had this morning,
why we need a message like we're hearing tonight, because of the fact that we as believers
need knowledge of the word of God.
The Bible says that without knowledge we'll be destroyed.
And the Bible also says that if we reject knowledge, God will reject us.
I mean, God is not pleased when we choose to be ignorant of God's word.
He wants us to learn, and the Bible tells us in the New Testament, but grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And church is to be a place where we come to gain knowledge, to learn new things.
Now there are a lot of reasons to come to church.
There's the reason of coming to get fellowship with God's people, and that's critical.
That's important.
There's the singing of praises to God in the midst of the assembly.
That's important as well.
It's a place where we can go and be organized to go out into the highways and hedges and
to preach the gospel to every creature.
But it should also be a place where we come to gain knowledge, and that's why the preaching
from the pulpit ought to be imparting knowledge and imparting doctrine.
We need doctrine to be preached across the pulpits of America.
Now one problem that has come about, and if you would turn to Joel chapter 2, one problem
that I've noticed in my generation is that because of Bible colleges existing, which
are unscriptural institutions, there's no mention of a Bible college in the Bible.
The only time the word college is ever used involves a woman preacher.
There's no mention.
So this unscriptural institution of Bible college has replaced the local church as the
institution of learning.
And so now, if you want to learn the Bible, you have to go to Bible college.
And then the pastors feel like, well I don't need to teach the Bible, I don't need to teach
doctrine, I don't need to go deep, I don't need to explain the major prophets, I don't
need to explain the minor prophets.
Bible college will do that.
And then they send just a certain group to Bible college that goes there and is taught
by some Bible college, most of which are apostate in one way or the other.
And we've taken people out of the local church, God's institution, he didn't say upon this
rock I'll build my school, he said upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.
And so pastors now are freed up to just preach feel good sermons or encouraging sermons or
motivating sermons, but they're leaving off doctrine and letting the Bible college handle
that.
Well, now not everybody's getting the doctrine.
Only certain people are getting the doctrine.
You know, we as God's people need to all have knowledge.
We need to all know the Bible, we need to all learn the same thing, and that's why the
church ought to be a place where instruction in the word of God is given in every book
of the Bible, in every doctrine, everything that is taught in a so-called Bible college
that's biblical ought to be taught from the pulpit of local churches so that everybody
can learn it and everybody can have knowledge.
Not that there's a guy who has knowledge and then there's the layman.
Now every layman needs to have knowledge and needs to know the Bible.
You say well I'm not preaching, what do I need to know?
Well you need to know whether what I'm preaching is right.
You need to be able to judge whether what I'm preaching is right using your own knowledge.
You need to use your knowledge to teach your children.
You need to use your knowledge outsole any.
You need to use your knowledge to rule your family in accordance with God's word, man,
and so knowledge is critical.
Knowledge is key.
But look if you would at Joel.
That's a great lesson from the book of Hosea.
There's a lot more to the book of Hosea, but I'm just giving you some highlights and famous
scriptures.
Look at Joel chapter 2.
This is probably the most famous passage of Joel.
It's quoted in the New Testament.
Joel 2.28 says this, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit
upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions, and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids.
In those days will I pour out of my spirit, and I will show wonders in the heavens and
in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.
The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the
terrible day of the Lord come, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on
the name of the Lord shall be delivered.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in
the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
Go to Acts 2.
Now that's a pretty famous passage.
You saw a few highlights there that I'm sure you recognized, but let me expound this to
you from the book of Acts where this is quoted in the New Testament.
And remember Hosea is preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah, and Hosea is a contemporary
of Isaiah.
So is Joel, and Joel is also preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah, and so those
guys preached around the same time.
Look if you would at Acts chapter 2 verse 16.
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God.
Notice he expected them to know what Joel taught.
These books are books that we need to learn.
He said it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God.
I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh.
Watch this, your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions
and your old men shall dream dreams, and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour
out in those days of my spirit and they shall prophesy.
You say why is that significant, the daughters and the handmaidens?
Well if you get the context in Acts chapter 2 when Joel's prophecy is being fulfilled,
you have the 120 members of the early church, and the Bible says including the women that
were there.
Peter, James, all the apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus, and it says also they were there
with the disciples and the women were there also.
And the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon them and they began to preach
the gospel to every creature there in Acts 2, and they also spake with other tongues
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Why?
Because there were people gathered in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven.
Jesus Christ had just risen from the dead and he wanted that message to go out to the
whole world of the gospel.
And so he arranged this to take place at Pentecost where they would miraculously speak in foreign
languages that his word might go into all nations.
They could get people saved and then they would go back to their nation and bring the
gospel and bring the truth.
And that's what we see at the day of Pentecost.
But we notice that the misconception that's often taught is that Peter preached and 3,000
got saved and baptized.
That is not the case in this chapter.
The Bible is very clear that all 120 of them were preaching.
They were all speaking because obviously Peter is speaking one language, but the 120 were
all speaking different languages to all these people that were there gathered under heaven.
And when Peter preaches later in the chapter, he's preaching to the men of Judea.
He's preaching in their tongue and I believe it's either 7 or 8 times that he makes it
clear that he's speaking directly to the residents of Judea.
Whereas the rest of the group, the other 119, they're talking to people that are devout
men from every nation under heaven.
And you see, a lot of people today, they think that women do not have a place in soul winning,
but they do according to the Bible.
You see, I love the fact that at our church the ladies do soul winning also.
It's not just the men that do soul winning, but we have a lot of wonderful ladies that
do a lot of great soul winning and you know, nothing could be more biblical.
Now the Bible does teach that women should keep silence in the churches, for it is not
permitted unto them to speak.
The Bible does teach that a woman should not usurp authority over the man, but to be in
silence.
You know, when it comes to church and the house of God, we're not going to put a woman
behind the pulpit.
We don't have female leadership in church, but when it comes to preaching the Gospel
to every creature, I like what Paul said in Philippians chapter 4.
He said, I beseech Euodia and beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind of the Lord,
and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in
the Gospel with Clement also and with other of my fellow laborers whose names are in the
Book of Life.
So in Philippians 4, Paul is giving a shout out to women who labored with him in the Gospel.
Here in Acts 2, God is pouring out of his spirit upon ladies, upon handmaidens that
they might preach, that they might win souls, not behind a pulpit, not on TV with a short
haircut like Joyce Meyer, but a one-on-one preaching of the Gospel, a preaching of the
Word.
And you know, I thank God for the ladies that go door-to-door and the men that go door-to-door
preaching the Word of God to every creature, winning souls, teaching the Word of God to
their children, and teaching the Word of God to the unsaved.
You know, that's very biblical here in Joel chapter 2 and in Acts chapter 2.
And he said, I will pour out on my servants, verse 18, and on my handmaidens.
He makes a point twice to mention the ladies.
You know, and we shouldn't just pass that over, that's significant.
And for people to say that Peter is the only one preaching, well, then how is this a fulfillment
of Joel saying that it's going to be the handmaidens also that are going to prophesy with the Spirit
of God upon them?
And so the fullness of the Holy Spirit is not just for men, it's for women as well,
isn't it?
When the Bible tells us to be filled with the Spirit and that we should have the Holy
Ghost upon us, it's for both.
And of course, the famous verse, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon
into blood, verse 20, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.
And watch this, it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
Quoted also in Romans 10, isn't it?
But let me say this, those Pentecostals who are obsessed with Acts 2, 38, they need to
go back to verse 21, don't they?
Boy, they just want to park it in verse 38 all day long.
And honestly, they want to misquote it.
And here's what they say that it says.
They say it says, what must I do to be saved?
That's not what it says.
It says, men and brethren, what shall we do?
You know, there are a lot of things that we shall do.
There are a lot of thou shalts and thou shalt nots in the Bible.
You know, repent and be baptized is a command of God.
Baptism is a command.
Okay?
Church attendance is a command.
Bible reading is a command.
Bible memorization is a command.
Prayer is a command.
What must we do to be saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved.
You don't have to be baptized to be saved.
It's a false doctrine.
And we were out soul winning, wasn't it?
You and I, Brother Gabriel?
Me and Brother Gabriel were out soul winning and we walked up to a lady and we said, you
know, do you know for sure you're going to heaven?
What do you think it takes to get there?
And she said, Acts 2, 38.
And I said, what's that say?
I knew what it said, but I just asked her, I said, oh, what's that say?
And then she's like, um, and she couldn't quote it.
So that was kind of funny that she's staking her whole salvation on this one verse.
Acts 2, 38.
And she couldn't quote it.
You know, she's like, um, let's see, something about repenting and being baptized.
I don't remember the rest, you know?
And she couldn't quote it.
Well, man, if I'm staking my soul on one verse, I'm going to be able to quote it to you.
Okay?
That's not the verse I'm staking my soul on, because it's not about salvation.
That's what they should do after they're saved.
He told them what to do to be saved in verse 21.
That's why you've got to read the whole scripture in context.
You see, you call upon the name of the Lord by faith to be saved.
That's salvation.
Afterward you get baptized, afterward you repent of sins and live a good life, hopefully,
but of course none of us is ever going to, you know, attain unto the level that God expects
of us, but it's all by grace through faith.
God of works lest any man should boast.
But I think that Acts 2.21 is a great place to take people when they try to take you to
Acts 2.38.
I take them to Acts 16.31 and compare, do you see the difference between what shall
we do and what must we do to be saved?
And then I take them to Acts 2.21 and show them that, because it makes it pretty clear
that salvation is by calling upon the name of the Lord by faith.
In Romans 10.13 also, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And so on and so forth.
So great, great passage from Joel, isn't it?
Go to Amos chapter 1, Amos.
So Hosea and Joel, the first two minor prophets, we looked at some highlights.
Go to Amos chapter 1 verse 1.
The Bible says, the words of Amos, who was among the herd men of Tekoa, which he saw
concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam,
the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
So again, we see that this man is a contemporary of Isaiah, like the rest of the prophets in
this list.
That was a great time for preaching, wasn't it?
Boy, it seems like that was just a golden age of God's prophets, because you have Isaiah,
the major prophet, and then you've got seven minor prophets that preached around that time.
But notice here, this passage, this book of Amos, this is really the first book of
the prophets that we've seen that's primarily directed at the northern kingdom.
I'm going to show you that a little later.
But so far all the prophets have focused their ministry on the southern kingdom.
You say, why is that?
Because the southern kingdom was more godly.
And you say, well why would God send more prophets to the more godly place?
Because the Bible says unto whom, what does the Bible say?
Much is given, much shall be required.
That's true too, okay?
That's what I started to quote, but that's not what I meant to quote.
He says, unto him that hath, more shall be given, and he shall have abundance, right?
But from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that he hath, or even that which
he seemeth to have.
And so Jesus preached that, you know, hey, take the talent away from him that has one
talent and give it to the one that has ten talents.
Because unto him that hath, more shall be given and he shall have abundance.
You see, God is more interested in preaching the truth to his people.
And so the more truth they respond to, the more prophets he's going to send them.
You know, people that are just ignoring and rejecting God's word, he's not going to send
them as many prophets.
You know, he'll send Amos, he'll send somebody to give him the truth, but he's going to send
more to the people that are more receptive.
And honestly, there's a philosophy in the Bible that tells us that, you know, we should
preach the most to the ones that are the most receptive.
Let me say this, if we look at a map of our city, which areas are more receptive to the
Gospel?
The poor areas or the rich areas?
So where are we going to spend most of our time soul winning?
Yeah, and you say, well that's not biblical, it sure is biblical.
Because God said if you go to a town and they won't receive your word, just shake the dust
off your feet and go to the next town.
You know, God sends more prophets and more preaching and more of his word to the people
who want to hear it, to the people who are receptive to hearing it.
You know, when the Jews stopped listening to God's word, he said, we'll take it to the
Gentiles.
They will hear.
Let's preach it to them.
And so I believe in preaching the Gospel to every creature.
That's why our map in the back there, our goal is to shade in every inch of it and to
preach the Gospel to every person in Maricopa County, four million people strong.
Our goal is to knock every door with the Gospel and by God's grace, and if we're allowed to
continue here and run our course as a church, we will get it done, my friend.
That's our goal, but wait a minute, you know what areas we do twice and three times?
The receptive areas.
Areas that are receptive, the town of Guadalupe was very receptive, that's why we've knocked
every door three times in the town of Guadalupe, because it was receptive and that's a biblical
concept.
Here's some famous verses from Amos.
Remember Amos is preaching to the northern kingdom primarily.
He's preaching to the house of Joseph.
He's preaching to the ten tribes.
He's preaching to Samaria.
Look at Amos 3.3, here's a very famous verse from Amos.
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
Now I love that verse.
It says so much in just one little verse there.
Can two walk together except they be agreed?
Great verse on separation.
Go to Amos 5, another famous verse from Amos.
Amos 5 verse 15.
One time I spoke to a Christian who'd been saved for decades and reading the Bible for
decades, or not reading the Bible as much as they should have obviously, but been in
church for decades, and I said something about Amos and they said there is no book in the
Bible called Amos.
And I said yes there is a book in the Bible called Amos, and this person did not believe
me until I pulled out the Bible and showed them that there was a book called Amos.
So this book doesn't get as much action as it ought to, it's a great book.
But look at Amos 5.15, here's a verse that I like.
It says, Hate the evil and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate.
It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
There's so much great doctrine packed into this one verse.
But this verse has a parallel in the New Testament.
Let me read for you Romans 12.9 as you look down at Amos 5.15, Romans 12.9 says this,
Let love be without dissimulation, abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good.
So you see how in both Old Testament and New Testament God is telling us to hate or abhor
that which is evil, and to love or to cling to that which is good.
And I love the next phrase, it may be, may be, that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious
unto the remnant of Joseph.
You know, God is not up in heaven deciding our fate.
God gives us the choice.
I don't believe in Calvinism.
And basically if we do what we're supposed to do, that has an impact on God's decisions.
That's why there's a maybe here.
And I love the maybes of the Bible.
Go to chapter 7 and let me show you some more emphasis in the book of Amos that Amos is
preaching to the northern kingdom of Israel.
Because in chapter 7 they try to tell him to go to the southern kingdom.
You know where all these other prophets are preaching.
Down in the southern kingdom where Isaiah and Hosea and Joel and Obadiah and all these
guys are down there, they're telling him, man you need to go down there where all your
buddies are.
Look at chapter 7 verse 10, Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel, and by the way, Amaziah
the priest of Bethel is a false prophet and apostate preacher who is worshiping a golden
calf if you study the Bible.
He's the priest of Bethel.
He's sent to Jeroboam king of Israel saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst
of the house of Israel.
The land is not able to bear all his words, for thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by
the sword and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land.
So Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah.
See how he's telling him to go to that southern kingdom?
He said, flee into the land of Judah and there eat bread and prophesy there.
But prophesy not again any more at Bethel, for it is the king's chapel and it is the
king's court.
Then answered Amos and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's
son, but I was an herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit.
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said unto me, go, prophesy unto
my people Israel.
Now therefore hear thou the word of the Lord.
Thou sayest, prophesy not against Israel.
That's that northern kingdom of Israel versus Judah.
He says, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac.
Therefore thus saith the Lord, okay I'm sorry I'll back down.
That's not what he said.
Listen to what Amos' answer is to this phony preacher Amaziah.
Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the
sword and thy land shall be divided by line and thou shall die in a polluted land and
Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
And that's exactly what happened.
Go to the next book, Obadiah.
These minor prophets are fascinating books, aren't they?
Go to Obadiah.
Obadiah is a very short book.
It's the shortest book in the Old Testament, just one chapter long, and the Bible reads
in verse one the vision of Obadiah.
Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom.
Now what's Edom another name for?
Esau, right?
Edom is the name of the nation that is descended from Esau.
And it says, we have heard a rumor from the Lord and an ambassador is sent among the heathen.
Arise ye and let us rise up against her in battle.
Behold I have made thee small among the heathen.
Look at the next phrase, thou are greatly despised.
Now remember, this is the same group of people about which God will later say in the book
of Malachi, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated.
If you read Malachi chapter one, it's very clear when he says I hated Esau, he's not
talking about the man Esau.
He's talking about the nation of Esau, the Edomites, his children that God hated.
And here we see that the people of Edom are despised.
It fits in perfectly with Malachi 1 and Romans 9.
It says, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee.
Thou that dwelleth in the cleft of the rock, whose habitation is high, because remember
they dwell in Mount Seir, they have a mountainous region, that saith in his heart, who shall
bring me down to the ground?
Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.
Go to Jonah.
So that's a book that just basically, the whole chapter is just preaching against Edom.
Preaching about God's wrath and God's destruction that's going to come upon the nation of Edom.
Now Jonah is a very famous book, right?
This is probably the most famous book of the Minor Prophets.
Now he was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom as well, but he preached against Nineveh.
Now Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, and Assyria are the ones who are eventually
going to invade the Northern Kingdom of Israel and destroy it, and take the Israelites captive,
the ten tribes, and intermingle them with the heathen and pretty much decimate that
whole area and turn it into the land of Samaria and the land of the Samaritans in the New
Testament, which was basically a group of people that were half Israelite, half mixed
from the ten tribes, and half mixed from all the heathen around them, and they pretty much
lost their identity as being Hebrews because they got so mixed in with the heathen around
them.
Now in order to figure out the chronological placement of the book of Jonah, go to 2 Kings
14.
Keep your finger in Jonah.
Go to 2 Kings 14 because Jonah is actually mentioned in 2 Kings 14, so we can get a feel
for where he fits in the chronology, other than the fact that of course the Minor Prophets
are roughly in chronological order, so we can kind of see where he fits, but we can
prove that by cross-referencing it with 2 Kings 14.
Look at 2 Kings 14 verse 25.
The Bible reads, he restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath under the
sea of the plain, talking about the northern kingdom, according to the word of the Lord
God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah.
You say, well I don't know if it's the same Jonah, but look at the next phrase, the son
of Amittai.
So it is the same Jonah, because Jonah 1 says, now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the
son of Amittai, saying.
So this is the same guy, the prophet which was of Gath-Hephir.
And then if you read the next several verses, it explains that this is in the days of Jeroboam
the son of Joash, proving that Jonah is a contemporary of Isaiah, Hosea, and all the
rest of them.
Go back if you would to the book of Jonah now.
So that's where we can place Jonah in the history of the nation of Israel and see that
besides the events that we see in the book of Jonah, Jonah did other preaching also and
he preached God's word, he had a ministry in the northern kingdom, and the prophecies
which he preached came to pass.
And so he was a great man of God.
So we don't want to get the wrong idea about Jonah that he was just completely backslidden
and disobedient all the time, just because that's where we find him in the book of Jonah.
Previously he was doing a lot of great preaching and serving God.
In Jonah, I'm not even going to spend time on the book of Jonah just because we probably
all know the story and it's another sermon of itself, but of course he preaches to Nineveh,
he gets swallowed by a whale, there's the great prayer of Jonah, chapter 2 is my favorite
chapter, and then in chapter 3 he comes back, preaches, they all repent in sackcloth and
ashes and so on and so forth.
Go to the next book, Micah, but the book of Jonah is probably the easiest to read book
in the Minor Prophets, most famous, easy to read, definitely a good starting point.
Look at Micah.
Micah says in chapter 1, the word of the Lord that came to Micah the Merastite in the days
of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, same three of the kings that were mentioned in Isaiah
1-1, kings of Judah, which he saw, watch this, concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
So Micah is a prophet that's preaching in both kingdoms.
He's got a lot to say to the northern kingdom and also a lot to say to the southern kingdom.
The capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel, what's that capital city?
Samaria, right?
Does anybody remember who founded that city?
Omri, yeah.
Omri, when he took the kingdom, he started a brand new dynasty and he moved the capital
city to Samaria and his son Ahab kept it there and from there on out the northern kingdom
is based in the city of Samaria and of course the southern kingdom of Judah had the capital
of Jerusalem.
Those are the two cities.
Here's the most famous verse in Micah, go to chapter 5 verse 2.
This is the most famous verse in the book of Micah.
There's a great prophecy about the Lord Jesus Christ in Micah 5 verse 2 and the Bible reads,
But thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have
been from of old from everlasting.
Now that's a really interesting statement there, from everlasting.
Now this has changed in the modern Bibles, I'm going to hand Brother Garrett the non-inspired
version here, the NIV, the no inspired verses version, that's what that stands for.
He's going to look up Micah 5 2 in the non-inspired version, but this gives us the birthplace
of Christ, Bethlehem.
And the people of Jesus' day, they knew this scripture.
Because if you remember, everybody thought that Jesus was from where?
Where did they think he was born?
Nazareth, right?
They all thought he was from Nazareth because that's where he grew up.
But if you remember, Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem because of the fact that Joseph
and Mary, even though they did not live in Bethlehem, they traveled there to be taxed
because everybody had to go to the city of their fathers to be taxed because there was
a great census and a great taxing of the whole world that took place.
So God used, God even used taxes, the wickedness of it.
He used that, you know, to fulfill his purpose because it brought him to Bethlehem.
And then when they got to Bethlehem, of course, she gave birth, there was no room in the inn,
so she gave birth and laid Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem.
Well then, Herod, he went out to try to kill all the children from two years old and under.
And so remember, Joseph and Mary had to flee into Egypt and they took baby Jesus down to
Egypt and they were there until the death of Herod down in Egypt.
When Herod died, they came back into the land of Judea and when they got back, they
came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth.
So that's where Jesus grew up in Nazareth and because Jesus grew up in Nazareth, everybody
thought he's a Nazarene, you know, he's from Nazareth.
Well, they brought that out when Jesus is preaching and a lot of people are saying he's
the Messiah in the book of John.
And they said, wait a minute, the Messiah doesn't come out of Nazareth.
This doesn't make sense.
So a lot of times we are confused on things, we don't understand things, we think there's
a contradiction in the Bible, it's a lack of knowledge on our part.
They thought there was a contradiction in the Word of God because they were confused
about Jesus' birthplace.
Turned out he wasn't even from Nazareth because they said, you know, search the Scriptures,
no prophet comes out of Nazareth.
And they're rebuking everybody, this isn't the Christ, he's got to come from Bethlehem.
He was from Bethlehem, they didn't know that.
Read Micah 5, 2 from the non-inspired version.
You look down at your KJV as Brother Garrett reads.
But you Bethlehem of Fratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you
will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel whose origins are from of old from
ancient times.
Now here's the difference, did you notice that?
His origins are from old from ancient times.
Now look, did Jesus have an origin?
Jesus did not have an origin, Jesus did not have a beginning, Jesus is the beginning.
He said, I am the beginning and the ending.
I am the Alpha and Omega, I am the first and last.
He didn't have a beginning, he didn't have an origin.
And notice, instead of from everlasting, it's just from ancient times, you know, just from
a long time ago is when he originated.
That is false doctrine.
This NIV is filled with lies.
You say, why do you always turn to that?
Because as sure as I'm standing here, somebody who's in this room someday is going to go
to some church that preaches out of the NIV or the New King James and they're going to
say, oh it's not that big of a deal.
Well you know what, you have no excuse if you've gone to this church for any length
of time because I keep showing you over and over again that it is a big deal.
It's not just easier to understand, it's corrupting key biblical doctrines about the pre-eternal
pre-existence of Jesus.
He always existed.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
And when he says beginning, he's talking about the beginning.
And he was already there in the beginning with God and he was God.
And so that's a very key doctrine from the book of Micah chapter 5 verse 2.
Go to Nahum.
Nahum, we're just blowing through these here for sake of time, just giving you the highlights.
Hopefully this will prompt you to do more reading.
Look at Nahum.
Now Nahum is kind of similar to Jonah in the sense that they both preached against Nineveh.
Jonah preached against Nineveh and Nahum preached against Nineveh.
Those are the two prophets.
Now when Jonah preached, they repented, right?
When Nahum preached, they didn't repent.
They got destroyed.
They got defeated.
And so look at verse number 1 of Nahum, I'll show you some highlights.
The burden of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elchoshite, God is jealous and
the Lord revengeth.
The Lord revengeth and is furious.
The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
Now that's a powerful verse, but look at verse 3.
The Lord is slow to anger.
See God, when he gets mad, he gets really mad.
He gets furious, he's filled with wrath, he's filled with indignation, his fire of his anger
burns to the lowest hell, Deuteronomy 32, but he's slow to anger.
He's long suffering.
He's patient.
And a lot of times people misunderstand God's patience for weakness, or for tolerance, or
they think it's his approval.
You know, they get by with sin, they get by with sin, they get by with sin, and they think
oh, God doesn't care, he's okay with this, he's not going to do anything.
But you know what?
It's just that he's patient and slow to anger, but man, he's like a time bomb waiting to
go off.
Tick, tick, tick, just slow to anger, slow to anger, but man, when you push him over
the edge, look out, he revenges, he's furious, he's filled with wrath.
And so he's slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked.
The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of
his feet.
And so Nahum is explaining to the Ninevites, just because you're not being judged right
now, you better realize that God's very mad and that eventually he's going to blow up
and he's going to destroy you.
You know, he's patient, but he's not that patient.
Eventually he pours out his wrath.
Go to verse 15, here's another famous verse from Nahum.
Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace.
O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows, for the wicked shall no more pass through
thee, he is utterly cut off.
Now this is a famous passage about the feet of him that bringeth good tidings.
Similar scripture is found in Isaiah 52, you don't have to turn there, but it says how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth
peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto
Zion, Thy God reigneth.
And so the Bible talks about the beautiful feet of them that preach the gospel.
Romans chapter 10 quotes this when God says, how shall they preach except they be sent?
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet?
As it is written, he said, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things.
So notice, gospel in the New Testament is quoted as glad tidings in the Old Testament.
Did you get that?
So we can get the definition of the word gospel, can't we?
Glad tidings.
Glad tidings in our modern vernacular would be good news.
Glad tidings, good news.
And he said the feet are beautiful.
That's why when he gave the armor of God in Ephesians 6 he said, have your feet shod with
the preparation of the gospel of peace.
You say, why is preaching the gospel always associated with the feet?
Wouldn't it be the mouth?
But wait a minute, we go preach the gospel.
See a lot of people, they want to use their mouth to preach the gospel, but they want
the unsaved to come to them, don't they?
They want to wait until they show up at church and wait until they come and fall on their
knees before you and say, what must I do to be saved?
And they want to wait until the unbeliever comes to you, but the command with God is
always to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may
be filled.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, and we need to
take the gospel and shine the glorious light of the gospel to them.
We can't expect the city of Baghdad to come here.
We took the gospel to Baghdad.
We can't expect the residents of Tempe to stumble through the doors of our church.
We're going to take the gospel to them.
We've got to bring it to them.
And it involves your feet, my friend.
The gospel is always associated with your feet because it's about soul winning.
It's about getting out there and doing some walking, doing some urban hiking, so to speak,
and getting some soul winning done.
Look at the next book, Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is speaking to the southern kingdom.
Now so far we just blew through seven prophets, and those seven prophets that we blew through
were pretty much all preaching around the same time, roughly, as Isaiah, around that
period.
Maybe Nahum, more on the tail end of that if anything, but still around that same time.
Now the rest of the prophets are all going to be dealing with the southern kingdom for
the simple reason that the northern kingdom has pretty much been destroyed by the time
we get to Habakkuk's ministry.
There pretty much is no southern kingdom.
They've been pretty much destroyed by the Assyrians, permanently destroyed.
Look at Habakkuk 1.6.
This will give you a little bit of a feel for the timing of Habakkuk and what he's prophesying.
He says in verse 6, for lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation which
shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not
theirs.
So what is Habakkuk's main message here?
He's prophesying the Babylonian or Chaldean invasion of Judah.
That's the exact message that Jeremiah preached.
So we're into a contemporary of Jeremiah now, preaching about the Babylonians coming and
invading Judah.
Turn to chapter 2.
But to give you a whole overview of the book of Habakkuk in general, Habakkuk first starts
out by explaining how the Babylonians are going to come and destroy Judah.
Well when Habakkuk hears this message from the Lord, he's a little bit confused by it
because he doesn't understand, even though he knows his nation is sinful, even though
he knows his nation is wicked, he doesn't understand why God would allow the Babylonians
to defeat Judah when the Babylonians are more wicked than Judah.
He's saying why are you using a nation that's even more ungodly than us to invade us and
to punish us?
They're worse than we are.
I know we're bad, but they're worse.
And then God basically explains to Habakkuk, well I'm going to judge them too.
First I'm going to use them to judge you, then I'm going to turn around and judge them.
And so what we can learn from Habakkuk, and then in chapter 3 of course is just Habakkuk's
prayer of praise to God.
But let me say this, we can learn from this in our generation.
We can understand that even though the United States has been a nation in the past that
honored God's word and preached God's word, now that we've forsaken God's word as a nation,
now that we've shed innocent blood to the tune of 40 some million abortions, let alone
all the other innocent blood that's been shed by our nation, when we look at the sins of
sodomy and witchcraft and sorcery that are going on in our nation today, we can realize
that God may use a nation that might even be more ungodly than us to judge us, like
He did with the Babylonians, like He did with the Assyrians.
And so Habakkuk is a very applicable book to us today.
Here are the most famous scriptures from Habakkuk.
Verse 4 of chapter 2 is probably the most famous scripture in Habakkuk, quoted three
times in the New Testament.
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by
his faith.
And three times in the New Testament the Bible says the just shall live by faith.
The just shall live by faith.
The just shall live by faith in reference to salvation.
Now here's what's interesting.
What's the opposite in verse 4 of Habakkuk 2?
That's why I love to take these New Testament quotes and trace them back to their Old Testament
origins.
You can learn more.
What's the opposite of living by faith?
What's the opposite of it in that first half of the verse?
Look at Habakkuk 2.4.
Yeah, pride, isn't it?
Being lifted up.
So what is it that keeps people from putting their faith in Jesus to save them?
Pride.
Being lifted up.
People that are trusting works for salvation are lifted up, aren't they?
I'm going to heaven because I do this and I'm so good and I quit doing this and I quit
doing that and I planned on quitting to do this and that and I'm willing to quit doing
this and that and I go to church and I've been baptized and I fast twice in the week
and I give tithes of all that I possess and that is not salvation.
Salvation is that publican who would not even lift up his eyes to heaven and beat upon his
breast and say, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
There's no pride there.
Just a realization.
I'm a sinner.
I deserve hell.
Please save me by your grace.
That is what salvation is.
It's humility.
And the meek, my friend, are the ones who will be saved.
The prideful, they have too much pride.
They want to pay their own way.
They want to earn it themselves.
Well guess what?
You can't earn it.
It's free.
And so this is a great scripture to help you understand the problem with those who don't
live by faith.
They're lifted up.
They're prideful.
The opposite of faith for salvation is works, which is pride, which is arrogance.
God hates pride.
He hates arrogance.
He hates the haughty spirit.
He wants a lowly, humble spirit.
And so this is a great scripture on that.
Here's the other most famous verse in Habakkuk, chapter 2 verse 15.
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that put his thy bottle to him and makest
him drunk and also that thou mayest look on their nakedness.
Now it's really a sad thing that this scripture, let me tell you something, I've heard this
scripture preached at least a hundred times in my life.
Have you heard it a lot?
Raise your hand if you've heard this scripture preached a lot.
When I was growing up, I grew up in independent Baptist churches, and when you're in an independent
fundamental Baptist church, this verse is getting preached a lot.
But they never read the whole verse.
In my entire life, I don't know if I ever heard them read the whole verse.
They would just always just quote the part, they would just throw out their woe unto him
that giveth his neighbor drink, and then just keep preaching.
I mean I must have heard that a hundred times, and when you put the verse in its context,
it's so much worse.
I mean they missed out, my friend, on an opportunity to really preach a powerful message by just
taking that one little phrase instead of turning to the chapter.
You know, I know it's hard to find the book of Habakkuk, but man have people in the pew
turn there and look at it, because look what it says when you actually look at it.
Woe unto him, is that male or female?
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, male or female, that putteth thy bottle to
him, male or female, and maketh him drunken also, male or female, that thou mayest look
on their nakedness.
So is that, that's a man getting another man drunk to look on his nakedness.
Disgusting, filthy, perverted.
Now look, if they wanted to preach against alcohol, they missed out on one of the best
warnings about alcohol, they could have said, if you drink, some faggot is going to molest
you.
Some faggot is going to look on your nakedness.
And you know, you wonder why the sodomites have taken over, I'll tell you why.
A lack of preaching, what I just preached.
Amen.
You're going to offend people.
Good.
Get out if you, look, if you're offended by the word faggot, I don't know what, I don't
know, are you, do you have a soft spot for these homos or what?
You know, and look, I'm sick of it.
I don't have a soft spot for reprobates, for predators, for a man that will get another
man drunk that he might molest and sodomize him.
I'm sorry, I have no soft spot for that, I have no tolerance for that, I will not soften
the message, I will not call them gay.
Gay means happy, gay means cheerful, I will use a word that properly describes what I'm
talking about.
Queer, sodomite, vile, reprobate, pervert, predator.
And look, we haven't had that preaching in the last few decades, that's why they're all
out of the closet.
That's why they're all over TV.
That's why they're all over your music shelf.
That's why they're all filling churches.
That's why they're all over parading up and down the streets because the prophets of God
have not preached this message.
They're too busy preaching against alcohol by quoting the verse out of context.
You know, yeah, preach against alcohol, amen and amen.
And explain what alcohol is really about.
You know the first mention of alcohol in the Bible?
Is a man looking on another man's nakedness?
Correct me if I'm wrong, Genesis 9.
The first time that alcohol is mentioned in the Bible, a man's looking on another man's
nakedness.
But when do you hear that preached?
Never.
You never hear it.
You hear him preach against alcohol, but you hear him go soft on the Sodomites.
You hear him back off on the queers and the homos and give them a pass and say, oh just
love them.
I heard an independent fundamental Baptist recently say, or a few years ago, out of the
mouth of two witnesses, he said from the pulpit, I have nothing against homosexuals.
We should treat them like everyone else, but we just shouldn't allow them to get married.
Where's that in the Bible?
Where's any of that in the Bible?
There's no mention of marriage or not marriage or treat them the same.
The Bible says stone them with stones.
And I'm not saying we should do that because obviously we live under the laws of our land
and that's not our job to take that into our own hands, but that is what the Bible says
was the punishment back then when God was running the show.
When God was running the nation of Israel, that's how he handled them.
And by the way, in the millennial kingdom, he'll handle them the same way.
Let me tell you something.
If you don't believe that, you don't understand the millennial kingdom.
He's going to rule with a rod of iron and he's going to institute all of his rules.
And it's not going to be your little Republican, neo-con, you know, little Christian, evangelical
rules.
It's going to be God's rules, not your little softened up version.
It's going to be the iron rod that he prophesied.
And so go to Zephaniah, go to Zephaniah chapter 1.
You know what?
You say, I can't believe you just preached that.
You know what?
The brainwashing is working really well on you then.
You must have five TVs in your house.
That thing must never get a break in your house.
That thing must be on all the time for you to actually be offended.
You're not offended by filth.
You're not offended by their parades.
You're not offended by the school curriculum teaching it.
You're not offended by five year olds learning it in California.
You're not offended by them walking up and down the streets.
You're not offended by them on every TV program and you turn on your CNN to get your news
and that sodomite Anderson Cooper, an open queer, Anderson Cooper is giving you your
news and you trust him to be fair and balanced and to, I don't know what is it he says, he's
going to keep him honest.
You're going to keep him honest?
You can't even figure out the difference between a boy and a girl, you queer.
And it's like, I'm going to get my news from Anderson Cooper, then I'm going to get in
the car and turn on my Elton John, then I'm going to watch my sitcoms of all the homos.
That's the problem today in America.
God's people are being brainwashed by the world.
Put away TV Guide, put away the magazines, put away the worldly music and get out the
Book of Nahum my friend, dust it off, wipe the dust from the Bible and read Habakkuk
and get the truth today my friend and don't let the world brainwash you.
Zephaniah, the southern kingdom, another preacher, look at verse 1 of chapter 1.
The word of the Lord, which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushai, the son of Gedaliah, the
son of Amoriah, the son of Hizkiah, watch this, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon,
king of Judah.
So again, we're a contemporary of Jeremiah the prophet because we're in the days of Josiah
who was one of the very last kings of Judah, right?
Right before they were invaded by the Babylonians.
I'm going to skip it for sake of time, but verses 14 through 18 are probably the most
significant passage when he talks about the day of the Lord.
You know, a great tie in with end times Bible prophecy is Zephaniah 1, 14 through 18.
Go to Haggai and let's finish up with these last few prophets.
Now placing Haggai and Zechariah in the timeline is very easy because they're mentioned in
the book of Ezra.
The Bible says in Ezra chapter 5 verse 1, then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and
Zechariah the son of Ito, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and in Jerusalem
in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.
And the Bible says in chapter 6 verse 14, and the elders of the Jews builded and they
prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Ito.
And they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and
according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.
So there in Ezra the Bible is telling us that the people greatly prospered and thrived
under the preaching of Haggai and Zechariah, these men of God.
Haggai 1, 1 says, in the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first
day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel, the
son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jazadek, the high priest
sang.
And so we can again see that this is the time when Joshua the son of Jazadek is high priest
and when Zerubbabel is the governor of Judah.
Let's jump forward to the book of Zechariah because I've only got a little time and I
want to talk a little bit about Zechariah.
So Haggai and Zechariah are both preaching at the same time, they're preaching in Jerusalem,
they're strengthening the Jews as they rebuild the temple, rebuild the wall of the city,
and so forth.
And it says in Zechariah 1, 1, in the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came
the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the son of Barachiah, the son of Ito the prophet
sang.
And so we get the timeline there of the king of Darius which we see in the book of Daniel.
Here are a couple of key prophecies from Zechariah.
Go to chapter 11 verse 12.
Zechariah 11 verse 12, the Bible reads, And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me
my price, and if not, forbear.
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
Remember we talked about this this morning?
And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, a goodly price that I was prized at
of them.
And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the
Lord.
This is a great scripture on the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because notice, who was it that was sold in the New Testament for thirty pieces of silver?
Jesus.
And who here is saying that he was priced at thirty pieces of silver?
The Lord.
See that?
Zechariah, capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. Go to chapter 12 verse 10, we'll
see another great prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Zechariah 12 says, I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem
the spirit of grace and of supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced.
And they shall mourn for him, now notice the dichotomy there.
They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth
for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn.
So again, another prophecy about Jesus being pierced.
In John 19, you don't have to turn there, but the Bible says one of the soldiers with
a spear pierced his side and forthwith, meaning immediately, came there out blood and water.
And he that saw it bear record and his record is true and he knoweth that he saith true
that you might believe.
For these things were done that the scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not
be broken.
And again, another scripture saith, they shall look on him whom they have pierced.
Go to Malachi, and while you're turning to Malachi, let me give you another scripture
that quotes from or alludes to Zechariah 12.
Revelation 1 says, behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also
which pierced him.
Remember he says they'll look on him whom they pierced?
They also which pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, even
so amen.
Now Malachi, the last of the 12 Minor Prophets, you say where does Malachi fit into the timeline?
Well, first of all, if we look at all the other books of the Minor Prophets and see
that they're coming in pretty much a chronological order, it wouldn't really make a lot of sense
to say well Malachi is just completely out of order.
He preached way earlier.
But not only that, because he doesn't specifically tell us when he preached, but I think there's
a really strong clue to prove that Malachi is in the correct order here.
When you look at verse 8, when the Bible says, and if you offer the blind for sacrifice,
is it not evil?
This is Malachi 1.8, and if you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?
Offer it now unto who?
Thy governor.
Will he be pleased with thee, or except thy person, saith the Lord of hosts?
So you have to ask yourself this question.
When did the children of Judah have a governor?
Basically when they came back from the captivity, in the days of Zechariah and Haggai, and in
the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, they had a governor.
What was that governor's name?
Zerubbabel, right?
And so that puts this in that timeline of when they were under a governor, whether it
was Nehemiah the governor, Zerubbabel the governor, and so on and so forth.
So there they are in that time period, and also I was going to preach about chapter 2
verse 3, I was going to preach about Malachi 3, 1 through 3.
Malachi 3.1 is a great prophecy of John the Baptist.
And then of course Malachi 3.8 through 12 is the famous passage on tithes and offerings.
Will a man rob God?
Yet ye've robbed me, but ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee?
For you've robbed me of tithes and offerings, you're cursed with a curse, for you've robbed
me of this whole nation.
But look at Malachi 4 verse 5, I'll close with this.
Malachi chapter 4 verse 5, and this is a great way to end the Old Testament.
He already prophesied the coming of John the Baptist in chapter 3 verse 1 when he said,
Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me.
Talking about who?
John the Baptist in Mark 1, 2, Malachi 3, 1 is quoted saying that John the Baptist was
that messenger.
Well look at the last verses of the Old Testament, these are the final verses of the Old Testament.
Verse 5, Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the Lord.
And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children
to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Now you say, what is he referring to there when he says he'll send Elijah the prophet
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord?
Well if you remember, the disciples asked Jesus that exact question.
You remember that?
They'd learned Malachi, they'd heard this prophecy, because they heard it from the scribes
and they said to Jesus, why say the scribes that Elijah must first come?
Or they call him Elias in the New Testament.
Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
And Jesus said, you know, Elias must truly first come.
He said basically the scribes are right about that.
But I say unto you that Elias has come already, and they have done unto him whatsoever they
listed.
He said, then understood they that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
So John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah.
Now there's a question that some people ask, you know, was John the Baptist literally Elijah?
Or was John the Baptist just in the spirit of Elijah?
You know, you probably heard that question asked, because if you remember, Elijah didn't
really die.
Elijah was caught up to heaven in the fiery chariot when Elisha looked on.
So some have said, you know, John the Baptist, was Elijah literally come back?
You know, I don't want to use the word reincarnation, because we're not Buddhists and Hindus, but
you know what I mean, that basically he was come back.
Now, let me give you some evidence for this, because first of all, John the Baptist was
filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb.
You know, that right there is an indication that he could have been.
And Jesus did say that he was Elijah.
You know, this is Elijah, and so forth.
Now you say, well that's weird, I don't know if I believe that, that's strange.
Now some people have pointed, now here's the evidence on the other side.
So the evidence that says he really was Elijah is the fact that Jesus said he was Elijah,
and the fact that he was filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb.
He resembled Elijah in the sense that he was a rough kind of a character out in the wilderness
like Elijah was.
Now the evidence on the other side is that in John chapter 1, they come to John the Baptist
and ask him, who art thou, and they say, art thou Elias, and he saith, I am not.
But just because he said he wasn't Elias, that does not necessarily mean that he was
not Elias, because maybe he just didn't know that he was Elias, do you understand?
So when they ask him, are you Elijah, he says no.
But Jesus said, this is Elias which is for to come.
So I think both viewpoints are legitimate, I'm not going to really come down real hard
on either side of this, because honestly, I can see the point of people saying, well,
he came in the spirit of Elijah, because Jesus did say that also, that he came in the spirit
of Elijah, and also said that he was Elijah, and also he said he wasn't Elijah.
So there is evidence on both sides, but the fact that he didn't die in the Old Testament,
it's interesting, you know, that he'd be filled with the Holy Ghost, if I had to guess,
I would lean toward the fact that he really was literally the same person as Elijah.
That would be my guess.
But again, I'm not dogmatic about that, I don't know that for sure, because I think
that you'd have to search the Scriptures and make your own decision on that.
But interesting, but all that aside, chapter 4 verse 5 is a prophecy of John the Baptist
according to Jesus.
So the last thing that we end with in the Old Testament is a prophecy of the coming
of John the Baptist.
He shows up a few chapters later, Matthew chapter 3, there he is, and it's all fulfilled.
But I hope that tonight's message helped you, I hope that this morning's message helped
you, just to put a whole perspective on the events of the Old Testament, and really to
understand these 17 books.
You've got your work ahead of you, don't you?
Because your homework assignment is to go home and read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, it's going to take you a long time, because especially those major prophets are
pretty long.
But man, we need to get back to a generation of people who know the Word of God, who are
not going to be fooled by the cunning craftiness and slight of men whereby they lie in wait
to deceive you.
And you know why you're going to be deceived?
Because you don't have knowledge.
If you will study, if you will learn, if you will read these books and understand them,
even the dark sayings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and so forth, you will not be deceived
my friend.
You will be rooted and grounded, you will be steadfast and unmovable.
We need to be people who read the Bible, not just the so-called fun parts of the Bible,
read the whole Bible.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your Word, we thank you for the minor prophets, Lord,
so many great truths we can learn.
So many unsearchable riches found therein.
Please help us to study and read and to glean what we can from these books.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.