Minor Prophets (Preaching Christ) Flashcards
Lamentations
- Lamenting the destruction of Zion.
- God’s just wrath on the people.
- Hope in God’s steadfast love and mercy amidst destruction
- Key verse: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases… they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23)
- Ends with a petition for God to restore them and not reject them
- Written by the Prophet Jeremiah in an acrostic form
Christ: As Jerusalem is humiliated and has hope of restoration, so Christ will be humiliated and exalted. In Christ work, there is hope of steadfast love. Tears will end
Joel
- Locusts plaque of chapter 1
- Calls to repentance for all the people (chp 1&2)
- The day of the Lord as time of judgment (chp 2)
- Pouring out of the Spirit
- Restoration (Land full again)… Sweet wine
Christ: Jesus sends forth his Spirit at Pentecost, fulfilling Joel 2 and the time of blessing to come.
Amos
- Begins with judgment on the nations around Israel
2.Then turns to talk about the judgment to be done against Israel, showing they have also sinned - Social sins… Has the popular: Let justice roll down verse. Important as the people commit much social injustice
- After the destruction, the Lord will raise up David’s booth. Quoted in Acts as proof of Gentiles being part of God’s people
Christ: Christ is the one who restores the kingdom as the Booth of David. All nations come into the kingdom of God (See Acts 15)
Obadiah
- Shortest book in the OT, only 21 verses!
- Primarily directed towards Edom, who was an enemy of Israel.
- Reassurance to God’s troubled people that they will be restored
- Ends with a prophecy that God’s people will possess the lands of their enemies
Christ: Christ will come and restore his people, with his kingdom expanding in all places.
Nahum
- An Oracle of doom against Nineveh
- A sequel to Jonah in a way, as now Nineveh is judged… They are a “bloody city” (3)
- God’s rule over all the nations. All held to account
- The people to “keep their feasts,” which is a call to faith and trust in God
Christ: The people are exhorted to “keep their feasts” in 1:15, as they have the hope that the Lord restore all things
Zephaniah
- Prophecy of universal judgment on nations and on Judah
- The Day of the Lord mentioned around 18 times…
- While judged, nations will be converted (Chapter 3… A people humble and lowly, given pure speech)
- Israel will be restored. Judgments will be taken away and no need to fear (3:14-20)
Christ: Salvation comes from Christ, for the nations and for the people of Israel as he takes away judgment.
Haggai
- Written to those who returned from exile
- Addresses the indifference of the people
- Repentance and building the temple
- Zerubbabel will help rebuild.
- Looks forward to a temple of greater glory (Haggai 2)
Christ: Christ as the temple… Zerubbabel prefigures Christ in his work of building up a temple.
Zechariah
- Written to those who returned, to encourage them about Jerusalem’s future
- Eight Night visions to encourage (Horseman, Man with measuring line, Joshua the high Priest, woman in a basket….)
- 9-14 details a future time to come, many passages anticipating the Messiah
- They will “look on him whom they have pierced”
- He will come riding on a donkey
Christ: Christ suffering/humiliation and death are prophesied in chapters 9-14
Malachi
- Written during time of Ezra and Nehemiah
- Like Haggai and Zephaniah, he is speaking to a discouraged people
- The need for true worship. Wicked Priests
- Need for good marriages in 2, as they marry foreign wives and divorce their own
- The Book of Remembrance: God remembers the faithful (3:16-18)
- Prophecy about the coming of Elijah.
Christ: Malachi 4:5 prophesies about the Elijah to come, who will prepare for the Messiah. Jesus fulfills all the promises of redemption
