"A Man of God" -- 1 Kings 17:1-24

An Introduction to the Minor Prophets (4)

He appears on the scene unexpectedly, possessing the miraculous ability to close or open the heavens so as to bring drought or abundant rain.  We know very little about his background and origins, but he is best known for his confrontation with prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  He comes as a new Moses who raises the dead.  He confronts the apostate king of Israel, Ahab, and his Baal worshiping wife, Jezebel.  He is taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and the last two verses in the Old Testament (Malachi 4:5-6) speak of his re-appearance as the sign of the dawn of the messianic age and the coming of Jesus.  He appears with Moses and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration and is mentioned frequently in the New Testament as the forerunner of the Messiah.  He is truly a remarkable man.  I am speaking, of course, of the prophet Elijah.

We will continue to establish background for our series on the Minor Prophets, as we take up the account of Elijah, one of the so-called “non-writing” prophets sent to Israel (the Northern Kingdom).  Elijah’s ministry is recounted in 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2.  He appears during the reign of Israel’s sixth king (Omri), who took the throne about 885 B.C., approximately 50 years (a full generation) after Israel’s civil war with Judah (our subject last time).  His name means “YHWH is my God,” which is fitting since his ministry to Israel centers around his prophetic call for the people of Israel to renounce the Canaanite fertility and weather god, Baal, and return to the proper worship of YHWH the Creator of all things and the Redeemer of his people.  Along with Enoch–the man who walked with God (Genesis 5:21-24)–Elijah was taken up into heaven without dying, pointing ahead to the ascension of Jesus and the catching up of believers on the day of Christ’s second advent.

Before we survey the life and ministry of Elijah, it would helpful to briefly survey the three points of background we have established so far in our series on the Minor Prophets.  First, what roles do God’s prophets play in redemptive history?  Recall that Moses is the preeminent Old Testament prophet and is the model for all those prophets who follow him, except that YHWH speaks to all other prophets in dreams and visions, but he speaks to Moses as a man to a friend.  God’s prophets are preachers of God’s words given them by YHWH.  They are not primarily predictors of the future–although they do address things about to happen in Israel while at the same time predicting a messianic age far off in the distant future.  These prophets function as God’s process-servers, announcing to Israel that the verdict of the heavenly court is in–the curses threatened in God’s covenant with Israel established through the giving of the law at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20) and renewed with Israel before the people entered the promised land (Deuteronomy 28-34)–are about fall on God’s disobedient people.  These prophets have the difficult task of declaring that God’s long-suffering patience with his disobedient people has come to an end.
 
Second, the words YHWH gives to his prophets echo the words of blessing and curse Moses spoke to Israel on the plains of Moab nearly seven hundred years earlier.  The Sinai covenant is administered as part of God’s gracious covenant (promised to Adam and established with Abraham).  But the ten commandments reflect the blessing/curse principle of God’s covenant of works originally made with Adam in Eden.  If YHWH’s people obey the terms of God’s covenant, he will bless them above all other nations.  Should they forsake the true and living God, ignore his commandments, and serve the gods of the Canaanites (Baal), then the threatened covenant curses will be dispensed from the heavenly court.

Third, those prophets whom God sent to Israel appear after the civil war which divided the united kingdom of David and Solomon into a Northern Kingdom (Israel), and a Southern Kingdom (Judah).  From the time of Israel’s split from Judah, Israel and the northern tribes are in a spiritual free-fall.  The founding king of the northern kingdom (Jeroboam I) was a man of self-interest who had no concern for either YHWH or his covenant.  As we saw last time, Jeroboam’s legacy of forsaking YHWH was the norm in Israel.  We read in 2 Kings 17:22-23, after separating from Judah, “the people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did.  They did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets.  So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.”  God’s prophets are sent to announce that God’s people have broken his covenant and will face its curses–drought, famine, disease, defeat at the hands of their enemies (the Assyrians in 722 B.C.), and then finally, exile from the promised land.

To read the rest of this sermon:  Click Here

"The Lord Might Fulfill His Word" -- 2 Chronicles 9:29-10:15

An Introduction to the Minor Prophets (3)

There is nothing so tragic and devastating as a civil war–families are divided, there is often extreme cruelty and revenge as those closest to you become your enemies and know your weaknesses.  There is often great destruction because your neighbor and former countrymen know what things you treasure the most.  But a civil war among the people of God is especially tragic when that people (Israel) have been established as a nation by YHWH, who rescued them from their bondage in Egypt and made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai, before leading them into the promised land, dividing it among the twelve tribes of Jacob.  Israel became a great kingdom under David and Solomon with an empire stretching from the Euphrates River in the north to the river of Egypt in the south.  YHWH granted them victory over their enemies.  But David and Solomon were now dead.  The rot of unbelief, resentment, and distrust had been simmering for generations and spread throughout the twelve tribes.  This division ate away at national unity to the point there was none.  After Solomon died, his son Rehoboam “reigned in his place.”  But Rehoboam acted foolishly at the beginning of his reign and was immediately challenged by a rival, Jereboam I, who was exiled to Egypt by Solomon.  As set out by Israel’s chronicler in chapters 10-12 of 2 Chronicles, we find a tragic tale of two kings, two kingdoms, and a terrible civil war.

We have begun a series on the Minor Prophets and we are doing some historical background and establishing some context for their varied ministries before we take up each of the prophets individually.  The first three prophets we will consider (Amos, Jonah, Hosea) were sent by YHWH to Israel (the Northern Kingdom), which was established by Jeroboam I after most of ten of Israel’s twelve tribes separated from the Southern Kingdom of Judah in a bloody civil war about 930 B.C.  In order to understand the ministry of these three prophets to Israel, as well as why YHWH gave them the particular message he did–a warning that the covenant curses were about to come upon Israel, unless his people repent–we need to know something about how and why the united nation of Israel under the rule of a Davidic king was tragically divided into two rival kingdoms.

There are several things we need to know about the course of redemptive history and the role God’s prophets play before we take up the individual books of the Minor Prophets (the Twelve as the Jews know them).  First and foremost is that a prophet is called by God and then given YHWH’s words to speak to his people.  Moses was the preeminent prophet in Israel’s history.  In many ways he is the model for all those prophets who YHWH sends after him–the writing prophets, which include the “Major Prophets” (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel), and the “Minor Prophets” (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi).  This also includes the non-writing prophets, men who exercise prophetic gifts but who leave no canonical books behind (men like Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha).  We will encounter several additional non-writing prophets (Ahijah and Shemaiah) who speak God’s words to Israel’s kings.

As we saw from our way-too brief survey of the closing chapters of Deuteronomy (28-34), God established Israel as a nation by making a covenant with them at Mount Sinai–a covenant which was renewed on the plains of Moab before Israel entered the promised land after wandering for forty years in the wilderness of the Sinai desert.  YHWH’s covenant with Israel is administered as part of his gracious covenant, but the law (the Ten Commandments) and its pass/fail blessing/curse principle reflect God’s original covenant of works made with Adam in Eden.  God promises his blessing upon the condition of “faithful obedience,” but threatens covenant curses whenever his people forsake him, fall into unbelief and sin, and finally turn to other gods–the idols of their pagan neighbors.  

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"If You Faithfully Obey" -- Deuteronomy 28:1-20

An Introduction to the Minor Prophets (2)

God’s prophets have a very difficult task–they bring God’s words to a disobedient people who do not want to hear them.  Those prophets whom we identify as “Minor Prophets” function as God’s process-servers, warning Israel of YHWH’s impending lawsuit against them.  These prophets have the unpopular task of declaring that the covenant curses threatened to Israel are soon to be meted out because the people of God have repeatedly broken YHWH’s covenant.  To fully understand the nature of their mission, we need to know something about Israel’s covenant with YHWH, as well as the nature of the covenant curses threatened to come upon God’s chosen people.  What are the legal charges YHWH is bringing against his people through the mouths of his prophets?

We continue to establish some background for our series on the Minor Prophets.  We move from considering the role which God’s prophets play in redemptive history (our topic last time), to the specific terms of the covenant God established with his people at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20), which is then renewed with them before the people entered the promised land as recounted in the final chapters of the Book of Deuteronomy (28-34)–a portion of which we will survey.

Recall that the people of Israel wandered through the wilderness of the Sinai desert for forty long years after leaving their bondage in Egypt.  Led by the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, miraculously they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground as those same waters destroyed the armies of Pharaoh.  Israel was established as a nation when God gave them his law at Mount Sinai, making a national covenant between himself and his people–a covenant grounded in promised blessings upon their obedience, with covenant curses threatened should God’s people disobey him.  Because of their disobedience many Israelites died in the wilderness without ever seeing the land which the Lord promised to give them.  By the time we get to the closing chapters of Deuteronomy, the entire nation has passed through the wilderness and is now assembled on the plains of Moab, to the east of the Jordan River, just outside Canaan.  Soon the people will cross the river and enter the “promised land.”
        
Before the people of Israel can enter Canaan under YHWH’s command to drive the Canaanites from his land, their covenant with their LORD must be renewed.  Moses, their covenant mediator and the preeminent prophet in Old Testament, will read the terms of YHWH’s covenant to the assembled people, who, as Moses tells them in Deuteronomy 30:19, now stand before the Lord facing a fundamental choice between loving YHWH and obeying his commandments, or disobeying him and coming under his curse.  The choice the Israelites faced that day was simple–life or death.  Moses wrote down everything he said to Israel from the law of God as a binding record of God’s covenant and its requirements–that record of YHWH’s renewed covenant is the Book of Deuteronomy.

The scene in the closing chapters of Deuteronomy is dramatic and poignant.  After forty years in the wilderness, God’s people are finally about to enter the promised land and receive the inheritance YHWH promised to them.  This scene also has a certain poignancy about it, because Moses was prevented from entering the land because of his sin against YHWH.  This is the last day of his life.  Moses is 120 years old, and preparing YHWH’s covenant people for his death.  Israel is about to enter the land of promise, but Moses will not be joining them.  A successor must be appointed (Joshua) and the people must be reminded of the terms of their covenant with YHWH.  They must know what they must do to possess the land they are about to enter, and they must know what to do to remain in possession of it.  The terms of the covenant were given them first at Mount Sinai when the people assembled at the foot of the mountain while Moses, Aaron, and the elders were given the two tables of God’s law, and then renewed on this day at Moab, including hearing again the promise of blessing and threat of curse.

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"A Prophet Like Me" -- Deuteronomy 18:9-22

An Introduction to the Minor Prophets (Part One)

When I announce that we are about to begin a series on the “Minor Prophets,” what is your first thought?  Ugh . . .  They have something to do with the Old Testament?  Right?  Short biblical books with weird names?  Books of the Bible I’ve never read, and are not quite sure why I should?  

As we begin a new series on the “Minor Prophets,” we need to know who these prophets were and why they are important to us.  The last twelve books found in the Old Testament, the Jews know the Minor Prophets simply as “The Twelve.”  Preachers shy away from these books because without spending time to establish a proper context and background, the Minor Prophets are just twelve difficult and obscure books who’s authors speak of events long since past, and of peoples and kings long since dead and gone.  Some of these prophets are familiar to us–Jonah, Hosea, Joel, and Zechariah, come to mind.  But others are much more obscure: Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Malachi.  

Why cover them?  Nine of the Minor Prophets are directly quoted in the New Testament, with hundreds of echoes from all twelve of these prophets found throughout.  The Twelve are usually cited in reference to the coming of Jesus and a final judgment at the end of the age.  Their message tends to be overtly negative–a call to repentance and a warning of judgment.  But the minor prophets have much more to say than that to us even today, and as we will see, they are well worth our time and consideration.  

These prophets came on the scene at a time after the reigns of David and Solomon–from about 780 BC-450 BC–when the people God were divided into two kingdoms;  Israel–the northern kingdom, and Judah–the southern kingdom.  These prophets appear before Israel’s destruction by Assyria in 722 B.C. and Judah’s exile in Babylon 586 B.C.  The mission of these prophets; warn the divided people of God what was about to befall them, tell them unless God’s people repent of their sins against YHWH, especially their sin of idolatry, and return to YHWH seeking forgiveness, judgment is sure to come.

But the Minor Prophets speak to other matters as well–matters of national pride, tolerance and then embrace of evil-doing, and social injustice.  It is in the latter context they are occasionally quoted or alluded to by politicians–the most common of which comes to mind is the phrase from Amos 5:24, “let justice roll down like a river.”  Sadly perhaps, an interest in social justice–not redemptive history–is the only reason why people today are even remotely familiar with these writers and their prophecies.  Their importance to us is found in the fact that the Minor Prophets have several common themes warning God’s people of his impending judgment, especially in connection to the grave dangers associated with living among pagans and finding ourselves increasingly drawn to pagan ways, beliefs, and practices.

These twelve prophets are sent by God at a time when the people of Israel (the northern kingdom) and Judah (the southern kingdom) want to be more like their pagan neighbors than YHWH’s covenant with allows of them.  God’s people wish to be rid of his law–because keeping it is difficult.  They want worship the gods of their neighbors–because their worship is more mysterious and exciting.  They want to intermarry with the Canaanites–because they don’t like being isolated and mocked by other nations.

To read the rest of this sermon:  "A Prophet Like Me" -- Introduction to the Minor Prophets, Part One

"Despising His Words and Scoffing at His Prophets" -- 2 Chronicles 36:15–23

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on those Minor Prophets who write after the exile.  Click Here

"Against Jerusalem" -- 2 Kings 25:1-22

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on the Minor Prophets--the Fate of Judah and Jerusalem

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"A Man of God" -- 1 Kings 17:1-24

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon on Elijah, the fourth in our series introducing the minor prophets.

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"That the Lord Might Fulfill His Word" -- 2 Chronicles 9:29-10:15

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the third in our series introducing the Minor Prophets

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"If You Faithfully Obey" -- Deuteronomy 28:1-20

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon -- Introduction to the Minor Prophets (2)  Israel's Covenant with YHWH

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"A Prophet Like Me" -- Deuteronomy 18:9-22

Here's the audio from this morning's sermon, the first in a new series introducing the Minor Prophets

Click Here