Minor Prophets

D 

MINOR 

PROPHETS 

Described as “minor” not because they’re less important than the books of 

the Major Prophets, but because they’re shorter in length (most of them can 

easily be read in a single sitting). Together, their indictments of Israel’s drift 

away from God set the stage for the New Covenant that will be ushered in 

with the person of Jesus Christ. 

An Introductory Study 

Hosea •Joel •Amos •Obadiah 

Jonah •Micah •Nahum 

Habakkuk • Zephaniah 

Haggai •Zechariah • Malachi 

WRITTEN AND COMPILED BY SUZIE KLEIN 

DISCIPLERS BIBLE STUDIES, INC | WWW.DISCIPLERSONLINE.ORG

Introduction to the Minor Prophets 

I was raised in a Christian home and always went 

to church and Sunday School as I was growing up. I 

knew the old hymns by heart and loved singing them. 

I also knew many passages of Scripture by heart. But 

it wasn’t until I was grown with children of my own 

that the Lord opened my eyes to see the grace and 

glory of the gospel and opened my heart to believe 

and surrender to Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. 

It was then that I began to have a hunger for the 

Word. I just couldn’t get enough. I set my alarm to 

get up early every morning before my husband and 

children so I could curl up 

in a corner by the fireplace 

and read my Bible. Very 

soon I began going to Bible 

study, and I loved learning 

all I could. For three years 

I attended Bible study at 

my church and learned a great deal about the New 

Testament. I had a curiosity about the Old Testament 

too, but no one seemed to be interested in teaching 

that. It wasn’t until I moved with my family to Hawaii, 

and began attending Bible Study Fellowship, that I 

finally had a taste of studying the Old Testament. And 

that opened a whole new world of understanding for 

me. 

I knew and had responded to the truth that Jesus 

Christ, the Son of God, had humbled Himself to come 

to earth in a perishable human body and had willingly 

given His life on the cross for our sins. The New 

Testament taught me that the wages of sin is death 

(Romans 6:23) and so, to atone for our sins, Christ 

I began to have a 

hunger for the Word. 

I just couldn’t get 

enough. 

had to die. And He was the only one who could do 

that because He was the only sinless human being. 

But where did all this come from? Why did God 

make these demands? 

As I began studying the Old Testament at BSF, I 

began to get answers to all my questions. I learned 

how sin had entered the world and how it corrupted 

the hearts and lives of people. I learned how God 

had chosen Abraham and his descendants to be His 

people and to become a nation through whom the 

whole world would be blessed. 

I learned how much God 

hated sin - about His holiness 

and how men and women, as 

sinners, cannot stand in His 

presence. 

I learned how the people of Israel were called to 

make animal sacrifices, offering the blood of an 

animal as a substitute for their own sin and to expiate 

their sin, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I 

have given it to you on the altar to make atonement 

for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life 

that makes atonement (Leviticus 17:11). I learned how, 

on the night the Hebrew people were delivered from 

slavery in Egypt, God had commanded that each 

family sacrifice a spotless lamb and put the blood 

on their doorposts. It was the blood of that spotless 

lamb that saved their firstborn from death and set 

them free. 

It was through all this that I came to understand 

They are not called “minor” because they are 

less important, but because they are shorter 

than the long prophetic books like Ezekiel, and 

Isaiah. For me, shorter makes them easier to 

grasp, understand, and apply to my life. 

why Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the 

sin of the world (John 1:29). And as I studied the Old 

Testament, I found there is so much more to help 

me understand and love God. The Old Testament 

is a picture of what God was to do for the world in 

the future. The Old Testament and the prophets all 

looked ahead to Jesus and what He would do. As to 

this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the 

grace that would come to you made careful searches 

and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time 

the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He 

predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to 

follow. It was revealed to them that they were not 

serving themselves, but you, in these things which 

now have been announced to you through those who 

preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent 

from heaven—things into which angels long to look 

(1 Peter 1:10- 12). Many Old Testament prophecies 

even look ahead into our future and beyond. 

A favorite part of the Old Testament are the Minor 

Prophets. They are not called “minor” because they 

are less important, but because they are shorter than 

the long prophetic books like Ezekiel, and Isaiah. For 

me, shorter makes them easier to grasp, understand, 

and apply to my life. I have learned many important 

truths from the Minor Prophets that have helped 

me know how to live for God and live a happy and 

productive life. 

So, I would like to share with you some wonderful 

truths I have learned from the Minor Prophets, 

beginning with Hosea and working through to Malachi. 

I hope you will stick with me and take a peek into the 

lives of these prophets and the timeless truths they 

had to share. May God give you a hunger for His Word 

and a heart’s desire to understand it well. 

Suzie Klein 

Director of 

Disciplers Bible Studies 

2 INTRODUCTION TO MINOR PROPHETS DISCIPLERS BIBLE STUDIES 3

TABLE OF 

CONTENTS 

prophets “I also raised up from among your 

children and Nazirites from among your youths. Is 

this not true, people of Israel?” declares the LORD. 

Amos 2:11 

Introduction..........................2 

Hosea..................................... 6 

Joel ........................................ 8 

Amos.....................................10 

Obadiah................................ 12 

Jonah ...................................14 

366Hosea •Joel •Amos •Obadiah 

Jonah •Micah •Nahum 

Habakkuk • Zephaniah 

Haggai •Zechariah • Malachi 

Micah.....................................16 

Nahum .................................18 

Habakkuk ...........................20 

Zephaniah .......................... 22 

Haggai .................................24 

Zechariah ...........................26 

Malachi.................................28 


Hosea 

GOD’S LOVE IS FAITHFUL 

Have you ever read the Minor Prophets, those 

twelve books of prophecy that are tucked away at 

the end of the Old Testament? Oftentimes, they are 

my favorite place to linger in the Bible. But I think the 

name Minor Prophets is a little misleading because, 

when you take the time to read what they have to say, 

you discover they have some major truths to tell and 

major lessons to teach — and not just to the Jewish 

people who were the original recipients. 

I see this as being especially true of the very first 

Minor Prophet, Hosea. Hosea is extra special because 

he did not just speak his prophecy to the people or 

just write it down. He lived it. And his experiences 

touch my heart because they tell of God’s love. 

Sometimes we think of God as being so far beyond 

us that we don’t consider that He may have feelings. 

We always hear that “God is love”. But we need to 

remember that if God is love, it means God loves. In 

fact, the Bible says God loves us. The prophecy of 

Hosea, through Hosea’s life, illustrates the depth of 

what that means. 

Hosea’s story begins when God tells him to go and 

marry a harlot (prostitute) named Gomer. Hosea 

obeyed God, He married Gomer, and they had three 

children together. But then Gomer left Hosea and 

went back to her old way of life. She degraded and 

debased herself until she reached the absolute lowest 

place any woman possibly could. She reminds me in 

a way of the prodigal son who ended up living and 

eating with the pigs before he came to his senses 

and went back home to his father (Luke 15:11- 22). 

But Gomer did not go back home — not until God 

told Hosea to go find her — in her misery, filth, and 

poverty — and take her back home. And Hosea did. 

Are you getting the picture? Hosea’s life was a 

picture of God and His love relationship with His 

people, Israel. God called them to be His people 

and He made them a nation. He gave them a land 

flowing with milk and honey and was with them 

always. But Israel was a harlot, just like Gomer. They 

chased after the gods of the pagan nations. They 

made their own gods of wood and bronze and gold 

and worshiped them instead of worshiping the one 

and only true God who had created the heavens and 

the earth. Not only that, He had created them and 

chosen them to be His special people out of all the 

other peoples on the earth. He loved them and gave 

them laws to follow so they could fellowship with Him 

and live happy and productive lives. But they turned 

their backs on Him because they wanted to be like 

the pagan nations that surrounded them. So, they 

worshiped the pagan gods and lived lives of sin. How 

ungrateful can you get? Well, we just might know a bit 

about that. 

God has blessed every person on this planet with 

the beauty and comfort of majestic mountains, 

verdant valleys, and amber waves of grain. He has 

given us oceans and rivers and gurgling brooks. He 

sends the rains in their season and winds to cool us 

on summer evenings. The sun rises every morning 

to give light and warmth to our days and the moon 

and stars sparkle in the night skies. God has given us 

life itself! But how many people on our planet even 

acknowledge these things? And it is worse for those 

of us who know Him and have been blessed with 

His Word and His calling to be His. How often do we 

ignore Him and go after our own worldly pursuits and 

break His heart as the Israelites did? 

The prophecy of Hosea is about the sins of Israel 

and the extent to which God called Hosea to go to 

point out and illustrate those sins to them. But even 

more, the prophecy of Hosea 

is about the love of God 

and the anguish it causes 

Him when His people reject 

His love, disdain His laws, 

and embrace the sins of the 

world. The most beautiful 

thing about the prophecy 

of Hosea is the last chapter 

where we learn that in spite of Israel’s sin and God’s 

hurt and wrath, He never stops loving His people and 

promises to restore them in the end. God’s love is 

faithful in spite of our unfaithfulness. God’s love never 

fails even when we fail God. 

The first time I read Hosea and saw the enduring 

power of God’s love in the face of His people’s sin, 

my conscience led me to reexamine my life, because 

I don’t want to be like the Israelites who took God for 

granted, disrespected His laws, and made themselves 

comfortable in the pagan world. So, I asked myself, 

does my heart follow after my maker or things that are 

made? Do I live the life of a secular person and then 

“The prophecy of Hosea 

is about the sins of Israel 

and the extent to which 

God called Hosea to go 

to point out and illustrate 

those sins to them.” 

turn to God when things go wrong and expect Him 

to be there for me? Is God my treasure? Do I spend 

quality time with Him, in His Word, or do I fritter away 

my time on worldly “treasures” that tempt me to fill 

my day— things like Facebook, Twitter, movies, politics, 

gossip with the girls or hanging out with the guys at 

the gym or bar? What is your favorite pastime? How 

much time do you spend seeking and listening to 

God? 

Thank you, Hosea, for waking me up to see what 

my unfaithfulness does to 

the heart of God and how it 

undermines and brings me 

down to be a Gomer. Thank 

you Hosea, for your example 

of faithfulness to God even 

though your faithfulness to 

God fashioned your whole 

life in a way that brought 

you hurt and heartache. I want to remember your 

testimony always and I want it to make me a more 

thoughtful and intentional person. 

Like Hosea, God made me and called me for a 

purpose, and I want that very purpose to be fulfilled 

in my life. He made and called you too and has a 

particular purpose for you. I hope you will take twenty 

minutes from your day to read the Book of Hosea 

with a heart open to God and open to hear what He 

is saying to you through Hosea’s story. God loves you 

faithfully, and if you love Him you must be faithful 

too. 


Joel 

GOD’S PLAN FOR THE FUTURE 

I would like to introduce you to Joel, the second 

of the Minor Prophets. The only thing we know for 

sure about Joel, aside from the fact that he wrote 

this prophecy, is that his father’s name was Pethuel 

(Joel 1:1). Someone has mentioned that God picked 

an unknown man like Joel to deliver this prophecy 

because the message itself is so important, and He 

didn’t want people dwelling on the one who delivered 

the message, but on the message itself. Indeed, Joel’s 

prophecy is one that everyone needs to hear and 

heed. So, I want to share with you why I believe that is 

true. 

The first thing that may stand out if you read Joel’s 

prophecy is that his main subject seems to be “the 

day of the Lord”. He mentions the day of the 

Lord six times in three short chapters, and twice he 

describes it as “great and terrible”. 

Joel began his prophecy by describing in detail a 

devastating locust plague that had recently destroyed 

the land of Judah. He describes what the locusts had 

done to the fields, the grain, the vineyards, the trees, 

and how the people had been affected. He saw the 

locust plague as God’s judgment on Judah and called 

the people to repent. The locust plague, he said, was 

a warning of greater judgment to come unless the 

people turn from their sin and return to God with all 

their hearts (Joel 2:12-13). It won’t be enough to just 

say “sorry”, expect God to forgive their sin, and then 

go on living the same sinful lives, following the ways 

of the pagan nations and worshiping their gods rather 

than following and living for the one true God. 

So, Joel grabs the attention of the people, and 

hopefully our attention as well, by saying this locust 

plague is just a small taste of the great and terrible 

day of the Lord that is coming. Then He describes 

that day. There will be signs in the heavens and the 

heavens and earth will be shaken. It will be a solemn 

day of judgment. God will judge all nations (and 

people) who have denied and defied Him. All those 

who have made the decision to rebel against Him 

and refused to repent will be gathered to the “valley 

of decision” where they will receive God’s decision 

of judgment. But the day of the Lord will also be a 

day of grace for God’s people. Those who have truly 

repented of their sin and love and obey God will not 

be judged but will rejoice in the strength, security, and 

blessings of God. 

Many people who read Joel’s prophecy get caught 

up in the drama of the day of the Lord and search the 

Scriptures to find out more or read books to see what 

others have to say about it. This is all well and good 

unless they forget to look for the main point Joel is 

making. His reason in proclaiming the day of the Lord 

is to give us the opportunity to make sure we will not 

be among those being judged on that day. The heart 

of Joel’s prophecy is in Joel 2:12-14, his call to turn to 

the Lord with all your heart, rend your heart and not 

your garments, and repent and return to Him. God is 

gracious and merciful and does not desire that any 

should perish (2 Peter 3:9), but He is also holy and 

just. And while He may allow evil to continue for a 

while, He will not tolerate it forever. 

The day of the Lord is coming. We do not know 

when it will be. Joel did not know. None of the 

prophets knew. Jesus told His disciples that no one 

knows except God (Matthew 24:36). 

The apostle Paul wrote, in his first letter to the 

Thessalonians that the day of the Lord will come like 

a thief in the night and take many by surprise (5:2-3). 

But he also wrote, God did not appoint us to wrath, 

but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ 

(5:9). Joel, hundreds of years before Paul wrote, told 

us how to make sure we do not face God’s wrath in 

judgment. Joel made clear that regret and remorse 

is not enough when it comes to dealing with sin. 

Repentance is needed. Joel says repentance is not just 

throwing out your old clothes and putting on clean 

ones. God calls for true repentance, which means 

grieving over your sin, turning to Him and giving Him 

your heart to cleanse and change so you can love Him, 

follow Him, and obey Him with every fiber of your 

being. Repentance begins deep inside us. 

As I was studying in preparation for writing a new 

Disciplers study on Joel, I came across these thoughts 

on the day of the Lord by Jack Wellman www.patheos. 

com “Today is the best day to repent and be saved if 

you haven’t already done so, for the Day of the Lord 

could come today while you’re reading this, tonight in 

your sleep, or if you were to die, the very next moment 

of your consciousness.” 

“Someone has mentioned that God picked an 

unknown man like Joel to deliver this prophecy 

because the message itself is so important.” 

My prayer is that you will 

take Joel’s message to heart, 

and use it, as the writer of 

Hebrews says, to encourage 

on another daily, while it is 

called “Today,” lest any of 

you be hardened through the 

deceitfulness of sin (3:13). 


Amos 

GOD’S WORD IS OUR PLUMB LINE 

When I think about the prophet Amos, I always 

think of three things: justice, righteousness, and the 

plumb line. Amos has been called the Plumb Line 

Prophet because he had a vision of God standing by 

a wall with a plumb line in His hand. In case you are 

not familiar with a plumb line, it is simply a weight 

suspended from a string. It is used to determine 

an exact vertical — it is a reference line used by 

carpenters to keep their work straight. The plumb line 

sets the standard and it does not change with the 

whim of the carpenter. It remains true and all work 

must line up with it. In Amos’ prophecy, God was 

using the plumb line to measure Israel’s faithfulness 

to His Law. Sadly, they did not line up. 

Most of Amos’ prophecy is an indictment of the 

nations, including Israel and Judah, for their sins 

against Him. Not one measured up to God’s plumb 

line, and because He is a God of justice, judgment 

would fall on the guilty. Israel was singled out because 

they were His privileged people. He had chosen them, 

made a covenant with them, delivered them from 

slavery in Egypt, and given them His law. But they 

had despised God’s law. Theirs’ was a sham religion. 

They exploited the poor, were ungrateful for God’s 

mercies, and silenced the prophets from speaking 

the truth. They worshiped idols and failed to honor 

God. God asked them a rhetorical question, “Can two 

walk together unless they are agreed.” (Amos 3:3)? Of 

course not! 

When you walk with someone you must walk in the 

same direction and at the same pace. But Israel had 

strayed far from God, far from the plumb line of His 

law. They were not walking with God. 

“When you walk with someone 

you must walk in the same direction 

and at the same pace.” 

God did not give His law to be a burden to Israel, 

but to be a blessing: to enable them to live peaceful, 

prosperous, happy, and holy lives. But the Book of 

Judges tells us that they did not want to live God’s 

way. They wanted to do what was right in their own 

eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25), and so that is what they did. 

They refused to live according to God’s standard, and 

so they had no standard at all. They lived by their own 

whims. 

As I think of that and the sadness and misery that 

followed in their lives because of their choice to reject 

God and His Law, it makes me sad for our world 

today. We live in a secular world and it is increasingly 

easy for Christians to fall into the secular trap and lean 

away from God. He has given us His Word in the Bible 

as a Plumb Line for our lives, to keep us close to Him 

and enable us to live peaceful, prosperous, happy, and 

holy lives. But if we do not read His Word, ponder it 

in our hearts and minds, and obey it, then we are like 

the Israelites — we follow our whims and do what is 

right in our own eyes. Then we end up suffering the 

consequences — if not now, then later. 

Just as the prophet Joel proclaimed the day of the 

LORD, Amos also warns of that day, a day of woe and 

a day of darkness…, very dark with no brightness in 

it for those who have not been found true to God’s 

plumb line (Amos 5:1-20). 

Everyone needs a plumb line in his or her life — a 

reference point to keep us on a path of good and 

not evil (Amos 5:14) and Amos has shown us that 

God and His Word are our plumb line. In Amos 

5:24, God says, “Let justice roll down like water and 

righteousness like and ever--flowing stream.” Indeed, 

it will. God promises justice, which means judgment 

of evil, and, on the day of judgment, righteousness will 

flow and those who have lived their lives by the Plumb 

Line will have no reason to fear or be ashamed. 

May you always find joy in walking in line with the 

Plumb Line. 


Obadiah 

GOD’S JUDGMENT OF PRIDEFUL EDOM 

Do you recall the story of Jacob and Esau? They 

were the grandchildren of Abraham, the patriarch of 

Israel. Their father was Isaac, the child of promise, 

who had loved and married Rebekah (Genesis 

24:67). When she became pregnant, Rebekah felt a 

struggle going on in her womb and was concerned, 

so she prayed to the Lord and asked Him what was 

happening. The Lord answered, revealing that she 

would bear twins and, “Two nations are in your 

womb, two peoples shall be separated from your 

body; one people shall be stronger than the other, 

and the older shall serve the younger.” These twin 

brothers were Esau and Jacob. 

In those days, it was the eldest son who received 

the birthright, a double portion of the inheritance and 

the blessing, which was of spiritual value and made 

him head of the family when his father died. Esau was 

the eldest of the twins, but he despised his birthright 

and sold it to Jacob for a bowl of stew one evening 

when he returned home hungry from working in the 

fields (Genesis 25:29-33). He also lost the blessing 

because Jacob, through the plan and encouragement 

of his mother, tricked his father into giving him the 

blessing. (Isaac loved Esau and planned to give the 

blessing to him, but Rebekah loved Jacob (Genesis 

25:28). She remembered God’s words that the older 

would serve the younger and exerted her influence to 

make sure the younger Jacob received the blessing.) 

Because of this, Esau hated his brother Jacob and 

planned to kill him (Genesis 27:41). He also defied his 

father and God’s command by marrying a Canaanite 

woman. The writer of Hebrews calls Esau an immoral 

and godless person (Hebrews 12:16). 

Jacob had a heart for God and for spiritual things, 

always desiring, searching after, and following God, 

even though sometimes in the wrong way. He 

attempted obedience but didn’t always succeed. On 

the other hand, Esau sought his own pleasure from 

the beginning. As he grew older, he didn’t get any 

better — he only got worse—until God proclaimed 

through the prophet Malachi, “Jacob I have loved, but 

Esau I have hated” (1:2-3). 

It is the prophet Obadiah, the fourth of the Minor 

Prophets, who tells us about the sort of people Esau’s 

descendants became and the sinful pride of the 

nation that arose from him. Obadiah is the shortest 

of the Minor Prophets, just one chapter, 21 verses, and 

it is all about the descendants of Esau —the nation 

of Edom, also called Mount Seir in the Bible. Obadiah 

tells us how Esau’s descendants treated the people of 

Judah, the descendants of Jacob. Edom should have 

treated Judah like a brother, but like Esau, the man 

they descended from, the Edomites were immoral 

and godless people. They were prideful and arrogant 

(Obadiah verse 3). They were violent (verse 10). They 

stood aloof and refused to help when invaders carried 

off the wealth of Jerusalem (verse 11). They gloated, 

rejoiced, and boasted over Judah’s destruction. They 

joined the invaders in looting the wealth of the city 

(verse 13). They killed the Jews who were trying to 

escape and captured the survivors and turned them 

over to the enemy invaders (verse 14). The pride and 

arrogance of Esau had grown into full-blown evil in 

those descended from him. 

Through Obadiah, God announced that Edom 

would be judged for their sin and that judgment 

would be total destruction. There would be no survivor 

left from Esau’s descendants (verse 18). You may be 

familiar with Petra, the famous archaeological site in 

the deserts of Jordan. Petra, called Sela in the Bible 

(both names mean “rock”), was carved into pink 

sandstone cliffs and was once a great fortress and 

capitol of Edom. Today, in fulfillment of prophecy, 

only the ruins of the city remain. Petra is uninhabited, 

a desolate spot for tourists to visit. 

But most important 

is God’s view of pride. 

Proverbs Chapter 6 

lists seven things 

God hates and are an 

abomination to Him 

The story of Esau 

and his descendants 

is not a happy one, 

but it is one from 

which we can learn 

important lessons. 

First of all, pride is 

a sin and God will 

judge it. Esau shows 

us that pride is a root sin from which other terrible sins 

emanate and grow. When we are prideful, thinking 

we’re better than others, it is revealed in the way we 

speak about them and the way we treat them. When 

we are arrogant, we set ourselves up as little gods who 

make our own rules with no regard for the thoughts, 

feelings, or opinions of others. But most important 

is God’s view of pride. Proverbs Chapter 6 lists seven 

things God hates and are an abomination to Him. The 

very first is a proud (or haughty) look (some versions 

of the Bible use the word arrogance). Pride is all those 

things. In the New Testament, both James 4:6 and 1 

Peter 5:5 quote from the Book of Proverbs (3:34) to 

warn us that God opposes the proud but gives grace 

to the humble. Furthermore, the apostle John tells us 

that the pride of life is not of God but of the world (1 

John 2:16). 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the only perfect man who 

ever lived, is our greatest example of humility. The 

apostle Paul wrote, Let this mind be in you which 

was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of 

God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 

but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form 

of a servant, and coming in the 

likeness of men. And being found in 

appearance as a man, He humbled 

Himself and became obedient to 

the point of death, even the death 

of a cross (Philippians 2:5-8). The 

apostle Peter wrote that Christ left 

us an example, for us to follow in 

His steps (1 Peter 2:21). 

Obadiah is a tiny book in the Bible but proclaims a 

powerful and important message from God. Pride is 

deceptive. Pride deceived the hearts of Esau and his 

descendants to the point of destruction (verse 3). 

God speaks to us through His Word and He has 

been gracious to give us a guide for living and also 

examples for living, both negative and positive. May 

we always be encouraged and inspired to emulate the 

positive examples and heed the warnings of those like 

Esau and his descendants, Edom. 


Jonah 

GOD’S MERCY 

Of all twelve Minor Prophets, I think Jonah is the 

most interesting - maybe even amusing. I also think 

he is the one we can most easily relate to - not 

because he got swallowed by a whale, but because 

he tried to run away from God. God called Jonah to 

preach a message of judgment to the wicked people 

of Nineveh who were fearsome enemies of the Jews. 

Jonah refused and ran in the opposite direction. 

You’ve probably heard the story. Jonah got on a boat 

that could take him as far away from Nineveh as he 

could get. But God sent a storm that was eventually 

the cause of Jonah being thrown overboard, 

swallowed by a whale, and carried back to land so he 

could obey God and go to Nineveh to proclaim his 

message. 

Now maybe you think it’s preposterous that a man 

could be swallowed by whale, let alone survive for 

three days in the belly of a giant fish. But there is 

actual historical documentation of fishermen being 

swallowed by big fish and living to tell about it! If you 

look online, one of many stories you can find is an 

early 1900’s account of a Falkland Islands fisherman 

who was swallowed by a sperm whale and rescued 

a few days later. When the ship’s crew caught and 

killed the giant fish and were working to procure the 

fat, they found the missing sailor in the belly. He was 

alive, and though it took him many days to recover 

from the trauma, he lived to tell about his experience. 

But even if no one else had ever been swallowed 

by a fish and survived, the story Jonah relates is in 

the Bible, which is God’s Word, and if we are going to 

believe any of it, we need to believe all of it. 

In his prophecy, Jonah recounts his terrors in the 

stormy sea. He tells how he called out to God who 

rescued him from the breakers and billows and 

entangling weeds of the great deep (2:5). Jonah knew 

the giant fish had been sent by God to rescue him, 

and Jonah gave thanks. At that point, God directed 

the whale to dry land where he vomited up the 

grateful Jonah. 

Jonah was still not excited about delivering God’s 

message of judgment to the people of Nineveh, 

but he did: “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be 

overthrown.” And after he preached, an amazing thing 

happened - the most wicked and violent people in 

the ancient world - the people of Nineveh - from the 

king to the lowliest peasant, repented. They covered 

themselves and their farm animals with sackcloth (a 

material worn in mourning) and turned away from 

their violence. And when the forty days was up and 

God’s day of judgment was at hand, God relented. 

The people of Nineveh had turned around and turned 

to God, so He had mercy on them, and they were not 

destroyed. 

You would think Jonah would have rejoiced. His 

message had been successful, and the people of 

Nineveh were changed, and they were saved. But 

Jonah was angry. Four times in Jonah Chapter 4, we 

are told that he was angry. He even said it himself, 

“I have good reason to be angry, even to death” 

(Jonah 4:9). He was angry because God had been 

gracious and compassionate to the city of Nineveh. 

In fact, Jonah admits that the reason he ran away in 

the first place is because he knew God is gracious, 

compassionate, abundant in lovingkindness, and one 

who relents concerning calamity (4:2). 

Are you ever like Jonah? Do you expect God to 

show you compassion when you sin but become 

upset when you see others seemingly “get away with” 

sinful behavior? Deep inside, in your heart, do you 

long to see your enemies judged and get what they 

“deserve”? 

So, Jonah marched out into the desert and sat 

down where he could look down on the city and 

complain to God. Here was a man who supposedly 

was a godly man, a prophet, but had defied God and 

run away. God had shown him great mercy in saving 

his life and giving him a second chance, but Jonah 

could not stand the fact that God had dared to show 

mercy to his enemies. 

Are you ever like Jonah? Do you expect God to 

show you compassion when you sin but become 

upset when you see others seemingly “get away 

with” sinful behavior? Deep inside, in your heart, do 

you long to see your enemies judged and get what 

they “deserve”? Is your idea of justice compassion 

for yourself and judgment for those you dislike? If so, 

then you’re like Jonah. And if you’re like Jonah, then 

you are very unlike God who is full of compassion and 

mercy for all, even the worst of us, who humbly turn 

to Him. 

Jonah’s story is one we can all take to heart -- not 

just the part about God saving those who repent and 

turn to Him, but also the part about Jonah and his 

disobedience. Even when he obeyed God and went 

to proclaim judgment to Nineveh, his heart and mind 

were proud, defiant, self-indulgent, and unkind. Poor 

Jonah. His message was powerful and effective, but 

his attitude was hostile and hateful. Even though he 

finally obeyed God, his life is a negative example for 

us. God has not made us judges of who will receive 

His mercy and who will not. As he said to Moses, “I will 

have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have 

compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 

9:15). 

In the New Testament, the apostle James tells us 

the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful (James 

5:11). So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy 

and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, 

humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). 

Are you ever like Jonah? 

Do you expect God to show you 

compassion when you sin but become 

upset when you see others seemingly 

“get away with” sinful behavior? 

Deep inside, in your heart, do 

you long to see your enemies 

judged and get what they “deserve”? 


Micah 

GOD HEARS US 

The sixth of the Minor Prophets, Micah of 

Moresheth, was a bold prophet of God who openly 

denounced the sins of the people of Israel and Judah. 

But he especially brought to light the sins of the 

leaders, the judges, priests, and prophets, who put 

their confidence in power and profit and caused the 

people to suffer because of it. In this sense, I would 

venture to say that Micah was a political prophet. 

His prophecy shows how the sins of the leaders of a 

nation filter down to the common people and have 

a devastating effect 

on them. The people 

suffer for the sins of 

their leaders in two 

ways: 

1) without principled 

leadership, the 

moral principles of 

the nation decline 

and 

2) when the leaders of the nation are punished, the 

people also reap the judgment the leaders have 

sown. 

Micah first condemns the sins of the powerful 

people who work out evil schemes in their minds 

as they lay in their beds at night. When morning 

comes, they go and carry out their sinful plans 

simply because they have the power to do it. They 

take advantage of the powerless, oppressing them 

by taking their houses and fields. These powerful 

people have told Micah to keep his mouth shut, but 

he knows that if he keeps silent the sinful ways will 

continue, and he feels someone must stand up for 

those who do what is right. 

Next, Micah challenges the nation’s leaders and 

confronts them with their sins. The rulers, referring 

to the judges, who were supposed to uphold justice, 

twisted it by taking bribes. The priests, who were 

called by God to ceremony and sacrifice and to teach 

the people His law, taught for monetary gain. And the 

prophets, who were supposed to speak God’s Word 

and convey His will to 

the people, “led the 

people astray”, looking 

out for their own 

interests rather than 

the interests of the 

people. They “divined 

for a price.” The word 

“divined” implies they 

were involved with 

magic and the occult; 

which God had forbidden. Money and power were 

foremost in the minds of the nation’s leaders. 

He proclaims the 

greatest prophecy of all: 

the coming Deliverer from Bethlehem who 

will gather and shepherd His sheep. 

“He will be great to the ends of the earth. 

This One will be our peace” (5:4-5). 

Micah paints a sorry picture of the society in Israel 

and Jerusalem in his day (the late 7th and early 6th 

centuries B.C.) and he makes it clear that judgment 

is coming. However, his prophecy ends with words of 

comfort and hope for “the remnant”, those who have 

bravely stood on the side of God’s law and honored 

Him. He proclaims the greatest prophecy of all: the 

coming Deliverer from Bethlehem who will gather and 

shepherd His sheep. “He will be great to the ends of 

the earth. This One will be our peace” (5:4-5). 

In reading about Micah’s prophecy, it may have 

reminded you of our world today with corruption in 

high places and the self-centered greed for power 

and money. Such attitudes and actions cannot help 

but influence all of us, but we need not be infected 

by it and let it poison our lives. We can, and we need 

to, stand strong as God’s people and we need to live 

for Him. Micah tells us what God requires of us as His 

people: 

He has told you, O man, what is good; 

And what does the Lord require of you 

but to do justice, to love kindness, 

And to walk humbly with your God (6:8)? 

And near the end of his prophecy, Micah tells us 

what he will do: 

But as for me, 

I will watch expectantly 

for the Lord. 

I will wait for the God of 

my salvation. My God 

will hear me (7:7). 

So, will you be influenced by the world, or will you 

be like Micah? As we humbly immerse ourselves in 

God’s Word and expectantly wait, seeking to live to 

glorify God, He will hear us. And He gives us hope and 

comfort in knowing that judgment will come for those 

who defy Him. When that day comes, as it surely will, 

it will mean salvation for those who do justice, love 

kindness, and walk humbly with our God 


Nahum 

GOD WILL NOT LEAVE THE WICKED UNPUNISHED 

Sometime before the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C., 

the prophet Nahum preached a message proclaiming 

judgment upon the city. That is similar to what the 

unwilling and defiant prophet, Jonah, had done about 

one hundred years before. It was during the first half 

of the 8th century that God had sent Jonah to march 

through the city of Nineveh and proclaim, “Yet forty 

days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 

3:4). Surprisingly, at that time, the pagan people of 

Nineveh, from the king down to the lowest peasant, 

believed God and they repented. The king of Nineveh 

published a decree that everyone should “call on God 

earnestly that each may turn from his wicked ways 

and from the violence which is in his hands” in hopes 

that God would “relent and withdraw His burning 

anger” (3:8- 9). God, in His mercy, spared the city. 

One century later, Nineveh had grown to be the 

largest city in the world. Nineveh had become the 

capitol of Assyria, the most powerful nation on earth, 

economically, politically, and militarily. But in pride 

and arrogance, Nineveh had also become the most 

idolatrous, violent, oppressive, morally perverted, and 

cruel place imaginable. The prophet Nahum called it 

“the bloody city” (3:1). 

At the time Nahum prophesied, Assyria had 

conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and 

proudly boasted they would also bring down the 

kingdom of Judah. The people of Judah lived in fear 

of the Assyrian army, as did the rest of the world. 

So, God sent Nahum to comfort His people with the 

announcement that Nineveh would be wiped from 

the face of the earth. 

The people of Nineveh thought their city was 

invincible, surrounded by walls 100 feet high and a 

moat 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep. But Nahum 

proclaimed that God would bring down judgment 

upon those who scorned His law and treated His 

people with contempt. “Nineveh would fall because 

it was a godless and idolatrous city, a city of violence, 

lust, and greed” (from the ESV Student Study Bible, 

“Introduction to Nahum.” God had shown His mercy, 

but now He would judge the wickedness. 

Nahum says, The LORD is good (1:7) and slow 

to anger (1:3), but He will not leave the wicked 

unpunished (1:3). 

God is a God of compassion, mercy, and patience, 

but He is also a God of justice. He forgives those who 

repent and turn to Him, but judges the wicked, who 

revel in their sin. Nahum’s words are both a comfort 

and a warning to all people. His words are comforting 

because they tell us God is kind and patient with 

sinners. His words are a warning because they show 

there is a limit to God’s patience. He will surely judge 

those who willfully and habitually sin against Him. 

Nahum’s prophecy brought comfort to the people 

of Judah and to all people who lived in fear of the 

Assyrians. 

Nahum said Nineveh’s end would come “with an 

overflowing flood” (1:8), and he was right. In 612 B.C. 

while the Babylonians were besieging the city, the 

Tigris River overflowed its banks and destroyed a 

portion of Nineveh’s mighty wall. It was just enough 

to make a pathway for the Babylonians to enter and 

make an end of the wicked city. 

Nineveh was so completely demolished by the 

Babylonians that its remains were not discovered 

until 1842! When threatened with destruction, the 

people of Nineveh repented, but one hundred years 

later a new generation was even more arrogant, cruel, 

and defiant of God. 

all wickedness and those who perpetrate it will be 

judged. God is sovereign and He is true to His Word. 

Nahum proclaimed that God always has His way 

and then adds, “The clouds are the dust of His feet” 

(Nahum 1:3). Since studying the Book of Nahum, every 

time I look at the clouds I think of the sovereignty of 

God and the truth and power of His Word. His Word 

is a comfort to me. 

Behold, on the mountains the feet of him 

who brings good news, who announces 

peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah; 

pay your vows. For never again will the 

wicked one pass through you; he is cut off 

completely. (Nahum 1:15) 

Galatians 6:7 tells us, 

Do not be deceived, 

God is not mocked; 

for whatever a man 

sows, that he will also 

reap. This was true of 

the city of Nineveh 

and is a timeless 

truth of God in 

relation to all people and nations. In Jonah’s day the 

people of Nineveh had repented and reaped mercy. 

The following generations defied God and reaped 

judgment. Like the people of Nineveh to whom Jonah 

preached, every person has a choice: the choice to 

repent of his or her sin and turn to God, or the choice 

to live in rebellion against Him. The results of those 

two choices are polar opposites. The first leads to 

salvation and eternal life while the later leads to 

judgment. 

As believers, the messages of Jonah and Nahum 

should be a comfort. Knowing we are God’s people 

and living for Him, we are assured of His mercy and 

grace. And although it often seems that evil runs 

rampant in this world, we have hope in God and 

trust the day will come, as God has promised, when 

May you always find 

comfort and peace 

in God’s Word. 

Job 36:6 “He 

does not keep the 

wicked alive but 

gives justice to the 

afflicted.” 

Psalm 37:28 For the LORD loves justice and does 

not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved 

forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut 

off. 

Psalm 145:20 The LORD keeps all who love Him, 

but all the wicked He will destroy. 

1 Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the LORD are on the 

righteous, And His ears are open to their prayers. But 

the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.” 

2nd Peter 2:9 The Lord knows how to rescue the 

godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous 

under punishment for the day of judgment 


Habukkuk 

GOD’S PEOPLE LIVE BY FAITH 

Martin Luther was a monk, priest, professor of 

theology, composer, and one of the most important 

figures in the Protestant Reformation. As a young 

monk, Martin Luther worked hard, denied himself, 

and even inflicted physical punishment on himself, 

seeking to live a righteous life and be justified in 

God’s sight. 

With his whole heart he sought to please God, but 

in his mind he knew he could never measure up. No 

matter what he did, he 

could never be pure and 

holy in the sight of God 

because he knew he was 

a sinner. As he searched 

the Scriptures looking 

for a solution to his 

dilemma, God graciously 

led him to the Book of 

Romans where he read: 

The righteous man will live by faith (1:17). By the grace 

of God’s Holy Spirit, Martin Luther’s eyes were opened 

to see that all his sacrifices of hard work, self- denial, 

and self- punishment were in vain. It was only by 

God’s grace that he could find ease for his conscience, 

be justified, and stand as righteous before God. His 

works were nothing but “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). 

It was his heart of faith, in itself a gift from God, 

(Ephesians 2:8) that gave him right standing before 

his Creator and Sustainer. 

That one short sentence, The righteous man will 

live by faith, changed Martin Luther’s life and ended 

up changing the world. But the apostle Paul, in the 

Behold, as for the proud one, 

His soul is not right within him; 

But the righteous 

will live by his faith 

Habakkuk2:4 

Book of Romans, was not the first to make that 

profound and life- changing statement. Hundreds of 

years before Paul wrote, the prophet Habakkuk had 

a conversation with God concerning justice and the 

judgment of the wicked. Before Habakkuk’s time, the 

northern kingdom of Israel had been invaded and 

carried into exile by the Assyrians because of their 

rebellion against God and their evil ways. Habakkuk 

was disturbed because he saw that same rebellion 

and wickedness in the people of the southern 

kingdom of Judah in his 

day. Habakkuk 

wanted justice to 

reign, so he took his 

complaint to God and 

waited for God’s reply. 

Chapter 2 of the Book 

of Habakkuk is God’s 

answer to the prophet, 

and in His answer, God proclaimed, 

Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right 

within him; But the righteous will live by his faith 

(Habakkuk 2:4). 

The problem with the people of Judah was their 

pride. They thought they could live as they pleased. 

After all, didn’t all the other nations live prideful 

lives of wanton pleasure, greed, and violence? The 

people of Judah thought they could scorn God by 

ignoring His Law and mistreating one another but 

then turn to Him and find approval by offering their 

sacrifices. They considered themselves God’s people, 

but their hearts were not right with Him. In this one 

simple statement by God, we see that the heart is 

the most important thing. God does not look upon 

our sacrifices but upon our hearts. God’s people must 

be people of faith and it has always been that way. It 

is by faith we believe in God and His Word and obey 

Him. The proud person lacks understanding of God’s 

grace and power and is unable to live a life pleasing to 

Him. So, God says, “His soul is not right within him.” 

The person who stands as righteous before God 

humbly admits there is nothing he or she can do to 

earn the grace of God. The righteous person takes 

God at His word, humbly taking God’s promise to 

heart, “By grace you have been saved through faith; 

and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not 

as a result of works, so that no one may boast” 

(Ephesians 2:8). Salvation is God’s grace, freely 

offered, and accepted humbly by faith. 

Habakkuk, the prophet, is a beautiful example 

of one who lived by faith. The final chapter of his 

prophecy is a prayer, written as a song, in which 

he asked to see God’s justice and mercy. His song 

closes with a confession of his faith and expression 

of his trust in God. May we all take Habakkuk as our 

example and live by faith. 

Though the fig tree should not blossom 

And there be no fruit on the vines, 

Though the yield of the olive should fail 

And the fields produce no food, 

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold 

And there be no cattle in the stalls, 

Yet I will exult in the Lord, 

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 

The Lord God is my strength, 

And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, 

And makes me walk on my high places. 

Habakkuk 3:17- 19 


Zephaniah 

GOD’S JUDGMENT IS RIGHTEOUS 

The prophet Zephaniah spoke to the people of 

Judah at a time when the whole nation had turned 

away from God and was full of wickedness and 

corruption. Everywhere, from the elders and officials 

to the common citizen, the people had forsaken the 

LORD. Zephaniah compared the judges to rapacious 

wolves who roamed about in the evening darkness. 

The prophets were faithless, proclaiming what was in 

their own hearts and minds. Instead of God’s word, 

they spoke words that tickled the people’s ears. Even 

the priests perverted the law and failed to lead the 

people in true worship of God. Men like Zephaniah, 

who loved God and proclaimed His word, were few 

and far between. As I read the three short chapters of 

Zephaniah’s prophecy, it reminded me of our world 

today. 

Somehow, it doesn’t surprise me when I hear 

many people say they can’t bear to watch the news 

anymore. Neither can I. It seems like the news is 

filled with stories of corruption, hatred, vitriol, selfcenteredness, 

egotism, opportunism, and just plain 

evil. We seem to live in a world where God has given 

us over to our own selfish desires, and the world 

seems to be spinning in a downward spiral, as it did 

in the Biblical days of the Judges. I think Zephaniah 

must have felt the same way in his day. And 

Zephaniah longed for justice. 

When you read or watch news on TV, does your 

heart ever long for justice? Do you long to see justice 

in government, justice in our judicial system, justice 

for the powerless, the innocent, the helpless, and for 

everyday men, women and children who are taken 

advantage of by those who wield power? If you long 

to see “justice roll down like waters” (as the prophet 

Amos did - 5:24), you need to read Zephaniah’s 

prophecy. His is a promise of sure justice to come. 

Zephaniah foretells the day of God’s judgment, the 

Day of the LORD. 

Zephaniah’s heart must have been filled with 

outrage and pain at the apostasy he saw all around 

him, because the LORD used Zephaniah’s voice to 

rebuke the people of Judah and give them warning of 

the judgment to come. Through Zephaniah, the LORD 

commanded the people to “Be silent….for the day of 

the LORD is near” (1:7) and He described a day when 

His sovereign will would be manifest in a fearsome 

and final day of judgment which no one will be able 

escape. 

“Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming 

very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! 

...a day of wrath… A day of trouble and distress, 

A day of destruction and desolation, A day of 

darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick 

darkness” (Zephaniah 1:14- 15). 

Zephaniah’s prophecy describes the sins of 

mankind that aroused God’s wrath to bring judgment. 

He describes the sins of Judah and then the 

sins of the surrounding nations: sins of idolatry, 

violence, deceit, double- mindedness, selfindulgence, 

arrogance, pride, corrupt deeds, and trust 

in riches rather than God. The day of the LORD will 

be a day of universal judgment, for all have sinned. 

It will be a day when all who have turned away from 

God and refused to listen to Him and His Word will 

stand before Him and quake in their boots. They will 

blindly grope for a way of escape, but it will be futile. 

Deliverance from God’s wrath will be impossible. No 

one will be able to purchase redemption for, God 

does not take bribes. No amount of silver and gold 

will save the wicked on that day, for they will stand 

condemned by their own sin. At that time, Amos’ 

desire will be fulfilled. Justice will roll down like waters 

and righteousness like an ever--flowing stream 

(5:24). 

The final verses 

of Zephaniah’s 

prophecy tell of 

the “remnant” of 

those “humble 

and lowly people” 

who have sought 

refuge in the LORD 

(3:12- 13). He will be 

with them, He will 

remove all judgment from them, and He will rejoice 

over them (3:17) And the remnant will shout for joy 

with all their heart. (3:14) 

But it will not be only the remnant of Israel who 

will be saved. The New Testament shows us that 

Zephaniah’s prophecy is universal in scope. On the 

day God has set (the day of the LORD), “He will judge 

the world in justice and righteousness through the 

Man whom He has appointed” (Acts 17:31), Jesus 

Christ. All those who have rejected Him will be 

judged on that day (John 12:48), but as the apostle 

Paul wrote, “there is laid up for me the crown of 

righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, 

will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but 

also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2 Timothy 

4:8) 

So, if you belong to Jesus Christ and you love and 

long for His appearing, do not become discouraged 

by the news of the world and the reprehensible things 

you see going on around you. Remember: the day of 

the Lord is coming when justice will be served, and 

all will be set right and made new. The end of His 

story (history) 

has already 

been written. 

The apostle 

Paul wrote in 

2 Corinthians 

2:14, “Thanks 

be to God, who 

always leads 

us in triumph in 

Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of 

the knowledge of Him in every place.” So, find hope 

and comfort in the knowledge that we will triumph in 

Christ in the end. And in the meantime, we triumph 

where placed where God has placed us by being the 

sweet aroma of Christ in a bitter and needy world. 

So, if you belong to Jesus Christ and you love and long for His 

appearing, do not become discouraged by the news of the world 

and the reprehensible things you see going on around you. 

Remember: the day of the Lord is coming when justice will be 

served, and all will be set right and made new.” 


Haggai 

GOD’S GLORY SHALL BE REVEALED 

If you are a classical music lover or if you have ever 

been to an Easter performance of George Frederick 

Handel’s Messiah, then you may already know 

something of what Haggai’s prophecy is all about. 

Very early on in that magnificent oratorio the choir 

announces, “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed!” 

And this is followed by a powerful bass solo which 

proclaims the words of Haggai 2:6-7 

“For thus saith the Lord of 

hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, 

and I will shake the heavens, 

and the earth, and the sea, and 

the dry land; And I will shake 

all nations, and the desire of all 

nations shall come.” 

Handel composed the 

“Messiah” in 1741, and I’m sure 

millions of people all over the 

world have been to performances 

from that time to this. Perhaps this could make 

Haggai the most famous “minor prophet” of all. And 

the Book of Haggai is only two chapters long. 

Haggai wrote at the time in Israel’s history after 

the northern kingdom of Israel had been defeated 

and destroyed by the Assyrians and the southern 

kingdom of Judah, along with its lovely city of 

Jerusalem and temple, had experienced a similar 

fate at the hands of the Babylonians. The people of 

Judah were exiled to Babylon and lived in exile there 

for seventy years until God moved the king, Cyrus, 

God did not call us to 

begin and then quit. 

He called us because 

he had good works 

planned for us before 

the foundation of the 

world. Ephesians 2:10 

to send a contingent of Jews back home to rebuild 

the temple that had been destroyed. Although many 

Jews had settled down and become comfortable in 

Babylon, a fairly large group returned to Jerusalem to 

begin work on rebuilding the temple. 

When they laid the foundation, the people 

celebrated and praised God for His grace and 

goodness to them. But many 

of the older people wept aloud 

because they remembered 

the glory of the former temple 

and knew that it could never 

be the same. Discouragement 

grew as many difficulties 

arose. The surrounding pagan 

peoples opposed and plotted 

against the Jews until their 

discouragement turned into 

defeat. The building was 

stopped and other priorities, 

such as building their own homes, took precedence 

in their daily lives. The people lived for fifteen years 

in an atmosphere of economic hardship. They were 

apathetic and demoralized. 

Have you ever been like those returned exiles? 

Have you ever felt God calling you to a task but then 

become discouraged and failed to finish? Perhaps 

you questioned if you really heard God calling in 

the first place? Or maybe you compared your work 

to someone else and began to feel that yours was 

inferior and God was not blessing you. Or perhaps you 

quit because those around you failed to support your 

efforts or even worked against you. Or maybe the 

task was much more difficult than you anticipated. 

Haven’t we all been tempted in some situation like 

one of these? Maybe you’re facing a similar difficulty 

right now. If you’ve ever been tempted to be a 

quitter, God has a message for you, and it is found in 

Haggai’s prophecy. 

It was fifteen years after the quitters quit, that 

God raised up the prophets Zechariah and Haggai 

to call the people to reassess their situation and 

their priorities and get back to the task of rebuilding 

the temple. And, as is typical in God’s Word, the 

messages to the Jews way back then are applicable to 

us in the twenty-first century as well. 

Haggai’s prophecy is a series of messages from 

God, beginning with a challenge to the people to 

take a close look at themselves and get back to 

construction. Happily, this is followed by a positive 

response from the people and their obedience in 

taking up the challenge, even though they were 

deeply discouraged. The final portion of Haggai’s 

prophecy is filled with encouragement from God. 

He reminds the people that He is with them and He 

will judge those who have opposed and mistreated 

them. He has rich blessings in store for them, and 

He will keep His promise to bless the whole world 

through them. It is God’s message of encouragement 

in Chapter 2, verses 6 and 7 that Handel wrote into 

his “Messiah”, it is the promise of the Messiah and His 

coming to set all things right. 

“For thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is 

a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the 

earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake 

all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.” 

And isn’t that where we should find our 

encouragement? The “desire of all nations” has come 

All things are possible 

to him who believes 

Mark 9:23 

and He has told us, “All things are possible to him 

who believes.” (Mark 9:23) God did not call us to begin 

and then quit. He called us because he had good 

works planned for us before the foundation of the 

world. (Ephesians 2:10) He called us to be a blessing 

to those around us -- a blessing which He will use to 

spread His Name and His Glory throughout the world. 

Who knows how far your small local influence may be 

spread by the power of God and His Holy Spirit? 

I hope you will read Haggai’s prophecy. Then go 

see a performance of the Messiah this Easter and be 

encouraged to carry on with joy where God has called 

you. 


Zechariah 

GOD GIVES HOPE FOR THE FUTURE 

Along with the prophet Haggai, Zechariah was one 

of nearly 50,000 Jews who returned to Judah from 

exile in Babylon in response to the decree of king 

Cyrus (538 B.C.) to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. 

The people had begun work on the temple, but after 

laying the foundation, discouragement set in and 

sixteen years passed with no progress. So, God called 

first Haggai and then Zechariah, often referred to as 

“prophets of the restoration,” to call the people to 

return to Him and resume building. 

God first raised up 

Haggai who pointed out 

the people’s sin and 

selfishness in failing 

to complete the work 

they had been called 

to do, to call them 

back to work, and to 

convey God’s promise to bless them as they labored. 

Haggai’s prophecy was both an exhortation to 

motivate the people to return to work and a word of 

encouragement to complete the job. 

Zechariah prophesied after the people had resumed 

rebuilding, and his main purpose was to give the 

people moral support, confidence in the Lord, 

and hope for the future as they obeyed Him and 

completed their work in the midst of opposition from 

their pagan neighbors. Zechariah’s prophecy begins 

with an oracle and eight visions calling the people 

to return to the LORD and serve Him with sincerity 

of heart. His theme is, “look to the future.” It was 

vitally important that the temple be built because 

one day in the future the glory of the Messiah would 

dwell there and fill it. That day of blessing could never 

come unless the people were obedient to God. As 

one commentator put it, they were not just building 

a temple. They were building the future. The Messiah 

was coming, and they should work on the temple with 

whole-hearted joy and enthusiasm. 

Zechariah’s is a prophecy of encouragement. 

Zechariah conveys “the word of the LORD” to 

entreat and encourage 

the people. In the 

Don’t we all need encouragement? 

And we see in the prophecy of 

Zechariah that the Lord our God 

is our great encourager. 

prophecy of Zechariah, 

we see what a great 

encourager our God 

is. He never leaves us 

alone to amble blindly 

through our sojourn 

here on earth, but 

He speaks to us through His Word. He spoke to his 

people who lived 500 years before Christ through 

the prophets He sent. In His Word, He speaks to us 

through those prophets also, as well as through the 

gospel writers and apostles and his disciples in the 

New Testament. He has spoken to us through His 

servants through the ages to encourage us right where 

we are here and now in the twenty-first century. 

And His message way back in the days of Haggai 

and Zechariah is the same message He encourages 

us with today. Jesus is coming to save us and set 

things right. He’s coming to deliver us from evil. He 

is coming to revive us, restore us, and renew us. He 

is coming so we can rejoice right here and now in the 

knowledge and hope that He gives us in His Word. 

Zechariah means 

The Lord 

Remembers 

The final chapter of Zechariah’s prophecy is an 

oracle about the Day of the Lord - a future day seen 

by many of the prophets - a day of judgment for the 

wicked but of salvation and joy for God’s people. 

Zechariah tells 

us it will be a day when the remnant of all nations 

will worship the King, the LORD of Hosts (Zechariah 

14:16-21) and it will be a day of “HOLINESS TO THE 

LORD.” 

Do you need encouragement? Do you need 

encouragement to get through your day, to go to 

work, to care for your children, to get your school work 

done, to be faithful to you ministry at church, or even 

just to go out and face the world and other people in 

your neighborhood, at church, on the freeways, in the 

supermarket? Don’t we all need encouragement? And 

we see in the prophecy of Zechariah that the Lord our 

God is our great encourager. 

Did you know that soon after Zechariah prophesied 

there was a period of 400 years of silence when 

there was not one word from God to His people? 

God did not raise up any prophets for 400 years! It 

was not until John the Baptist came, as a forerunner 

of Jesus, the Messiah, that God again spoke to 

the people. But He had given them amazing 

encouragement through the message of Zechariah. 

Even Zechariah’s name, which means, “The LORD 

remembers” was an encouragement. And that should 

be an encouragement to us as well. The LORD does 

remember. He remembers you and He remembers 

me, and He remembers every promise He has made 

to us in His Word. And He will keep every one of those 

promises. So, do not ever be discouraged. Sit down 

for a few minutes (or as long as you like) every day 

and encourage yourself in His Word. I promise that as 

you read and soak it in and apply it to your life, you 

will experience the encouragement of the LORD 


Malachi 

THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL RISE 

The very last of the twelve Minor Prophets is 

Malachi, who delivered his message about one 

hundred years after Haggai and Zechariah, the 

two prophets before him. You will recall that both 

Haggai and Zechariah delivered God’s message to 

the people of Judah, who had recently returned 

from a seventy-year exile in Babylon. The people 

had been tasked with rebuilding God’s temple but 

had met with opposition and become discouraged. 

They soon stopped working and 

succumbed to selfishness and 

sin. Haggai and Zechariah both 

delivered messages of reproof, 

encouragement, and hope, and 

as a result, the new temple was 

completed. 

One hundred years later the 

people had again fallen into sin, 

and this time God raised up Malachi to confront them 

with their sins, call them to return to Him, and warn 

them of the coming day of the LORD. 

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a 

furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be 

chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze, 

so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. 

But for you who fear my name, the sun of 

righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and 

you will go forth and skip about like calves from the 

stall….” (Malachi 4:1- 2) 

After God spoke His message through Malachi, 

there were four hundred years of silence -- four 

God’s Love 

Never Fails 

hundred years without one word from God. And then 

came John the Baptist, who preached repentance and 

preparing the way for LORD. Although He was silent 

for four hundred years, God was still working behind 

the scenes for the good of His people. Even when 

His people fail Him, God’s love is stronger than our 

failure. His love never fails. 

In reading Malachi’s prophecy, I found it interesting 

that the sins of God’s people 

today are not so different than 

the sins of the people in his day, 

four hundred years before Christ. 

The attitudes and actions of the 

Jewish people way back then 

are an ancient picture of many 

Christian attitudes and actions 

today. 

In his commentary, The Minor Prophets, James 

Montgomery Boice points out that Jewish religiosity 

in Malachi’s day perfectly pictures modern Christian 

attitudes that attempt to “bring God down to 

earth and measure Him by the yardstick of human 

morality.” Seven times in Malachi, God confronts the 

people with a statement of what He has done for 

them and seven times their response is an arrogant 

“How?” They show no honor or respect for God. Here 

are God’s seven statements and the responses by the 

people. 

(1:2) “I have loved you” -- “How have you loved us?” 

(1:6) “You, O priests, have despised my name” -- 

“How have we despised Your name?” (1:7) “You are 

presenting defiled food upon my altar” -- “How have 

we defiled You?” (2:17) “You have wearied the LORD 

with your words” -- “How have we wearied Him?” (3:7) 

“Return to me and I will return to you” -- “How shall 

we return?” 

(3:8) “You are robbing me…in tithes and offerings” 

-- “How have we robbed You?” 

(3:13) “Your words have been arrogant against me” 

-- “What have we spoken against You?” 

It’s easy for us to look at this list and say that none 

of these things apply to us, but that is arrogance on 

our part. Stop and think for a minute. Have you never 

questioned God’s love by complaining that you want 

or need more than He has given you? Have you ever 

coveted more in the way of material things, or have 

you compared yourself to someone who has a more 

important position in the church? If so, you have 

doubted God’s love for you. 

The priests despised God’s name by offering 

imperfect sacrifices of lame and sick animals they 

would surely never offer to a secular leader. Have you 

ever despised God’s name by giving Him only what 

is leftover instead of what you know would be your 

best? This can apply to both your material wealth and 

your time and energy. 

The people of Malachi’s day wearied God by calling 

good evil and questioning His justice. Have you ever 

done that? Have you ever looked upon God’s views 

in the Bible as being outdated? Do you do things 

your own way just because everyone else does? Has 

your church veered away from following practices 

that are plainly Biblical? Have you ever questioned 

why God allows “natural disasters” or other painful 

occurrences? Have you ever wearied God with 

arrogant words in trying to twist His words to suit your 

own situation or point of view? Have you robbed Him 

of tithes and offerings? Are you ever so arrogant that 

you think you do not need to take stock of your life 

and turn around and follow God completely instead 

of putting yourself first? 

If you can see yourself in any of these sins of the 

Jewish people, then God is calling you to return to 

Him. He is calling us, from the pages of His Word and 

the Book of Malachi to face up to our individual and 

collective sins and return to Him. But the greatest 

thing is that He also calls us to the same hope to 

which He called His people in Malachi’s day, “For you 

who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise 

with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and 

skip about like calves from the stall. (Malachi 4:2) 

This is the promise He made to the people of Judah, 

and four hundred years later Jesus Christ, the sun 

of righteousness, was born. He was the only person 

on earth who ever lived a perfectly righteous life. 

He endured the cross for our sins, but He rose again 

from the dead. And the promise for us is that He is 

coming again! The Day of the Lord is coming. It will be 

a day of judgment for those who do not honor God, 

but a day of salvation and joy and glory for those 

who love and obey Him. That is our hope as we live 

in this fallen world. God may call us to difficult times 

and tasks, He may hold us strictly accountable to His 

Word and discipline us when we go astray, but He 

always keeps His promises and His love never fails. 

May our love for Him prove unfailing as well. 


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D 

Thank you for learning new insights 

in the Minor Prophets and growing 

through God’s Word. 

Find more studies: 

www.DisciplersOnline.org 

-- Suzie 

© SUZIE KLEIN, DISCIPLERS BIBLE STUDIES, INC | WWW.DISCIPLERSONLINE.ORG

Minor Prophets

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