THE FIRST PART: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
From the Captivity to the Return
Message Ten—The Minor Prophets (1)
Scripture Reading: Micah 5:2; Joel 3:16-18; Amos 9:11; Mal. 4:2; Hosea 2:19-20, Hab. 3:2a; Hosea 6:2; Joel 2:28-29; Hag. 1:14a; 2:7a; Mal. 3:1b
I. Like the Major Prophets, the Minor Prophets unveil that God’s economy in His loving chastisement of Israel, in His governmental dealing with Israel, and in His judgment upon the nations issues in the manifestation of Christ as the centrality and universality in God’s economy to bring in the kingdom, the age of restoration, which will usher the old and ruined universe into the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem—Micah 5:2; Joel 3:16-18; Amos 9:11; Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:21; Rev. 21:1-2: (2012 ST, msg. 1)
A. World history is displaying the fulfillment of what was prophesied through the prophets; for twenty-six centuries Israel has been suffering under a long, divine chastisement—Joel 1:4. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
B. God’s chastisement of Israel has been for the purpose that Christ would be manifested as everything, as the centrality and universality in God’s economy; this manifestation will bring in the age of restoration—2:25; 3:16-18. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
C. God is moving, working, and managing the world affairs to fulfill His eternal economy, that is, to make Christ everything to mankind for the bringing in of the kingdom, the age of restoration—Hosea 14:1-9; Amos 9:11; Micah 4:1-4. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
D. The central point of all the prophets is Christ—Luke 24:27; John 5:39: (2012 ST, msg. 1)
1. God’s intention, God’s desire, makes Christ the centrality and universality in His economy—Col. 1:15-18. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
2. In the New Testament Christ is all and in all; in the new man Christ is everyone and in everyone, and thus the whole church is nothing but Christ—3:10-11; 1 Cor. 12:12. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
E. The central thought of the Minor Prophets includes the following points concerning Christ: (2012 ST, msg. 1)
1. God will judge the world, and thus sinners should prepare to meet God—Joel 3:2a; Amos 4:12; Acts 17:31. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
2. Christ, as the eternally divine One, came to earth and was born to be human—Micah 5:2. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
3. Christ entered into death and resurrected from it for the extending of God’s salvation to all the nations—Jonah 1:17; 2:10; 3:2. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
4. Sinners who repent and believe in Christ will be forgiven of their sins and justified by God to have the divine life so that they may walk in the divine light and become the mighty ones of Christ, sent with Him by God in Christ’s second coming—Amos 4:12; Micah 7:8-9, 18-19; Hab. 2:4; Joel 3:11b. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
5. Christ will arise as the Sun of righteousness and come as the Angel of the covenant to reign in Zion and to shepherd Israel, and then the millennium of the restoration will be brought in—Mal. 4:2; 3:1; Micah 4:1-3, 7b; 5:4; Hosea 14:4-8; Rev. 20:4, 6; Matt. 19:28. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
II. God’s intention in His eternal economy is that He and His chosen people would be a universal couple—Hosea 1:2; 2:19-20; Jer. 2:2: (2012 ST, msg. 1)
A. The crucial emphasis of the revelation released by all the prophets from Isaiah to Malachi is that God wants to have an organic union with His chosen people—Hosea 2:19-20: (2012 ST, msg. 1)
1. In this union God is His people’s life, and they are His expression; in this way God and His chosen people become a universal couple—Rev. 22:17. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
2. Both the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets speak of God as the Husband and of God’s chosen people as the wife; this thought is fully developed in the New Testament—Matt. 9:15; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 21:2, 9-10. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
B. The entire Bible is a divine romance, showing that throughout the centuries God has had a romance with man; thus, the Bible is a record of how God courts His chosen people and eventually marries them—Gen. 2:21-24; S. S. 1:2-4; Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19; Matt. 9:15; John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:25-32; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10; 22:17. (2012 ST, msg. 1)
III. Habakkuk 3:2a speaks of revival—”O Jehovah, revive Your work / In the midst of the years”:(2012 ST, msg. 12)
A. We may say that this matter of revival is the “kernel” within the “shell” of the books of the Minor Prophets. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
B. Among God’s elect there has always been an aspiration to be revived; although we may not realize it, such an aspiration has been within us through all the years of our Christian life—cf. Psa. 80:17-19. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
C. In the eyes of God, one person among His elect represents the whole; God always considers His elect as a corporate Body. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
D. This means that Habakkuk and we are one in the unit of God’s elect; thus, when Habakkuk prayed for revival, we also prayed; such a prayer is an everlasting prayer. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
E. In order to practice the God-ordained and scriptural way to meet and to serve, we need to be revived; this is why the Lord leads us to practice morning revival: (2012 ST, msg. 12)
1. We believers should follow the sunrising to be revived and to have a new beginning every morning; every day we need a “sunrising,” and this sunrising is a revival—Mal. 4:2; Prov. 4:18; Judg. 5:31; Matt. 13:43. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
2. If we experience a daily revival, then we will be living and qualified to practice the God-ordained way and to help the church to take this way. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
IV. The Lord desires to bring the churches into a new revival to end this age: (2012 ST, msg. 12)
A. We can enter into a new revival by arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation through the ministry of the age—the revelation of the eternal economy of God: “I hope that the saints in all the churches throughout the earth, especially the co-workers and the elders, will see this revelation and then rise up to pray that God would give us a new revival—a revival which has never been recorded in history”—Life-study of 1&2 Chronicles, p. 15. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
B. We can enter into a new revival by living the life of a God-man: “We should all declare that we want to live the life of a God-man. Eventually, the God-men will be the victors, the overcomers, the Zion within Jerusalem. This will bring in a new revival which has never been seen in history, and this will end this age”—Life-study of 1&2 Chronicles, p. 28. (2012 ST, msg. 12)
C. We can enter into a new revival by shepherding people according to God: “I hope that there will be a genuine revival among us by our receiving this burden of shepherding. If all the churches receive this teaching to participate in Christ’s wonderful shepherding, there will be a big revival in the recovery”—The Vital Groups, p. 40. (2012 ST, msg. 12)