Text: Zechariah 1:1-21. God was faithful to His promise of bringing His people back to their homeland (Jer.29:10). But they cannot remain as they were. They must repent, meaning, turn away from their former ways, and turn toward God in obedience from a grateful heart of love. God then gives them promises of peace. The riders in[…]
Text: Zephaniah 3:1-20 Zephaniah has prophesied against evil nations (vv.1-7), and now he turns to pronounce punishment upon Jerusalem and four groups of leaders who are singled out: 1. Princes; (2). Judges; 3. Prophets and 4. Priests. The priests pretended to serve God yet they did not (vv. 3-5). They could not learn from the punishment that God had inflicted[…]
Text: Zephaniah 1:1-18 When Israelites arrived in the Promised Land, God commanded them to completely eliminate the pagan occupants with their Idols, but they did not. With time the Israelites began to worship Idols too (vv.4-6). The chief god was Baal which symbolised strength and fertility. This made God very angry with His children for He cannot share His glory[…]
Text: Habakkuk 3:1-9 God answered all the questions that Habakkuk raised, and the prophet praised God for that (v.1ff). Let us trust God for He is in control of every situation. He will vindicate us. We only need to be patient as we wait on Him to act (v.16). As part of God’s punishment to Judah, crops will fail and[…]
Text: Habakkuk 1:1-17 While other prophets were bringing God’s Word to the people, Prophet Habakkuk is bringing people’s questions to God. Habakkuk is saddened by what he is seeing around himself; violence and corruption grow seemingly unchecked (vv.2-4). And God responds to him that He is about to do amazing acts that would astonish Habakkuk and the inhabitants of Jerusalem (v.5).[…]
Text: Nahum 3:1-19 Assyrians were manipulative; they used beauty, prestige and power to entice other nations (v.4), giving them false friendship, and once those nations lowered their guard, the Assyrians would strike and plunder them. That is how Assyria accumulated great wealth. No nation wished to be ruled by Assyria but because of its wealth, power and prestige, some[…]
Text: Nahum 2:1-13 Assyria had ravaged and crushed Israel and destroyed her people in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17:3-6; 18:9-11). It had also destroyed Judah and forced her people to pay tribute to their authority. This was the reason why Jonah grew up hating Assyria to the extent that he never wanted to prophesy to Nineveh, the capital, to[…]
Text: Nahum 1:1-15 One may not feel comfortable associating God with jealousy and vengeance (v.2). But God’s jealousy and vengeance is different from that of man, for man there are situations of selfishness and for God there is no such mix of jealousy and vengeance with selfishness. God is just in purpose, punishing unrepentant evil doers. God’s[…]
Text: Micah 7:1-20 In this chapter, Micah begins with grief (vv.1-6) and he ends in hope (vv.8-20). Like a farmer who gets disappointed by finding no fruit to eat even after harvest, Micah is disappointed by not finding a godly person in the land (vv.1-4). Is it possible? Yes, look at our situation today. Christian principles are compromised everyday even by those[…]
Text: Micah 6:1-16 It is interesting that God is calling on the mountains to witness and confirm that Israel is guilty (vv.1-2). This is because it was on the mountains and high places that Israel had built pagan altars and practiced Idolatry (1 Kings 14:23; Jeremiah 17:2-3; Ezek. 20:28). The people could not answer God (v.3) because He had[…]