ZEPHANIAH Judgment against Judah Date of Writing In

ZEPHANIAH Judgment against Judah

Date of Writing • In the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah (Zephaniah 1: 1). • A Call for National Repentance. • Slightly prior to Jeremiah. • Foretells the Destruction of Nineveh.

640 630 620 610 Kings of Judah 600 Jehoahaz 580 Jehoiachin Jehoiakim Josiah 590 Zedekiah Jerusalem & Temple Destroyed Zephaniah Jeremiah Nahum Daniel Ezekiel Fall of Nineveh

Zephaniah

Zephaniah 1: 2 -3

Zephaniah 1: 4

Zephaniah 2: 1 -3

Zephaniah 3: 8 -10

Zephaniah 3: 11 -12 In that day you will feel no shame Because of all your deeds By which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst Your proud, exulting ones, And you will never again be haughty On My holy mountain. 12 But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the LORD. 11

Lessons from Zephaniah • God used the Babylonians to bring severe judgment on Judah and many other nations for their sins. • Humbly seeking God provides hope for protection from harm. • The destruction of other nations would one day be to Israel’s advantage. • God will purify Gentiles and Jews and grant them magnificent blessings after his judgment is complete.

JOEL Yahweh is God

Other Observations • Joel makes no mention of the northern kingdom of Israel as a separate entity. • When he does speak of Israel, he uses it in a sense where it seems to refer to a united covenant people of God.

Outline of Joel

Joel 1: 1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel

Joel 1: 2 -3 Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers' days? 3 Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation. 2

Joel 1: 4 What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.

Joel 1: 10 The field is ruined, The field fails, The land mourns, The land loses, For the grain is ruined, For the grain is gone, The new wine dries up, The wine withers, Fresh oil fails

Joel 2: 12 -13 "Yet even now, " declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping, and mourning; 13 And rend your heart and not your garments. " 12

Joel 2: 30 -31 And I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire, and columns of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. 30

Prophecy & Fulfillment • God’s Spirit to be poured out • Sons and daughters to prophesy • Dreams and visions • Blood and fire, and vapor of smoke • Sun darkened, moon into blood • God’s Spirit was poured out • Men and women prophesied • Dreams and visions given • Blood of Jesus shed and tongues of fire given • Sun darkened at crucifixion

The Day of the Lord • Destruction from the Almighty (Isaiah 13: 6; Joel 1: 15). • Cruel, with fury and burning anger (Isaiah 13: 9). • The Day of the Lord’s Anger (Lamentations 2: 22). • The Day of the Lord will come like a Thief (2 Peter 3: 10).

Joel 3: 1 -2 For behold, in those days and at that time, When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations, And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land. 1

Ammon Moab

OBADIAH Oracle against Edom

640 630 620 610 Kings of Judah 600 Jehoahaz Zephaniah 580 Jehoiachin Jehoiakim Josiah 590 Obadiah? Zedekiah Jerusalem & Temple Destroyed Jeremiah Nahum Daniel Ezekiel Fall of Nineveh

Judah Edom

Obadiah 1: 3 -4

Petra

Lessons from Obadiah • God cares for his people when they suffer. • God warns but will eventually judge those who persecute his people. • God will give victory to his people. • God’s faithful people will inherit the kingdom of God in its fullness.

HABAKKUK The Prayer & Praise of God’s Prophet

640 630 620 610 Kings of Judah 600 Jehoahaz Zephaniah 580 Jehoiachin Jehoiakim Josiah 590 Obadiah? Zedekiah Jerusalem & Temple Destroyed Jeremiah Nahum Daniel Habakkuk Fall of Nineveh Ezekiel

Lessons from Habakkuk’s Questions • God Balances His Books in His own Time

Lessons from Habakkuk’s Questions • God Balances His Books in His own Time • When God Balances His Books, He does it His own way Why does God use evil people?

Lessons from Habakkuk’s Questions • God Balances His Books in His own Time • When God Balances His Books, He does it His own way • God Balances His Books without Partiality Five Woes Proclaimed

Lessons from Habakkuk’s Questions • God Balances His Books in His own Time • When God Balances His Books, He does it His own way • God Balances His Books without Partiality • God Ultimately Balanced His Books upon the Cross

Habakkuk 3: 3 -5 God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise. 4 His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power. 5 Before Him goes pestilence, And plague comes after Him. 3

Habakkuk 3: 13 Thou didst go forth for the salvation of Thy people, For the salvation of Thine anointed. Thou didst strike the head of the house of the evil To lay him open from thigh to neck. Selah.

Habakkuk 3: 17 -18 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, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 17

Habakkuk 3: 19 The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places. For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.