Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions.

Thank you for joining us for episode 238 of Missions on Point. I hope you are encouraged by the preaching of the word of God to guide our thinking and our obedience to God in the Great Commission. Right doctrine and right living must be connected. It’s not good enough for us to just teach the truths of scripture, we must call our listeners to respond in obedient faith. Some of the best examples we have in scripture of people who apply truth to life are the prophets. And when it comes to the work of missions in the church today we ought to pay attention to the prophets of the Old Testament. We can learn from the prophets and imitate their lives too. The prophets teach us about global missions as we consider their message and the messenger. They teach us about our faith and they give us an example of faithfulness too.

I would even say it is appropriate to describe the church’s mission today as having a prophetic dimension to it. Let me clarify that a bit. It’s important to make a distinction between the office of prophet in the Old Testament and the gift of the Holy Spirit today to speak the universal truths of God into specific applications for life. There is no more office of prophet because there is no more new revelation given. The prophet in the Old Testament had the authority to write scripture in the same way that the Apostles of the New Testament had the same inspired authority. The canon of Scripture is closed because those offices have ceased as the fulness of revelation has come in Jesus Christ through the eyewitnesses of his resurrection. Yet, we can use the term prophetic as an adjective describing the nature of our current ministry to take the universal truths of God and apply them to specific cultural moments. We are prophetic, not in the sense of bringing new revelation but in the sense that we imitate the ministry of the prophets who relied upon the written revelation of God and called their hearers to repentance and faith. I think all Christians can accept this description of ministry regardless of whether we think that there is an ongoing New Testament gift of the Holy Spirit called prophecy. And the missionary exemplifies this prophetic ministry more than anyone. Crossing cultures with the gospel of Jesus Christ requires an acute awareness of the timeless, universal truths of God’s word and how specific cultures are in need of repentance and faith in God. I hope you can see the value of the prophets as we consider them over the next four weeks.

As we consider the 12 minor prophets, we will examine 3 of them at a time and group them by historic time frames. The first three are Amos, Hosea, and Micah, and each of these three are pre-exile prophets. They all come in to warn about the imminent judgment of God from Assyria in the North, and they are especially warning the divided kingdom of Israel in the north, but Judah in the south is always implicitly warned lest they become like their brothers in the north who rejected God.

The prophet Amos is the shepherd and farmer who lived near Bethlehem but preached in the north. He was rejected by the people and told to go home. The Israelites were living lives of wealth and comfort, and they assumed it was because God was pleased with them, but Amos came to tell them that that was most certainly not the case. Amos, the farmer, came to confront these comfortable sinners about their plight.  Amos 5:24 is a famous verse in this book, representing this message, saying, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” The big idea in this book clearly connects it to God’s heart for the nations, and that is that God reigns sovereignly over all, and that all people must give an account to him for their actions on the Day of the Lord.

This book is divided into three parts. The first two chapters are judgments against the nations of the world and against Israel and Judah. Chapters 3-6 contain five sermons against the kingdom of Israel. Chapters 7-9 have five visions of the Day of the Lord. One of the most striking features, though, is how this entire book is framed in chapters 1 and 9 with judgment and hope for the Gentile nations.

If Amos is writing first to the apostate nation of Israel and Judah listening in, why then does Amos start his prophecy against all the nations of the world? Imagine the effect this would have on the nation, who hears the lion roar from Jerusalem against all the nations in chapter one, and then he turns his focus on Israel and a lesser degree on Judah. They have become like the nations, and no one is exempt. Judgment was falling on Israel because they were unjust, they were unrighteous, they hated reproof, they hated the truth, and they mistreated the poor. The woes pronounced against them summarize their condemnation with two main sins: their false worship and their trust in material prosperity. This is especially true for Israel in the north, who had under Jeroboam’s leadership set up a false altar with two golden calves. I guess that’s to outdo Aaron who only made one golden calf. And we also think of their material prosperity as coming from the injustice for how they acquired their wealth. You can think of how Ahab stole Naboth’s vineyard as an example of that. The point is that Israel thought that they were untouchable. They celebrated God’s judgment against the nations, but were shocked that they would receive it. So, Amos says that they should not rejoice at the Day of the Lord, because it would only be a day of gloom and darkness for them. The five visions in the last three chapters drive this point home. The locusts, the fire, the plumb line, the summer fruit and the Lord by the altar calling for the destruction of the temple all point to God’s promise to fix his eyes upon them for evil and not for good.

Yet the end of the book has a hope of redemption. God promised to raise up the tent of David, repair its ruins and rebuild it so that David may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by God’s name. The Day of the Lord would restore the fortune of God’s people, and apparently, that includes all the nations of the world who are called by God’s name. God is Lord over all the earth and he judges Israel in the midst of all the nations and rebuilds his possession in a resurrection, which includes all nations. Amos clearly preaches God’s global missions project.

Next, we have the book of Hosea. Hosea, like Amos, speaks primarily to Israel in the north, warning of the impending judgment coming from Assyria. This book is remembered because of its shocking story of the prophet Hosea’s own life illustrating this message. God told him to marry a prostitute who would be unfaithful to him, and his three children whom she bore to him would each be named as an illustration of this message. This picture controls all 14 chapters in this book even though it is only found in the first couple of chapters. Israel was the unfaithful bride committing spiritual adultery, yet the main message of the book is God’s faithfulness despite Israel’s unfaithfulness. Like Hosea who was called to purchase back his bride from the slave market even though she was rightfully his bride, so too, God doubly owns his people because he is not only their God, but he has redeemed them with a price. The names of Hosea’s children make the point well. God has promised judgment in the valley of Jezreel. God has called his people not his people. And, God has declared no mercy to those whom he had shown mercy to. Yet, the promise of God is that he would show mercy to those whom he did not have mercy to, and he would call my people those who were not his people. The Apostle Paul teaches us how to interpret this in Romans 9 saying that this is a promise for the Gentiles, that those who were not God’s people have now become his people and those who were far from the mercy of God because of their Gentile status have in Jesus Christ now received God’s mercy. The judgment of God on the Jews has brought about the inclusion of the Gentiles. God has raised up children for himself from every nation.

The second point I will highlight from this book comes from its structure. This book is divided into five cycles of judgment and restoration, highlighting that even though judgment comes because of sin, there is always a restoration because of God’s faithfulness to his children. And it’s in those promises of restoration that we can see the hope of all people from every nation. God’s children will be like the sand of the sea. The idols of the Gentiles that the Jews went after will be abolished. And though God exiles his people back to Egypt, he promises that out of Egypt he will call his son. This promise is fulfilled when the baby Jesus returns from escaping from Herod. Jesus fulfills the return from exile and brings hope for all nations to be gathered into God’s family. As chapter 14 says that in God the orphan finds mercy. For all who repent and turn to the Lord will find mercy.

Finally, we will briefly consider the book of Micah. Similar to Hosea, Micah preaches a message of judgment followed by promises of salvation. Micah is divided into three sections that each beseech the audience to hear the word of the Lord. Unique to the message of Micah is the picture of the promised Shepherd-King who would restore the weak and powerless who had been mistreated. In opposition to those who oppressed and preached falsely, God’s Messiah would heal the people, restore their unity, and establish God’s rule as a Shepherd-King. The rulers of Israel are especially addressed here. Their judgment would be that God would not listen to their prayers and he would not send any more prophets to them. But the promised salvation would be a ruler that comes from Bethlehem and his peace and greatness would extend to the ends of the earth. The final judgment listed in this book is that God would strike them and make their land desolate because of their wickedness. But the promised salvation would be that the boundaries of God’s people would be far extended such that all the nations of the world would come to God’s people trembling in the fear of the Lord.

The gospel preached in the Old Testament is always aimed at the hope for every nation in the world. Amos preaches about the Day of the Lord, a day of gloom and darkness for Israel, but a day of hope for the Gentiles. Hosea preaches about a faithful husband and father who adopts children who were once not his own and gives them mercy. And Micah tells us of the Shepherd King to be born in Bethlehem who would pardon the sins of all those who feared him. And in all of these books the judgment of the Jews brings about a hope for the Gentiles. So, as you preach through these books and see how they lead us to our hope for the Messiah, don’t fail to miss how the Messiah is always a king that brings peace to all who call upon his name in all the earth.

Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at Propempo.com and missioserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.