Audio Transcript:

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

Welcome back to Missions on Point, this is episode 240. We are preaching about missions, which means we have to rightly interpret God’s word and then rightly apply it to the church we are serving. Some sermons are so interested in application that they miss the meat of the text. Other sermons are so hung up on digesting the meat that they never reach the lives of the audience listening to it. That is especially true of sermons in the Old Testament, which is why we are spending so much time there. The application for an Old Testament saint listening to the Old Testament would be remarkably different. But the change that Jesus has brought about in the New Covenant of his blood makes all the difference. Now, local churches are commanded to take the knowledge of the glory of God into all the world. Our embassies of heaven that sit as cities on the hill are meant to be multiplied and breaking down the barriers of cultural divisions all around us.

Today we consider three of the Old Testament minor prophets, and they all are kind of unique in their own way. They don’t fit nicely into the historical divisions that I have given in the previous episodes of being pre-Assyrian exile, pre-Babylonian exile, and post-exile. Now, they, of course, all fit somewhere in time, but they either don’t emphasize that time, or they don’t fit closely with other contemporary prophets. They stand out a little in their message. I think you’ll see what I mean.

First up is the prophet Jonah. Jonah is well known for being a sort of prodigal prophet. It’s very likely that Jonah is one of the very first minor prophets, because he prophesied against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. So, we clearly know what time frame he is in, but he does not fit in with the other pre-Assyrian exile prophets in his message. In fact, Jonah is somewhat of an anti-prophet. He is a demonstration of what a prophet is not supposed to do. He resists God’s word. He runs away from the ministry given to him. And most importantly, he does not have compassion like God has compassion for humanity that God has created. Jonah represents the wrong attitude of the Israelites, who thought that they alone were entitled to God’s blessing because they were Abraham’s descendants. The book of Jonah is meant to shock his true audience, the complacent, arrogant Israelites who did not care about any other nation except themselves. And perhaps we too need a wake up call to have compassion on those who we might count our enemies, and instead have God’s heart for them that they should repent and be saved.

The book of Jonah is clearly broken down into 4 dramatic acts. Scene 1 has Jonah running away from God. He is called to preach to the Ninevites, but he doesn’t want to, so he goes down to the sea, and then down into the belly of the ship, and eventually down into the belly of a giant fish. He reaches the pit of Sheol, the gates of death itself. God’s judgment is coming upon the Ninevites because of their wickedness. But the irony here is that Jonah is also disobedient to God. In contrast, the pagan sailors fear God more than Jonah, and they value Jonah’s life more than he does. The wind and the fish obey God. Even the lots are cast and controlled by God. Scene 2 is a song of Jonah crying out to God from the depths, praising God for his resurrection power. Scene 3 is Jonah being recommissioned by God to go to the Ninevites, and he reluctantly goes, proclaiming that God would judge the city for their wickedness. And surprisingly, they repent, and just as Jonah suspected, God relents from the disaster he was going to bring. Scene 4 has Jonah moping outside of the city. And once again the forces of nature obey God. He raises up a plant to give Jonah shade, and a worm to eat it. It’s this fourth chapter where we learn that there is something more important that God is teaching us than simply that the wicked should repent and avert their impending destruction. Jonah pities the plant more than the Ninevites. And the point is made in the last verse. God says, “Should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” Jonah’s self-centeredness and his hatred for his enemies causes him to miss the great compassion of God for his creation, especially the souls of humans.

The book of Jonah is not a book on missions any more than any other book of the Bible is about missions. Most importantly it teaches us about God’s heart of compassion. And this should be the primary motivation of missionaries who preach God’s word. We long to see people worship God rightly, fearing the Lord, and repenting of their sins. And at the heart of the book is a resurrection. Jesus teaches us that Jonah is a sign, proof that God can bring back from the dead. As long as anyone has life, there is hope for repentance and new life in God, maybe even some lackluster Christians who lack compassion for those who seem to be our enemies. Like with the rest of scripture, Jonah teaches us about the heart of God for all people of the earth. And we clearly need a prophet better than Jonah to return from the dead and give us hope through repenting of our sins.

Next. we consider the prophet Joel. This prophet is also an oddball because he is not definitively located in any one place in time. Commentators are divided on whether he belongs before or after the exile. He is unusual because he does not call for repentance from idolatry like all other pre-exile prophets, and thus he sounds more like the post-exile prophets with a more future orientation. However, he is placed with the pre-exile prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and he mentions several pre-exile enemies of Israel.

The Day of the Lord is a primary theme. An invasion of locusts and an invasion of an army have equally devastating effects. It’s an almost over-the-top disaster. Hope comes in the middle of the book in the second chapter. God’s mercy comes. He responds to the disaster by restoring his people. And finally, God’s judgment is turned against the nations for their mistreatment of God’s people. And we are comforted because God makes his presence to dwell with his people. Hope, justice, and the restoration of God’s people and all of creation to perfect peace comes so that we would know that God is the Lord. The global implications of this judgment are clear. God will gather all nations and enter into a lawsuit against them, matching their punishment to their crime. And the Lord roars, terrifying his enemies, but is a refuge and stronghold to his people. The missions implications of this judgment are clear, because they remind us of the judgment on all mankind in the book of Revelation. God will rescue his people from the injustice that every nation wages against them.

Of particular interest though in this book is that middle section of hope. Peter, at the day of Pentecost, directly calls the coming of the Holy Spirit in power upon believers, beginning in that upper room, as the fulfillment of the prophecy in Joel. It's a democratization of the Spirit because the Spirit comes upon all kinds of people: young, old, male, female, slave, and free. It’s an abundant outpouring of the Spirit: coming on many people. It’s the fulfillment of miracles and signs that come before the day of the Lord comes. It’s the breaking down of the dividing wall of hostility between peoples, such that people from all nations can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. Language and culture are no longer hindrances because God’s Spirit has now come to all nations. With this in mind, we consider that the church as a multicultural, Spirit-filled body of believers warns the nations of the impending judgment of the final Day of the Lord.

Finally, for today, we turn to Obadiah. Obadiah’s uniqueness is not just in its brevity, but in its audience and time period too. Obadiah sits rather isolated after the fall of Jerusalem. Daniel and Ezekiel prophesied during this time, but they have both been exiled. Obadiah’s audience was the nation of Edom, but it is written as a comfort for Judah. The key to understanding this shortest book in the Old Testament is to understand Israel’s long history with Edom, the nation that came from Jacob’s brother Esau. Israel and Edom were always at odds with one another. And there are more Old Testament prophecies against Edom than against any other foreign nation. God had promised Rebekah, their mother, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.”

The first half of this short book is an announcement of judgment and warning to Edom. Then the last few verses give a promise of restoration and victory to Israel through Yahweh’s kingship. That ancient prophecy would ultimately be fulfilled. This long-term generational conflict is ultimately about the Gospel as the Apostle Paul picks up on this in the book of Romans to explain God’s sovereign choice in election, quoting the prophecy, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” And so, Obadiah anticipates the victorious kingdom of the Lord by proclaiming judgment against Edom and the eventual salvation and restoration of Israel.

Edom had looted the besieged Israelites, and had even cut off fugitives and handed over their survivors to Babylon. Edom gloated in the day of Judah’s misfortune. Their pride and sense of invincibility were symbolized by their mountainous terrain and strongholds. They thought they could never be conquered. Yet, God would bring them down from their nest in the stars. Edom would be like stubble, and Israel would be the fire. The judgment on Edom was a picture of the judgment that would come upon the whole world in the day of the Lord.

Yet, there is hope, and hope even for Edom. At the end of this short book, we are told that saviors would go up to rule Mount Zion and Mount Esau. Their kingdom would be the Lord’s. God will be victorious over all of his enemies. One of the ways Christ conquers his enemies is to turn them from being his enemies to being his devoted followers. So, let this be an encouragement to Christians today. The world is full of God’s enemies. But we must remember that we too were once God’s enemies. Yet, while we were enemies, Christ died for us. And let us remember that now too. Though the world mocks Christ and his followers, though the world is lofty with pride, God will humble the proud and even bring them to repentance. No mountain is too impossible for God to conquer. No hard heart is too far gone that God cannot soften it. God can save a people for himself from every nation. God can have mercy and compassion on whomever he wills. So let that be the confidence of the missionary who preaches the gospel to those who are presently God’s enemies.

May God give us his own compassion, as we learn in Jonah. May he grant his church the Holy Spirit for all peoples, as we see in Joel. And per Obadiah, may we have confidence that God will conquer his enemies.

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.