Journey Through the Bible
Read the bible in a year
Zephaniah prophesied in the years preceding the fall of Judah, making him a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum and Habakkuk. Zephaniah spoke of the “day of the LORD”, the day in which God’s judgment on sin would come on all the nations, not just Judah. The anger of the Lord is pictured as fire that will consume those who fail to repent. But the message does not end with judgment. There is always hope with the Lord. God’s people will be gathered from the nations, and there will be a restoration in accordance with God’s good purposes.
The last three minor prophets (Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi) ministered in Judah following the return from exile in Babylon. The Babylonians had destroyed the temple in Jerusalem in 586 B.C., and in 538 B.C. King Cyrus issued an order that the Jewish captives be allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. Unbelief, intimidation from critics and preoccupation with their own affairs deterred the Israelites from the purpose for which they had come. Haggai came to deliver God’s message to them: “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin.” Haggai exhorted them to return to God’s way and to the task of rebuilding the temple. Zechariah, a younger contemporary of Haggai, joined in encouraging the people to finish rebuilding the temple, and he continued his ministry long after Haggai had died. He was from a priestly family and became the head of that family. The key theme of this book is encouragement - encouragement to finish rebuilding the temple and encouragement based on the promised coming of the Messiah. Like the other prophets, Zechariah combines messages of judgment with those of hope, but he includes the hope of the Messiah’s second coming as well as His first.
Malachi is the third of the post-exilic prophets and the last prophet to minister before the New Testament era. Between Malachi and Matthew there were 400 silent years with no prophetic voice. A connection between the two Testaments is found in Malachi's prediction of the coming of Elijah (John the Baptist) to prepare the way for the coming Messiah.
Before Matthew became a disciple of Jesus, he was a tax collector for the Roman government. His purpose in writing his Gospel was to prove to the Jews that Jesus was the promised Messiah, which explains why the book of Matthew has more quotations from and allusions to the Old Testament than any other New Testament book. The key theme to Matthew’s Gospel is the kingdom of heaven.
September 26, Zephaniah 1 - 3
September 27, Haggai 1 - 2
September 28, Zechariah 1 - 5
September 29, Zechariah 6 - 10
September 30, Zechariah 11 - 14
October 1, Malachi 1 - 4
October 2, Matthew 1 - 4 |
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