In Sunday school we have been studying the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament: Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. They are called the Minor Prophets because they are shorter in length than Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel. Despite numerous quotations in the Gospels with reference to Christ these twelve books of the Old Testament are perhaps the least familiar books in the entire Bible.
On the other hand, a few phrases from the Minor Prophets have become famous. In fifth grade I remember being on a field trip to the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Alabama. At that memorial Amos 5:24 was prominent: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (RSV). Martin Luther King Jr. frequently quoted Micah 6:8: “He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (RSV). Moreover, protestants have always championed justification through faith alone from Habakuk 2:4 “…. the righteous shall live by his faith” (ESV). We might be more familiar with the minor prophets than we thought at first.
Professor Paul House in his book The Unity of the Twelve makes a sound argument that the Minor Prophets tell one big story of sin, judgment and salvation. Hosea through Micah tell the story of a world bent on dishonoring the God who loves them. Nahum through Zephaniah 3:8 tell the story of the intensification of the hammer of God’s judgment against those who dishonor him. Zephaniah 3:9 to Malachi tell the story of God’s salvation for those who turn to Him for mercy. If you read that closely then you can see how Zephaniah is the turning point in the story of the minor prophets,
In Zephaniah 1-3:8 the Lord argues that the entire world has come under God’s judgment. Much like the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans, Zephaniah focuses in the first chapter on the worldwide experience of God’s justice against sin. Zephaniah uses the voices of a world under God’s judgment to drive the point home. They “cry” and “wail” in “distress,” “anguish,” “ruin,” “devastation,” “darkness,” and “gloom.” If you want to read about the importance of God’s judgment in general Tim Keller has written a short article available at https://timothykeller.com/blog/2008/8/1/the-importanceof-hell
Things change dramatically beginning in Zephaniah 3:9. From that point to the end of the book the Lord announces His plan to rescue the world from His own judgment. Zephaniah 3:9-20 has some of the most amazing pictures of salvation in all of Scripture. The reason may be because after building the dam of his wrath through the Minor Prophets the Lord here first reveals the explosion of the water of his salvation.
For the believer, God promises to take away their shame, provide a refuge, and take away the judgments against them in Christ (3:15). In 3:17 it says, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Preachers are prone to hyperbole, but this verse truly is unique.
Here God describes the incarnation of the Son of God where God became man (see Matthew 1:23) and literally exults over his people with loud singing. Moreover, in verse 19 and 20 twice the Lord promises that in Christ believers will be “praised.” What other God sings and praises loudly over those who follow Him? What other God invites us to sing to Him and praise him because he first sang over us in Christ? Answer: only the Christian God!
This is the power of trusting in Christ who was crucified. In the face of Jesus Christ, by faith, the believer sees the Lord exulting over them with loud singing. Our Lord exults over us because in the words of our Presbyterian doctrinal standards “he has subdued us to himself,” conquered our pride, given us His Holy Spirit, and “conquers all His and all our enemies” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 26).
