Day 22 Hearing the Heart of God! (Part 3)

Overview of both the Major and Minor Prophets: Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

Introduction: Imagine this: You're forced out of your home. Everything you've known—your neighborhood, your church, your place of work—is gone. Your city is burned, your nation conquered, and you're marched hundreds of miles into a foreign land where people don't speak your language, don't respect your God, and don't understand your culture. You're surrounded by loss, confusion, and the growing fear that maybe God has abandoned you.

  • Now ask yourself: how do you keep faith alive in Babylon?
  • That was the reality for Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi—prophets who did ministry not in times of glory, but in seasons of devastation and disorientation. These weren't fair-weather prophets. These were exile prophets, called to speak God's word not from the palace, but from the margins.
  • In the last message about the Old Testament, I’m going to explore how God uses voices in exile to spark courage, give hope, and turn captivity into a platform for revival. Because maybe you're feeling displaced too—confused, discouraged, unsure of where God is in your story. And maybe, just maybe, the message of the exile prophets is exactly what we need right now.

 

1.     Ezekiel:

God will strengthen


  • Ezekiel is one of seven prophets who prophesied during Israel's captivity in Babylon. The others are Jeremiah, who prophesied both before exile and during exile. This is probably true for Obadiah as well. And of course, the most famous prophet during this time is Daniel. And the others are Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
  • In terms of Ezekiel’s background, he came from a priestly family, probably grew up in Jerusalem, and received his calling around the age of 30.
  • One of the things Ezekiel became known for was his prophetic drama.
  • Ezekiel 4:4-8 'Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the house of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the house of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the house of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year. Turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem and with bared arm prophesy against her. I will tie you up with ropes so that you cannot turn from one side to the other until you have finished the days of your siege.'
  • That's not too bad. There was another time he had to shave his head to communicate something prophetically. But none of those things compare to what he was about to experience.
  • Ezekiel 24:15-18: 'The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears. Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Keep your turban fastened and your sandals on your feet; do not cover the lower part of your face or eat the customary food of mourners. So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.'
  • When Ezekiel lost his wife, he saw this as a sign of hardship and great loss coming.
  • Adding to that, he had some of the most amazing visions in Old Testament history. One of his greatest visions is known as the Valley of Dry Bones.
  • Ezekiel 37:1-10 'The hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, Son of man, can these bones live? I said, O Sovereign LORD, you alone know. Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet — a vast army.'
  • This was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. This was the pouring out of his Spirit on a dead, dry, legalistic religion.
  • Ezekiel was also known for seeing a new temple — more glorious than any before it — that would ultimately be fulfilled in Christ and his church.


2. Daniel:

is my Judge


  • This book belongs to a unique section of literature known as apocalyptic.
  • If you remember from when we studied the book of Daniel earlier this year, the book is written in two languages: Aramaic and Hebrew. The first six chapters are written in Aramaic, because the truth within those six chapters is meant for everyone.
  • Chapters 7 through 12, for the most part, are written in Hebrew — in what we would call apocalyptic language, which means language about the end times. These final six chapters contain a number of visions that apply specifically to God's people.
  • Therefore, these stories were written to give hope and strength to God's people as they lived through their 70 years of captivity.
  • In addition to that, Daniel models how God's people, through faith, can be a shining light right in the midst of great darkness — thus partly fulfilling the calling to be a blessing to the nations.
  • Daniel is also significant in that he gives us some of the most profound insights into the future of God's people.
  • The king of Babylon at that time, a man named Nebuchadnezzar, had an amazing dream of an enormous statue with a head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
  • While Nebuchadnezzar was watching the statue, a rock not cut by human hands completely demolished it. The wind swept the broken pieces away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.
  • Daniel interpreted the statue as representing four successive human kingdoms, in descending order of value and power (as indicated by the use of diminishing metals).
  • Traditionally, these metals have been interpreted as the following...
  • Daniel then interprets the meaning of the dream by saying: Daniel 2:44 'In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.'
  • The rock cut without human hands represents the kingdom of God, which will pulverize the kingdoms of humanity and then cover the earth — just as Isaiah and Habakkuk had foretold.
  • Another interesting note: God gives Daniel a dream about the same time frame and the same nations, but this time, we get to see it through God's eyes — where each of these kingdoms is pictured as a beast.
  • In another of Daniel's dreams, he learned that 'one like a son of man' would usher in this coming kingdom. The Son of Man is pictured as a high priest entering the heavenly Holy of Holies with clouds of incense.
  • Daniel 7:13-14 'In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations, and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.'
  • Special note: the term 'Son of Man' would become the name Jesus used to refer to himself during his earthly ministry.
  • The book of Daniel not only gives us one of the most amazing prophecies about the birth and death of the Messiah — right down to the year — but it also offers profound insights into the Antichrist, who comes at the end of the age and makes war against God's people.
  • We also get a glimpse into Judgment Day. Daniel says that the consummation of the kingdom of God will mark the end of human history — a time when every human being who ever lived will rise for a final judgment. It will be a time when all men and women rise from the dead to give an account of their lives. Here is just the first indication of this idea:
  • Daniel 7:9-10 'As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.'
  • Lastly, it’s the book of Daniel that shows us the resurrection of the dead at the end of the age.
  • Daniel 12:1-2 'At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.'
  • This word would eventually become the foundation for the New Testament doctrine of resurrection.
  • With the end of this book comes a new age — the age of restoration.

 

Next comes the time of Restoration: Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi are commonly referred to as the prophets of restoration. They ministered after the Babylonian exile, during the time when the Jewish people were returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple and their community life.



 

1.  Haggai: My feast


  • If you remember from last week, the rebuilding of the new temple faced much opposition and there were times when the work almost came to a complete stop. It was during one of those times that God raised up Haggai and Zechariah and sent them to encourage God's people to continue building.
  • The book of Haggai consists of four messages, the first being the call for God's people to examine their priorities.
  • Hag 1:2-10 This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'These people say, The time has not yet come for the LORD's house to be built.' Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: 'Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?' Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.' This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,' says the LORD. 'You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?' declares the LORD Almighty. 'Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.'
  • The point being — my house, the building and restoring of my house, should be of your utmost concern. It is not only for the priest, or those in government office, but for everyone who calls on me as their God.
  • This, of course, fits in with what we were talking about a couple of weeks ago — about having a heart to see God's house being built: the coming together of people into one body in Christ.
  • A second message came to encourage those who were disappointed because what they built didn't seem to compare with what they had in the past. It is so easy to be discouraged when our expectations are not met. In this case, the latter house — that would be greater than the former house — would not come until Christ came and gave birth to his church.
  • A third concern was the observation of how immorality was more contagious than holiness! Isn't that still true today?
  • And the last message was a warning of what God was going to do in the future:
  • Hag 2:20-22 'Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I will shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.'
  • Significantly, this warning is translated by the writer of Hebrews into today's setting:
  • Heb 12:26-29  But now he has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our 'God is a consuming fire.'
  • I believe we have gone through many such shakings already — whether we are talking about the upheaval of the international economic market, or the rise of nuclear holocaust, or environmental catastrophes and unpredictable weather patterns.
  • Yet none of this will compare to the shakings we will experience in the last days, before Christ returns.
  • The book of Haggai reminds us, through the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of God's presence to his people, that our only hope to survive the coming shakings is the presence of God in our lives.

 


2.  Zechariah: The lord remembers


  • Zechariah, who functioned probably sometime between chapters 2 and 3 of Haggai, gives us the same encouragement of hope.
  • Zech 4:6 — 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.
  • This is why God's presence must be restored through the rebuilding of the Temple! So God sent Zechariah to be a prophet of hope to His people during this time of opposition.
  • Speaking theologically, we have once again some of the most amazingly accurate prophecies in the Old Testament.
  • The structure is pretty simple: chapters 1–8 form one section, and chapters 9–14 form another. And while many scholars believe the second section was written by someone else, the Bible presents both parts together, with the second to be understood in the light of the first.
  • Here is a case where the near future and a great future God coexist in tension by the very structure of the book.
  • Once again, the second section of this book would be considered apocalyptic — meaning it was written in end-time language, pointing to the very end of the age.
  • But the first section was written with the purpose of comforting God's people during distress and persecution as they worked toward the rebuilding of the Temple.
  • This book is quoted 71 times in the New Testament, and many of those quotes concern Christ. Zechariah speaks about Jesus coming into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, speaks of Judas's betrayal price of 30 pieces of silver, and even makes mention of how Jesus will be pierced in His side.
  • In this sense, Zechariah paved the way for the gospel.
  • The book of Zechariah advances the biblical story by reminding us that God's presence by His Spirit is at the heart of a restored Israel, while at the same time anticipating the sacrificial death of the Messiah who is to come. And that brings us to the last book of the Old Testament...


 

3.  Malachi: my messenger (Isn't even a personal name.)


  • Teacher and author Charlie Schmidt used to say: if you're Italian: Malotchie.
  • This is the last prophetic book, and the last book of the Old Testament.
  • It is the best window we have to survey the spiritual state of Israel in the early fifth century, right before the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah.
  • It's here we discover once again the things that God must change in our lives to bring about the restoration of the temple. We see people drifting away from the things of God because of their pride, and practicing empty religious rites, the ever-increasing number of broken marriages, and their stingy hearts revealed as they held back their tithe from God.
  • On this last issue, we have the one and only challenge from God to test Him concerning the giving of our tithe: Mal 3:8-10 'Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, How do we rob you? In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse — the whole nation of you — because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.'
  • Other unique features found in Malachi include: The doctrine of the return of Elijah the prophet, who we see fulfilled in John the Baptist.
  • Mal 4:5-6 'See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse.'
  • Malachi predicted that, as God did in the Exodus, He would do again — laying the groundwork for the great exodus that God was about to accomplish by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, who would lead God’s people out of their bondage to sin, as Moses had led Israel out from under the bondage of Egyptian slavery.
  • But before He would do that, He would send His messenger to prepare His way. He would give a sign so that the people would know when the day of the Lord was nearby.
  • The prophet Elijah would come as a 'way' preparer, just before the coming of the Messiah. And it would be this new Elijah who would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.
  • And if the fathers of the new 'Elijah generation' did not take seriously the preaching of Elijah's return and follow his way, they would be banned from the delivering presence of the Lord.
  • You see, Malachi reminds his people that they must take their covenant relationship with Him seriously, and if they did, a great new day would come: the coming of God’s kingdom.
  • And lastly, I find it interesting that the final idea in this book has to do with the curse. Malachi warns his people of the consequences for not heeding the prophet who he will send to prepare the way of the Coming Messiah.
  • Mal 4:5-6 "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."
  • So, while the Old Testament covenant leaves us with a warning of a curse, The New covenant leaves us with the blessing of God's grace. Rev 22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.