June 1 - Introduction

June 1 - Introduction

The last twelve books of our Old Testament contain the words of prophets who called out to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah to repent and return to a restored relationship with God. Warnings of impending destruction by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians seemed to go unheeded. The northern kingdom of Israel fell first, and though Judah was defined by many good kings during her time, idolatry and sin prevailed. The further the people pulled away from God, the less effective He could be in protecting them from outside forces. When they no longer relied on His power, but only on their own, they were overtaken.

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

These twelve books of prophecy were gathered together as one grouping due to the small size of each. They were placed together on one scroll to ensure that none were ever lost. This scroll became known as "The Book of the Twelve" or just "The Twelve." (Don't you just love how God repeatedly uses specific numbers?)

The prophecies found in these twelve books spanned several hundred years, encompassed both the northern and southern kingdoms and some of the prophets worked alongside Isaiah and Jeremiah in trying to bring Israel back into covenant relationship with God.

The main theme for each of these prophecies is that relationship. The Israelites had long since forgotten the covenant that was made between them and God. A covenant works quite differently than a contract. While we know that contracts can be broken by either signatory party, a covenant is not broken if one party moves away from it. Since God is eternal, once He enacts a covenant, it will never be broken. Everything is about restoring His people to the covenant established with Abraham in Genesis 15 and then with David in 2 Samuel 7:8-16.

The first nine of these twelve books is prophecy that was spoken before the Babylonians took the people of Israel into exile. The last three, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are post-exilic prophets.

All of these prophets recognized that Israel and Judah needed to cease to exist for God to continue His work and draw all people to His kingdom. The ruler of that kingdom, which had been promised since the dawn of history, would reign, but not until after God had swept through the earth, eliminating sin and corruption.

The Day of the Lord is coming. It has been prophesied since the days of Isaiah. While these twelve prophets spoke of judgment against the current kingdoms, they also spoke of a time far into the future when God would bring all of mankind into the Covenant relationship He had established with Abraham, David and through Jesus Christ.

Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah and Malachi speak very clearly about "The Day of the Lord" and for the next month, we are going to look closely at their words.