minor prophets

I've been reading through one Bible chapter each day during my prayer time. The last few months have been in the minor prophets.

This gives one an interesting and disturbing perspective. These are the Bible chapters telling the story of the moral and spiritual failings of Israel and Judah 25 centuries ago, their corruption, their disregard for covenant law, their idolatry, their unfaithfulness, their chasing after the gods of the neighboring nations, their social exploitation, and their lack of justice.

In response, the prophets speak threats, predictions of punishments, calls to repentance, and the general message that the misbehavior of God's chosen people will be repaid with plague, famine, political disaster, and destruction at the hands of foreign armies. Israel and Judah are told that they will be decimated in a most horrific way.

I’ve been confronted by the age-old question: is this threatening and vengeful God of the Old Testament the God I know in my heart?

Today in prayer I became aware of an application that brought unexpected clarity. I realized that I am personally guilty of the same sins as the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The condemnation of the prophets applies to me for my comparable thoughts, actions and inactions.

The failure of the Jews to uphold the covenant, and the corresponding punishment, paint a picture of what God's standard demands. I am as culpable and guilty as Israel and Judah. Their national corporate sins are what I have committed and still commit. As God's chosen child, I am just as undeserving and rebellious as the targets of the prophetic writings.

The profound difference is that my punishments, my decimation, my plagues, tortures, famines, my destruction at the hands of foreign enemies—all these deserved and just calamities were executed upon my savior, Jesus, rather than upon me.

This changes everything. The messages of the prophets are no longer abstract and distant warnings to some ancient Jews with whom I have nothing in common. These are warnings and curses that remind me what I deserved, what I deserve, and what I have "coming to me" for my rebellion.

This morning I realized that the prophets were accusing me personally from the pages of scripture. I couldn’t dismiss them or claim to be innocent or victorious or living in a different age. I heard myself whispering in response, "yes, you are right—I deserve the punishments and calamities you describe—I am no better than my brothers and sisters in ancient Israel and Judah. But—by unimaginable and inexplicable mercy—Jesus has suffered these in my place."

3.1.08