Haggai 2 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson                        In the hymn “Angels, from the Realms of Glory, the third stanza includes this phrase, “Seek the great Desire of nations, Ye have seen His natal star.”  This fist phrase Seek the great Desire of nations is taken from Haggai 2:7.  The hymn writer believes that Haggai 2:7 refers to Christ.  I think you can easily discern from reading this entire chapter that  this is not what…

Haggai Ch.1 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence              Containing only two chapters and 1130 words, Haggai is the second shortest book in the Old Testament after Obadiah, both of which are included in the section of the Bible known as the Minor Prophets not because they are of lesser importance but because they are shorter in length.  Haggai, the man, is also the first of three postexilic prophets (those ministering to the Jews returning from the…

Zephaniah 3 by Pastor David Groendyk The prophecy of Zephaniah is an extended meditation on and explanation of the Day of the Lord, the day when God would come to visit his people. Chapter 3 is the glorious conclusion and an unexpected reversal of what has come before. Although it starts with a sober warning of judgment, it ends on a note of salvation and joy. In verses 1–8, God promises judgment upon… Judah! God’s…

Zephaniah 2 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson                        In James Boice’s commentary on the Minor Prophets he reminds his readers that Zephaniah is not lauded as a great prophet.  Ewald writes, “With the prophet Zephaniah we meet for the first time a considerable diminution of prophetic originality.”  J.M. Powis Smith writes, “Zephaniah can hardly be considered great as a poet.  He does not rank with Isaiah, nor even with Hosea in this particular.  He has…

Zephaniah 1 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            The prophet Zephaniah was a contemporary of Jeremiah and denounced the ubiquitous idolatry of the people in the city of Jerusalem during the early years of King Josiah’s reign in Jerusalem (640-609 BC) prior to the young king’s reformation/restoration in 622-621 BC as depicted in 2 Chronicles 34:3.  Because of the great religious and moral corruption of God’s people arrogantly bowing down to Baal even in God’s own…

Jonah 4 by Pastor David Groendyk I’m sure you know the fairy tale stories of Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and many others. But are you sure you know the whole stories? A lot of those fairy tales end a lot darker than we remember. At the end of Little Red Riding Hood, for example, the girl and her grandmother both get eaten by the wolf and the woodsman/hunter shows up and actually…

Jonah 3 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson              In this chapter. Jonah gets a second chance.  That should make us ask why?  Here was a prophet of God who upon hearing God’s call to go to Nineveh paid his way to go the opposite direction “away from the presence of the Lord.”  He endangered the lives of pagan sailors who after throwing valuable cargo into the sea beckon him to pray.  Pagans asking a Jewish…

Jonah 2 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence The Lord actually speaks to fish!  The big ones as well as the little ones.  Not only did God command the great fish to swallow Jonah and later to spit him up onto dry land, he also commanded the little fish to swallow the shekel before he commanded Peter to catch the fish in order to pay his taxes.  Similarly, he commanded a whole school of fish to swim…

Jonah 1 by Pastor David Groendyk We continue our tour through the minor prophets with the book of Jonah. Jonah is actually the prequel to the prophecy of Nahum. Jonah and Nahum prophesied to the same city about 100 years apart. Nahum was all about the eventual destruction of Nineveh in the late-600s BC, but Jonah is a totally different story. Nineveh responds to Jonah’s message of repentance and begins worshiping the one true God…

Nahum 3 Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             The note of judgment does not cease in Nahum 3.  O. Palmer Robertson calls this chapter The Surety of Nineveh’s judgment.  A rhetorical question enforces the certainty of what to come in each of the three major sections of the chapter: Where shall I seek comforters for you?  Verse 7 Are you better than Thebes or No-Amon?  Verse 8 For upon whom has not come your unceasing…

Nahum 2 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            Even though Nahum’s prophecy is against the city of Nineveh, it is actually written for the comfort of God’s people in Judah who have been harassed by the Assyrians for quite some time.  The Assyrians have plundered them on a number of occasions and have begun to see them as their next prey, adding them to a long list of captured nations.  But the Lord is the defender…

Nahum 1 by Pastor David Groendyk The first thing that should surprise you as you read Nahum is that it is written about the city of Nineveh (v. 1). Almost every prophetic book is written for or about Judah or Israel, but Nahum is an oracle of judgment against Nineveh, the capital city of the wicked nation of Assyria. You’ve probably heard of Nineveh before. It’s the city that Jonah went to and evangelized. The…

Philemon Devotional by Pastor Mark Hudson             Philemon is one of two very personal letters in the NT (3 John is the other).  This brief letter is relatively easy to understand.  Philemon, a believer, lived in Colossae and welcomed the church in Colossae to meet in his home.  His slave Onesimus ran away, possibly stole from Philemon, and somehow met the Apostle Paul in Rome.  Onesimus not only met Paul, but he also became a…

Song of Songs 8 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence Most lovers today would probably not compare their romantic relationship to that of a brother and a sister, for that would seem out of place.  But in ancient times, “PDA,” or a public display of affection between a husband and wife was certainly out of place.  However, a brother and sister could hug and even kiss one another in public, not with any prolonged display of course,…

Song of Songs 7 by Pastor David Groendyk This chapter begins with another one of the man’s extended speeches about the beauty of the woman (vv. 1–9a). Many of these descriptions are repeated from his two previous speeches, but one unique element to this speech is actually what the man says at the very end of 6:13. Like much of the book, this verse is very difficult to understand, but the point seems to be…

Song of Songs 6 by Pastor Mark Hudson As you know, taking this as song about love between a husband and a wife is a minority position in the history of the church.  If you view this allegorically, you are in the majority in terms of the Jewish and Christian interpreters.  You may conclude that this song could not be about two lovers.  How scandalous!  Plus, you may have heard passages from this song that were used to celebrate…

Song of Songs Ch.5 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence             We are not told just how long Adam and Eve dwelt together in the joy of the Lord in the Garden of Eden, but we certainly know how their relationship changed when sin entered into the world and they were cast out of paradise.  If chapter four of Song of Solomon describes the paradisiacal honeymoon, surely, by chapter five the honeymoon is over, for the husband…

Song of Songs 4 by Pastor David Groendyk This is actually the first time in the book where the man has an extended speech. He spoke in brief snippets early on, but now he has the chance to wax eloquent about the woman. Here in chapter 4 is actually the very first reference to the woman being a bride (v. 8), so we might consider this section the actual marriage and perhaps the marriage consummation…

Song of Songs Devotions by Pastor Mark Hudson                Since there are many approaches to the Song of Songs, permit me to provide a brief introduction to how I understand how the book should be approached.  While there are more than two ways of interpreting this book, essentially, we come down to a literal approach or allegorical.  I will take a literal approach.  Literal does not mean how my granddaughter answered my son when he…

Song of Songs 2 Devotional by Pastor Lawrence            At the end of the previous chapter, the young man had declared his love for his betrothed and praised her twice, telling her how beautiful she was in his eyes.  She, then, returned the compliment by telling him how beautiful and delightful he was to her and how she looked forward to making her home with him.  But in the opening verses of chapter two she…

Song of Songs 1 by Pastor David Groendyk Warning: you might blush when you read this book. The Song of Songs has caused interpreters, commentators, and pastors a lot of difficulty throughout the history of the church both because of its content and its style of writing. I still have the notes from my seminary class where we discussed ten different ways to interpret Song of Songs! By far, the most common understanding of this…