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ese conflicts christians are facing attacks upon themselves and their churches and some of these people have been driven from their homes and have become refugees in another country such people desperately need a vision from god a message that will bring them some hope and comfort in their suffering the prophet obadiah was almost certainly addressing a similar kind of situation god s people in his day also needed a fresh vision from god a message that would encourage them in the midst of their troubles 12 14 and through the dangers and disruption that they faced we too may find ourselves in a similar position we may not be refugees or prisoners of war but we could be facing conflict and pressure in our lives through the experience of redundancy or divorce or physical or mental suffering or bereavement or loneliness poverty or homelessness or financial pressure and uncertainty or simply facing unkindness and isolation from family friends or neighbours obadiah s prophecy is a clarion call reminding us that god is sovereign over all nations in spite of indeed through the evil and warlike actions of many of the nations a reminder that god gives us the dignity of choice the edomites were given the dignity of choice they were free to choose judgment 15 or salvation 21 obadiah teaches us that the day of the lord is near for all nations 15 on that day we shall all have to give an account of ourselves to god a reminder that god can bring good out of evil and is sovereign in our personal lives he is the ultimate arbiter and judge and his judgement means humbling the proud as god reminded the edomites through obadiah the pride of your heart has deceived you you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home in the heights you who say to yourself who can bring me down to the ground destroying the wicked it will not end well for the wicked facing the truth there will always be consequences for our actions good or bad and one day we will all have to give an account of our lives the final words of the prophecy say it all the kingdom will be the lord s whatever trials we go through ultimately the kingdom will indeed be the lord s the arrogant the proud and the sinful will have their come uppance in all of this we must seek first the kingdom of god and his righteousness we must walk in the way of humility and dispel pride and self exaltation may he give us eyes to see ears to hear wisdom and the courage strength and resolve to be faithful to the vision he has laid on our hearts amen posted on june 21 2026 july 8 2026 categories sermons tags bible faith god jesus obadiah psalm 137 leave a comment on the minor prophets understanding obadiah humility and justice in prophecy the minor prophets understanding joel the prophetic call to repentance joel s name means yahweh is god and he was the son of pethuel though virtually nothing is known about his personal life or circumstances there is uncertainty about the time period in which his ministry took place it s likely that he lived in judah and conducted his prophetic ministry in jerusalem and may have been a priest though this cannot be determined with certainty joel prophesied during a time of severe devastation when an enormous and severe locust plague stripped the judean countryside of all vegetation destroyed pastures to the extent that even the bark was removed from fig trees all crops were lost along with seeds for future planting and famine and drought seized the entire land across multiple harvests joel interpreted this natural disaster as prefiguring a greater judgment the approach of the day of the lord when god would lead a fearsome army against his wayward and unruly people though outwardly religious the people s hearts had strayed from god joel s prophetic message unfolds in three sections awakening his people to recognize their danger by bringing a clear warning exhorting them to return to god sincerely with genuine repentance and prayer and finally delivering god s words of encouragement to the now repentant community for that time and for the future as is often the case with prophecy the book concentrates on the day of the lord exploring multiple prophetic variations of this theme the day as past fulfilment experienced through locusts and famine as present or imminent fulfilment through military invasion and as future fulfilment in jerusalem s salvation the outpouring of god s spirit on all people and ultimately in an eternal holy jerusalem protected from enemies and overflowing with fertility with that context in mind our reading from the second chapter of the book of joel begins with very portentous and doom filled language let all who live in the land tremble for the day of the lord is coming it is close at hand a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and blackness that doesn t sound like anything to look forward to does it in many respects it shouldn t be surprising after all god s people in the time of joel had become wayward and unruly we are often surprised when we turn our back on god and things go wrong this nation is slowly turning its back on god so it s no surprise to see things going wrong and we haven t made a particularly good job of being stewards of this world that god so lovingly created we see nation rising against nation and societies more polarised and divided than perhaps ever before certainly in my lifetime and especially more recently as we see events unfolding between the us russia and ukraine or the us israel and iran it s hardly surprising that in light of this reality we sometimes encounter people today grappling with the question that features in our reading from joel verse 17 where is their god bishop nick once stated we cannot argue with reality although in an age of fake news i would say people often do but we can find ways and languages to reframe that reality as walter brueggemann put it to redescribe reality in this we must seek to speak with a prophetic voice and be truthtellers true and faithful to god s own heart and we must seek to do this mindful that the story doesn t end here thankfully god isn t finished with us yet god made a loving gracious declaration to his people that echoes through the centuries to us today even now return to me with all your heart with fasting and weeping and mourning in light of that the prophet joel instructs us to rend our heart and not our garments return to the lord our god for he is gracious and compassionate slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending calamity like the prophets an integral part of my vocation is to tell the truth avoid comforting fantasies and platitudes and give confidence to the people among whom we live confidence that the kingdom is to be found where jesus is and that is here and now in and among us the people of this world are in desperate need of spiritual heart surgery to consciously engage with a deep rending of our heart that we might wholeheartedly turn or return to the lord mindful of the poverty of our spirit and the consequences of our sin if we are arrogant enough to believe that we don t need to do that we are deluding ourselves the bible is pretty clear all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god romans 3 23 that spiritual heart surgery must begin with us in 1 peter 4 17 we are reminded for it is time for judgment to begin with god s household and if it begins with us what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of god no wonder paul implores us to be reconciled to god and we should not receive god s grace in vain no wonder paul sets out what the result of that spiritual heart surgery and returning to god might look like yes we may be dying and yet we live on yes we may be beaten and yet not killed yes we may be sorrowful yet in christ always rejoicing yes we may be poor yet making many rich yes we may have nothing and yet possess everything we are to walk by faith not by sight 2 corinthians 5 7 knowing that now is the time of god s favour now is the day of salvation knowing that god has a plan and a purpose for every one of us and our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all 2 corinthians 4 17 we are to be authentic disciples living in light of eternity and the hope of future glory faithful to god s teaching a people of love grace faithfulness and integrity in this we commend ourselves in every way in recent years one of the things that has kept coming back to me again and again and again is the importance of the state of our heart god searches the heart we see that echoing through the bible in places like 1 samuel 16 7 or jeremiah 17 10 joel s theology of the day of the lord is rooted in israel s covenant with god fulfilling the curses warned in deuteronomy 28 for covenant disobedience first against unfaithful israel and then against their enemies the book emphasizes two profound themes israel must grieve over its sin through genuine repentance and israel must recognize that god remains in control we need to do likewise a striking vision appears in joel 2 28 29 where god promises to pour out his spirit on all flesh sons daughters servants enabling universal participation in prophecy a passage later cited by peter and fulfilled at pentecost the lord is here his spirit is with us inviting us to repent and return to god with clean hearts and right spirits let s together be faithful and true bold in the lord and seek first his kingdom and his righteousness amen posted on june 14 2026 july 8 2026 categories sermons tags 1 peter 4 17 2 corinthians 4 17 2 corinthians 5 7 deuteronomy 28 faith joel 2 joel 2 28 29 prophecy romans 3 23 leave a comment on the minor prophets understanding joel the prophetic call to repentance the minor prophets jonah and nineveh a tale of reluctance and salvation i am sure to a greater or lesser degree you will all have heard of jonah we know from the book of kings 2 kings 14 25 that jonah was a prophet during the reign of jeroboam ii 793 753 bc and came from a place called gath hepher a town in galilee about 2 miles northeast of nazareth he was the son of amittai he prophesied against king jeroboam who was evil and a bad ruler we should be mindful that the story of jonah includes one of the most famous incidents in the old testament his being swallowed by a great fish note the text does not say it was a whale the account illustrates how far god was willing to go to ensure that his wayward prophet took the message of repentance to the people of nineveh we could spend days playing hunt the parallels from the book of jonah with other books in the bible it is both a rich and profound account of god who in his grace gives his people a second chance how god s warnings contain an implicit promise of blessing if we repent and how god s motives are shaped by a deep love for all people the account challenges us never to exalt ourselves over others god is free to bless to be gracious and to be patient with all the nations of the earth more than that he may show compassion even on the wicked his mercy extends even to animals so jonah was instructed by god to go to the great city nineveh and preach against it because its wickedness has come up before me however jonah was reluctant to go to nineveh and not without good reason the ninevites were to say the least not the nicest people in the world they were bad people they were total heathens in the worst sense of the word more than that as a faithful jew he would have read the prophecies of his predecessor the prophet amos and he would have seen what god decreed and predicted through amos about nineveh so there was little biblical basis for even wanting to go there please understand it was not only that he knew god would have compassion on the ninevites which is something he clearly struggled with but also that they might kill him he also knew that on the face of it they were destined for judgment as the prophet nahum had predicted and this happened at a later point when they turned back to their pagan ways he had every good reason not to go but let s begin with jonah s name yonah meaning in hebrew a dove what images would this conjure up there are many references to doves in the bible probably the most important in this context can be found in the psalm of david psalm 55 4 8 my heart is in anguish within me the terrors of death have fallen on me fear and trembling have beset me horror has overwhelmed me i said oh that i had the wings of a dove i would fly away and be at rest i would flee far away and stay in the desert i would hurry to my place of shelter far from the tempest and storm there are many connections or parallels david wanted to escape from the calamity that has come upon him and jonah was a man that also wanted to escape because he was fearful of the implications of going to nineveh david wanted to have the wings of a dove jonah s name means dove and yet despite wanting to escape jonah of his own choice was willing to lay his life down to bring salvation and deliverance to others just as the messiah who jonah prefigures was willing to lay his life down so salvation would come to others another connection or parallel is how at the preaching of jonah the gentiles repented when the jews would not at the message of jesus the gentiles accepted what he said at a time most jews did not not all jews rejected him not all jews rejected jonah but basically it was the gentiles not the jews who repented in the days of jonah and it was the gentiles not the jews who repented in the days of jesus what was the prophecy that jonah proclaimed forty more days and nineveh will be overthrown if we look closer at the narrative we begin to realise that this was conditional not absolute in other words calamity could be averted if the people of nineveh repented this is supported by jonah s own understanding he knew that god is gracious and compassionate slow to anger and abounding in love a god who relents from sending calamity jonah 4 2 the irony is that jonah recognized this even before delivering the message he fled initially because he knew god might relent and essentially jonah thought he knew better than god there is also deep irony that jonah is most at peace in the account when he can t run any more when he is sat in the belly of a great fish jonah appears faithful and grateful here while in the rest of the story he is rebellious and churlish then of course we learn how the ninevites believed god they declared a fast and all of them from the greatest to the least put on sackcloth even the animals and so the judgement of god was averted what was jonah s response to jonah this seemed very wrong and he became angry he then began to argue with god because once again he thought he knew better and god averting disaster on nineveh was not what he wanted he immediately entered into victim mode declaring now lord take away my life for it is better for me to die than to live i love how god responds with a ques...