As many of you may know this coming Sunday we’ll conclude our series in James by considering James 5:19-20. I’m looking forward to reflecting on Christ’s redemptive work and how we minister to others. I’m also looking forward to what we’ll be thinking about after we finish our study of the book of James. I’ll be out for a few weeks due to some travel, but Lord willing, when I return we’ll be working our way through three Minor Prophets (Obadiah, Joel, and Jonah).

For most Christians, the Minor Prophets are obscure books. Often Christians perceive their message as hard to discern and therefore hard to apply. My hope is that we’ll see how each of these books points to Christ. The good news is that Jesus often helps us see the message. Just take Jonah for example. While it is about a prophet’s attempt to run away from God and about how he was swallowed up by a great fish, the Lord ultimately had greater purposes. Jonah’s three days and nights in the belly of the fish pointed to Jesus’ three days in the tomb. That’s what Jesus said in Matthew 12:40,

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jonah was great, but someone greater than Jonah has come (Matthew 12:42). Praise God that Jesus has come. Let’s look forward to seeing how the messages of Obadiah, Joel, and Jonah all pointed to him.