The book of Isaiah has been referred to as the Gospel of the Old Testament because God used the prophet Isaiah to prophesy the essence of the life of Jesus. Study this great book and you can understand there is help in God or deliverance for His people Israel and for us today. In Jeremiah and Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah is tremendously moved by Israel’s backsliding and captivity, so much so that that he is known as the weeping prophet. Study Jeremiah and Lamentations to identify with this prophet’s despair over Israel’s fall into backsliding and captivity, and to learn that there is hope for the future of humankind through obedience to God. In Ezekiel, the prophet helps us to understand the captivity of Israel but also to visualize Israel’s future, as Ezekiel prophesied about their ultimate return to Jerusalem, the regeneration of the people of God, and the rebuilding of the Temple and its form of worship. All these were to be done in preparation for the future in which Jesus, the Messiah would come. The book of Daniel can be immensely helpful to those of us who are tested for our faith. This book of the Bible exalts the Fourth Man, Jesus Christ, so much that we can see His presence in the midst of our difficult circumstances. Daniel can also be of extreme help to us who are students of end-time Bible prophecy, because he accurately predicts the drama of the end times.
In the books of Hosea, Joel, and Amos, we can see that God is forever married to the backslider. We also see that the promise of the coming Holy Spirit would open up salvation to all who call on the name of the Lord, and that God desires His people to have merciful and righteous hearts and be committed to following His Word. In the books of Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah, the prophets declare that Christ the Messiah is mighty to save. Also, these books offer a tremendous faith lesson of following God’s call to preach a message of repentance, and God’s promise of a future in the end of days when the Messianic Redeemer will come and restore His people with a rule of peace and righteousness. In the books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, we can see the unchanging nature of God, the mercy of God to revive His people, and the Savior that God provides, Who still saves today. And finally, in the books of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, we can learn the important principle of putting God first and expecting to receive His best. These books also help us see that having the Spirit of God in us can result in our having the ability to do God’s mighty works, and that giving tithes and offerings as worship unto God is our highest expression of knowing who God is and who we are.