HAGGAI+—An Illustrated Summary of Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan

"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, 

DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 

1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS,  2 KINGS, 

1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EZRA, 

NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, 

PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, 

SONG OF SOLOMON,  ISAIAH, JEREMIAH,

 LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, 

HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, 

MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH,  

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI,

 MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, 

ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS,

2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS,

2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY,  2 TIMOTHY, TITUS,

PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER,

1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

Haggai 1:4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this House lies in ruins?" Haggai dates events in his prophecy by a Gentile dynasty, not by the Jewish kings and patriarchs. That is because God allowed the Jewish nations of Israel and then Judah to be taken into captivity by the conquering empires of Assyria and Babylon. A remnant was restored to Jerusalem from captivity, but was still subject to Gentile powers. In Haggai's 2 chapters we have 4 messages, each carefully dated. They have one goal: motivating the people and their leaders to finish building the new Temple or House of God, later known as Zerubbabel's Temple. In his work Haggai was helped by the prophet Zechariah, and they were successful since the Temple project was finally completed after several years of delay. In the first message here, Haggai gives a stirring call to arise and build, combating the spiritual laziness and wrong priorities that stopped the building project. The people said they were waiting for the right time to finish building the Temple, but they weren't waiting for the right time to build their own well-appointed houses—they got right to it. Shouldn't they do the same for God? Action is the outcome of desire. To desire the House of the Lord is to build it. The leaders and people both immediately perceived the good sense of Haggai's preaching and got right to work.

Haggai 2:9 "The latter glory of this House shall be greater than the former." In this chapter are 3 messages, all called forth by moods of the people that threatened to prevent their accomplishing the great Temple work. The first message from the last chapter aroused them, and under the leader of Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest, they started well. After about 7 weeks came the Feast of Tabernacles with its necessary cessation of work. During that period they were assailed by the sighs of those who moaned over the new Temple's lack of splendor compared with Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians. Such lamentation tended to dishearten them so the Lord through Haggai told them something much more wonderful would happen at this Temple: the "Desire of All Nations" (verse 7), the Messiah, the Savior of the Nations, would personally come there. It is futile to judge the value of God-appointed tasks by the appearance of the times in which they are done. If they are indeed appointed by Him is enough for us to know. God is always moving towards the higher, grander, and nobler until He has wrought out the final perfection of His will.

How Haggai (around 520 to 505 B.C.) relates to other prophetic writings and historical events.

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ZEPHANIAH+—An Illustrated Summary of Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan

"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, 

DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 

1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS,  2 KINGS, 

1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EZRA, 

NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, 

PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, 

SONG OF SOLOMON,  ISAIAH, JEREMIAH,

 LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, 

HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, 

MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH,  

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI,

 MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, 

ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS,

2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS,

2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY,  2 TIMOTHY, TITUS,

PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER,

1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

Zephaniah 1:2 "I will make a complete end of everything." Zephaniah served during the reign of good King Josiah, and in their days a famous religious reformation took place, yet the prophet makes no mention of it. That reformation was superficial as far as the nation was concerned. The king was loyal to God, sincere, and popular with the people, who followed him in his works of reformation regarding external things, but not in true repentance of the heart. Zephaniah, therefore, did not recognize the reform, and the insincerity of it prompted a strong denunciation of the sin of the people. Taken as a whole, Zephaniah's prophecy sets forth the wrath and goodness of God with great force, showing how both aspects of His  character work together toward the same holy purpose. This chapter is wholly taken up with the Day of the Lord, which has an outlook far beyond Zephaniah's nation. It then deals with the nation itself and the consuming wrath of God against wicked rulers, extortioners, faithless priests, and worldly merchants and consumers. Zephaniah describes them as "settled in complacency, who say in their heart, 'The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil'" (verse 12). There is no equivocation or hesitancy in the prophet's words against them. They abide for all time as a reminder that God makes no terms with sin, and will inevitably proceed against it in fiery indignation that it may be utterly consumed.

Zephaniah 2:1 "Gather yourselves together." This is Zephaniah's appeal because of the approaching day of wrath. He is standing before his people as a physician, ordering them to pull themselves together. They were so lax spiritually and morally, and so mentally dull, they could barely perceive the dangerous brink their sin had brought them to. A key sign of their moral paralysis was that the people had no shame (3:2). To a keen sense of sin and consequent sense of shame the prophet therefore sought to bring them in view of the divine judgment determined against them. Zephaniah also addresses those who are still loyal to God: "Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord's anger" (verse 3). Today nations need to pull themselves together to face moral and spiritual facts before it is too late. The people within them who are faithful to God are those who constitute the best hope of their nations being able to do that.

Zephaniah 3:8 "'Therefore wait for Me,' declares the Lord." The sentence before this reads, "They rose early and corrupted all their deeds" (verse 7). "Therefore," because there is no hope of recovery in the people, the Lord acts against them in fierce anger to end the corruption and leave in its place a meek and humble people who will trust in the name of the Lord, "do no unrighteousness, and speak no lies" (verses 12-13).  From this point on the prophetic message is one of hope. God is pictured like a mother among His people: "The Lord your God is in your midst, the Mighty One will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, and He will rejoice over you with singing" (verse 17). That is a victory of love. There is no hope in human effort. The only thing we can do is wait for God, but that waiting is a responsibility. To wait for God is to be at the end of self; it is to be submissive to His way of judgment, to return to Him with complete surrender of utter hopelessness in any other than Himself. Wherever this is such waiting, in love He chastises to purification, and then in love rejoices as His purposes are fulfilled in the restoration of those upon whom His love is set. 

How Zephaniah (around 635 to 615 B.C.) relates to other prophetic writings and historical events.

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HABAKKUK+—An Illustrated Summary of Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan

"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, 

DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 

1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS,  2 KINGS, 

1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EZRA, 

NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, 

PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, 

SONG OF SOLOMON,  ISAIAH, JEREMIAH,

 LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, 

HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, 

MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH,  

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI,

 MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, 

ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS,

2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS,

2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY,  2 TIMOTHY, TITUS,

PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER,

1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

 

Habakkuk 1:2 "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?" Habakkuk deals with problems that arise from faith in the one true and living God, providing divine answers to questions expressing those problems. These opening words reveal the first problem. Habakkuk lived in an age when circumstances seemed to contradict his faith in the righteous government of God. His nation was characterized by violence, perverseness, exploitation, and strife. All the ways of justice were twisted, but God was apparently doing nothing and ignoring Habakkuk's fervent prayers about those serious matters. That is now the subject of a new prayer, and Habakkuk is to be commended for taking this to the Lord rather than making it an excuse for unbelief. He is rewarded with an answer from God, but it proves more bewildering than the first problem. The divine declaration is that God was not inactive, but was employing the Babylonians—fierce enemies of Habakkuk's people—to carry out His purposes. So far we see that a godly person's faith may have problems that must be faced, but only in communion with God and His Word. The person in that situation will often find that his or her reading of circumstances is wrong and that God is indeed acting when He seems to be indifferent. The method of His action may create a new problem, but it is a step in the right direction to see He is at work.

Habakkuk 2:2 "And the Lord answered me." This answer came after Habakkuk's humble determination expressed here: "I will stand my watch ... to see what the Lord will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected" (verse 1). The Lord replied in pivotal words set in stone for all ages: "Behold the proud, his soul is not right; but the just shall live by faith" (verse 4). Regarding the proud Babylonians, Habakkuk realized that while for the moment their power would be employed to discipline Habakkuk's people for their pride, in the end the destroyers would be destroyed by their own pride. The government of God is always true to this principle: "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6). He overrules the ways of men and women, compelling them to contribute to His purposes. Even human wrath will praise the Lord, declares Psalm 76:10, and then He restrains that wrath. Faith in God is the fundamental principle of life, but the pride that opposes it leads to death.

Habakkuk 3:2 "O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years." This is a prayer or hymn of faith from Habakkuk in response to what he has learned from God's Word. It is not a cry to renew an activity that has ceased, but to maintain an activity that has not ceased: like saying, "O Lord, keep alive Your work in the midst of the years." When it seemed to Habakkuk that God was doing nothing, he wanted the Lord to punish the violence and sin all around him. Now that he had seen the wrath of God in operation, he agreed and prayed for it to continue, but added: "In wrath remember mercy" (verse 2). He looked forward to a time yet future when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (2:14). In the meantime, he leaves this example of triumphant faith as an encouragement for all God's people as we now wait for that blessed time: "Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor the fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills" (3:17-19). 

How Habakkuk (around 620 to 605 B.C.) relates to other prophetic writings and historical events.

   Read All the Applications for Yourself!

NAHUM+—An Illustrated Summary of Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan

"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, 

DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 

1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS,  2 KINGS, 

1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EZRA, 

NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, 

PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, 

SONG OF SOLOMON,  ISAIAH, JEREMIAH,

 LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, 

HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, 

MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH,  

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI,

 MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, 

ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS,

2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS,

2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY,  2 TIMOTHY, TITUS,

PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER,

1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

Nahum 1:14 "I will make your grave, for you are evil." Nahum is a prophecy displaying the wrath of God in its national application.  The Lord was merciful to the Assyrian nation under the ministry of Jonah, but this is now many years later, and all signs of national repentance have faded away. Nahum presents 3 messages from the Lord: 1. A verdict of divine vengeance, 2. A vision of that vengeance carried out, 3. The vindication of that vengeance. They center on the capital city of Nineveh, delivered almost certainly when it was at the height of its power. One hundred years before, Jonah had preached on its streets, and the people all together repented. Those following them, however, repented of that repentance, and the Assyrians again became characterized by oppression and cruelty. Nahum personifies Nineveh, saying that God will bury it. Although "the Lord is good" (verse 7) and "slow to anger," He is "great in power [and] will not leave the guilty unpunished" (verse 3). God's wrath brought Nineveh and Assyria to a "full end" (verse 8), and the same is true now that in His perfect timing, all pride, cruelty, and vice are doomed.

Nahum 2:10 "Nineveh is destroyed, robbed and stripped! Hearts melt away in fear. Knees give way. Bodies tremble with fear. Everyone's face turns pale." Destroyed, robbed, and stripped summarize with finality the complete fall of Nineveh and the Assyrian Empire. The proud city of splendid architecture, accumulated treasure, and utmost luxury is seen as a dreary, degraded desolation. The literal fulfillment of God's divine sentence is a matter of history. The prophecy here also movingly describes the state of the people. When the divine vengeance fell in hammer blows upon the vile nation, hearts melted and knees knocked together: inward and outward courage failed. That led to anguish and death. As the Book of Hebrews states, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." God is still "slow to anger" (Nahum 1:3), but when people or nations persist in wickedness in spite of His patience, "with an overwhelming flood He will make a full end" (1:8). That brings comfort and courage to those who trust Him, however proudly temporary evil  raises its head and vaunts itself.

Nahum 3:7 "Nineveh is destroyed. Who will sob over it? Where can I find anyone to comfort you?" This chapter alternates between descriptions of Nineveh's vice and the Lord's vengeance upon it. To study it is to be convinced that the vice demanded the vengeance. In the presence of corruption so complete, cruelties so brutal, and depravity so profound, anything less than divine justice to blot out the plague would have been unjust. If asked, all nations would have agreed with the destruction of Nineveh. None would pity it or could even be found to offer any comfort. The principle is that in the underlying conscience of humankind, the sense of justice is never destroyed. The beauty of righteousness is recognized, and the repulsiveness of evil admitted. People and nations go in evil directions and persist in them, but deep down they know the wrong of it. For some imagined temporary advantage they sin against this deep conviction, but still it is there and it comes to the surface whenever the wrath of God proceeds in judgment. When the full process of God's work in this world is complete, the whole universe will agree with its rightness and judgment. That which is then doomed will be so not by God only, but also by the consent of creation.

How Nahum (around 650 to 620 B.C.) relates to other prophetic writings and historical events.

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