The Next to Last Word

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This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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It's no secret that the Minor Prophets are probably about the least-read and least-understood portion of Scripture today. After describing the problem, Barrett describes his project: help the contemporary reader understand what these particular Minor Prophets are saying and to see how that it's a modern message as well as an eternal one.

He describes why he's focusing on the these three prophets:

That God did not speak to another prophet for hundreds of years underscores the importance of what He said through these three. Last words are always important. Malachi prophesied that God would send His messenger to prepare the way of the coming Christ (3:1), and all we have to do is turn the page to the New Testament, in Matthew 3, to find that messenger, John, in the process of preparing the way. The Old Testament was not the last word after all, but its last prophetic messages contribute significantly to our understanding of what God has spoken in these last days by His Son (Heb. 1:2). The next-to-last word—written and spoken by these postexilic prophets—sets the stage for hearing God's final, ideal, and incomparable Word.

The Next to Last Word