“The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Son of man, prophecy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophecy out of their own imagination: ”Hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!”’” (Ezekiel 13:1-3).
When we hear the word, “prophecy,” what do we think of? Most of us think of telling of the future. We think of obscure words and hidden meanings of events yet to come.
To be sure, there is some of that in the Bible. But most prophecy in the Bible is not the ominous warnings of future occurrences. Rather, the majority of prophecy in the Bible is in the form of warnings of impending judgment and the need for repentance. Reading through the Major and Minor Prophets of the Old Testament demonstrate the reality that prophecy was sent by God to His people to warn them to return to Him and be faithful in their relationship with Him or the consequences would be dire.
Jonah understood this when God told him to go to Nineveh “and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before Me” (Jonah 1:2). Jonah understood that the message God wanted preached was one of impending doom if genuine repentance did not arise from the city. Jonah, knowing God’s propensity to forgive the repentant, didn’t want to give the Ninevites the opportunity to repent, so he ran as far from there as he could. God had other plans, and Jonah did as God commanded. Sort of. His message of repentance was: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (Jonah 3:5). This prophecy didn’t come true, because Nineveh repented and God relented of the impending doom and gloom Jonah so wanted for these bitter enemies. God used even his minimalist message to reach the hearts of a wicked people.
And that’s the purpose of prophecy—to bring people to repentance. Yes, it includes a dire warning of impending doom, but the warning is not of something mysterious and hidden from clear meaning. The prophet’s message is, in a nutshell, “Get right with God or suffer the consequences.”
Who Was a Prophet?
A prophet can be anyone from anywhere. The first “prototype” prophet was Samuel. Samuel was from the tribe of Ephraim, not a priestly family or clan. Yet he was called by God to proclaim His truth and to lead His people. His first message was to confirm to Eli what God had previously told Eli about judgment on Eli’s house. Isaiah was the son of prophets; Jeremiah a young man, the son of a priest, when called to be a prophet. Amos was a shepherd or a orchard caretaker. They varied in their professions and their ages. Some had long careers as prophets and others came on the scene for a brief period and then were never heard from again.
Each of the prophets were given a specific call, and in most cases, the call starts with “The word of the Lord came to . . .” (cf. Hosea 1:1; Joel 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Micah 1:1; Zephaniah 1:1; Haggai 1:1; Zechariah 1:1). To Jeremiah, God said, “See, today I have put My words in your mouth” (Jeremiah 1:10). Ezekiel was given this command from God: “You must speak My words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen. . .” (Ezekiel 2:7a). Isaiah was simply told to go and tell “this people” (Isaiah 6:9a). There are a few prophets that proclaimed an oracle (Nahum 1:1; Habakkuk 1:1; Malachi 1:1), but the oracles are again warnings of impending judgment unless repentance comes quickly.
What Does a Prophet Proclaim?
As stated earlier, a prophet proclaims, “Get right with God or suffer the consequences.” When Isaiah responded to God’s call, he was told, “Go and tell these people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving. Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn and be healed’” (Isaiah 6:9-10).
The interesting thing about the prophets of the Old Testament is that there is only one account where the message was heeded, and the people repented. Ironically, it was Jonah’s terse message that resulted in the repentance of an entire people with God sparing them judgment and destruction. There is no other record of the people hearing the message and repenting. Isaiah asked God how long he was supposed to give the message that would not be received, and God’s response was, “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitants, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravages, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken” (Isaiah 6:11-12). Jeremiah’s ministry was one long rejection by the leaders and the people. He was abused and mocked and jailed, even to the point that he didn’t want to be a prophet anymore. Yet, he persisted, and eventually all he said would happen did. Even then, the people would not listen to him.
Most of the messages were ones of a great need to return to God. Some of the more familiar passages in the Old Testament remind us of what God wanted from His people. Isaiah had numerous prophesies dealing with the coming Messiah (Isaiah 7:13-25; 9:1-7; 11 among others).Jeremiah spoke about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity into Babylon. Ezekiel gave God’s word to the exiles in Babylon. Joel was quoted by Peter in his Pentecostal message: “I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will Prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28). Amos spoke out against the wealthy turning their backs on the less fortunate. (One of my favorite passages is Amos 4, which ends with the chilling, “Therefore, this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12).)
The overall message of the prophets is that Israel needs to return to an obedient walk with God, and that walk needs to be an experiential relationship with Him, not the mere performance of rites and sacrifices. The people ask what God requires of them, exaggerating the sacrifices they are prepared to give, and God’s response, in Micah 6:8 is, “He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with the Lord your God.” In Zechariah, God tells His people, “’These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other, and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against your neighbor, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,’ declares the Lord” (Zechariah 8:16-17). Hosea 6:6: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burn offerings.”
To be sure, there are visions of future events, particularly in Daniel, and in the others, as well. Most of the visions entail the coming Messiah and the re-establishment of the throne of David. But the vast majority of the Old Testament prophets speak about returning to God, becoming in right relationship with Him again and walking in obedience to His ways.
Carrying the idea of prophecy to the New Testament tends to show again that prophecy is more speaking God’s word to His people rather than telling of future events. Again, the Revelation is the exception to this, and there are glimpses of visions in Luke 2 when Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the Temple for His circumcision. Both Simeon and Anna spoke about the fulfillment of prophecy in Jesus.
The most in-depth instruction about prophecy is found in 1 Corinthians 14 where Paul compares the benefits of prophecy over speaking in tongues. The chapter doesn’t so much declare “This is what prophecy is” as it more explains that prophecy is preferable to tongues in the context of worship. Paul argues that tongues edify the speaker, while prophecy edifies the church (v. 4). He also says that the act of prophecy is clearly understood by the listeners, while tongues requires an interpreter to be present. He concludes his discourse on the matter with, “So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, ‘God is really among you!’” (1 Corinthians 14:23-25).
How Does It Work in Our World Today?
Prophecy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:6; 1 Corinthians 12:10) given to the Church in order to help the body of Christ function more completely. This gift is distinguished from the gift of the “message of wisdom” and the “message of knowledge” (1 Corinthians 14:8). A referral to my commentaries reveals these difference between the three. One of the commentaries suggest the gift of knowledge is the ability to state the facts of the Gospel accurately, while another suggests that knowledge is being able to take God’s work through the cross and make it practical. These same commentaries suggest the gift of wisdom is the ability to understand God’s work through the cross and the ability to see the nuanced meanings in the facts of the Gospel. They see prophecy as a gift of forth-telling with some elements of foretelling, suggesting that the person gifted with this gift is able to discern the mind of God more clearly than others. It is this gift that Paul compares with the gift of tongues, suggesting that the prophet is one who is very good at explaining God’s working in our world and society and able to see the benefits and dangers of society’s response to God’s revelation of Himself through Christ.
So, prophecy in the New Testament is a gift of God given to some to present His message in the context of living in society. It is a gift that brings clarity of understanding to the listeners/readers. It is the prophet who is able to look at the world around us and understand how God is working and how He wants His church to respond to Him.
Not everyone has this gift. Those who do need to use the gift wisely and obediently. The best way to do so is to be constantly in tune with God, heeding His leadership and revelation of Himself as He works in our world. The prophet is not adding to Scripture, but rather he or she gains insight into the word by walking closely with the Lord and submitting to the Lord’s direction. The prophet is careful to ensure that the message given is accurate and consistent with the overall message of the Gospel.
Conclusion
Just as God called prophets in the Old Testament to preach His word to the people in a forthright manner, so does He call prophets today, primarily through the gift of prophecy itself. The task is the same—proclaim God’s truth clearly and forcefully to His Church and to the world. The prophet takes no thought about how society will receive the message, only that the message is an accurate, true and consistent message from God.
Sometimes, God will bless the prophet with a vision of what is to come, but such occurrences are rare and should not be the focus of the prophet. When God gives a vision, share it, but don’t dwell on it. The vision will shape the future ministry, but it will not be the sole purpose of that ministry. The primary purpose of the prophet is always to speak God’s word so that others will see God’s expectations and hopes for His people.
© 2018 Glynn Beaty