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"Reading the Prophets of the Old Testament"
Dr. Jack Klem, CBTS
You can’t read the newspaper or watch news programming without wondering, how long O Lord?
How long will it be before you return and deal with all the horrible effects of sin in our lives, within our society, and globally?
The prophets of Israel were divinely selected servants who had similar concerns about the moral decadence of their day.
How did God direct them? What did He tell them to tell Israel? How does the prophetic message of the Old Testament relate to us today? Why should we read the prophets of the Old Testament?
Let me give you a perspective with several observations.
God directed His prophets to declare His character and holiness to the nation of Israel. Israel was reminded by the mouth of the prophet that God is their Sovereign (Amos 9:8; Zeph 1:7). He is the God of wrath and judgment (Micah 5:15; Nahum 1:2) as well as the God of mercy and grace (Jonah 2:8; Micah 7:18).
God directed His prophets to declare His Word to His people (Zech 1:1, 7). The prophetic word is God’s Word which details His intentions that He will bring to pass as He determined. The prophetic corpus is not a wizard’s book of predictions about what will happen next.
God directed His prophets to detail the nature of His relationship with His people. God does not relate to His people through nature but by means of a relationship.
In the OT this relationship was regulated by means of a covenant. God entered a covenant relationship with His people so that He could enjoy their prayers, their laments, and their praise.
In the ancient Near East the people related to their gods through nature. They had no genuine relationship with their god. They spent their days trying to coerce and manipulate a figment of their imagination.
God directed His prophets to express the consequences for violating the relationship He established with His people.
Although there are divine consequences for violating the relationship God established with His people, there is hope (Zech 9:12), there is forgiveness (Micah 7:18), and there is restoration for a repentant people (Amos 9:11).
God directed His prophets to announce the coming of His anointed Messiah (Micah 7:7).
Since we live on this side of the cross, we know that the Messiah has come and has fulfilled God’s decreed purposes to this point.
We enjoy in a far greater way what the prophets exhorted Israel to enjoy – Himself, His Word, and His relationship with us.
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy (Micah 7:18).
May God bless your reading of the prophets in your Older Testament.
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