Prophetic Commentary

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Forth telling in the since that they were simply speaking the law of God, what had already been written and applying it to the present situation of their contemporaries.

Foretelling in that God also used them to speak about things to come in the future. Some of which are still yet to come to pass.

They gave explanation of what God was doing among His people before the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles, during the exile, and after the return. Many of the prophets were very eccentric and probably the kind of person most of us would think strange. They were very demonstrative in the way they communicated using their own bodies and lives as illustrations of judgment. For example: Hosea was commanded by God to take a prostitute for a wife and use his relationship with her as a means of revealing Israels unfaithfulness to His covenant.

Transition: As a result of being obedient to God’s calling, the prophets suffered greatly. It was not a lucrative position. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet, Jonah was swallowed up by a huge fish, Isiah was sawn in half, and Amos was threatened with exile. As the first Christian martyr , Stephen said in his sermon,, before he was executed, Acts 7:52.

Acts 7:52 ESV

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

Transition: Now, with that bit of background concerning the prophets, now lets spend some time looking at their message. What was it that God used them to say?

The Prophetic Message

Explaining what God is like… (They were the theologians of their day reminding the people about the character and attributes of God.)

Holy, true, sovereign, just, good, faithful to keep His covenant, full of mercy and grace. (Is.6)

Judgment

Upon Israel’s enemies like Obadiah pronouncing judgement upon Edom.

Upon Israel like Joel 2:1-3

Joel 2:1–3 ESV

Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.

Deliverance

Nahum 1:3-7

Nahum 1:3–7 ESV

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.

Jer. 33:1-9

Jeremiah 33:1–9 ESV

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he was still shut up in the court of the guard: “Thus says the Lord who made the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it—the Lord is his name: Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known. For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against the siege mounds and against the sword: They are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me. And this city shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and a glory before all the nations of the earth who shall hear of all the good that I do for them. They shall fear and tremble because of all the good and all the prosperity I provide for it.

Transition: One of the greatest accounts in the Prophetic books about God’s deliverance is the narrative of Shadrch, Meshach, and Abindigo. (Read Daniel 3:13-25) This Christophony points to the ultimate deliverance that the prophets reveal is the “crusher of the serpent’s head”. The messiah.

The Prophetic Point

Identity of Jesus the Messiah (Luke 4:16-30

Identity of Jesus’ Church (Acts 2:14-21

Closing: have you confessed Jesus Christ as Lord? Do you belong to His church?

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