THE PROPHETS
The Bible contains the writings of several men who were sent as ‘Prophets’. These were men chosen by God to present His message the people. The scriptures remind us that these men were “moved by the Holy Spirit” 2 Peter 1:20, 21, and not of their own accord, because “all scripture is inspired by God!’ 2 Timothy 3:16.
The primary message that each prophet presented was to provide guidance to those who would hear: “Surely the Lord GOD does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.” Amos 3:7
Their message was to provide a real life warning and consequence relating to their godless actions, and to provide a view of near and future events so they could know that God is in control and directing events according to His plan. God, in his love always provided ‘fair warning’ and ample opportunity to respond to the message. As an example, in Amos 3:1,2 the LORD first reminds them that, of all the nations, He had chosen Israel to be his people, v2, but because of their sins, he would “punish Israel’s transgressions” Amos 3:14. This reveals the principle upon which God’s judgments will be applied: whether to the Jews who are exclusive to the LORD, or to the nations around them. With the warning given, they had no excuse, and to disobey resulted in consequences, usually punishment. In this passage, it is because they profaned His name!
Prediction of an event in advance, is a regular tool used by God to guide people to faithful obedience! A further example of this is provided when the Jews are warned through Jeremiah: “…thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words… ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years”, Jeremiah 25:8,11,12. Jeremiah was an active prophet who witnessed the six deportations of the Jews from Israel by the Babylonians. His warnings were to those who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders encouraging them to “return to the LORD”, Jeremiah 23:1-8. They did not repent and their removal from the land as prophesied was completed by the Babylonians.
Despite their failure as a nation, God declared he would never completely cast them off, nor would they be totally forgotten by as noted in Jeremiah 23:5,6,8. In fact the LORD revealed that they would again “dwell on their own soil”. In addition to this, as seen in Jeremiah 33:7-9, God would: “cleanse them… and pardon all their iniquities”. In Jeremiah 33:14-26 the LORD reaffirms they should have hope in the coming Messiah!