SHOW #95
THEME: THE PROPHETS OF OLD
I’VE BEEN LEARNING SO MANY INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT GOD’S PROPHETS THAT I WANTED TO PASS THEM ON…..YOU MAY NOT THINK THAT THIS IS A SUBJECT THAT CAN RELATE TO YOU TODAY BUT, IF YOU GIVE ME A LITTLE TIME I WILL TEACH YOU SOMETHING THAT I JUST FOUND OUT THAT WILL MAKE THE SUBJECT RELATIVE TO ALL WHO HAVE LIVED ON THIS PLANET.
THE PROPHET ISAIAH WAS TOLD BY GOD TO WALK THROUGH THE STREETS NAKED FOR 3 YEARS. I KNOW THAT WAS SYMBOLIC OF WHAT GOD WAS GOING TO DO TO THE PEOPLE IF THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO HIM, BUT….2 THINGS…..WOULDN’T THEY ARREST SOMEONE FOR WALKING NAKED IN PUBLIC….I KNOW ISAIAH DIDN’T HIDE BEHIND BARRELS AND SHRUBS AS HE VENTURED THROUGH THE CITY…AND 2….HE HAD TO BE MORTIFIED TO OBEY GOD AND TO DO THAT….WOULDN’T YOU THINK? I KNOW THAT WE’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO QUESTION GOD AND I DON’T, YET I STILL SHAKE MY HEAD AT THE THOUGHTS OF THAT….
THE PROPHET JEREMIAH WAS CALLED TO BE A PROPHET BEFORE HIS BIRTH…HIS CALL WAS MORE OF A STRUGGLE THAN THE CALL OF THE OTHER PROPHETS. GOD WOULD NOT ALLOW HIM TO TAKE A WIFE OR HAVE CHILDREN WHICH WAS DEVASTATING TO HIM. THERE WAS CONFLICT IN HIS FAMILY. HE WALKED AROUND WITH A YOKE AROUND HIS NECK..THAT WAS ALSO SYMBOLIC. IT SYMBOLIZED THE YOKE THAT GOD WAS GOING TO PUT ON THE PEOPLE IF THEY DIDN’T LISTEN. HE HAD NO PROBLEM SHOUTING OUT THE WORDS OF THE LORD IN PUBLIC….HE WAS UNDAUNTED BY THE THREATS AGAINST HIM. HE WAS IMPRISONED ON ONE OCCASION….HE FORESHADOWED FUTURE CAPTIVITY….HE COMPLAINED TO GOD ABOUT THE PEOPLE NOT LISTENING…MUDDY CISTERN CHAPTER 38….RAGS UNDER HIS ARMS WHEN HE WAS PULLED UP….GRACE…..JEREMIAH HAD A HEAVY HEART FOR THE PEOPLE….HE WAS MOST PESSIMISTIC AND HE WAS MOST EMOTIONAL…OFTEN CALLED THE CRYING PROPHET. HE WAS ALSO COURAGEOUS.
EZEKIEL WAS THE LAST OF THE MAJOR PROPHETS. HE HAD VISIONS AND DREAMS PGS 910 AND 911 VERSES 12 AND 20…..HE DID BIZARRE THINGS AND HAD A TOUCH OF MADNESS. . HE WAS TOLD BY GOD TO EAT THE SCROLL WITH HIS WORDS WRITTEN ON IT. DOES THAT SEEM A LITTLE ODD? WELL GOD HAD HIM INGEST THE SCROLL SO THAT WHEN HE SPOKE THE WORD OF GOD WOULD COME FORTH. HE HAD A VISION OF CREATURES AND WHEELS IN EZE 1:15….THE VISION MAY HAVE BEEN ODD, BUT GOD KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING BECAUSE HE ALWAYS LEADS ME TO THAT PORTION OF SCRIPTURE WHEN I NEED TO GO STRAIGHT FORWARD AS THE WHEELS WENT STRAIGHT FORWARD. AND NOT TO DEVIATE FROM SIDE TO SIDE…AS I’M SURE HE LEADS THOUSANDS OF OTHERS TO THAT PORTION, AS WELL….
OF COURSE, THE ENEMY WAS ALWAYS SLITHERING IN THE MIDST OF THE PROPHETS AND WHEN EZEKIEL TOLD OF THIS VISION HE AS ACCUSED OF WITNESSING A FLYING SAUCER. …..EZEKIEL WITNESSED THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. …GOD PUT THESE WORDS IN HIS MOUTH FOR THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM: I WILL GIVE YOU A NEW HEART…I WILL PUT A NEW SPIRIT IN YOU……EZEKIEL WAS A PROPHET OF HOPE AND ENLIGHTENMENT. ….THE PEOPLE LIKED THE MESSAGE, BUT AFTER A WHILE THE PROPHECY BEGAN TO WANE AND THEN IT DISAPPEARED…..THAT IS WHY GOD’S MESSAGE HAS ALWAYS BEEN….YOU NEED REMINDERS PEOPLE NEED TO TEACH THEIR CHILDREN…..
SURELY….GOD IS NOT AN ORDINARY GOD….YET….AT THE SAME TIME….HIS VOICE IS A STILL SMALL VOICE….HIS PURPOSE IS TO TOUCH HEARTS….
MOSES IS SAID TO BE THE GREATEST PROPHET WHO EVER LIVED….YET….GOD SAID THAT MOSES WASN’T A PROPHET BECAUSE HE SPOKE TO MOSES FACE TO FACE….IN NUMBERS 12:6
WE’LL GET TO SOME OTHER PROPHETS LIKE SAMUEL AND ELIJAH LATER….
THE MISSION OF THE PROPHETS , WHO WERE ALSO CALLED SEERS, WAS TO RETURN THE PEOPLE TO GOD…THEY PREACHED REPENTANCE…THEY HAD PASSION IN THEIR WORDS AND THEIR DEEDS AND A PROFOUND EFFECT ON HUMANITY….THEOLOGIANS AGREE THAT GOD’S PROPHETS AFFECTED THE WHOLE WORLD EVEN WESTERN CIVILIZATION…I THINK THAT IS BECAUSE IF GOD LET THE PEOPLE CARRY ON THE WAY THEY WERE CARRYING ON WITH NO SET OF GUIDELINES, THAT THEY WOULD IN TIME DESTROY THEMSELVES AS A PEOPLE. THAT’S PRETTY HEAVY DUTY…DON’T YOU THINK?....
THESE MEN CAME FROM WIDELY DIFFERENT SECTORS. VERY LITTLE IS KNOWN OF THEIR PERSONAL STORIES. THEY CRITICIZED AND REPRIMANDED THE LEADERS RISKING THEIR LIVES…PROPHETS WERE PEOPLE WHO ACTED AS LINKS FROM GOD TO MAN….BEING BOTH HUMAN AND DIVINE…
THEY OFTEN TRAVELED IN GROUPS AS THEY HAD THEIR CALLING I COMMON. THE SPIRIT OF GOD DESCENDED UPON THEM AND MOVED THEM TO PROPHESY AND ALSO TO ECSTASY WHEN THEY BANDED TOGETHER. THEY USED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS AND DANCED TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE PRESENCE OF GOD…
PROPHETS DIDN’T ONLY WARN PEOPLE, THEY CORRECTED KINGS AND LEADERS. …..A MORE MODERN DEFINITION OF PROPHET IS SOMEONE WHO SPREADS GOD’S TRUTHS. PERSONALLY I WOULD CALL THAT PROPAGATING THE GOSPEL…TO ME A PROPHET OF GOD WAS A PROPHET OF GOD…
SAMUEL WAS A WELL KNOWN PROPHET WHO ANOINTED SAUL KING AND LATER ON ANOINTED DAVID KING. HE WAS A VERY WISE MAN, WELL RESPECTED.HE LIVED MOE THAN 1,000 YEARS BEFORE THE BIRTH OF JESUS……..AT THE TIME 12 TRIBES DEMANDED A KING IN 1 SAMUEL 10:25. SAMUEL WAS THE MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE COUNTRY…..
THE RISE OF THE PROPHETS HAPPENED IN THE 11TH CENTURY B.C…..
ELIJAH EMERGED…AT FIRST HE WAS A PRIVATE AND PERSONAL ADVISER, BUT LATER HE BECAME A PROPHET TO THE PEOPLE….HE WAS PROBABLY A BLACK MAN…HE HAD GUTS…HE WENT OT THE KING AND TOLD HIM TO BRING ALL THE FALSE PROPHETS TO HIM…HE WANTED TO HAVE A SHOW DOWN WITH HIM. HE CHALLENGED THE 450 PROPHETS OF BAAL AND GOD DEFEATED ALL THEIR IDOLS. DO YOU THINK THAT ELIJAH WAVERED AT AL IN HIS FAITH???? HE DIDN’T….
JEZEBEL WAS HE WIFE OF KING AHAB. SHE WAS AN EVIL PERSON AND SHE HATED ELIJAH’S GUTS. SHE ORDERED HIM SLAIN, BUT HE ESCAPED AND GOD PROTECTED HIM…..LATER IN THE ACCOUNT HE RECEIVED A CLOAK FORM GOD AND WHEN GOD TOOK HIM UP TO HEAVEN, THE MAN, ELISHA DIFFERENT SPELLING, RECEIVED ELIJAH’S CLOAK AND WAS GIVEN A DOUBLE PORTION OF HIS SPIRIT…
THERE IS A DISTINGUISHMENT BETWEEN THE MAJOR AND THE MINOR PROPHETS…THE MAJOR ONES HAVING THE LONG BOOKS OF THE BIBLE AND THE MINOR ONES HAVING SHORT BOOKS……THERE WERE 16 PROPHETS WHO WERE WRITING PROPHETS AMONG THEM ISAIAH, JEREMIAH (WHO ALSO HAD A SIDE- KICK NAMED BARUCH WHO GOD HAND-PICKED AND SENT TO HIM BECAUSE OF HIS LOVE FOR JEREMIAH WHO WROTE FOR HIM, ALSO…AMOS JONAH AND OTHERS…THEY WERE EMISSARIES OF GOD…EMISSARIES (AGENTS SENT BY GOD ON A MISSION.)
HOW WERE THE PEOPLE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE TRUE AND FALSE PROPHETS? I IMAGINE THE SAME WAY WE HAVE TO DO IT TODAY…ALTHOUGH THE DAYS OF PROPHETS ARE OVER AND GONE….WE STILL HAVE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT SPIRITS. FALSE PROPHETS TRY TO DECEIVE…ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL BUT IF WE SATAY TRUE OT GOD HE WILL SHOW US WHO IS TRUE AND WHO IS NOT…
AMOS…HE WAS A SIMPLE HERDSMAN….CAN YOU IMAGINE GOD CALLING A SIMPLE HERDSMAN AND NOT A GREAT TEACHER? THERE WAS MORAL DECAY IN THE LAND AND AMOS, WHO WAS A POWERFUL SPEAKER. HE CALLED FOR CHANGE. HIS MESSAGE WAS: SEEK GOOD NOT EVIL THAT YOU MAY LIVE. HE HAD MANY VISIONS….PG 1017…READ PARAGRAPHS…..
ISAIAH….AN ANGEL ANOINTED ISAIAH’S LIPS BY FIRE….HE HAD VISIONS TOO…HE SAW THE LORD SEATED ON THE THRONE…HE LIVED IN JERUSALEM. HIS TASK WAS ALSO TO ENCOURAGE AND GUIDE HIS PEOPLE. HIS MESSAGE: IF YOU (THE PEOPLE) WILL KEEP THE COVENANT, GOD WILL DO HIS PART….HE PROPHESIED ABOUT THE KING OF ASSYRIA IN IS 20:2. HE ALSO PREDICTED THE SURVIVAL OF JERUSALEM BECAUSE OF THE TEMPLE BEING THERE…HE WAS NOT TIMID ABOUT HIS PROPHESYING….HIS PREDICTIONS CAME TRUE…GOD STRUCK THOUSANDS, THE ENEMY RETREATED NEVER TO RETURN…
FROM ISIAH’S PERSPECTIVE THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM WAS INEVITABLE. HE INVITED PEOPLE TO REPENT AND PRAY SO THAT THE KINGDOM WOULD ULTIMATELY BE RESTORED AND SO THAT GOD-FEARING OR RIGHTEOUS PEOPLE WOULD BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN EVERLASTING BLESSINGS.
ISAIAH WAS A CONTEMPORARY OF AMOS, HOSEA AND MICAH WHO WERE ALSO PROPHETS. ISAIAH’S WORDS FORESHADOWED THE EVENT THAT WOULD CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY…THE BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST….HIS WORDS ARE REVERBERATED IN THE BIBLE….’BEHOLD A VIRGIN SHALL CONCEIVE AND BEAR A SON AND CALL HIM EMMANUEL….HIS FOCUS WAS NOT ON JESUS, BUT ON A KING…
ISAIAH, ACCORDING TO TRADITION, WAS MARTYRED BY BEING SAWED IN HALF UNDER THE REIGN OF MANASSAH, THE WICKED SON OF HEZEKIAH…..I THINK I NEED TO PAUSE AFTER THAT……….
THE PROPHET HOSEA’S THEME WAS GOD’S LOVE OR BACKSLIDING ISRAEL. HOSEA’S MARRIAGE AND THE NAMES OF HIS CHILDREN WERE SYMBOLIC OF ISRAELS’ ADULTERY. READ FROM INTRO………………………
THE PROPHET JOEL WAS KNOWN FOR PREACHING THAT THE DAY OF THE LORD WAS NEAR. AND IT’S BECAUSE OF HIS RECORDED WORDS THAT THE LORD LEADS ME AND OTHERS TO THOSE WORDS PERTAINING TO THE END TIMES, THAT GIVE ME ME PATIENCE AND HOPE….
IF YOU ARE CALLED OF GOD TO SPEAK OR WRITE SOMETHING….NO MATTER HOW SMALL OR TRIVIAL IT MAY SEEM TO YOU, OBEY HIM AND KNOW AND BELIEVE THAT GOD WILL TAKE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY OR WRITE VERY FAR.
PRAY ALONG WITH ME AS I PRAY FOR A MOMENT. FATHER, PLEASE FORGIVE MY IGNORANCE OF THIS SUBJECT ALL THESE YEARS. THANK YOU FOR ENLIGHTENING ME AND HOPEFULLY OTHERS-- TO THE DIVINE PLAN YOU HAD BEFORE CALLING THESE GREAT MEN TO BE USED IN SUCH AN IMPORTANT WAY IN HISTORY. CONTINUE TO TEACH US YOUR WAYS. IN JESUS NAME I PRAY….
