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God Confirms His Credibility to the World
God Confirms His Credibility to the World
What is a prophet? What are his
job, function and mission? Peter describes prophets as "holy men of God (who)
spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2Peter 1:21). But is that the
whole story?
"The Hebrew word for prophet, nabi, means 'one who announces or brings
a message from God.' Our word 'prophet' has essentially the same meaning, one who
speaks by divine inspiration as the interpreter or spokesman of God, whether it be
a message of duty, a warning or a prediction of future events. The twofold meaning
is due to the two senses of the preposition pro (in the Greek from which our
word prophet is derived), 'for' and 'before'; so a prophet is one who speaks
for God, and one who tells before hand what is to take place"
(Peloubet's Bible Dictionary, 1971, "Prophet, Prophecy").
It is important that we understand the role of these prophets. Daniel refers to prophets
as "Your (God's) servants . . . who spoke in Your name to our kings
and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land" (Daniel 9:6).
They were messengers whose role went far beyond predicting. They also gave instruction,
pointed to lessons from history, reminded the people of their covenant with God,
showed kings and nations their sins and proclaimed God's call to repentance. As God's
spokesman, the Bible sometimes referred to a prophet simply as "a man of God"
(1Samuel 2:27).
God usually revealed His will to prophets through visions and dreams. They saw, in
clear mental images, what God wanted them to convey to the people; such as, "The
word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:1). They then described, in their own words and style, what they saw or heard (verse 8). Sometimes God told them what to say. Many prophetic passages are introduced with
the words, "Thus says the Lord . . ." (Isaiah 44:6; Jeremiah 8:4; Ezekiel 11:5).
Israel's spiritual decline
From shortly after the death of Joshua to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.,
the spiritual condition of the people of Israel deteriorated. Only during a part
of the reigns of a few kings-David, Solomon, Hezekiah and Josiah-were ancient Israel
and Judah considered relatively righteous and obedient nations.
Under Solomon's leadership, Israel reached the pinnacle of its expansion, prosperity
and fame. However, Solomon's heavy taxation spawned misery and resentment. Meanwhile
his pagan wives influenced him to turn away from God to idolatry.
Immediately after the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam ignored the advice of his
senior advisers to reverse Solomon's excessive taxation, a policy that threatened
to divide the kingdom. The northern tribes especially resented such heavy taxation,
and under the leadership of Jeroboam 10 tribes revolted and reorganized into a separate
kingdom.
Almost immediately this new kingdom, the house of Israel, adopted forms of idolatry
for its religious ceremonies. Judah, the southern kingdom, retained the right form
of worship and at times experienced spiritual reawakenings under righteous kings
that included Hezekiah and Josiah. But even Judah generally failed to curtail the
spread of idolatry within its borders.
The moral and spiritual climate in both kingdoms degenerated, with first a rapid
decline in the house of Israel followed by a prolonged decline in the house of Judah.
Rulers and subjects alike began disregarding their covenant with God. God specifically
condemned their idolatry and ignoring of the Sabbath day, the time He had sanctified
for weekly rest and worship.
Soon the afflictions and punishments for disobedience that God had spelled out in
detail in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 began to affect both kingdoms on a grand
scale. Through His prophets, God pleaded for repentance for several centuries with
both the house of Judah and the house of Israel. For the most part the people ignored
and scorned the warnings of the prophets.
At first the prophets used only the spoken word to condemn the two nations' moral
and spiritual corruption. They pleaded for repentance. The two prominent prophets
during this long period of spiritual and moral decline were Elijah and Elisha. We
read about their work near the end of the book of 1 Kings and in the early chapters
of 2 Kings. Ultimately the prophets began to proclaim their prophetic warnings not
only with spoken appeals but with written prophetic messages.
Written prophecy became necessary
As Israel and Judah further slid into moral and spiritual degeneracy, God would soon
dramatically increase His punishment for their sins. He sent His prophets with a
new and terrifying warning to announce to both nations: Unless you repent of your
collective sins-particularly your covetousness, idolatry and Sabbath-breaking-captivity
and exile will soon be your fate. Foreign conquerors will invade your borders, destroy
your cities and carry your survivors to faraway lands.
In those days empires often intimidated nearby smaller kingdoms into submission simply
by the threat of invasion. The weaker countries usually consented to become vassal
states to the powerful rulers, who demanded total allegiance. As long as the vassal
states paid the required tax or tribute-and maintained their allegiance to the more
powerful empire-they generally were allowed to govern themselves. But any insubordination
was quickly crushed, and additional restrictions to their freedom were imposed. If
the vassals again tried to shake off the control of the superior power, they were
routed by military force and the survivors carried away into exile.
Why was the threat of exile to Israel and Judah so important to God that He wanted
it recorded in writing for future generations? Why did He decide that the whole world
must know why and how He would disown His chosen people for a time? After all, God
had promised this land to the descendants of Abraham forever. How could He take it
away from them without destroying His own credibility?
God keeps His promises
God wants the world to know He always keeps His promises. He specifically promised
Abraham and David that their descendants, their seed, would inherit and rule over
a particular land-the land of Canaan-forever. But through the prophets God then told
Israel and Judah that He would drive them out of that promised land. This required
an explanation.
How could God expel His people from the Promised Land into captivity and exile and
still keep His promises? Would God abandon His promises and covenants? Would David's
dynasty cease?
God determined to answer these questions in advance. He wanted no scoffer to have
legitimate reason to accuse Him of ignoring or abandoning His promises and covenants.
He chose to permanently record why He was sending the descendants of Israel-both
kingdoms-into exile.
So He sent His prophets not only to warn but to record what He planned
so all peoples could read-in advance-His plans to restore Israel as one kingdom.
One of the first prophets to write about the impending exile of the northern kingdom
of Israel exclaimed: "Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His
secret to His servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7). God commissioned such prophets
not only to warn about impending disasters but to explain that God would later fulfill
every promise He had ever made.
With this background, we read that God had the prophets record for all generations
what the future would hold. This is surely history written in advance.
The same prophecies that foretold the fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah give
specific details concerning the coming of the Messiah and the restoration of the
throne of David. These prophecies explain that the Messiah-as the Son of David and
the Son of God-will restore, at His second coming, the kingdom of Israel as part
of His own worldwide Kingdom.
Through these prophecies, God provides mankind with proof of the reliability of His
promises and covenants. Prophecy establishes God's credibility and faithfulness for
all who take the time to study and accept His Word.
Just as God had earlier demonstrated-by Israel's miraculous exodus from Egypt -that
His promises of nationhood to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were reliable, so He will
demonstrate the complete reliability of His Word by fulfilling everything He has
spoken through the mouths and pens of His prophets. Through them He revealed the
good and bad aspects of the future of Israel and that these things will demonstrably
affect the future of mankind.
Even more important, when everything is said and done God will have demonstrated
that He and He alone has the power to control our destiny. He will have proved beyond
a shadow of doubt these words: "I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring
the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done . . .
Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will
also do it" (Isaiah 46:9-11).
God will demonstrate that He is God
Through the prophet Ezekiel God explains the great purpose for the events He has
revealed to us:
"'I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment
which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of
Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day forward. The Gentiles
shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because
they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the
hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. According to their uncleanness
and according to their transgressions I have dealt with them, and hidden My face
from them.' Therefore thus says the Lord God: 'Now I will bring back the captives
of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel . . . When I have
brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies' lands,
and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that
I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but
also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer'"
(Ezekiel 39:21-28; compare with Exodus 6:7).
God put these prophecies in writing so all humanity will be able to understand and
believe in His great power and truthfulness. All peoples will then have incontrovertible
evidence that they can trust Him as the living and faithful God. If God should fail
to keep a single promise, His word would always be suspect. Prophecy explains how
He will keep His promises-both to punish those who sin and to bless those who yield
to His instructions.
God intends to use His prophecies-and their astounding accuracy-to demonstrate to
all that He is indeed the God of truth. They will come to realize the reliability
of Jesus Christ's plain statement concerning God: "Your word is truth"
(John 17:17).
God will confirm His credibility
We must keep in mind the promises made to Abraham and David and the covenant God
established with Israel. God binds Himself to be faithful to His word. Therefore
He has obliged Himself to restore all the inheritance and all the blessings He took
away in the exile of Israel and Judah.
Again, through Ezekiel, God said: "Surely I will take the children of Israel
from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every
side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land,
on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall
no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.
"They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable
things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their
dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. Then they shall
be My people, and I will be their God" (Ezekiel 37:21-23).
So convincing will be the evidence of the reality of God that real repentance accompanied
by a stunning transformation in the way the people of Israel respond to Him will
finally come to pass. "'And a Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn
from transgression in Jacob,' declares the Lord. 'And as for Me, this is My covenant
with them,' says the Lord: 'My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have
put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring,
nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring,' says the Lord, 'from now and forever'"
(Isaiah 59:20-21, NASB).
The apostle Paul reaffirmed this concept centuries later: "For I do not desire,
brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in
your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The
Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob'"
(Romans 11:25-26).
No room will be left for doubt of God's existence and reliability. Proof that God
is real and His Word is to be trusted will stand overwhelming and irrefutable.
Once the descendants of ancient Israel accept the undeniable evidence that God has
inspired and faithfully fulfilled the prophecies written in His Word, Christ will
begin to teach the other nations this same truth. God will then have brought all
nations-all of humanity-to repentance. The books of prophecy in our Bibles will provide
the indisputable evidence that God can accurately predict the end from the beginning.
©1999 United Church of God, an International Associtaion
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