Posts Tagged: prophets
“PROPHETS AND PREDICTORS”
I am currently teaching a class on biblical prophets, especially, the Old Testament prophets. One of the most difficult things for my students to wrap their mind around is the idea that the prophets are not primarily predictors of the distant future.
Notice that I said that they are “. . . not primarily predictors . . . .” I do believe that the prophets could and did predict the future. However, I do not believe that this was their main task.
Well then, what was their main task?
I suspect that the main task of the prophet was to call God’s people back to their main tasks: to trust and obey God, which involved God’s people cultivating personal integrity and a fair society.
One of the things that the prophets especially emphasized was the need to take good care of the weakest members of their society: widows, orphans, foreigners, the poor. Those who just looked after themselves were the targets of some of the prophets’ sternest condemnations.
And yet, all of these things—trust, obedience, personal integrity, and a fair society that takes care of those on the margin—are connected. Without trust in God, obedience, integrity, and fairness are difficult to pull off. Believe me, I’ve tried it without God!
I have to admit that there are certainly some atheists who are better at integrity and fairness than many who at least say they believe in God. Granted.
However, if there is a God who is good and wise and powerful, it might be more effective to involve that God in our striving for personal integrity and a fair society.
Now, let me bring this brief blog full circle. The prophets did predict the future. However, it was not primarily the distant future. Rather, they predicted the immediate future. And the prophets contended that God was very much involved in this immediate future. With God, the future of God’s people, and indeed all the people of the world, would be good. Without God, bad things were coming.
That’s a pretty simple prediction, isn’t it? Well, the prophets weren’t generally into being subtle. They were generally into Truth.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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