The primary
message of the prophets is the person and character of God. Most
problems in the church and the world are rooted in an incorrect or
unbalanced view of God. Prophets will consistently speak of his
love, mercy, righteousness, holiness, sovereignty and justice.
Prophecy always calls for a faith
response. God never gives opinions; he gives orders (Tom
Marshall- The Coming of the Prophets).
We need to get a prophetic vision of
the Church; to see the Church as God sees it (John Brook.).
The second part of the prophetic message
is God’s plan for history. Prophets describe what God is doing
in the world. They give the long-term plan and proclaim coming
events, explaining how they fit into the long-term plan (Is
40:15-17).
Economics, politics, justice,
education, race, the arts of drama, painting and writing,
newspaper and TV production- all of these areas and many
others need to be restored (John and Paula Sanford - The
Elijah Task p.38).
True prophets appear in times of
apostasy. Prophets of quality move in when the people are
moving away from the ideal laid down once and for all in the
Book. The prophetic mind develops into its finest and most
rare expressions during times of apostasy. A Jeremiah is born
for and prepared for the Babylonic confrontation. A man who is
prepared to watch and to cry will appear. The burden-bearer
will be made ready. A man who won’t give in will always be
found in times of apostasy. Such a man is made able to see -
see reality. He sees God’s intervention coming. His burden
is something very real, indeed tangible. He relates to
reality, speaks reality, speaks quality. (Lars Widerberg - The
Unwelcome Necessity - The Burden).
The goal is the Kingdom of God. Prophets
should be obsessed with the Kingdom. They should have a passion to
see the Kingdom of God become a reality.
What did the prophets prophesy?
Inclusively, they prophesied concerning the
King and the Kingdom (T. Austin-Sparks - Prophetic Ministry).
He is a sign to the whole church,
pointing it to the vision of the Kingdom. Vision and clear
insight are the fruits of contemplation, and they are vital.
At heart the contemplative is one who sees clearly, who sees
with the eyes of God, the clear light that shines in the
emptiness of the human spirit. It is a clear vision, which
enables the truly spiritual man to see beneath the surface of
events, to see through illusion and the transient to reality.
Consequently the contemplative is more of a threat to
injustice than the social activist who merely sees piecemeal
need. Contemplative vision is revolutionary vision, and it is
the achievement of this vision, which is the fruit of
spiritual director (K Leech -Theology and Vision).
Prophetic ministry brings God’s
perspective, releases vision and calling The prophet has a
kingdom perspective that will motivate the church universal
towards a practical unity of the Spirit (Graham Cooke -
Developing Your Prophetic Gifting p.194).
The Prophets uphold God’s standards, by
declaring his ethical requirements. God’s standards are
contained in the Scriptures and especially biblical law. The
standards for the nations are contained in biblical law. Prophets
will challenge the nations using the standard of God’s word.
The voice of the true prophet is
always the voice of the law of God, once and for all declared
through Moses. Jeremiah knows he is right because his
experience is the mosaic experience of standing before God
(J.A Motyer - NBD).
It is striking that the most profound
men of Prayer in Scripture are often also the ones who are
most concerned for vengeance and judgement. This is true of
the Psalmists, of Jesus and of John in Revelation. We often
find this harshness difficult, but it seems that those who get
close to God’s love and compassion also find that they share
active indignation at sin. Love and justice, judgement and
forgiveness are two aspects to God’s own character. Justice
is tempered by mercy and mercy by justice. It is the cross
that shows how they can be held together (John Goldings).
Judgement and salvation go together.
When the word of judgement comes, it is a word of salvation to
those who embrace it. When a word of salvation comes, it is a
word of judgement to those who embrace it (Bruce Yocum - The
Judgement of God Today).
The prophet absolutises those things
that the world has made trivial, and he makes trivial and
relative what the world has sought to make absolute and
ultimate. He stands the world on its head and he turns it
inside out. He says, "What you are celebrating is
self-delusion, and what you are ignoring is of eternal moment
and significance." He not only says it, but he
establishes it. (T. Austin-Sparks - What is Prophetic
Ultimacy?).
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