Who Were the Prophets... and Why Did God Send Them?
When many people think about the prophets, they think of men who predicted future events. While the prophets did sometimes speak about the future, that was only part of their work.
A prophet was God's spokesman.
God called men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, and many others to deliver His message to His people. They did not speak their own opinions. They spoke what God gave them to say.
The prophets usually addressed people living in their own generation.
Israel and Judah had broken God's covenant. Idolatry had become common. The poor were often mistreated. Worship had become empty ritual. Although the people continued to offer sacrifices, many had turned their hearts away from the Lord.
God sent His prophets to call them back.
Sometimes the message was one of warning.
"Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty. (Zechariah 1:3)
Sometimes it was a message of judgment.
Sometimes it was a message of comfort and hope.
Often it was all three.
The prophets reminded God's people that the Lord was faithful to His covenant. He would judge sin, but He would also keep every promise He had made.
Many of those promises pointed beyond the prophet's own lifetime.
They looked forward to a coming King, a new covenant, the outpouring of God's Spirit, and the blessing that would one day reach all nations through the Messiah.
The New Testament identifies Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of those promises.
Understanding the prophets begins with remembering that they were not writing mysterious messages for people thousands of years in the future.
They were first speaking God's Word to the people of their own day.
Only after we understand that original message are we ready to ask how God carried His promises forward through Jesus Christ.
That approach helps us avoid reading our own questions into the text and allows the prophets to speak as God intended.
Continue Your Study
What Were the Prophets Trying to Accomplish?
If the prophets were more than predictors of the future, what was their primary mission?
Why did God keep sending them to Israel and Judah?
And what did He want His people to do in response to their message?
Related Bible Studies
What Did the Author Intend?
How Does the Bible Interpret Itself?
The Story of Redemption
The Kingdom of God
Companion Video
Who Were the Prophets... and Why Did God Send Them?
Read First. Conclude Later.