I’m A major portion of the Bible is prophetic in nature. Before the New Testament came into being, the people of God called the Bible the Tanakh. The word Tanakh is derived from the three major divisions of the book, namely:
T - Torah - The Law
N - Nevi’im - The Prophets
K - Ketuvim - The Writings
To ignore the prophetic writings recorded in the Bible is to do like the failed kings and leaders did in the last days of Judah before they were conquered by a foreign nation.
“And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.” [1]
The Lord warns us against deception and corrects our missteps because He has compassion on us and would rather deal with the pain of confrontation with us than see us experience the pain that comes to people who incur the consequences of bad choices.
I’m asking the Lord to help me and all His people to learn from the prophets.
When Jesus walked the earth in the flesh, the consensus of those who heard Him speak was that He was a prophet.
“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ So they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’” [2]
And, indeed, Jesus did speak a lot about sin and judgment as the prophets did before Him.
His disciples knew Jesus was the Son of God, and so do all who receive Him and believe in Him. Praise the Lord!
In fact, those who reject the Gospel of Christ face a worse judgment than did the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
“And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!” [3]
As the writer of Hebrews said, “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him.” [4]
[1] 2 Chronicles 36:15-16
[2] Matthew 16:13-14
[3] Mark 6:11
[4] Hebrews 2:1, 3
Since the beginning, the devil has sought to sabotage our relationship with God.
In the Garden of Eden, the devil questioned Eve regarding God’s law about not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. When Eve told the devil the Word of the Lord, he suggested that God lied to her, but in fact, it was he who was lying to her not God. She listened to the devil and acted upon his lie. So, did her husband Adam. That faith brought about a loss that was way farther than they could ever have imagined. Their children, including you and me, have been subject to suffering and death ever since.
Don’t let anything come between you and your relationship with God.
“Pekah the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day, all valiant men, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.” [2]
The people of Judah failed to see the importance of a relationship with God. Perhaps, they thought that God only cared if they kept a few of His laws, and gave Him lip service by sayings things like, “May God bless our nation.” No, God wanted a relationship with them. The first commandment is to love God. God loved them and wanted to be loved by them.
Once, after a civil war battle, the victors were warned by the prophet Oded not to mistreat their fellow countrymen. The leaders listened to him and told the people, “You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the Lord. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” They offended the Lord by not observing the second great commandment which is to love their neighbor as themselves. The point here is that God is love and our love for Him and our love for people matters to Him. [3]
A nation falls when its love for God falls. “The Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had encouraged moral decline in Judah and had been continually unfaithful to the Lord.” [4]
Those who know God testify that He gives victories in times of distress: “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” [5]
In regards to those who abandon the Lord and seek to destroy those who don’t, the Bible says, “It is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe...” [6]
“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by Word or our epistle.” [7]
[1] Genesis 3
[2] 2 Chronicles 28:6
[3] 2 Chronicles 28:9-16
[4] 2 Chronicles 28:19
[5] Psalm 124:2-8
[6] 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
[7] 2 Thessalonians 2:15
