Alpharic Research

Institute
Centre for Research in Philosophy, Theology and
Ethics
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PROPHETIC RELIGION IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND

THE NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETIC MINISTRY
BY
GODSWILL OME UFERE
Email: uferegodswillmatthias@gmail.com, godswillmatthias99@gmail.com; __GSM: +2347045155575
FEBRUARY, 2022

Introduction revealed the mind of God towards the people

According to Akintola, belief in prophets is a as the prophets served as the conscience of the
pillar of faith in Abrahamic religions of people and as the eye of God.
Judaism and it is also believed that the
Prophetic Religion in Israel
prophetic religion of Israel coincided with the
The prophetic religion is concerned with the
monarchical period and the prophets served as
religion of Israel as it affects the activities of
the divine instructors of kings (07). In thought,
prophets in the land of Israel. Israel had a shift
the word ‘prophetic’ has suffered a good deal
in religion at a time, and such was the period
from the rough treatment which it has received
of the prophets speaking through God. This
at the hands of controversialists. We may too
time has been interpreted to be theocratic in
easily assume that its meaning in the Biblical
nature and redirecting in the actions of the
tradition is limited to the impoverished and
people. It was when God's holy law for life
uncertain sound which it has in modern usage.
had ceased to be an effective force for
This is a most misleading assumption, and we
molding men and society that God raised up
therefore we tend to answer the question of
men to call the people back to Him and His
what make up the essential characteristics of
ways. These men are called prophets. Wright
genuine prophetic religion as it appears in the
noted that “Sometimes the fault of the people
tradition of Israel. Worthy of note is the fact
was more of a reversal of right priorities. For
that the prophetic
instance, sacrifices were intended for lapses
into disobedience; but there were periods in
Old Testament history when they were seen as
substitutes for the life of obedience and ritual
techniques for keeping God happy” (124).
This means that when the nation’s religion
was corrupted into this sort of non-moral
situation, the prophets raised their good test.
Their intention was to recall the people from
false priorities, to insist on God’s primary
requirements that His people should obey his
commands and live out His standards.
The above, according to Aune, agrees with the
Hebrew word for prophet (nabi), which
means, one called by God to speak for Him”.
The prophet’s calling was not hereditary,
rather, like the priests, God chose His men
from different walks of life (23). Some, like
Jeremiah and Jonah were very reluctant
recruits, especially when they learnt what God
wanted them to do. Out of their fellowship
with God (1Kings 17:1), the prophets came
with His message for their contemporaries and
for us too (Acts 7:38). He communicates the
will of God (forth tell) and sometimes foretells
events (e.g. 1Sam.10:1ff, Is.7:14, Jer. 28:15ff,
Jer.44:29-30). On how they received the
messages, we are told no more than that “the
word of the Lord came” (e.g. Jer.47:1,
Zech.8:1).
Worship in the Time of Prophetic Religion
From the general activities of the prophets, it
could be clearly drawn that “monotheism”
was the emphasis of the prophets, especially
the major prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel and
Jeremiah) and some other minor like Hosea,
Malachi, Jonah also stressed the issue of
worship of God alone. More so, some minor
prophets like Amos spoke against injustice
and oppression in the society.
Another understanding of the worship life of
the people at this period could be seen in the
mirror of the reality of the prophets basically
fighting against apostasy, syncretism and
idolatry. And such found the bases of this time
or religious revolution. God was always angry
with the people when they did any of the
above, as it flourished at that time. Thus, the
prophets presented both the rise and the fall of
the religion of the Jews.
The Prophets’ Message
According to Peterson, Prophets arose in
Israel during the period when Israel’s kings
challenged the people in power—the political
rulers and the economic elite (117). Israelites
Prophets in their ministry have often been
described as critics, and so they were, even
though that is not an adequate description
because a critic applies a standard of judgment
according to his knowledge of the subject
under consideration. It is however, not in that
senses that prophets were critics, for their
words were not born simply out of their own
political insights. In their greatest moments
they uttered what they believed to be God
given words which might be distasteful not
only to their hearers but to themselves. It is
therefore authoritative words, expressive of
the will and purpose of God. God sought that
men should serve Him with willing hearts,
that they should be righteous and holy as He
was holy. Their fellowship with Him and with
one another constituted the two fold aspects of
one service. Thus, religion and life were
bound together in one (Deut 6 verse 5; Lev. 19
verse 18).
As it was, their fellowship with God was
broken by faithlessness and the service of
false gods; and their fellowship with one
another was broken by oppression, injustice
and guile. God therefore wants them to amend
their ways by rendering to Him pure service
and turning away from idols; and in their
dealings with one another they must let
"justice run down as waters and righteousness
as a perennial stream" (e.g. Amos 5: 24).
The prophets in their utterances dealt not only
with the contemporary events of their time but
also looked at those before and after. They
interpreted the course of history and they
made known the shape of coming events
(Tillich 165). God, they believed was working
out His purpose on the plane of human
history. Therefore, whether man
acknowledged it or not, human events were
ordained and had their part in the overruling
divine purpose. Thus, the prophets declared,
how in Egypt and at the Red Sea, in the
wilderness and in Palestine, God had kept, and
cared for His people; and how by prophet,
priest and Nazarite, had sought to keep them
faithful, and by judgment in fire and famine,
pestilence and sirocco, He rebuked and
endeavoured to recall them (Rowley 80).
The prophets in their utterances also spoke of
the future. Since the future was under the rule
of God, and His purpose remained
unchanging, He could reveal to His servants
future events. However, these events were not
unalterably determined by the will of God.
They were conditionally determined and.
whether or not they would be brought to pass
depended upon men.
To Jeremiah, God said:
At one moment I may speak
concerning a nation and concerning a
kingdom, to pluck, and to pull down,
and to destroy it; but if that nation
against which I have pronounced
judgement, turn from their evil, I will
repent of the evil that I purposed to do
unto them. And at another moment I
may speak concerning a nation to build
and to plant it; but if they did evil in
my sight and obey not my voice, then I
will repent of the good where-with I
 said I would benefit them" (Jer. 18
verse 7 - 10).
Sometimes the prophets not only declared
that judgment would come from God upon the
sinful people, but they specified the occasion
of the judgment or its nature or the agent
through whom it would be accomplished (Is.
7: 1; 8: 6; 4: 1, Jer. 6:22).
Peterson, however, clearly observed that not
all the prophets were anti-establishment,
however. For example, Nathan was King
David’s prophet, and he was financially
supported by the king. But most of the
prophets criticized the direction in which the
people were being led by their rulers, and this
often got them into trouble. They were met
with hostility, ridicule, mistreatment,
punishment, and exile (119). The word
prophet means, “to speak for.” The prophets
spoke for God to the people, receiving God’s
message through visions, dreams, and
ecstasies. The prophetic message varied with
the circumstances (Oesterley 90). When things
were going well, the prophets warned the
people about impending doom if they did not
change their ways. When things were going
badly, they supported the people with words
of encouragement and hope.
Selected Prophets in the Prophetic
Religious Era
 Elijah, the Prophet
Elijah was an early prophet whose narratives
are recorded in the last part of First Kings and
the first part of Second Kings. We know very
little of what he said, but we are told stories of
wonders that he performed, including the
prediction of a drought and the multiplication
of food. In one amazing story, Elijah won a
contest against the 450 prophets of the god
Baal and proceeded to kill them all. At the end
of his life, Elijah was taken up in a fiery
chariot, leaving his mantle and power to his
successor, Elisha. To this very day, at every
celebration of the Passover, the Jews look for
the return of Elijah, whom they consider to be
the greatest of the prophets. It was in that role
as greatest of the prophets that Elijah appeared
at the Transfiguration of Jesus (Rowley 111).
 Amos
Amos was a shepherd from the town of Tekoa
in Judah, the southern kingdom. He insisted
that he was not a professional prophet. In the
middle of the eighth century B.C. he felt
called by God to prophesy in Israel, the
northern kingdom. The message Amos gave
there was disagreeable to Israel’s ruling
powers. He identified all of Israel’s neighbors
as being under God’s care and subject to
God’s punishment. His harshest words,
however, were aimed at Israel itself,
specifically its royalty and aristocracy. Amos
condemned these elite for enriching
themselves at the expense of the poor, and he
made it clear that they were doomed, with no
chance of avoiding disaster.
His message was more than the ruling class
could bear, and he was forced to leave the
religious center of Bethel and return to the
south. But by then Amos had changed the
direction of the prophetic discussion of justice
and righteousness, from focusing on God’s
dealings with the people to the people’s
dealings with each other. The heart of Amos’
message is: “Let justice roll down like water.”
 Isaiah
The Book of Isaiah in the Old Testament gets
its name from a prophet who lived and worked
in Jerusalem before the Exile, but that prophet
did not write everything that is in the Book of
Isaiah. His prophetic teachings are included in
the first 39 chapters. The writings of another
prophet, whom we call Second Isaiah, are in
chapters 40–55. The teachings of yet another
prophet, whom we call Third Isaiah, are found
in the rest of the book. Second Isaiah dealt
with the horrible experience of the destruction
of Jerusalem and the exile of most of the
people to Babylon. These events seemed to
contradict the Exodus experience and God’s
covenant with Israel, through which they had
been given their land. In the process of trying
to help them keep their hope and trust in God
alive, Second Isaiah developed a beautiful
theology of divine providence. Mixed in with
the prophecies of Second Isaiah is a collection
of oracles about the Suffering Servant,
passages which have become familiar to us as
part of the liturgies of Holy Week.
Around the year 734 B.C., Isaiah met with
King Ahaz in Jerusalem and advised him on a
serious dilemma the king faced. Isaiah wanted
to show the king that the Davidic dynasty still
had God’s support. Isaiah spoke to the king of
a sign that would be given—a young woman
would give birth to a son, and his name would
be Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14). In other words, he
would represent God’s favor with the king and
with the Davidic dynasty. Isaiah may have had
in mind the future king Hezekiah, but
Matthew saw things differently. Matthew saw
Isaiah’s message to Ahaz as a prophesy about
Jesus (Matthew 1:22–23). For Matthew the
belief that “God is with us” was a basic theme
of his Gospel, and he returns to it in the
middle of his work (18:20) and at the very end
(28:20). The Church has always followed
Matthew’s lead in using the passage from
Isaiah to learn important things about Jesus
(Rowley 113-114).
 Jeremiah
Jeremiah was born of a priestly family in the
middle of the seventh century B.C. He
supported the efforts of King Josiah to restore
the worship of the true God, but when idolatry
returned after Josiah’s death, Jeremiah was so
critical of the people that he was arrested,
imprisoned, and publicly disgraced. After the
Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured
Jerusalem and exiled the king, Jeremiah tried
to steer the new king in a moderate direction,
but his efforts failed. Nebuchadnezzar
returned in 587 to completely destroy
Jerusalem. Jeremiah was taken to Egypt
against his will, and prophesied from there.
Jeremiah made important contributions to the
Israelite understanding of repentance, justice,
and prophesy. He is most remembered for his
prophesy of “a new covenant with the house
of Israel and the house of Judah.”
Furthermore, God told Jeremiah that “I will
place my law within them, and write it upon
their hearts” and “All, from least to greatest,
shall know me, says the LORD, for I will
forgive their evildoing and remember their sin
no more” (Jeremiah 31:31,33–34).
 Ezekiel
Ezekiel was a priest in the Temple in
Jerusalem. He was probably taken to Babylon
in 597 B.C. with the first group of exiles when
the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem. The
Book of Ezekiel records what happened four
years later. Ezekiel was living in a village in
Babylon when he received his call to be a
prophet. He prophesied to the exiles that the
Temple would be destroyed because of the
idolatry of the Jews before the exile. In 587
B.C. the Babylonians did indeed destroy the
Temple. As a prophet, Ezekiel spoke words of
condemnation and challenge, but he also
spoke words of consolation. He promised
salvation for those in exile who would change
their lives (Rowley 115).
Roles of Prophets in Israel at this Era of
Prophetic Religion
The role of a prophet during the period of
prophetic religion was not more of telling the
future but pulling and throwing down,
destroying, building and planting the word of
God in people.
1. The prophet admonished, warned,
directed, encouraged, interceded,
taught and counseled. He brought the
word of God to people and called
people to respond.
2. The prophet served as a leader, even
though they respected the king but the
kings took instructions from them
based on spiritual matters and the
worship of God.
3. The prophet was the eye of the people.
He saw for the people what the will of
God was. As an eye, the prophet
explains the plan and purpose of God
and tells people what God will do in
the future; as Amos 3:7 states that
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing,
but he reveals his secret unto his
servants the prophets.”
 4. The prophet turned people from their century B.C., the role of the prophet becomes
evil ways back to God that they might quite pronounced. The reported concerns of
be saved the latter prophets seem to broaden vastly.
(https://www.christiantruthcenter.com/r Muilenburg classifies the major concerns of
ole-of-a-prophet/). the prophets of this period into six areas.
Eichrodt pointed out other functions of These are 1) the political order, 2) the
prophets during the era of prophetic religion economic order, 3) the land, 4) administration
as follows: of justice, 5) power and pride, and 6) the
1. They spoke on behalf of God; world of nations (127-129).
2. They foretold the future events;
1. The Political Order: Yahweh was King
3. They guided and counseled kings;
over Israel. The loose tribal structure of the
4. They called people back to
Israelite society led to invasions by other
repentance/gave message of hope;
peoples, particularly the Philistines. The
5. They guided the people about the
people demanded a new order of life with a
covenant;
king ruling over them Eventually Yahweh
6. They condemned evil in the society;
granted the plea through Samuel, and Saul
7. They warned people of God's
was anointed king. The initial concept of the
judgment;
king being the servant and vicegerent of
8. They made people understand the
Yahweh during the reigns of Saul, David, and
nature of God;
Solomon transformed into a west Asiatic style
9. They offered sacrifices to God;
kingship in later years. The Covenant was
10. They anointed Kings;
forgotten and Yahweh became one of the gods
11. They interpreted the visions and
being worshiped. The prophets rose up time
dreams form God/ current events (134-
and again reminding the kings of the higher
135)
sovereignty of Yahweh, but to no avail.
Other Major Concerns of the Prophetic
2. The Economic Order: The change in the
Religion
political order accompanied a greater reliance
Generally, apart from the worship
on the socio-economic norms of the people
inconsistencies of the people, the period of the
around them. Along with Phoenician
latter prophets is full of upheavals and
mercantilism, a capitalistic and urban class
disobedience to the Divine Law. We see a
arose in Israel, replacing the nomadic culture.
general decline after Solomon. Thus, by the
"With the loss of old restraints we hear of
time of Amos during the middle of the eighth
commercial dishonesty, exploitation of the
poor, the luxury of the rich, gross indulgence,
and insensate lust for profit. Amidst all the
feverish preoccupation with riches and power
and comfort and pleasure; all the bustling
commercial activity and the ever-rising prices;
the building of fortifications for defense and
of fine houses for the privileged; the
elaboration of cultic observances with their
sumptuous festivals and celebrations, their
pilgrimages and rites, their music and choirs,
and, withal, the syncretism with the cults of
nature and prosperity - amidst all there was
one voice that was stifled and repressed. It
was the voice of Israel's covenant-making and
covenant-keeping God. But was it stifled? Not
quite! For there were prophets in the land to
sound the cry of protest and outrage, repeating
with the urgency born of faith and memory
and holy awe, God's categorical and insistent
'thou shalt not "'
3. Land: "The land belongs to me" (Lev.
25:23). 25:23). Yahweh had given this land as
a gift to Israel for them to sojourn; but He
retained ownership. The Israelites were
technically strangers in the land. (Lev. 25:23).
But Israel had defiled the land by its conduct.
It is this conduct that determined the
productivity of the land, "for both land and
people live under a common historical and
moral sovereignty. When God commands it to
yield, the land breaks forth into fertility and
abundance; when he pronounces judgment
upon it, it lies barren and desolate, and all that
it has to yield is thorns and thistles"
4. The Administration of Justice: With the
rise of the urban and capitalistic economy and
new political order, the greed for wealth and
property led to misuse of judicial powers. The
prophets condemned this outright. "The courts
have come under the control of the privileged
and powerful, the rich and prosperous, the
successful and aristocratic elements in the
population. As the king was reminded that he
was subject to a higher sovereignty, so the
judges are told that there is a Judge who
judges them"." 'This incessant and insatiable
greed for gain is one of the recurring themes
of prophetic protest. But what is even worse is
that the judges acquit the guilty for a bribe and
deprive the innocent of their rights (ha. 5:23;
Mic. 7:3; Ezek. 22:12)".
5. Power and Pride: The prophets are most
vehement in their criticism of power in all its
forms and guises. They are least concerned
about the realities of political and international
problems, alliances or compromises that result
thereof. "All the professions are subjected to
the same acidic criticism: priests, prophets,
scribes and sages, princes, and judges. They
are all tempted to abuse their power and status
and to become victims to their pride. Even
women, especially the wives of the rich are
bitterly denounced for their haughtiness and
heartlessness. The prophets show little
chivalry; the modem ideal of the gentleman is
not to be found in the Old Testament". "The
mighty empires - Babylon, Assyria, Egypt,
and the rest come within the range of
prophetic scorn and disdain. ... The vaunting
pride and arrogance of the mighty will be
brought low by the Lord of history. There is a
monition that keeps interposing itself
throughout the Scriptures: Be not proud!"
6. The World of Nations: The prophets do not
present a unified view of the world they lived
in, nor of the people they were surrounded by.
Unlike most other prophets, Amos and Isaiah
present a universalistic outlook by placing
Israel at par with other nations and including it
within the judgment to come. They also
admonished other nations against their deeds.
Otherwise, most other prophets are concerned
about the unique position of Israel among the
nations. Israel is chosen to fulfill the divine
purpose in history.
Prophetic Ministry in the New Testament
Prophetic ministry as evidenced in the New
Testament is built largely on the person of
Jesus Christ. However, the first reference to a
person as being a prophet in the New
Testament was John, the Baptist because he
dressed and behaved like one. The people
mistook him to be the reincarnation of Elijah
but to this, he denied.
Many of the Old Testament prophecies were
fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And, he also behaved
and did the works of a prophet. Though, some
dispute over certain actions of Christ tagged as
being prophetic but the fact is that the Old
Testament prophecvies were fulfilled in him
and he was also a prophet. We turn now to
Jesus’ life out of which his prophetic ministry
flowed. Is it a realistic model for the life of
ministerial religious today? If so, what are the
implications of the prophetic character of
religious life for the behavior of religious in
ministry and in relation to the hierarchy?
First, Jesus’ prophetic vocation was rooted in
and expressive of his mystical life, the intense
contemplative prayer life that the Gospels
present as the root of his experiential
knowledge of God. He not only took part in
Jewish vocal prayer and liturgy (e.g., see Lk.
4:16; Mt. 26:17) . He spent long periods --
whole nights (Lk. 6:12), hours before dawn
(Mk. 1:35), times of decision making (Lk.
6:12-13) and anguish (see Mk. 14:32-42), and,
at least once, “40 days” -- in prayer to God
(see Mk. 1:13 and pars.). Jesus not only knew
about God; he knew God intimately. He
experienced God as his “Abba” (Mk. 14:36),
his loving parent, from whom he drew his
own identity, and whose project was his own.
In John’s Gospel Jesus speaks of being “one”
with God (Jn. 10:30) whose words he speaks
and whose works he does (see Jn. 14:10).
The prophet’s direct and immediate
experience of God is the root of her or his
words and actions. But this activity is often
enough critical of or even in opposition to the
positions of the legitimate ecclesiastical
authorities who are usually presented as, and
in fact are, God’s institutional representatives.
Jesus’ confrontation with the officials over the
woman taken in adultery was not an isolated
case. He was frequently in heated conflict
with the hierarchy. We can be tempted to
think that such opposition to institutional
authority was fine for Jesus in relation to the
Jerusalem hierarchy in the first century but not
for us in relation to ecclesiastical authority in
our own time. Jesus, after all, was God so he
knew all the right answers. And the Jerusalem
hierarchy was degenerate and filled with evil
hypocrites.
To sanitize (and even trivialize) Jesus’
prophetic ministry in this way is to miss the
point entirely. Jesus did not claim personal
divine authority when he acted prophetically
in relation to the religious institution. He
claimed to be speaking for God, not as God.
And it is important to note that his adversaries
were claiming exactly the same thing, that is,
to be God’s official representatives to the
people which, in fact, they were. They
actually had the ecclesiastical authority of
office on their side, which Jesus did not
because he was not a priest, an elder, a scribe,
or any other kind of religious official.
Jesus had prophetic credibility among the
people because he “spoke with authority,”
precisely not as the scribes, that is, not by
virtue of institutional position nor backed up
by texts (see Mk. 1:27; Mt. 7:29). He spoke
“like no other person ever has” (cf. Jn. 7:45-
46). It was not because he was God in thin
disguise or because he was credentialed by the
religious establishment, but because his truth
telling, despite overwhelming personal threat
when what he said and did ran counter to what
the laws or the officials required, manifested
to the people that he was indeed representing
the true God. Only later, only after the
Resurrection, did they realize that this
“prophet, mighty in word and work,” was
indeed the Son of God. During his public life,
his authority flowed from what he did and
said. No one can confer, and no one can
“claim,” moral authority. It belongs only to
one earns it. Jesus was powerfully, personally
authoritative and that is why he was
recognized as a prophet.
Furthermore, the religious officials of Jesus’
time were no more wicked, hypocritical,
oppressive, immoral, or corrupt than officials
of state and Church in other ages. They had
the same status among their contemporaries as
do our legislators, priests and bishops,
presidents and popes. The presumption of
legitimacy and competence was theirs by
virtue of their office. The officials Jesus
confronted were not wearing signs saying
embezzler, hypocrite, pedophile, adulterer,
pornographer, so that anyone looking at them
would know that Jesus was certainly right to
call them to account. Jesus was seeing in
them, in their teaching and their behavior,
what his contemporaries, like so many of us
when we deal with people in high places, were
conditioned not to see, or were afraid to name.
And he bore witness, at risk of his life, to what
he saw.
The problem for Jesus’ contemporaries was
the same as ours today. How are we to judge
between voices competing for our acceptance?
How do we recognize the prophet, the one
who “speaks for God?” Obviously, as the
horror of the Holocaust made clear for all
time, it is profoundly immoral to uncritically
“follow orders” simply because they come
from someone in authority. Jesus warned his
contemporaries to beware of the official
teachers, of the priests and elders and
Pharisees who “sit in the chair of Moses” but
are hypocrites (see Mt. 23:1-5), whited
sepulchers (see Mt. 23:27), self-serving
oppressors of the poor in the name of God.
There were, of course, sincere men among the
ecclesiastical officials of Jesus’ time, like
Nicodemus (Jn. 3, 7, 19); and the scribe who
was “not far from the kingdom of God” (Mk.
12:28-39). But there were many others, like
Caiaphas (Jn. 11:49-50 with 18:14), who were
“the blind leading the blind” (see Mt. 15:10-
14). We face the same challenge today. There
are many men of integrity, holiness, and
compassion holding office in the Church. But
popes can be wrong, even culpably so;
bishops can be criminals; priests can be
embezzlers or sexual predators. One thing is
certain: hierarchical status, office in the
Church, is no guarantee that the speaker or his
message comes from God. An office holder
may be prophetic, or a prophet may hold
office, but the two charisms as such do not
imply each other. And history suggests that
there is virtually always tension, if not
opposition, between institutional and
prophetic authority.
Besides an intense life of prayer which unites
the prophet to God, a second requirement of
prophetic identity and mission is a certain
freedom from attachments which pressure the
person to prefer personal or institutional
goods, the maintaining of the status quo
within which one’s own position and interests
are protected, to God’s interests or the good of
those to whom one is sent. Jesus was
extraordinarily “unattached,” not only
inwardly, but even in his personal lifestyle. By
his own choice, he had no family to provide
for or to protect. He owned no personal
property that he could lose. He held no official
position of power, political or ecclesiastical,
that his actions could jeopardize.
Of course, family, property, and power are not
necessarily impediments to prophetic freedom.
Like St. Thomas More, many people in high
places, with much to protect personally,
professionally, and politically, have given
their lives in witness to the truth. But being
without such attachments is a bulwark of
prophetic freedom simply because it makes it
easier to “hear,” without distortion from one’s
own inner voices or outer demands, the voices
that are relevant to the issues one must
discern. With less “static” from legitimate
competing interests the prophet can more
easily listen full-time, with all his or her
attention, for the truth to which witness is
required, the truth that must be done
regardless of orders to the contrary.
Discernment based on attentive listening, not
submission to the will of another, is the
essence of prophetic obedience.
Third, a major and non-negotiable criterion of
the true prophet is the coherence between the
prophet’s message and the prophet’s life. The
more insensitive one is to the devastation
one’s teaching or legislating causes in the
lives of real people, the more willing one is to
“stone the sinner” in order to bolster official
authority and guard public morality, the more
likely it is that, no matter how highly placed,
one is a “blind guide,” one of those Jesus
described who “tie up heavy burdens, hard to
bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others;
while they themselves are unwilling to lift a
finger to move them” (Mt. 23:4). Rosa Parks
and Nelson Mandela were willing to pay the
price for their witness for racial justice. Jesus
defending the woman taken in adultery was
risking his life for hers. Witness to the truth is
never comfortable or self-aggrandizing for the
true prophet, and the risks are usually high.
“Witness” from the favored side of power is
dubiously prophetic. The issue that emerges as
central when the prophetic charism conflicts
with institutional authority is precisely the one
operative in much of the current struggle
between the institutional church and religious,
namely, obedience.
The Relevance of the Prophetic Religion to
Us Today
This study on the prophetic religion is
essential or significant to us today as
Christians because the Bible is the only book
which gives us an accurate forecast of the
future, we must turn to its pages in order that
we may be delivered from inexcusable
ignorance and be prepared as God unfolds His
prophetic programme (Matthew 22:29).
Unfortunately, many Christians do not
consider the prophetic religion as being of
any important because of these reasons:
Some mistakenly think that the subject is too
involved and difficult. It is true that
prophecies can only be fully understood in the
light of their fulfilment, but the “main lines of
prophetic truth” revealed in the Bible may be
understood by all who will obey 2 Timothy
2:15. Some feel that to study prophecy leads
to speculation. There is a danger of this, but
surely we can be Spirit-led in our study of
God’s truth? Still others say that the prophetic
outlook is a very dark one and that to study it
leads to pessimism –- but can a believer be
pessimistic? –- see what Isaiah 53:11 and
Hebrews 10:13 say.
Consider the following propositions which
constitute some of the reasons why the
prophetic religion is significant to us today:-
1. The major portion of the Bible consists of
prophecy; thus, if we neglect this portion we
neglect the major part of our Bible. Glance
through the pages of your Bible and notice
how much is composed of prophetic
statement, and then remember that the major
part of Bible prophecy still awaits fulfilment.
If we do not study prophecy we must confine
ourselves to a very selected section of the Old
Testament. Moreover, we shall need to be
very careful in reading the sayings of our Lord
recorded in the four Gospels, for many of
them are prophetic. The Epistles also contain
much prophecy, and so does the book of
Revelation! The whole Bible is inspired, and it
contains God’s message concerning future
things.
2. The Scriptures cannot be rightly understood
or unfolded if the prophetic sections are
neglected. The Bible is one glorious whole,
and there is a unity running through the entire
book. Only by accepting the whole can we
have at our disposal all the truth God wants us
to know, and only thus can we rightly divide
the Word (2 Timothy 2:15). If “the New
(Testament) is in the Old concealed and the
Old (Testament) is in the New revealed”, then
we must study Old and New in order to gain
the message of the whole.
3. There is a special reason why we should
search, study, understand and believe the
prophetic Word. In Luke 24, notice that the
word “all” is used three times in verses 25 and
27. By this statement our Lord set His seal to
the reliability and the authority of the
prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Does
this not constitute a strong reason why we
should study these prophecies, especially as
they reveal Him? Look up Luke 24:27 and
John 5:39.
4. The already fulfilled prophecies in the Bible
in a special way confirm the inspiration, the
accuracy and therefore the authority of the
Book. Because all the Bible prophecies which
have been fulfilled have been fulfilled
literally, to the very letter. Prophecies relating
to the coming of the Messiah, to the Jews and
to the Gentiles were written hundreds of years
before they were fulfilled. Take the following
prophecies relating to our Lord’s first advent:-
Isaiah 40:3 tells us that John was to be His
forerunner; Isaiah 7:14 that He would be born
of a virgin; Micah 5:2 that He would be born
in Bethlehem; Psalm 72:10 and 15 that the
Wise Men would visit Him; Isaiah 53 that He
would be the sin-bearer of His people;
Zechariah 11:12-13 that He would be betrayed
and sold for thirty pieces of silver; Psalm
22:14 and 17 that He would be crucified;
Isaiah 53:9 that He would be buried with the
rich; Psalm 16:8-10 that He would rise again;
and Psalm 68:18 that He would ascend on
high. Thus, seeing that all the prophecies
concerning our Lord’s first advent were
literally fulfilled, does not this fact give us
great confidence in the Bible, and are we not
also perfectly justified in expecting that all the
prophecies concerning His second advent, and
all the prophecies which await fulfilment, will
also be literally fulfilled?
5. Only by reading and studying the prophetic
Scriptures can we know what God is doing
and thus be prepared for events. The prophetic
word is God’s blueprint of future events –-
look up Amos 3:7, and then Genesis 18:17;
John 15:15 and 16:4, and compare Romans
11:25; 1 Corinthians 10:1 and 1 Thessalonians
4:13.
6. Prophetic truth strengthens faith at a time
when the whole world is gripped with fear.
Luke 21:26 is certainly true of many in the
world today, but Luke 21:28 should be true of
all believers. If we leave God out of our
reckoning, how can we help being fearful as
we look out on the world with all its unrest,
alarm, arming for war and wickedness?
7. We must warn the ungodly of what is going
to happen in the future, and in order to do this
we must be instructed in God’s programme for
the days ahead. Every Christian should be
constantly re-echoing John the Baptist’s
warning –- Matthew 3:7, for God’s solemn
judgments are soon to fall upon a Christ-
rejecting world.
8. Only as we understand the prophetic Word
shall we be safeguarded against the perils and
vices which are peculiar to these closing days
of the age. We should constantly read 2
Timothy, chapter 3, and notice that verses 1-
13 show the characteristics of these days, and
that verses 14-17 tell us how we may be
delivered from the “pull” of these evil things.
9. Prophetic truth received into the mind and
heart powerfully influences character and
conduct. In Romans 15:4 we are told about
three results of studying prophecy, and Daniel
10:19 has something important to say to us
about this too. Also, there is a special blessing
promised to all who will read and study God’s
prophetic truth.
Conclusion
The prophetic religion of Israel was not lost in
the progressiveness of time but its voice began
to wane with time. Possibly, it cannot be said
that the monarchical period sustained the
prophetic religion but it can only by rightly
said that the prophetic period came in order to
help the administration of kings of Israel. The
prophetic religion, (headed by the prophets
who spoke by divine inspiration) is one of the
most significant periods in the history of
Israel. Critically, many scholars refer this
period as a full-flesh monarchical period by
categorizing the prophetic in post-theocratic
WORKS CITED
Akintola, G.O. Prophecy and Social Change in
the Old Testament. Nigeria: Sounding Voice
Publication, 2008. Print.
Aune, D.E. Prophecy in Early Christianity and
the Ancient Mediterranean World. Grand Rapids:
Williams B. Eerdman, 1983. Print.
Eichrodt, W. Theology of the Old Testament.
Michigan: Baker House, 1961.
Muilenburg, James. The Way of Israel: Biblical
Faith and Ethics:-N.Y.: Harper Torchbooks, 1961.
Print.
Oesterley, Box. The Religion and Worship of the
Synagogue. London: S.C.M Press, 1907. Print.
Peterson, J. Prophecy and Religion. Cambridge:
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years and putting it into the monarchical; but
it could be seen from the discourse that the
prophetic religion could be seen in a period
referred to as “theo-monarchical.” However,
God had permitted the people to have kings
but He still, through the prophets indirectly
ruled the people, in fact, making the king a
listener to the prophets of their time.
Rowley, H. H. The Old Testament and Modem
Study. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1951.
Print.
____________. Rowley’s Prophecy and Religion
in Ancient China and Israel. London: Athlone
Press, 1956. Print.
Tillich, Paul. Biblical Religion and the Search for
Ultimate Reality. Nashville: Tempress, 1955.
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Wright, G. E. The Biblical Doctrine of Man in
Society. London: S.C.M., 1954. Print.
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prophet/