One of the favourite hymns of our grandchildren is “These are the Days of Elijah.” One weekend recently our grandson Luca came to visit and he wanted us to sing this song with him. This hymn is incredibly encouraging and shows Christians we have reason to celebrate. The song shows us, as the Bible reveals to us, how the prophecies about Christ and God’s people have been fulfilled over thousands of years. When I sing this song, I cannot help but think about the prophets of old.
In James 5:10 James tells us “For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.” As suggested by James, God’s prophets did not have an easy job. The prophets of God were required to:
- Enforce God’s covenant
- Provide spiritual guidance to the leaders of God’s people
- Reveal God’s long-term plan of the Messiah and redemption
- Act as watchmen, anticipating coming spiritual danger and warning God’s people ahead of time
Here are several attributes of the prophets that we should imitate:
Many had the courage to stand up for the truth and speak it to those in authority and in power.
- The prophet Amos refused to remain silent when he saw the sin of the Israelites who mistreated the homeless and the poor (Amos 2:6-7). In chapter 5, he confronts the leaders, attacks their hypocrisy and warns them as well. He accuses them in verse 11, saying, “You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.” and in verse 14, “Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live!” Despite his perseverance to speak the truth, he is told by the high Priest Amaziah that he is conspiring against the king and should go back to Judah (Amos 7).
- John the Baptist repeatedly confronted Herod Antipas over his marriage to Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Matthew 14:4 states, “John had been telling Herod, ‘It is against God’s law for you to marry her.’ John was imprisoned and ultimately beheaded for taking a stand based on God’s truth.
- There may be times where human authorities conflict with God’s truth and we will need to take a stand and have the courage to speak the truth. When confronted by the authorities, Peter, John and the other apostles stood up for the truth (Acts 4:19-20). Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than Him? We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” And in Acts 5:29 we read, “But Peter and the apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.’
The prophets were often the “conscience of the nation” reminding people that they were to help the poor, sick and less fortunate.
- Isaiah confronted the Israelites who appeared to be very “religious” but were ignoring the suffering of the poor, those who were wrongly imprisoned, and those who were homeless and oppressed. Isaiah 58:6-7 states, “No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.”
- Micah teaches the people of God to have mercy. In Micah 6:8 we read, “No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” The word mercy is derived from the Hebrew word “checed.” According to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance this word means to show favor, good deeds, and loving-kindness. Mercy is not simply feeling sorry, but involves taking action to help.
- Like the prophets of old taught we, too, must help the poor, sick and less fortunate. Jesus taught that when we help and serve the vulnerable that we are literally serving Him. Matthew 25:35-36 states, “For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’” In Matthew 25:40 we read, “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”
- James instructs us in James 1:27, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” Do we have our eyes opened to see the needy in our neighbourhoods?
It is clear that the prophets were required to speak to the people on behalf of God. But they also spoke to God on behalf of the people. They often prayed to our God, pleading for mercy on behalf of God’s people.
- In 1 Samuel 12, after David had been anointed king, Samuel calls upon the Lord to send thunder and rain during the harvest season, a season when there was not typically rain. The Israelites were terrified and respond by confessing their
sin and asking Samuel to pray for them (1 Samuel 12:18-19). Samuel responds by saying, “As for me, I will certainly not sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you. And I will continue to teach you what is good and right” (1 Samuel 12:23). Samuel recognized the importance of his continued prayers on behalf of God’s people.
- Elijah prayed on behalf of God’s people to turn their hearts back to the true God. In 1 Kings 18 Elijah accuses King Ahab of making trouble for Israel by worshiping the false gods of Baal. Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to determine who the true living God is. As part of this challenge Elijah prays for the people of Israel, “At the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself'” (1 Kings 18:36-37). Elijah had an incredible desire for God’s people to turn away from their sin and be restored to the true God and was willing to advocate to God for his people through prayer.
- Just as the prophets prayed for the people of their time, we, too, have an obligation to be diligent in our prayers for others. Ephesians 6:18 implores us to persistently pray for all believers, “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Galatians 6:2 tells us, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.” Although this verse doesn’t explicitly state prayer, I think one way we can carry each other’s burdens is through prayer. Timothy tells us in 1 Timothy 2:2 to pray for kings and those in authority. Jesus taught that we are to pray for those that persecute us (Matthew 5:44). There are many scriptures which teach us the value of prayer. Philippians 4:6–7 helps us to know that we should pray in all situations, presenting our burdens to God allows the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. We need to set aside time in our prayer life to pray for each other, the church, our families, our leaders, our communities, the lost, etc.
The prophets demonstrated unwavering obedience to God. Prophets were often asked to do things that seemed nonsensical or impossible. However, their obedience wasn’t based on the likelihood of success, but on their strong belief inthe faithfulness God.
- In order to demonstrate God’s unfailing love for His people, despite their severe disobedience, Hosea was directed by God to marry a prostitute in order for Israel to see how their actions were like that of a prostitute by turning against the Lord, “When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, ‘Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods’” (Hosea 1:2). This must have been very difficult to do. However, Hosea did exactly as God directed him to do. Hosea marries the prostitute Gomer who bears him three children but is repeatedly unfaithful to him. In much despair she ends up as a slave up for auction. Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.” So Hosea bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver and five bushels of barley and a measure of wine. The story of Hosea ends with a call to repentance promising that if the people return, God will “heal their waywardness” and love them freely.
- We too, are required to demonstrate obedience to God. Our obedience to God demonstrates our love and our relationship with Him. Jesus taught in John 14:23 these words, “Jesus replied, ‘All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them.’” 1 John 5:3 reads, “Loving God means keeping His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.” Obedience to God requires us to know Him and His expectations for us. James tells us in James 1:22, “But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” We must put our obedience to God above all else. Peter and the other apostles demonstrated this in Acts 5:29, “But Peter and the apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.’”
Spiritual discernment is the ability to see beyond the surface in difficult or complex situations, identify falsehood and recognize God’s truth. The prophets were frequently called upon to exercise discernment in order to help ensure God’s people remained faithful to Him.
- God allows Nathan to use discernment when exposing David’s sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah the Hittite. Through God Nathan tells David the story of a rich man stealing a poor man’s only lamb and killing it to serve to his guests. David was furious that the rich man would do such a thing and stated the rich man should die and repay the poor man with four of his lambs (2 Samuel 12:1-7). After David’s reaction we read the following, “Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says:
I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.’” David recognizes his sinfulness and asks God for forgiveness.
- It is necessary for Christians to exercise discernment. We need to have the ability to see things from God’s perspective rather than from a human perspective. The primary way of doing this is testing each thought, teaching, idea or feeling against what the Bible teaches. If a message is contrary to scripture then we must reject it regardless of how appealing it might be. In Acts 17:11 the people of Berea demonstrated an example of this by eagerly listening to the message and then tested that message against the scriptures to validate it as truth: “And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.” John commands us to test the spirits, “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world” (1 John 4:1). Discernment requires us to look beyond the immediate and anticipate the long term results of a decision or person’s character. Galatians 5:19-23 illustrates a contrast between the fruit of the spirit and the fruit of this world. In Matthew 7:16 Jesus taught that we will be recognized by our fruit, “You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” If our choices, decisions and actions result in the fruit of the spirit, this is evidence that we are aligned with God’s will.
The prophets of the Old and New Testaments were much more than historical figures; they were “living parables” whose attributes remain deeply relevant to modern Christian life.
While their task was often difficult, their lives set a great example for Christian living. Because of them, we are emboldened to speak the truth as an act of mercy and called to unwavering obedience. In their footsteps we intercede on behalf of others, and grow in spiritual discernment, rooted and grounded in the word of God.
Owen Sound, ON