THE PROPHETS AND THEIR MESSAGES

The Prophets And Their Messages

There are 16 books of prophets of the Old Testament, some little known, and some very well known.  If asked to name all the prophets, the first two would be Isaiah and Jeremiah, and so many would struggle to remember Haggai, Micah, and Nahum.  So who were these men of God, and what were their messages?  The average Christian could not connect them all with their messages, and it would be a feat for good pastors; after all, there are 16 of them!

The oldest prophet was Obadiah, from 840 B.C.  His message was judgment on Edom.  The name Edom is first found in the bible in Gen. 25:30, where Esau's name became Edom.  Esau's dwelling place became named after him, in the land of Mt. Seir; "And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom." (Gen. 32:3)  "Thus dwelt Esau in mount Seir: Esau is Edom." (Gen. 36:8)  Edom is mentioned in Exodus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, and Amos.  And the Lord's judgment on Edom?  "And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it." (Obad. 1:18) Total annihilation of the Edomites!

Joel walked the earth in 835 B.C., and during the days of Joash the king.  He prophesied the Day of the Lord and of the judgment of the nations.  The Day of the Lord is first mentioned in Joel 1:15, and in his prophecy he describes that day, and the desolation to come, but also urges the people to turn and rend their hearts instead of their garments, and in their personal and national repentance God offers immediate deliverance during the Tribulation.  Joel's last chapter is of the judgments of the nations and of His vengeance upon them.

Though a minor prophet, Jonah's story is rather popular.  He's the only man in the bible swallowed by a fish and spit back out!  He and Amos prophesied during the reign of the same king, and his story was from 760 B.C. He is told by the Lord to cry against Nineveh, a rough, wicked place, and call them to repent.  But he thinks he can flee the presence of the Lord to Tarshish, and causes a problem with the sailors in a great storm that comes upon them.  Convinced they need to sacrifice to Yahweh, they toss Jonah to the fish, where he is convinced to be obedient to God.  Spit out of the fish, he goes to Nineveh, and they repent at his cry against them.  Jonah's last chapter seems odd, though, as he complains to God against the place that repented at his preaching.

Amos, another minor prophet, is next, and his message is that divine punishment follows continuous sin.  He walked the earth in 755 B.C., and preached against eight nations, including Judah and Israel!  He preached against Damascus, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, but He did not exclude Judah and Israel from their sins; His own people!  From even this early, God proved not a respecter of persons.  In Amos 2:5 Judah is judged to suffer fire, and in 586 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar did just that.  Amos 2:14 - 16 describes the invasion of the Assyrians of 722 B.C., only 33 years after Amos' day!  At the last chapter of his book, Amos reveals that in the Day of the Lord, in the Millennium, the dynasty of David will again rule the world, Israel forever possessing the promised land.

In 710 B.C., Hosea begins his ministry.  You have to find his work interesting, for it is of God's love for Israel.  Hosea was ordered by God to marry a whore as an illustration of the harlotry of Israel after false gods, particularly Baal.  He continues on her punishment, restoration, and redemption, akin to the same for Israel.  He further preached an indictment against the children of Israel, condemnation of the priests and kings, and the crimes of Israel.  He prophesied Assyria against Israel like an eagle, taking them into captivity.  Hosea finally, in the end, prophesied God's love, chastisement, and restoration of His prodigal people.

Isaiah was one of the greatest prophets of the bible, and is the only one to make a "cameo appearance" in the New Testament (at the Transfiguration).  4 kings ruled throughout his day, and his message was of the coming of our Messiah, Savior, King, and Judge.  His prophetic ministry began in 740 B.C., and ended in 680 B.C.  He spoke of topics such as God's promise of restoration after judgment, the future kingdom and it's glory, the sign of the Messiah, the rule of Jesse's Branch, denunciations of nations such as Babylon, Assyria, Philistia, Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre, and even Jerusalem!  He spoke much of the kingdom, too!

Micah was the prophet of gloom and doom and deliverance in his day, and spoke during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.  His message was of the Lord's judgment against Israel, whose capital was Samaria, and Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem.  Assyria took Samaria and Jerusalem was taken by Sennacherib.  He preached doom for the leaders, false prophets, and Jerusalem, but also of the coming kingdom and the suffering that preceded it.  He spoke of the Savior and both His first and second coming!

Israel and Judah received only 3 more prophets before the exile, and the next was Nahum.  From 663 - 612 B.C. was his ministry, and his message was also of doom: for Nineveh and Assyria!  He spoke of God's majesty and anger, but much was of His judgment against these two nations.

625 B.C. saw the beginning of Zephaniah's prophetic ministry, and Josiah was king during his day.  His message was of judgment toward Judah, and to repent quickly.  He pronounced judgments against Philistia, Ethiopia, Assyria, and Jerusalem, but Moab and Ammon's judgment was comparable to Sodom and Gomorrah!  The silver lining of his prophesying was of future blessings for both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Habakkuk is the last pre-exile prophet.  In 606 B.C. he began, and 3 were king during his ministry; Josiah, Jehoahaz, and Jehoiakim.  His message was of the Chaldeans of Babylon, and of their successful captivity of Judah, and in the end of his book he praised God!

Jeremiah was the first prophet of the exile, whose ministry extended from 627 - 585 B.C. through the reign of 5 kings under the thumb of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.  His message was not only of Jerusalem's judgment, but also of its coming glory.  Like Isaiah, this 2nd major prophet prophesied to the Jews in Judea in captivity.  He told of the coming invasion of Babylon, and Judah's sin, chastening, and called them to repent!  Judah had been making flat cakes to the "queen of heaven", Ishtar, and made offerings to other gods, and so they deserved what was coming.  In Jer. 10:1 - 5, he prophesies of what is now the popular Christmas tree as a false god; the description is uncannily correct of the way it was brought into homes everywhere in centuries past!  He spoke of Judah breaking God's covenant the consequence, warnings, his persecution for the drought, Judah's false prophets, and Judah's hope of restoration after the tribulation.  He prophesied against Egypt, and the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Arabia, Elam, and Babylon.  That was a whole lot of bad news!  And he wasn't done yet, not with all that!  He also wrote Lamentations, and that message was the mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple!  He spoke of Jerusalem's barrenness, her anguish, and her destruction as a result of the Lord's judgment.

Next was Ezekiel, a prophet during the reign of Zedekiah.  His ministry was from 592 - 570 B.C., and his message was of the future restoration of Israel.  His book begins with the most revealing description of cherubim, incredibly fashioned creatures associated with protecting the holiness of the Lord.  He preached against Judah and Jerusalem, instructed by God to shave his beard and head, and represent four groups of Jerusalem's people by what he did with the hair he shaved off.  He, too, preached against false prophets and prophetesses, much like what goes on today, and against idolatry.  He spoke in parables, and lamented the princes of Israel.  Now this prophet suffered a personal agony during his ministry, because the Lord foretold him of his wife's death, and he was instructed not to shed a tear or mourn her.  What a tough instruction to follow!  Like Jeremiah before him, he prophesied judgments against Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Sidon, and Egypt.  He spoke of the false shepherds of Israel, and also of the true Shepherd.  He also spoke of a new covenant with Israel, its resuscitation, reuniting, and victory over Gog and Magog, which is yet to come.  He prophesies the millenial kingdom, its inner court and gates, and the temple itself, and even the return of the glory of the Lord from the east!

The last prophet during the exile was Daniel, and it seems the book he wrote has almost as much to do with his three partners during the exile as it had to do with him!  His ministry lasted through the reigns of five kings, and is dated during 537 B.C., although he was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar as early as 605 B.C.  His message was futuristic, of the times of the Gentiles and of the Tribulation, and of Israel's millenial kingdom.  Apparently it was customary for captives to be renamed, so Daniel was renamed Belteshazzar, Hananiah renamed Shadrach, Mishael, Meshach, and Azariah, Abednego.  His is a favorite book among the many, as Christ Himself makes a cameo appearance, and is recognized by Nebuchadnezzar the king!  "He answered and said, 'Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.'" (Dan. 3:25)  This book of faith additionally tells of Daniel sealed up overnight in a den of lions, and since by the next day no hurt befalls Daniel, he is brought out of the den.  Much of Daniel's prophecies are already proven fact concerning the nations of his 11th chapter, but those of the kingdom and impending judgment to come have yet to unfold!

Haggai and Zechariah both began their ministry in 520 B.C., both during the reigns of Zerubbabel and Darius 1, but Zechariah also was present during the reign of Ahasuerus.  Haggai's message was of the restoration of the temple, while Zechariah urged his kinsmen to hope in the return of the Messiah.  Haggai pronounced rebuke from God, and the people harkened.  Haggai called for courage in the Lord, cleanness in life, and for them to have confidence in the future, choosing Zerubbabel to be the guarantee of the continuation of the Davidic lineage.  Zechariah was a man with visions, nine, to be exact.  His book ends describing the Millenial age.

The last prophet of God's people of the Old Testament was Malachi, whose ministry lasted 50 years (450 - 400 B.C.)!  He strode the land during the reign of 2 kings, and told of God's complaint and warning to Israel.  God's complaint was of defective animals for offerings, unfaithfulness by corruption of the Levitical covenant in bias, marriages to heathens, divorces rampant, and engaged in impiety while claiming God yet delighted in them.  He further was vocal of their robbery of God in tithes and offerings, and of their arrogance.  The last of his book was God's warning, and included speaking of Elijah coming before the day of the Lord.  It may be that he was referring to one of the two witnesses of Rev. 11:1 - 12, which some educated theologians speculate could be Elijah and Moses, the same two who were with Jesus during the Transfiguration!

For 440 years, prophets were God's spokesmen to the people, who were judged when they ignored Him, and were safe when they heeded Him.  Oh, how we need prophets nowadays like those of the Old Testament!  We have pastors, and evangelists, and ministers, and reverends, and priests of many sorts, but have the people listened, and do they heed or ignore?  Many are as tares, and many are as wheat, indeed!