Prophets

The prophets were men and women called and commissioned by God to speak his word to Israel and the nations — not chiefly to predict the future, but to interpret the present in light of God's covenant and character. The principal Hebrew term nabi denotes "one who is called" or "a spokesman," while the older words roeh and chozeh ("seer") stress the prophet's God-given vision (1 Samuel 9:9). A prophet stood, as it were, in the LORD's council and then declared what he heard, prefacing it with the solemn "Thus says the LORD" (Jeremiah 23:18; Amos 3:7). As the covenant's appointed enforcer, the prophet recalled a wayward people from idolatry and injustice to the law of Moses, confronting kings and commoners alike without fear.

The office unfolds across the Old Testament. Abraham is the first man called a "prophet" (Genesis 20:7), and Moses is its towering paradigm — the one whom the LORD knew "face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10) and through whom God promised to raise up "a prophet like you" to whom the people must listen (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18). Samuel established prophecy as an enduring institution, gathering companies of prophets (1 Samuel 10:5–6; 1 Samuel 19:20). In the divided kingdom the great non-writing prophets Elijah and Elisha withstood apostate rulers and wrought mighty signs (1 Kings 17:1; 1 Kings 18:36–39), while Nathan and Gad counselled and rebuked the throne of David (2 Samuel 12:7).

From the eighth century the writing prophets — Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve from Hosea to Malachi — left their oracles in the canon, which the Hebrew Bible groups as the "Former" and "Latter" Prophets. They denounced covenant-breaking, social oppression, and empty worship; announced the coming Day of the LORD in judgment; and held out the sure hope of restoration — a remnant preserved, a new covenant written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:31–34), the outpoured Spirit (Joel 2:28–29), and a coming anointed King and Servant. Because prophecy could be counterfeited, Scripture gave tests for discerning the true from the false prophet: fidelity to the LORD and the fulfilment of the prophet's word (Deuteronomy 13:1–5; Deuteronomy 18:21–22; Jeremiah 28:9).

The New Testament presents all this as reaching its goal in Christ. John the Baptist is the last and greatest of the old order, the hinge between the prophets and the kingdom (Matthew 11:13). Jesus is acclaimed a prophet, yet is more: he is the promised "prophet like Moses" whom all must heed (Acts 3:22–23), the one to whom "all the prophets bear witness" (Acts 10:43) and of whom they spoke when they searched out "the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories" (1 Peter 1:10–11). After Pentecost the church too received a prophetic gift for its upbuilding (1 Corinthians 12:28; Ephesians 4:11), and the whole prophetic testimony is gathered up in him, for "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10). The prophets thus stand as God's persistent voice across the ages, summoning every generation to hear the word of the LORD and to find its fulfilment in his Son.