Reference: Prophets, The
Morish
The books so designated form a distinct and most important part of scripture. Prophecy usually implied a ruined state of things among God's people, calling for His intervention. Some of the prophecies are appeals, reminding the people of what God had done for them, and declaring how willing and ready He was to bless them if they would be faithful to Him; though interwoven with this are constant predictions of that which will be for the blessing of Israel in the future, after they have for the time been set aside. Others strictly allude to events which were then or are still future. As a whole the prophets refer to Israel as an inner circle, or chief platform, on which the dealings of Jehovah were and will be developed, and with which the Messiah is in immediate relation. The nations formed an outer circle, and were regarded more or less according to their relations with the twelve tribes. These nations are sometimes spoken of as being God's instruments by whom He punished His own people, they themselves having afterwards to bear the punishments of God. Beyond and above all, there is God's universal government; in which everything is in result to be made subject to the Messiah, while God's promises are made good to Israel, for all Israel will again be brought into blessing, with Jehovah in their midst surrounded with glory, and the nations will be blessed with them.
The Prophetic scriptures naturally fall into three divisions.
1. Those that were given to Israel while still a nation, though divided into two parts, extending to the complete break up of Judah.
2. Those referring to the times of the Gentiles, which began with Nebuchadnezzar, and, continuing beyond the days of the Messiah on earth, are still running on: these are almost entirely given in Daniel.
3. Those given after a portion of Judah had returned from exile, when they were helped by the prophecies of Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, which present the time of the Messiah on earth, and go even beyond to future blessing.
To these may be added the prophecies in the Gospels, the Epistles, and the Revelation, embracing the judgements of God upon apostate Christendom and the nations generally; the final overthrow of Satan, and universal blessing, ending with the judgement of the dead and a glorious outlook into the eternal state.
It will not be inappropriate here to add a few words as to the relative position, in point of time, of the various O.T. prophetic scriptures. It may be premised that the burden of the prophets Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum has special reference to Edom and to Nineveh, that is, to peoples that were always hostile to Israel. There is but little whereby to fix precisely the dates of Joel and Habakkuk. Of the remainder, Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah are anterior to the captivity of the ten tribes. The visions of Isaiah, however, have reference to Judah and Jerusalem. It appears probable, whatever may be the reason, that the testimony commonly known as "the prophets" began in the time of Jeroboam 2 king of Israel, Uzziah being his contemporary in Judah. The introduction of prophetic scripture indicated that the ordinary relations of the people with God had broken down, Lo-ammi being prophetically written upon them.
Others follow closely, as Micah, who prophesies concerning Samaria and Jerusalem, though no personal reference is made to a king of Israel; and, either before or contemporary with the captivity of Judah, Jeremiah and Zephaniah. The prophets Ezekiel and Daniel speak from the land of Chaldea, when all present hope was over for both Israel and Judah, and the times of the Gentiles had set in. After the return from the captivity we have Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. The testimony of the prophets extended thus over a period of from three to four hundred years.
The approximate dates of each of the prophets may be seen in the tables of chronology under KINGS.
The Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah are remarkable, the former as being the most comprehensive of the prophecies, taking up almost in order the various moral questions involved in God's dealings with Israel, and giving what may be described as a general prophetic framework; and the latter as bringing out, in a peculiarly touching way, the feelings induced by the Spirit of Christ in regard of God's people when, there being no remedy, the end was come.
Two remarks of great importance as regards prophecy may be made: first, that no prophecy carries its own interpretation: each has to be understood in its place and relation to the whole system of prophecy. Secondly, that the scope of all prophecy takes us on to the day of the Lord; the judgement of the nations and of the wicked in Israel; the establishment of the kingdom; and the reunion of Israel and Judah under the Lord their righteousness. This is the great end of God's ways on earth. This recovery and blessing by God of His ancient people, in their Messiah, may be said to be a golden thread running through all the prophets. It was ever before God, and shines out everywhere.
It is of the greatest importance, both for the right understanding of these scriptures, and for a true appreciation of what Christianity is, to see that the church has no place in the prophets. In the church there is neither Jew nor Gentile, and the prophets recognise both, while carefully maintaining the distinction between them. Prophecy treats of the earth and of the government of God and its issue: the Christian belongs to heaven, and he will reign with Christ in the kingdom. In the A.V. of the O.T. the headings of many of the chapters are misleading: the church often spoken of in them is never found in the text; Christ is there, and the manifestation of God; and the scriptures which develop His ways, and speak of the sufferings and the glories of the One to whom the Christian is united, are of deep interest to him, though he himself may not be immediately spoken of.
Some Christians, though they know and enjoy certain portions of prophecy., without seeing its reference strictly to the remnant of Israel, fail to study the prophets. Not a few deem the study to be unprofitable
See Verses Found in Dictionary
And he shall rule from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the. ends of the earth.
His name shall be forever: his name shall flourish before the sun: and they shall be praised in him: all nations shall pronounce him happy.
And he judged between the nations, and he will decide for many peoples: and they shall beat down their swords to plough-shares and their spears to pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall no more learn war.
The wolf dwelt with the lamb; and the panther will lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the falling together, and a little boy leading with them. And the heifer and the bear shall feed together, and their young shall lie down; and the lion shall eat straw as the ox. read more. And the suckling was delighted upon the hole of the asp, and upon the viper's deu the weaned directed his hand. They shall not do evil, and they shall not destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters covering to the sea.
And it was in that day Jehovah shall add the second time his hand to gain the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assur and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea., And he lifted up a signal to the nations, and he gathered the outcasts of Israel, and he will collect the dispersed of Judah from the four wings of the earth. read more. And the jealousy of Ephraim was removed, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not press upon Ephraim. And they flew upon the shoulder of the rovers to the sea; together shall they plunder the sons of the east: Edom and Moab the sending forth of their hand, and the sons of Ammon their audience.
For thou didst forget the God of thy salvation, and didst not remember the rock of thy fortress, for this, thou shalt plant pleasant plants, and thou shalt sow it with vine shoots of the stranger. In the day of thy planting thou shalt hedge in, and in the morning thou shalt make thy seed fruitful: the harvest a heap in the day of thy possession and incurable pain.
Jehovah of armies will make to all peoples in this mountain a drinking of fatness, a drinking of lees of wine, fatness of marrows, strained lees of wine. And he will swallow up in this mountain the face of the covering covered over all peoples, and the veil covered over all nations. read more. He swallowed up death for glory, the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people he will remove from off all the earth, for Jehovah spake.
For this, hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye men of scorn, ruling this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye said, We cut out a covenant with death, and with hades we did this; when this overflowing scourge passed through it shall not come to us, for we set falsehood our refuge, and in ahewe hid ourselves., read more. For this, thus said the Lord. Jehovah, Behold me placing for a foundation in Zion a stone, a stone of trial, a corner precious, a foundation being founded: and he believing shall not hasten. And I set judgment to the line and justice to the weight: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of falsehood, and the waters shall overflow the covering. And your covenant with death was obliterated, and your league with hades shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through and ye. were for a treading down to it
Thus said Jehovah, The heavens my throne, and the earth the footstool of my feet: where this house which ye will build to me? and where this place of my rest? And all these my hand made, and all these shall be, says Jehovah: and to this will I look, to the humble. and smitten of spirit, and trembling at my word. read more. He slaughtering the ox, striking a man; he sacrificing a sheep, broke a dog's neck; he bringing up a gift, swine's blood; he making remembrance of frankincense, praising vanity; also they chose their ways, and in their abominations their soul delighted.
Thou wert seeing even till a stone was cut out not with hands, and striking against the image upon the feet of iron and burnt clay, and breaking them in pieces. At that time were beaten small at once, the iron, the burnt clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, and they were as the chaff of the threshing-floor of summer; and the wind lifted them up and all place was not found for them: and the stone striking against the image was for a great rock, and filled all the earth.
And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, because that iron beats small, and makes thin all: and as iron breaks all these, it shall beat small and break. And that thou sawest the feet and toes, part of burnt clay of the potter, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; and from the firmness of iron to be in it, for which cause that thou sawest iron mingled with earthen-ware. read more. And the toes of the feet, part of iron, and part of burnt clay, from the end of the kingdom shall be strong, and part shall be cut asunder. That thou sawest the iron mingled with the earthen-ware, mingling for themselves with the seed of men: and not cleaving to them this with this, so as iron not mingling with burnt clay. And in their days that they are kings, the God of the heavens shall set up a kingdom that shall not be destroyed forever: and its kingdom shall be left to another people; it shall beat small and destroy all these kingdoms, and this shall stand forever. Because that thou sawest that the stone being cut from the rock not with hands, and it beat small the iron, the brass, the burnt clay, the silver and the gold: the great God made known to the king what to be after this: and the dream certain, and its interpretation faithful.
After this I was seeing in the visions of the night, and lo, a fourth beast, fearful, and strong and powerful exceedingly; and great teeth of iron to it, eating and beating small, and treading down the remainder with its feet: and it being different from all the beasts that were before it; and ten horns to it. I was considering upon the horns, and lo, another little horn went up among them, and three from the first horns were plucked up from before it: and lo, eyes as the eyes of a man in this horn, and a mouth speaking great things.
Then I willed to speak the truth concerning the fourth beast that was different from all of them, exceedingly fearful, its teeth of iron and its hoofs of brass; eating, beating small, and treading down the remainder with its feet; And concerning the ten horns that were upon its head, and the other that went up, and three fell from before it; and this horn and eyes to it, and a mouth speaking great things, and its sight great above its companions. read more. I was seeing, and this horn made an encounter with the holy ones, and prevailed against them; Even till that the Ancient of days came, and the judgment was given to the holy ones of the Most High; and the time extending and the holy ones possessed the kingdom. Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom in the earth, that shall be different from all kingdoms, and shall eat up all the earth, and shall tread it down and beat it And the ten horns from this kingdom, ten kings shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be different from the first, and he shall humble three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall vex the holy ones of the Most High, and he will hope to change times and law: and they shall be given into his hand even to a time and times, and the dividing of time.
And he made strong the covenant to many one week: and half the week he shall cause the sacrifice and gift to cease, and upon the wing of abominations laying waste, even to the completion, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolation.
And he made strong the covenant to many one week: and half the week he shall cause the sacrifice and gift to cease, and upon the wing of abominations laying waste, even to the completion, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolation.
And the king did according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself over every god; and against the God of gods he shall speak wonderful things,, and he prospered even till anger was finished: for that being determined was done. And concerning the God of his fathers he shall not understand, and concerning the desire of women, and concerning every god he shall not understand; for he shall magnify himself over all. read more. And to the God of fortresses he shall do honor upon his place: and to a god which his fathers knew not he shall do honor with gold and with silver, and with precious stone, and with desires. And he did to the strong fortifications with a strange god whom he recognized, he shall multiply honor: and he caused them to rule over many, and he will divide the land for a price.
And many sleeping in the earth of dust shall awake, these to eternal life, and these to reproach and eternal abhorrence. And those understanding shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and those justifying many, as the stars forever and ever.
For the earth shall be filled to know the glory of Jehovah as the waters shall cover over the sea?
And Jehovah was for king over all the earth: in that day Jehovah shall be one, and his name one.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall the tribes of the earth lament bitterly, and they shall see the Son of man coming upon the clouds of heaven with power and much glory.
That also the creation itself be freed from servitude of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that all creation groans together and travails together until now.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as has been written, The Deliverer shall come out of Sion, and turn away profanation from Jacob. And this the covenant to them with me, when I take away their sins.
Behold, I speak to you a mystery; We truly shall not all be laid asleep, but we shall all be changed, In an atom, in the twinkling of the eye, in the last trumpet: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
Let none deceive you in any manner: for, except an apostasy come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who being opposed and lifted up above all called God, or which is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. read more. Remember ye not, that, yet being with you, I spake these to you And now ye know the withholding for him to be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity is already energetic: only he withholding, even till he be out of the midst. And then shall the Lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the spirit of his mouth, and leave unemployed in the splendor of his arrival: Whose arrival is according to the energy of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, And in all deceit of iniquity in the lost; because they received not the love of the truth, for them to be saved. And for this, God shall send them the energy of error, for them to believe in falsehood: That all might be judged not believing the truth but contented in iniquity.
And this know, that in the last days difficult times shall interpose. For men shall be self-lovers, lovers of money, boastful, proud, slandering, disobedient to parents, unthankful, wicked, read more. Devoid of natural affection, not observing treaties, accusers, ungoverned, wild, not loving the good, Traitors, rash, haughty, devoted to pleasure more than loving God; Having a form of devotion, and having denied its power: and these renounce. For of these are they going into houses, and taking captive little women heaped up with sins, led away with various eager desires, Always learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so also these have withstood the truth: men corrupted in mind, not tried concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest to all, as theirs also was.
For the time will be when they will not hear sound doctrine; but according to their own eager desires they will heap up to themselves teachers, feeling itchings for a report; And truly from the truth will they turn away the hearing, and be turned aside to fictions.
Dearly beloved, making all diligence to write to you of the common salvation, I had necessity to write to you, beseeching to fight for the faith once delivered to the holy ones. For certain men entered in by stealth, long ago written of beforehand for judgment, irreligious, having changed the grace of our God into licentiousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Woe to them for they went in the way of Cain, and were poured out in the error of Balaam for a reward, and they were destroyed in the controversy of Core.
And a reed was given me like rod: and the messenger stood, saying, Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them worshipping in it. And the court-yard that without the temple throw out, and thou mayest not measure it: for it was given to the nations: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty-two months.
And one of the seven angels having the seven vials, came and spake with me, saying to me, Come; I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot sitting upon many waters: With whom the kings of the earth were debauched, and they dwelling upon the earth were intoxicated from the wine of her harlotry. read more. And he brought me away in the spirit into the desert: and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet wild beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman surrounded with purple and scarlet, and covered with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the impurity of her harlotry: And upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman intoxicated from the blood of the holy, and from the blood of the witnesses of Jesus: and wondered, seeing her, with great wonder. And the angel said to me, Why didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the wild beast lifting her up, having seven heads and ten horns. The wild beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and is about to come up from the abyss, and go forward to perdition: and they dwelling upon the earth shall wonder, whose names have not been written upon the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the wild beast that was, and is not, although he is.
And there are seven kings: five fell, and one is; the other has not yet come; and when he should come, he must remain a little. And the wild beast which was, and is not, and this is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes forward into perdition. read more. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which took not yet the kingdom; but take power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one purpose, and their power and authority will they transmit to the wild beast.
And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the wild beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and they shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her in fire.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he sitting upon him called Faithful and True, and in justice he judges and makes war. And his eyes as a flame of fire, and upon his head many diadems; having a name written, which no one knows, except himself. read more. And surrounded with a garment dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth went forth a sharp sword, that with it he might strike the nations: and he shall rule them with an iron rod: and he treads the winepress of the wine of the wrath and anger of God, the Omnipotent Ruler. And he has upon the garment and upon his thigh the name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw one angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds flying in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves to the supper of the great God; That ye might eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains of thousands, and the flesh of the strong, and the flesh of horses, and of them sitting upon them, and the flesh of all, free and servants, and of small and great. And I saw the wild beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to war with him sitting upon the horse, and with his army. And the wild beast was seized, and with him the false prophet having done signs before him, with which he deceived them having received the stamp of the wild beast, and them worshipping his image. Living, were they two cast into the lake of fire burning with sulphur. And the rest were killed by the sword of him sitting upon the horse, coming out of his mouth: and all birds were satiated from their flesh.
And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, read more. And he cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and affixed a seal above him, that he should no more deceive the nations, until the thousand years be finished: and after these things he must be loosed a little time. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given them: and the souls of them beheaded with an axe for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and who worshipped not the wild beast, nor his image, and took not the stamp upon their foreheads, and upon their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. And the rest of the dead returned not again to life even till the thousand years be finished. This the first rising up. Happy and holy he having a part in the first rising up: over these has the second death no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and they shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years should be finished, Satan shall be loosed from his prison, And he shall go forth to deceive the nations that in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for war: whose number as the sand of the sea. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and they surrounded the camp of the holy, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil deceiving them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, where are the wild beast and false prophet, and they shall be tortured day and night for ever and ever.