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Glad you're with us as we walk through the Bible a Step at a time, a Book at a time, & a Character at a time. We won't go verse by verse or cover every book, but by the end of the year, we will have honored the Lord with some "holiday perspectives", as well as caught many of the highlights throughout scripture that I hope will continue to remind us how God wants us to finish well for Him! What we want to cover today is from 30,000 feet and just an aerial glance. So this will be some broad strokes of what God did all throughout the Old Testament, particularly in the lives of the MAJOR prophets of Israel. And let's clarify some things as we start. A PROPHET was someone who "spoke to people on behalf of God". Now a PRIEST, was someone who "spoke to God on behalf of people". And a KING, was someone who "ruled over people on behalf of God". It's important to understand different ROLES in the Bible. There are obvious differences between an apostle, an angel and an evangelist, though they ALL carry a message from God. For instance, there's also a difference between an Elder and a Deacon. While those terms are used mostly in the context of "local church fellowship", a deacon is simply a "Servant", and an elder is primarily a "Shepherd". Like the truth of four-sided geometric figures, "all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares". In the same way, all elders (shepherds) are servants, but not all servants (deacons) are shepherds. And just as there's a difference and focus and roles of those functions, there's a certain amount if distinction between major and minor prophets. However, they've not been categorized or labeled by Scripture itself, but by Bible scholars, who simply attribute the greater "volume of work" to the majors. So the big boys were Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And the "shorter versions" of writing Bible prophecy were Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi. Some may say, wait a second, there are more prophets than that! And they are correct! What about Nathan, the prophet who confronted king David? And the "twin spiritual towers" of Elijah and Elisha? How could they be left out? My goodness, Elijah represented all the prophets on the Mount of Transfiguration when he came back for a visit, as did Moses to "dazzle the inner circle" of Peter, James, and John, as their clothes were as bright as sunlight, along with Jesus'! But Elijah and Elijah were more "boots on the ground" types of prophets, rather than "pen in hand". They were more miracle men, and "doers more than writers" type of prophets, and absolutely heroic in their calling! So let's take a brief look at each of the MAJORS before we spend time NEXT WEEK with the MINORS. In the book, "Knowing the Bible 101", Bruce Bickel & Stan Jantz give some helpful condensed thoughts that I'd like to lift out from their work and share with you today. ISAIAH... his main theme was that "salvation" came from God alone. That word appeared 26 times while only 7 times in the other prophetic books. His writing style is majestic and highly visual. William Shakespeare and Martin Luther King Jr. were heavily influenced by the style of Isaiah's writing. Five of the seven clues to the secret identity of the MESSIAH are found in the writings of Isaiah. Although there are many more, here are just a few..... 7:14… Born of a virgin 53:1-3...rejected by His own people 53:8...tried in court and found guilty 50:6...beaten and spit upon 53:5–12...would die as a sacrifice for man's sins One important thing to remember is the Proclamations were considered "FORTH-telling" and the Predictions were referred to us "FORE-telling". Another mild distinction to note. You've got to love the beginning of Isaiah in chapter 6 with his vision, seeing the Lord and that whole account as an angel brings a hot coal to touch his tongue for purification. Isaiah's humility before the Lord is incredible! Now his first response to being called by God, was to acknowledge himself as being "unworthy". In the King James Version, it says "Woe unto me, I am a man undone". What in the world does "undone" mean? The root word in the Hebrew language there also means "disintegrated". In other words, (long before the 70's), Isaiah was declaring that in the presence of the Lord, he felt "blown away". How cool is that! And when God asks the question, "since the world is in such a mess, who could I send to represent Me?" Isaiah's response with the incredible tattoo-worthy phrase… "Here am I send me!" May we have that same willing spirit, not just one time or most times, but EVERY time! JEREMIAH... he wrote the book bearing his name as well as his follow up sequel, called Lamentations. I love several of the memorable things mentioned in this book. One is the illustration of the POTTER'S WHEEL, from which we get the old hymn, "Have Thine Own Way, Lord". The lyrics are "Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Mold me and make me after Thy will, while I am waiting yielded and still". Sorry, but I'm reminded of those old hymns more often than not! Another familiar one by Jeremiah is in chapter 29, which says, "For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Sometimes we stop there when we really need to continue with the next couple of verses, which say, "In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for Me in earnest, you will find Me when you seek Me, I will be found by you", says the Lord. And there's also a highlight in the book of Lamentations 3:23. This verse is the basis of the old hymn, "Great is Thy Faithfulness". I love the phrase in that song, "morning by morning new mercies I see." We ALL need new mercy every morning! Don't i know it! The only way we're gonna finish well is with His new mercies every day! Somebody say "amen"! Ok... we've gotta keep moving… on to the next major prophet... EZEKIEL... alrighty… Ezekiel was quite a visionary and saw a wheel within a wheel. And he saw that those "bones got connected" and "rise again in the Dry Valley! He's noted for getting a "glimpse of God's glory", and boy did he have an incredible view There's a tremendous amount of symbolism in Ezekiel's writing. Buckle up for this one… Got another song, that you probably have not heard. But Ezekiel uses the phrase, "Then they will know that I am the Lord" 70 times. Did you get that? 70 times! Sounds like that's what God is always up to. To help us know… To help us remember… And that's all I'm trying to do today. This summer I'm joining my wife, Sue Linn, in her devotional reading in the mornings that she selected & is going through. It's really incredible and what's called the BIBLE RECAP. We're in Ezekiel now and this phrase is one that's burning a hole of my soul. Especially when combined with the Michael Card song, "Then They Will Know". DANIEL... Daniel was a young teenager with three friends who found themselves captured in Judah and exiled in Babylon. They had royal blood so they were on the high potential list to go early in the draft. They were put in leadership training, but they rejected the pagan culture, values, and allowed their commitment to God to be preferred over their Boot Camp experience. They opted to go vegan and non-alcoholic and discovered they were just as strong as those who went KETO with heavy protein & fat with some red wine! Now you'll know their names from the fiery furnace account that happened in chapter 3. They were Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego". If you want a little refresher on that story, here's a YouTube link to Saddleback Bible stories for kids. This is the favorite one of our three grandsons Carter, Izaiah, and Zeke when we have a sleepover. There's a powerful phrase in that story where the three young men refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's idol made of gold. At the threat of the furnace, they said their God was "able to deliver them from the fire, but even if He doesn't, they won't bow down". What a phrase! Even if He doesn't! These young men in exile were inspirational with a "no matter what" kind of faith! We see later that Daniel had the same type of faith as he entered the den of lions, due to a connived & undeserved punishment. And King Darius realized the next morning that Daniel's God is a God who can not only OPEN the mouth of a donkey (years before), but can "SHUT the mouths of hungry lions" when praying prophet is unjustly accused! There's a ton more in the book of Daniel concerning prophecy but we'll be picking that up at a later date, incorporating that commentary when we get to the book of Revelation. So that's our intro for this week concerning the Major Prophets. We'll take a similar approach from an aerial view next week over the Minor Prophets. I noticed on the weather forecast that we've got a lot of days ahead of us with rain. And yet as I send this out on Monday, we have a 55% chance overall rain today and yet for only one hour in the afternoon there's a 25% chance. Now I'm sure that'll change before I finish this paragraph. But my point is our other people wouldn't make good Bible. Prophets. And with all due respect, they come in at a high percentage of accuracy, but those who spoke the word of the Lord in the Old Testament had to hit 100% or hang it up! May we let the words of these holy men of long ago remind us that God has known His plan of redemption for a long time and with great accuracy! May God bless you with a great week & I'll join you next Sunday as we take a look at a dozen men referred to as the "minor prophets", who had plenty to say to the people of God! Love you guys, gr
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