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Prophet’s Self-Understanding Prophet’s Self-Understanding

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Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
In like manner, Micaiah ben Imlah knew right well how objectionable his prophecy would be to King Ahab, therefore he gave an ironic, misleading, prophecy at first (1 Kings 22:15b). Moreover, he also knew what would happen to the false prophets in Zedekiah’s band (v. 25: they would “hide in an inner room”) and what would happen to King Ahab in the battle for which he sought divine guidance before engaging in it (v. 28: he would not return safely).

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
The Prophets Were Aware of the Implications of Their Prophecies
When the prophet Amos was shown in separate visions that God would send locusts to eat up the second mowing and a fire to consume all, Amos objected and begged God to relent (Amos 7:1-6).
How could Amos have prayed as an intercessor if he had had no idea what the two visions meant?

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
In contrast, Jeremiah was forbidden to intervene with God in prayer on behalf of Judah, since things in Judah had gone too far to turn around (Jer. 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).
No longer was it a matter of conditional fulfillment if the people did not repent; God’s word described what would happen no matter what and Jeremiah knew it too.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
They Were Told Things That Were Humanly Impossible to Know
Time after time the prophet Elisha warned the king of Israel to be on his guard in one specific place after another (e.g., 2 Kings 6:9).
In fact, Elisha told the Israelite king “the very words” that the Syrian king spoke in his bedroom (v. 12b).
Such incidents show clearly what it meant to be a recipient of revelation.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
Not only were these prophets told secrets from the bedrooms of the enemy, they were transported by way of a vision to see what was going on miles away from them.
Thus Ezekiel was shown what was happening in Jerusalem while he was more than 1,200 miles away from home in Babylon (Ezek. 8:3b—11:25).
Thus instead of an opacity, the prophets spoke with a keenness, a sense of detail, and an understanding that is unrivaled anywhere.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
The Prophets Related Their Predictions to Contemporary Events and Circumstances
A description of the distant future with no ties to the present could hardly be expected to hold the interest of the prophet’s audience or have any real personal and practical impact on their lives.
That is why prophecies have their roots in the particular contemporaneous events.
In some cases God explained first what he was going to do before the prophet passed it on to the audience it was addressed to (Ezek. 14:2-11; Dan. 7:16-28; 12:8-10).

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding
The Lord assured Amos that he did “nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
Amos’s response was: “The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (v. 8).
There was a divine imperative about prophecy once God had spoken, and that obligation was not fulfilled until the prophet’s contemporaries had had a chance to respond to it.
Surely it is clear that the prophets wrote only what was told them by God. In each case, they had an understanding of what they wrote adequate to perceive the implications and results of what they were saying.

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy
Girdlestone warned that “there is no royal road to the scientific study of prophecy.”
Two prominent reasons for such a conclusion are:

the enigmatic nature of a large part of the prophetic materials, and
the exceedingly large amount of biblical materials that exist on virtually every prophetic topic.

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy
The following guidelines are given to help the interpreter through the more difficult waters of prophecy.
In many cases, where special problems do not exist (e.g., because symbols, types, or apocalyptic language does not appear), the interpreter can generally proceed much as one would for other prose passages.
But in most prophetic material, one or more of the following four guidelines will need to be heeded.

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy
Unconditional Prophecies Must Be Distinguished From Conditional And Sequential Ones
Prophecies of the Bible may be classified on the basis of their fulfillment: conditional, unconditional, or sequential.
All three types appear fairly regularly and are accompanied by indicators in the text that help the reader or interpreter to distinguish between them.

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How hard can it be to read and understand personal correspondence?

Prophet’s Self-Understanding Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

The Prophets Were Aware of the Implications of Their Prophecies

When the prophet Amos was shown in separate visions that God would send locusts to eat up the second mowing and a fire to consume all, Amos objected and begged God to relent (Amos 7:1-6).

How could Amos have prayed as an intercessor if he had had no idea what the two visions meant?

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

In contrast, Jeremiah was forbidden to intervene with God in prayer on behalf of Judah, since things in Judah had gone too far to turn around (Jer. 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).

No longer was it a matter of conditional fulfillment if the people did not repent; God’s word described what would happen no matter what and Jeremiah knew it too.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

They Were Told Things That Were Humanly Impossible to Know

Time after time the prophet Elisha warned the king of Israel to be on his guard in one specific place after another (e.g., 2 Kings 6:9).

In fact, Elisha told the Israelite king “the very words” that the Syrian king spoke in his bedroom (v. 12b).

Such incidents show clearly what it meant to be a recipient of revelation.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Not only were these prophets told secrets from the bedrooms of the enemy, they were transported by way of a vision to see what was going on miles away from them.

Thus Ezekiel was shown what was happening in Jerusalem while he was more than 1,200 miles away from home in Babylon (Ezek. 8:3b—11:25).

Thus instead of an opacity, the prophets spoke with a keenness, a sense of detail, and an understanding that is unrivaled anywhere.

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

The Prophets Related Their Predictions to Contemporary Events and Circumstances

A description of the distant future with no ties to the present could hardly be expected to hold the interest of the prophet’s audience or have any real personal and practical impact on their lives.

That is why prophecies have their roots in the particular contemporaneous events.

In some cases God explained first what he was going to do before the prophet passed it on to the audience it was addressed to (Ezek. 14:2-11; Dan. 7:16-28; 12:8-10).

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

Prophet’s Self-Understanding

The Lord assured Amos that he did “nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).

Amos’s response was: “The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?” (v. 8).

There was a divine imperative about prophecy once God had spoken, and that obligation was not fulfilled until the prophet’s contemporaries had had a chance to respond to it.

Surely it is clear that the prophets wrote only what was told them by God. In each case, they had an understanding of what they wrote adequate to perceive the implications and results of what they were saying.

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Girdlestone warned that “there is no royal road to the scientific study of prophecy.”

Two prominent reasons for such a conclusion are:

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

The following guidelines are given to help the interpreter through the more difficult waters of prophecy.

In many cases, where special problems do not exist (e.g., because symbols, types, or apocalyptic language does not appear), the interpreter can generally proceed much as one would for other prose passages.

But in most prophetic material, one or more of the following four guidelines will need to be heeded.

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Principles for Interpreting Prophecy

Unconditional Prophecies Must Be Distinguished From Conditional And Sequential Ones

Prophecies of the Bible may be classified on the basis of their fulfillment: conditional, unconditional, or sequential.

All three types appear fairly regularly and are accompanied by indicators in the text that help the reader or interpreter to distinguish between them.