Talk of JESUS .com

Category: Prophets – Warnings for 21st century ‘christians’

stone carving of the prophet Jeremiah reading Bible - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel are major Prophets of the Old Testament
Jeremiah by Michelangelo

Old Testament Prophets WARNED Israel, Judah, and neighboring nations about what GOD has planned IF they did NOT REPENT (and they usually didn’t).

How does this speak to 21 c. ‘christians’ in these last days? Are you bold enough to WARN your SOCIAL ‘Friends’ of what Jesus Christ warns? Does the message of a Prophet apply even more to them and US, now? SHARE your scriptural warnings from the Prophets and WITNESS for our LORD, WHO IS and returning… soon.

  • Thoughts and Ways

    Thoughts and Ways

    Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

    When I study scripture, only then do I begin to understand that I can not see from the height of Almighty God, neither do I embrace wisdom from as near as His Spirit to my soul.

    Before I read scripture regularly, I thought from my low and distant mind that I did not need to know anything of what the Lord has purposed for me. What do we care of what God would have for us if we fail to read God’s word?

    cells under microscopeGod IS beyond our flesh — beyond our mind — above the earth and above the heavens.  God IS (if we will allow Him) within our being — within our purpose — wed to our soul in loving intimacy.

    The Prophet Isaiah speaks from God’s heart to you and me. Consider the implication of more of Isaiah’s charge to us:

    Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
    7 let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
    let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
    8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
    9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

    Do you read the Bible?  Do you pray?

    Are your ways lived in the glory of the thoughts of the LORD?

    (Just a thought…)

     

  • What did they see?

    What did they see?

    And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. – Ezekiel 8:4

    But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the LORD has shown to me: – Jeremiah 38:21

    The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD… – Obadiah 1:1

    The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. – Nahum 1:1

    The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz… – Isaiah 1:1

    Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. – Daniel 2:19

    Habakkuk 2

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    I will take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
    and look out to see what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

    The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

    2 And the Lord answered me:

    “Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.
    3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
    If it seems slow, wait for it;
    it will surely come; it will not delay.

    What does a Prophet see?

    Who does God make a Prophet? (And what false prophet does declare himself?)

    What is the message of the Seer? Is it the message from God Almighty?

    You may have asked yourself these questions of the varying circumstances and applications which differ in the Old Testament, the New Testament and certainly in the post-Biblical claims of prophets from the time of Christ Jesus up to and beyond this very day.

    The questions of TRUTH as related to God are not unimportant. Many have been and are misled by the messages of false prophets and we dare not be included with those believers of false prophets led in the direction of destruction.

    Without taking on in detail the questions of truth as posed to us of the Bible and by the Bible, I would like to address prophesy as the Bible presents: first in the Old Testament and in a post to follow prophesy in the New Testament.

    • What does a Prophet see?
    • Who does God make a Prophet?
    • What is the message of the Seer?
    • Is it the message from God Almighty?
     What does a Prophet see?

    1 Samuel 3:1 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

    Samuel did not ‘see’ the LORD, Samuel heard the voice of the Lord. (No one else had; not even God’s High Priest.)

    Other Prophets also heard the voice of the Lord. Some Prophets also had visions; visions not of the Face of the Lord or the Presence of the Lord or the glory of the Lord, but visions of things to come given to the Prophet (or seer) by the Lord.

    Some Prophets saw the Lord! Some prophets saw events. Some seers saw souls departed and angels and creatures unknown in the experience of man. Some seers saw what was NOT to be seen or revealed. (This is another topic which I also will not take on now.)

    Who does God make a Prophet?

    God occasionally gives prophesy to those who are not godly. Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar would be examples of these. The dreams were of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, yet the interpretations were by the knowledge of God through the godly men: Joseph and Daniel.

    Think of God as a Person. God wants to tell someone a particular word.

    Here is the dilemma of God the Person, the Holy Person Who IS Creator of the universe:

    Who is worthy to come into the Very Holy Presence of the LORD, Ruler of all creation?

    The Person of God speaks His Holy Word through those faithful to bow down in humility to anything the LORD will say… regardless of their own personal dilemmas of this mortal life.

    When a Prophet speaks: “Thus says the LORD,” this mortal man does so at the peril of his eternal soul!

    Do NOT prophesy, o man, unless it is from the LORD.

    You may read about any of the men God chooses as Prophet and see the character of their humility before the Lord God. Here is just one example of why God chose Daniel. [see Daniel 2:17-24]

    What is the message of the Seer?

    As with the message of ANY person given to any other person, the Message of God is personal and call for a response.

    Usually the response sought after by the Lord God Almighty, our loving heavenly Father, is one of repentance.

    Repent of your sins: personally, corporately, as worshipers, as a nation, as a leader… you name it: something is wrong enough in the Holy eyes of God. LISTEN and obey: do something to return to the LORD your God.

    What is your prayer?

    YOU want GOD to listen to you; now, therefore, listen to HIM.

    The LORD IS God your Father and Maker.

    The LORD IS God! It is the LORD who numbers your mortal days and will judge your eternal soul!

    God uses His Prophet to speak to those who have NOT been listening. Whatever HIS message, the godly MUST LISTEN.

    Is it the message from God Almighty?

    NOT all prophets are from God. Some seers and prophets (through powers and principalities unfamiliar to our human witness) speak of what will come, yet not for the purpose of the glory of God. Beware.

    One such testimony of the Bible is even of a failing King of Israel seeking to speak with the spirit of a Prophet after his death!

    1 Samuel 28: 6 And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.” And his servants said to him, “Behold, there is a medium at En-dor.”

    8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other garments and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night. And he said, “Divine for me by a spirit and bring up for me whomever I shall name to you.” 9 The woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the necromancers from the land. Why then are you laying a trap for my life to bring about my death?” 10 But Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.” 11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.” 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul.” 13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.” 14 He said to her, “What is his appearance?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

    15 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

     

    Supernatural? Yes. Of God? No. Even the eternal soul of Samuel, which answered Saul, spoke to the evil he had done.

    In another encounter, a battle staged between the evil leaders of the country represented by their false prophets of the cults and the Prophet of God, Elijah: the Lord God demonstrated His Almighty Power. Read about it in  1 Kings 40:20-40.

    Is the message of the man (or woman) who says: “Thus says the LORD,” from the Lord?

    It is a question we must ask (and will explore in more detail next as we look at some examples from the New Testament). For now, we would do well to reread the warnings of the much-neglected books of the Prophets from our too-little read Bibles.

    Let you with ears to hear, hear what the Lord is saying through the Prophets.

    To be continued…

     

  • The House You Build

    The House You Build

    Isaiah 66:1-2

    Thus says the LORD:
    “Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool;
    what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?

    All these things my hand has made,
    and so all these things came to be,
    declares the LORD.

    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.

    5 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
    “Your brothers who hate you
    and cast you out for my name’s sake
    have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy’;
    but it is they who shall be put to shame.

    15 “For behold, the Lord will come in fire,
    and his chariots like the whirlwind,
    to render his anger in fury,
    and his rebuke with flames of fire.
    16 For by fire will the Lord enter into judgment,
    and by his sword, with all flesh;
    and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

    Our Lord is a consuming fire.

    He will burn away into flames of fire the chaff of our sins.

    He will send away into the darkness of Hades the souls who refuse His refining Word.

    What does the Lord require?

    Matthew 13
    English Standard Version (ESV)

    That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables…

    18 “Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart…

    … one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

    … one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

    23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

    Is your heart the good soil of your soul? What is the fruit of your receiving the Gospel of Christ Jesus?

    The Parable of the Weeds

    24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also…

    Satan has been sowing seeds of wickedness among the good seed of the Gospel for two millennia beyond the Cross and Resurrection.

    Is the time of harvest not certainly near?

    isaiah-662_barn and wheat30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

     “… what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?

    But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.

    1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple…

    1 Corinthians 6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?

    … do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

     Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

    Luke 9:23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

    25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.