Prophecy in the Bible

GOLDEN TEXT: “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”—Micah 6:8

AMOS 5:21-24—The prophecies of the Bible fall into two general categories—they are either warnings of coming disaster resulting from disobedience to the laws of God, or else they are promises of divine blessings. Many of the prophetic warnings given in the Word of God apply to the present time. They foretell the destruction of this “present evil world”—a destruction which is inevitable because its institutions based upon selfishness would be out of place in the kingdom of Christ which is soon to be manifested for the blessing of all the families of the earth.

The particular prophetic warning cited in our lesson pertains to ancient Israel, and sets forth God’s displeasure with their hypocritical worship and service to him. We are not to understand from this prophecy that God was displeased with “burnt offerings” and “meat offerings” as such. The fact is that through Moses he had enjoined upon the nation the making of such offerings to him. These outward forms of worship, however, were intended to be but an index of heart devotion, but the hearts of the Israelites were not wholly devoted to him. “This people draw near me with their mouth,” the Lord said, “but have removed their heart far from me.”—Isa. 29:13

Outward forms and ceremonies are meaningful only when they express a true heart attitude of loyalty to God, for, as our Golden Text states, what the Lord requires of his people is the practice of justice, and mercy, and to walk humbly with him. Israelites who possessed these qualities would be glad to present their burnt offerings to the Lord on all suitable occasions as an expression of their desire to please him.

AMOS 7:10-15—Here we have Amos’ prophecy of calamity upon Israel, a calamity that was coming because the people had failed to heed the warnings which had been given to them. God had been lenient to his people, and at the request of the prophet had twice withheld his judgments. Then, in vision, Amos saw the Lord stand on a wall with a plumbline in his hand, and he told the prophet that he could set this plumbline in the midst of his people, and would not again let them go unpunished.—Amos 7:1-9

“Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet,” the Lord declares in one of the prophecies of the coming judgment day of the world. (Isaiah 28:17) He evidently used the plumbline in the vision given to Amos to convey to the prophet’s mind that thenceforth he would deal with Israel upon the basis of justice rather than mercy, hence if they did not line up with his righteous requirements they would be punished.

Knowing from this that no further manifestation of divine mercy would be extended, he let Israel know what to expect. Then the “priest of Bethel” sent word to the king, informing him of the prophecy which had been uttered against him. He also tried to influence Amos to refrain from giving further messages of this kind. He failed to realize that it was not the prophecy which was to cause the calamity upon Israel, but their own sin. The prophecy was merely an explanation of the cause of the trouble which was about to come upon the nation.

MICAH 4:1-4—This is a prophecy which falls into the other category mentioned, namely, that of a promise of divine blessings—in this instance, blessings which are to come upon all nations through the administration of the kingdom of Christ. But even so, the prophecy makes it clear that these blessings will be dependent upon learning and doing the Lord’s will—“He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”

“In the last clays it shall come to pass,” writes the prophet. The “last days” is a transition period during which this “present evil world” over which Satan is the prince, comes to an end, and a new world order is established by the inauguration of the kingdom of Christ. To begin with, a “time of trouble” comes upon the nations in the “last days”—a time of distress which eventually will humble them and cause them to look to the Lord for a way out of their dilemma.

It will be then that “it shall come to pass, that … many nations shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, … and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

And because the nations will then learn the Lord’s ways, and walk in his paths, they will have peace and security—every man will dwell “under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” Thank God for this blessed assurance of kingdom blessings soon to be realized by all!

QUESTIONS:

What different kinds of prophecy are found in the Bible?

Of what is the plumbline a symbol?

What must the nations do in order to receive kingdom blessings?

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