The document discusses the Old Testament prophets from several perspectives. It examines how the prophets communicated in a way that was difficult to understand at times. It explores how the prophets sought to make God the central reality for people and expose the true nature of society. The prophets served as mediators between God and Israel, warning of judgment but also promising restoration. They addressed key themes like God's rulership over history, humanity's need to be rightly related to God, and the choice between judgment and hope. The prophets looked to both the near future of Israel and God's ultimate kingdom to come.

1. The Prophets

2. How do you feel about the Old Testament
prophets?
?

3. They have a queer way of
talking, like people who,
instead of proceeding in
an orderly manner, ramble
off from one thing to the
next so that you cannot
make heads or tails of
them or see what they
are getting at. Martin Luther

4. GOD
us

5. GOD
them us

6. Language Geography
r d
Religion
to g
s in
ie n
r a
r t
a s
b r
n de
u
Culture History

7. Whether he is discussing the past, present
or future, the prophet is seeking to make
God the most genuine reality that men can
know and experience.
A.B. Mickelson
Interpreting the Bible, p. 287

8. not foretelling

9. forthtelling

10. conditional future?

11. Prophecy is essentially a ministry of
disclosure, a stripping bare. Israel’s great
prophets do not merely lift the veil of the
future in order to destroy false expect-
ations; at the same time, they expose the
conduct of their contemporaries. . . .
Prophets tear the masks away and show the
true face of the people behind them.
Hans Walter Wolff, Confrontations

12. The Word of
the LORD

13. Calling people
Covenant
enforcement
back to the
mediators
covenant
(Fee and Stuart)

14. Warning of
judgment

15. Promising
restoration

16. Identification of Declaration of
Israel’s sin God’s love for Israel
Announcement of Announcement of
judgment blessing

17. The ‘prophet in scripture takes on the role
of gracious mediator. He stands between
God and the people to deliver the word of
the Lord. . . . The person of the prophet
substitutes for the presence of Almighty
God himself.’
O.P. Robertson,
The Christ of the Prophets, p. 10

18. Applying the Prophets

19. key themes

20. 1
God is the ruler of all of
history and every nation

21. 2
Humanity’s most
fundamental need is
to be right with God

22. 3
Religion, politics and
society must all be on
a firm moral base

23. 4
God offers us the choice
of judgment or hope

24. The [Latter Prophets] did not call for
reform, for they knew it was too late; the
end of the present order was near and
could not be averted.
Donald Gowan
Reclaiming the OT p. 125–6

25. 5
The future kingdom of God

26. Old New
Testament Testament
Promise Fulfilment

27. two horizons

29. deep focus

31. 6
The glory of God

32. God’s ultimate concern