The Old Testament prophets
Introduction.
I find it interesting to study and look very well the characteristics of the prophets in the Old Testament, since we live in a time where it has become common "prophet", launching the voice "new revelations" that are outside the Word of God, this kind of doctrines have made more and more people deceived and the gospel is increasingHe but who do not strive to scrutinize the Scriptures further.
We see how the "merchants of faith" today use this title of "prophet" to attract people with false (of course) promises that give them from God, making the passages of Hebrews invalid 1: 1-2 Where and Apocalypse 22: 18-19, this indicates that the revealed word is already concluded, what time what exists and what we can ask God is the lighting so that the word that the Lord has already inspired 2 Timothy 3 is revealed: 16.
Developing.
False prophets through the Old Testament: the same Bible teaches us the profile or conditions that a person who was called a prophet should have and have the power to dare to speak in the name of the Lord, first we will see below some aspects to consider aboutWhat identifies a false prophet.
- Deuteronomy 13: 1-3 We can see that a person who autonombraba prophet if he could speak and fulfill what he had spoken, but what would betray as a false prophet is that this prophecy did not do it to bring God closer to God and much less glorify him,The only thing that this prophet intended would be the people of the true God. Deuteronomy 18: 20-22 Another characteristics that the false prophets had was that the prophecy made was not fulfilled, they spoke without the support of the Lord.
- Jeremiah 23: 16-8 The false prophet distinguished himself by speaking only what people like to hear, he did not rebuke the people no matter howI really wanted to communicate to the people (nothing different from what happens today).
- Ezekiel 13: 1-8 We see how God rebuked the false prophets because they thought that God would support him just by saying "This has said Jehovah", God launches a severe judgment in cough cases because they were spoken words without any meaning and many times it wasTo please the people and make it feel good regardless of what the Lord will think.
- Micah 3:11 The false prophets declared depending on who and who received as a profit, becoming corrupt, were willing to do so depending on the benefit they would find.
True prophets and its most relevant characteristics: knowing what is not a true prophet, we can deduct more clearly what it is and how to differentiate it, as to discern the truth of the lie.
I have learned with this course and investigating the life of each one that all prophets have equal characteristics, for example:
- The prophet who spoke in the name of God always did it according to the law, or his prophecy was supported by another true prophet. Jeremiah 26:17 shows how the wise elders were also based on the prophecy of Micah.
- The true prophet when he spoke was completed 100% of his prophecy there was no margin of error, it was not approximations such as sorcerers or fortune tellers 18: 21-22, it did not happen as with the prophets of now that they go out to declare things that to theFinal do not fulfill and then excuse themselves.
- The true prophet was an entire person, his fruits were evident, Micah 3: 5 shows the hypocritical behavior of the false prophet, Jesus taught him in Matthew 7: 15-20 that the true prophet would be known for producing good fruits, the clearest exampleWe see it in Juan the Baptist who despite the opposition and the death penalty that was going to fall on him never changed his message.
- The prophet who comes from God is willing to speak the revealed truth even though his life depends on please or not who gives the message, 1 kings 22: 10-28 shows Micaías who prophesied the word of God regardless of theconsequences for not please the king.
- A true prophet never resorted to divination or sorcery since it depended on the Word of God and being in his presence Isaiah 6: 1-9. All the Old Testament prophets were a man who delighted in the presence of Lord, Elías impacts me who was the only one (as far as I have read) that said “Live Jehovah in whose presence I am, although he was a man subject to the same passionsmine was a man who enjoyed and knew who God was and what he could do.
- The true prophet did not adapt the message softening or adorning what the Lord wanted.
I see that the profiles of the prophets are very similar and always head towards the same direction, please God, be of intermediaries between God and man, proclaim a message either judgment, salvation, repentance, reconciliation, ofcomfort, blessing and hope. Although many times or most cases their messages were not to the liking of kings, of the people or even other prophets that did not prevent them from proclaiming him. Many went hungry, they had to hide for fear of losing their lives, they faced armies (such as the prophet Eliseo), but this did not stop them to continue serving God despite the difficulties and adversities that were found on the road.
Character that we must develop based on the example of the Old Testament prophets
Studying the life of the true prophets we must have them as an example of how to proclaim the message of salvation, exhortation and the way to reach the Father without any fear, proclaiming Jesus his life sacrifice and resurrection. We must develop a message that contains the absolute truth of whom God is without adding to gain the appreciation of people, fame or money, which is a pitiful panorama of what many churches live today, that by adding people to thevisible churches, ministers have "prostituted" their call for money or fame gain.
We live in a time that Pedro had already anticipated, explaining exactly what happened in the Old Testament and what would happen in the future in 2 Peter 2: 1-3, in front of this. The mission of the Church at this time must be exactly equal to the time of the prophets, of the time of Jesus, of the primitive Church, of the time of the reform, today there are missing men and women who proclaim the truth, to theChristians today, many times we are afraid of the one they will say, of rejection or mockery.
I think that when we begin to deepen the study of the Word of God, in meditation, in prayer and we begin to be guided by the spirit of the Lord we will have the value of speaking the truth regarding the character of God, His goodness, hisMercy and his love, we will also begin to talk about his holiness, his justice, how the Lord loves us and at the same time as a good father corrects us, disciplines us by the sins that we commit to committing.
Unfortunately, what 2 Timothy 2: 3-4 there are many "Christians" that hurts them to hear about the justice of God and spend looking for churches where they are preached according to their liking and according to their liking are being fulfilled and as suited. Unfortunately they are giant churches in structure, in quantity, in technology, in communications and interventions in the media, in resources that take out of people for promising what the Lord has not said “peace and well -being at all times, his life hereAnd now, how to obtain supernatural wealth ”and an almost endless list, teaching only to seek as a priority the adding through God.
It is also comforting to a certain extent that all this is happening because we know that we are increasingWhere everything is vanity, unless God’s plan is fulfilled for our lives and we get to have a growing relationship with him.
It is on the other hand a challenge since as sons and daughters of God we have ahead of preaching the truth thus lifts hell against us, we cannot forget that we are in a constant and endless war until everything we know happens Apocalypse 21y22, for the souls that do not know God, so we must train ourselves better, deepen writing as that which seeks oil and excavates the deepest of the earth, or as the diamonds that are formed hundreds of kilometers deep,I think that the Church must wake up and leave its comfort zone to be ableHe would leave the premises and begin to first impact each member’s family and then his neighbors.
Conclusions.
There is no doubt that those of us who have had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus, who have been born again and have his Holy Spirit, are called to behave like the prophets, depend on God and his message and that He of the grace for the grace forTo support any "bad" consequence that this produces, this means that we are not going to be afraid, to pass needs or that they all receive the message well, but if we must lead us more and more to grow spiritually.
Grow in prayer and that this fear is less and less, that in the process of maturing and preaching the truth we can also see the fruits of our surrender to God, such as transformed lives, lives that were previously being lost but now they areRenewed by the power of the Gospel and the Word of God, this will have a consequence in families, marriages and restored children and also in many times mature believers who continue with the circle of personal transformation dare of the gospel, speak the truth and see transformed lives and families and familiesRestored.
Something that he admired are the people who do not have freedom, resources and still do the work like the prophets, I think of them as unique people, that the love of God is so great and deep that nothing matters to them, a verse that changedMy way of thinking about Christian life is found in Hebrews 11:38, Hebrews 11 after talking about the great heroes of faith and their victories,.
He talks about those who were dead, tortured, walked aimlessly, mocked, whipped, being frightened by others, verse 38 speaks that "the world was not worthy of them", that passage so powerful, challenging and encouragement to continueProclaiming the truth all together, not in parts or taking value, I think that was part of the character of the Old Testament prophets, it does not matter to die, be despised, abandoned in order to proclaim the truth of the Lord and be faithful (not perfect).
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