Notes to Episode 5: The Prophetic Cry

                                                            The Prophetic Cry: Episode 5

 

a.     The church is tasked with speaking and declaring the heart of God over a culture and calling it back to Him.  [we are not really addressing the prophetic ministry of exhortation; we are discussing the prophetic word to the culture]

 

b.     The Church is not to be politically motivated, but Kingdom minded.  We must be detached enough from political allegiances to step outside political posturing and critique, our objectivity is essential for this function to be healthy.  The mind of God concerning society is made known to the church by:

1.     The Spirit

2.     The Scriptures

3.     The consensus of tradition from the saints through the ages

 

c.     When the church is compromised, we cannot see, hear, or speak.  We must seek discernment:  which is determining what is true and wise with The Holy Spirit.

 

The Prophetic Cry in the OT

 

a.     Prophets functioned in the OT to call Israel back to its fidelity to Yahweh.  Their voice was loud and full of passion [both Wood and Heschel describe prophets more like preachers than teachers.  They raised cries, the rallied people back to the truth.  They did not innovate or create new teaching, they advocated for what the priests were teaching Israel already.  The prophets declared the word of Yahweh to the people Who saw their idolatry analogously to marital adultery. 

 

The key to understanding the prophets is: Faithfulness to Yahweh

 

b.     Hosea is a case study in this dynamic of faithfulness in Hosea chapter 1:2 we read: 

 

When the LORD first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute, so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the LORD and worshiping other gods.” (ESV)

 

·      Hosea and his wife are living parables for the people to see.  It puts flesh on the unseen tension between them and God.  Hosea has a message for the entirety of the culture: There is unfaithfulness in Israel’s heart.  Hosea is able to provide for his wife, but his wife runs to other men for money.  There is no trust.  In this same way Israel ran to idols to take care of them instead of trusting God.  

·      Hosea and Gomer’s marriage is redeemed through God’s activity in their lives.  Gomer goes back to prostitution but is bought back by Hosea.  God tells Hosea to: “Go and love your wife again.” (3:1).  God’s love for Israel is undying even as they continually abandon Him.  He mentions in verse 2:14 that God will win Israel back to Himself again.  

·      How does God define Israel’s adultery?  [READ 4:1-7]

-       God’s words give and create life. When the biblical prophets spoke, they were speaking God’s words of life into dead and dying conditions that people (not God) had created.

 

-       Israel’s social ills came from a fracture in their concept of Who God is and the value of people made in His image.  The Law provided for a just and righteous society, but the adultery of Israel became the catalyst for the breakdown. 

 

Another main function of Old Testament Prophets was proclaiming the coming Kingdom of God in the rule of God’s Messiah.

 

c.     This prophetic hope and the proclamation thereof was about The Advent of a perfect King who would fulfill the prescriptions of God’s law in Hi rule.  This is the end goal of the Old Testament.  So we see a prime goal of biblical prophets is to be heralds of the messianic hope.

 

The Prophetic Cry in the NT

 

The church proclaims the rule of the messiah and the victory of God to the powers of the age and to the people under their dominion (this is the church’s main message: Christ is Lord):

 

a.     Mathew 3:1-12- John the Baptist’s prophetic message.

1.     Return to Yahweh (same as OT prophets)

2.     The Messiah has arrived 

 

b.     THIS IS THE TRUE PROPHETIC CRY

·      It’s a call home, and a preparation for The Messiah’s rule (and that rule can be broken down into His rule in our individual lives)

 

c.     Jesus’ message: “Return to God and turn away from your sins, for The Kingdom of Heaven is near!” (Matt. 4:17)

 

d.     The church’s cry after Pentecost is basically the same: Turn to God in Christ and turn away from sin:

Peter’s message at Pentecost is the same prophetic proclamation though it’s given to an audience who knew Yahweh as God:

 

Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. (Acts 2:36 ESV)

 

 

 

 

e.     The pagan nations who received the good news of Jesus did not have a background with Yahweh being their people’s God.  They had idols and wicked spiritual powers that they turned to in previous times (Rom 1:18-32), but now the message that Jesus had liberated them from these powers of darkness through the cross and the resurrection set them free.

 

To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,  and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. (Eph 3:8-10)

 

And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,  by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.  He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. (Col. 2:13-15)

 

 

·      The prophetic functioning in the church towards the culture was mainly “spoken” by the type of lives they lived. They did not have the ability to confront the greater pagan culture around them other than demonstrate the true and beautiful way of Jesus.  The Gospel was countercultural to both the normative Jewish and Gentile worlds.  

·      “The [first century] Church had qualities unparalleled in the ancient world. Nowhere else would you find slaves and masters, Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, engaging in table fellowship and showing a real love for one another. That love overflowed to outsiders, and in times of plague and disaster the Christians shone by means of their service to the communities in which they lived.” - Michael Green: Evangelism in the Early Church

   

·      Romans 12 is Paul’s idea of how to live as a Christian and witness the gospel to the world.  It is very detailed and nuanced but it basically follows that:

 

1.     You are a not your own any longer, we are living sacrifices. Christ is King (v. 1)

2.     Let the way you think about yourself, others, and the outside culture be by a renewed mind, thinking about them how God sees these things. (v. 2)

3.     Let the community of believers in Jesus function in harmony, each one being who God made them to be in their renewed nature (see v. 2) and using the gifts He gives them. (v. 3-8)

4.     Do what is right.  Love the community well. Take care of each other.  Let love be genuine (v. 9-13)

5.     Love the world who doesn’t know Jesus like we do. (v. 14-21)

 

·      The message of reconciliation and freedom from the powers of darkness is the main prophetic message of the church. 

 

·      The church’s prophetic mission is to declare and be a visible representation of God’s Kingdom. If we make it a social club with crosses on top, we have failed.