UNDERSTANDING THE PROPHETS OF ISRAEL

For a long time, I tended to see the prophets as little more than robots. God told them to speak, and they spoke. The Lord gave them instructions, and they followed them.

However, I began to see that the prophets, in many ways, were very much like us. They even had issues with the words of God. Simply put, they did not always see things as God saw them. In particular, they had considerable difficulty understanding God’s righteous judgments, especially those judgments that He pronounced against His own people, the Jews.

Jeremiah was convinced that God’s damning assessment of Israel was way off. He thought it would be easy to find at least one person who was walking with the Lord, especially if he looked among the educated:

·       I thought, "These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God." (Jeremiah 5:4-5)

Jeremiah was like the rest of us. He thought that God’s appraisals were overly harsh and that His threats of judgment were inappropriate. He was convinced that the educated elite were of a wholly superior caliber. Surely they would merit forgiveness and not judgment.

Are we not just like Jeremiah? Are we not guilty of seeing as he did, with rose-colored glasses? After all, we—like Jeremiah—find little in our peers and colleagues or family that merits divine judgment. Our friends kiss their wives goodbye in the morning and tell stories to their children at night. They are respected on their jobs and get promotions. They are honored by the communities in which they live. They might not be perfect, but then again—who is?  Surely they are not in the same category of sinners as drunkards or wife-beaters. Clearly, those are the kinds of people who deserve judgment.

According to Scripture, fine appearances can, at times, be deceiving. In the book of Romans, Paul quoted and affirmed the Old Testament’s assessment of human degradation:

·       As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12)

If we fail to understand this cardinal truth, then we will erroneously remain convinced that humanity requires only a face-lift, and not a complete overhaul. Likewise, if we fail to understand the necessity for God’s judgment, we will also fail to grasp God’s radically undeserved grace.

These hard truths must become foundational in our lives if we are to serve God and represent Him faithfully. When we fail to realize that everything we receive from God is because of His mercy and not because of our merit, we become intolerably arrogant. It is for this very reason that our Savior chooses the foolish and the weak and the low—those who realize that they deserve the least (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)—to serve Him. In His wisdom, He ordained that salvation should be entirely a matter of God’s free gift to us, which precludes any and all boasting on our part:

·       For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9; see also Romans 3:21-28).

In contrast to the way God sees things, we tend to regard some people as more worthy candidates for salvation than others. In this way, we honor some and dishonor the rest. However, Jesus adamantly denied that any of us are worthy of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:23-26; Luke 18:9-14). Salvation is all about God’s merit and has nothing to do with our own (Titus 3:3-7). If we fail to understand this, we cannot give God the worship He requires and deserves. Jesus taught that we are to worship God in spirit—in the depths of our being—and in truth (John 4:22-24). This means that He is to receive all the praise and glory.

This understanding of God and the way He works is essential if we are to flourish in our relationships within the context of the Church. When the church at Corinth strayed from an honest assessment of their humble estate, love was soon replaced by conflict, and unity by factionalism. Some in the church there began to boast about the way they had aligned themselves with the very best preachers and teachers. Paul warned them that this kind of bragging was highly destructive of Christian fellowship:

·       Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other. For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? (I Corinthians 4:6-7)

Such boasting not only undermines human relationships, it also jeopardizes our relationship with God.

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If Jeremiah was going to serve God faithfully, he would also need to learn to see as God sees. And there would be no better place to learn this skill than in his hometown of Anathoth. He had come from a respectable family, a family of priests. However, he soon learned that there were those in this town who wanted to kill him because of the Word of God:

·       Then the Lord told me about the plots my enemies were making against me. I had been as unaware as a lamb on the way to its slaughter. I had no idea that they were planning to kill me! (Jeremiah 11:18-19)

 And this was only the beginning. The Lord then warned Jeremiah:

·       “Even your own brothers, members of your own family, have turned on you. They have plotted, raising a cry against you. Do not trust them, no matter how pleasantly they speak.” (Jeremiah 12:6).

Jeremiah was beginning to see what it meant to truly follow and identify with the Lord. Not only had Israel turned against their God, they had also turned against the bearer of His Word, Jeremiah:

·       Then I said, "What sadness is mine, my mother. Oh, that I had died at birth! I am hated everywhere I go. I am neither a lender who has threatened to foreclose nor a borrower who refuses to pay—yet they all curse me." (Jeremiah 15:10)

It is inevitable that when we experience rejection first-hand, there is a direct impact on the way we regard the rest of humanity. And so it was with Jeremiah. Before his rejection at the hands of his own townsmen, he had struggled with what he thought was God’s lack of compassion for Israel:

·       O Hope of Israel, its Savior in times of distress, why are you like a stranger in the land, like a traveler who stays only a night? Why are you like a man taken by surprise, like a warrior powerless to save? You are among us, O LORD, and we bear your name; do not forsake us! (Jeremiah 14:8-9)

However, after Jeremiah experienced the same kind of rejection that God routinely experiences, his pleas for compassion fall silent. In fact, he begins to ask for the very thing that he had been so vehemently against—judgment!

·       Then I said, "Lord, you know I am suffering for your sake. Punish my persecutors! Don't let them kill me! Be merciful to me and give them what they deserve!” (Jeremiah 15:15)

Experience can be a great teacher. Here is another quote that showcases Jeremiah’s new attitude:

·       “Lord, you know all about their murderous plots against me. Don't forgive their crimes and blot out their sins. Let them die before you. Deal with them in your anger.” (Jeremiah 18:23)

After we have walked in our Lord’s despised shoes, the idea of judgment becomes far more acceptable.

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Before we can truly understand the mercy of God, we first have to understand the righteousness of God. Jeremiah was learning about justice and righteousness and had swung far to the side of judgment without mercy. Soon, he would be ready to learn about mercy, but not just yet. At this point, he was still longing to see God’s vengeance:

·        “Lord Almighty! You know those who are righteous, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and minds. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to you.” (Jeremiah 20:12)

Once again, we understand God through the lens of our experience. When we find acceptance from those around us, we ask God for His compassion on them. When we see the world from this perspective, we appreciate God’s reticence to execute judgment. Conversely, when we don’t experience acceptance, we don’t want our detractors to experience God’s mercy. Instead, we ask God for judgment and are disturbed when the judgment is slow in coming. Jeremiah had yet to learn about God’s mercy for those who do not deserve it.

Israel had rejected God. In fact, Israel had rejected God more completely than any other nation had rejected their evil and worthless gods:

• "Go west to the land of Cyprus; go east to the land of Kedar. Think about what you see there. See if anyone has ever heard of anything as strange as this. Has any nation ever exchanged its gods for another god, even though its gods are nothing? Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols!” (Jeremiah 2:10-11)

It is only after we understand the weightiness of the judgment we deserve that we can have any appreciation for the grace we do not deserve. Likewise, it is only after we become aware of the extent of our treachery that we can value forgiveness as we should. 

Jeremiah began to comprehend the extent of Israel’s betrayal. After all, even his own family had betrayed him. He could now begin to see that judgment was indeed necessary, and this had prepared him for the next lesson—God’s glorious mercy: 

• "I will send disaster upon the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the Lord. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: "Instead of leading my flock to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from wherever I have driven them. I will bring them back into their own fold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Then I will appoint responsible shepherds to care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one of them will be lost or missing," says the Lord. "For the time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will place a righteous Branch on King David's throne. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. And this is his name: 'The Lord Is Our Righteousness'” (Jeremiah 23:1-6).

It is from the darkness of rebellion and judgment that Messiah is best seen for who He is. Our Lord is most fully embraced and understood through a veil of tears and desperation. As the hurricane precedes the rainbow, the bad news must precede the good. The reality of our deserved judgment must serve as the herald for grace. And finally, we must suffer with Christ so that we can reign with Him. There are certain truths that we must first learn the hard way, even as Jeremiah had to learn them.

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Moving on from Jeremiah, I wonder…could it be that all of the prophets had a problem with God?

In Ezekiel 7, God had announced to the prophet the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Ezekiel must have been rocked to the core of his being by this revelation. In Ezekiel 8, in order to justify His coming judgment, the Lord took Ezekiel—in the Spirit—to see the abominations that the leaders were performing in the Temple. Yet—understandably—Ezekiel was still appalled by the coming judgment:

• So it was, that while they were killing them [Israel], I was left alone; and I fell on my face and cried out, and said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Will you destroy all the remnant of Israel in pouring out your fury on Jerusalem?" (Ezekiel 9:8; see also 11:13)

Responding to His prophet, God revealed the Messianic mercy that would one day come:

• “Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’ And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:17-20)

Ezekiel first had to hear the bad news before he could appreciate the Good News!

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The prophet Habakkuk also had a problem with God. Habakkuk had complained to God about the violence he had been observing in Judah. God had the remedy for the situation: He would bring the Babylonians against Judah to destroy them! Once again, and quite understandably, the prophet was shocked:

• “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked [Babylon] devours a person more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13)

Habakkuk’s words compel us to ask a question: Was Judah indeed more righteous than Babylon? Again, it would be good for us to remember that we have a tendency to think more of our own people than we sometimes should. We tend to give them the benefit of any doubt. However, God assured Habakkuk that His judgment would not be indiscriminate. Instead, in words that are familiar to our ears, the Lord declared to Habakkuk that “the righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).

In the same way, God also assured Ezekiel of the mercy that He would surely have on those who were repentant:

• And the LORD said to him [an angelic being], “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations that are committed in it.” And to the others he said in my hearing, “Pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, and you shall show no pity.” (Ezekiel 9:4-5)

God knows those who are His, and He will bring judgment on those who are not. This revelation enabled Habakkuk to close his book with his famous prayer of praise:

• Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (Habakkuk 3:17-19)

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The prophet Jonah had such a serious problem with the Word of God that he fled! He would have gladly given up his life to avoid bringing God’s Word of warning to Nineveh, a city which he found utterly contemptible. Since Jonah was not yet ready to listen to God’s call, the Lord sent a great fish who was able to “preach” a message to Jonah that he could not refuse. While he was imprisoned in the fish’s belly, Jonah received God’s message and prayed:

• “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple…But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:7, 9)

Jonah freely acknowledged that salvation belongs to the Lord. Furthermore, he accepted the fact that God could grant the gift of His salvation to whomever He chose—even to the hated, ruthless Assyrians. Once Jonah had come to this understanding, the fish spit him up onto a beach adjacent to Nineveh, where Jonah began to preach:

• Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:1-4)

When the people of Nineveh repented at God’s warning through His prophet, Jonah’s greatest fear was realized:

• When God saw what they [the Assyrians] did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. (Jonah 3:10)

Jonah knew that God’s promise to bring destruction on the city of Nineveh was conditional and depended on Nineveh’s response. He had such a hatred for Nineveh that he would have been glad to deliver a message proclaiming Nineveh’s unconditional destruction. However, Jonah knew also that God might relent, and that is why he fled. He refused to preach a message that might lead to Nineveh’s repentance. He complained:

• "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (Jonah 4:1-2)

God was not finished with Jonah. As He desires for all of His people, God wanted Jonah to be more than a simple robotic mouthpiece for Him. God wanted Jonah to be a willing participant in His plans. In the same way, He wants each of us to understand Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:22-24). Therefore, for Jonah’s second object lesson, God would reason with him, not with a fish—but with a plant!

This plant had provided Jonah with shade, but it suddenly died. And Jonah was furious:

• But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:9-11)

Jonah’s problem with God was with His grace to those that Jonah regarded as less deserving. However, God reasoned that if Jonah pitied the plant, He had far more reason to pity 120,000 people who had been rescued from destruction.

Jonah needed this object lesson. So do I. In order for me to learn mercy towards others, I had to first painfully learn about my need for God’s mercy. In my totally unjustified self-confidence, I had attempted to set up a Christian counseling agency, before I had any clue of what was entailed. As a result, I made an absolute mess of everything. My only client even felt it necessary to flee from my office.

After this, I had to learn about the certainty of God’s mercy for the broken-hearted. Only then could I begin to serve my Savior faithfully.