Why Prophets?
Why does God tell people the future through prophets, especially when it’s bad news? If God already knows that most won’t listen when they’re warned of destruction, why bother telling them? My opinion is that it is to make them 100% responsible and aware when it comes to their rebellion. Those two terms do have slightly different meanings; Ezekiel shows us the way it works:
“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” Ezekiel 3:18-19 KJV
We see that the wicked man is held responsible even if he isn’t warned; for he will die in his sin. Yet Ezekiel is held accountable for the blood, for the wicked man is not aware of his wickedness.
It’s a whole different ballgame when this wicked man is warned but refuses to heed. Now he is responsible and totally aware that he is wicked, yet doesn’t do anything about it. Here he is left with 100% of the blame whereas if he doesn’t get warned at least a portion of the blame is transferred to Ezekiel.
Jesus explains the difference between sin with and without this knowledge:
“45: But and if that servant say
in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall
begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be
drunken;
46: The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware,
and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the
unbelievers.
47: And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not
himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
48: But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall
be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be
much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the
more.” Luke 12:45-48 KJV
This is in a different context of course, but we see that the knowledge makes all the difference in how many stripes are doled out. With the full knowledge yet disobedience, lots of stripes, but without knowledge few stripes.
Now it gets a little tricky if we apply some logic to it. I might argue that if person A is a sinner and I don’t warn them about Hell, they won’t get as much punishment than if I do warn them and they refuse to listen. Therefore for me to stay silent actually has a little bit of merit, for they shall receive less judgment.
There are plenty of problems with this of course, for that little bit of merit is quickly erased by the merits of warning the sinner. For one, I know that their blood won’t be required of me, I will have done my job. Giving them this knowledge takes away all argument when they stand before God. They won’t be able to say “No one told me!” which in many cases is sadly true. It’s sad when people never hear the Gospel and therefore don’t even get the chance to go to Heaven. And that is the biggest merit of all. Even if they refuse to listen, they have still been offered the greatest gift in the world, and to not tell them is cruelty.
And that is what happens when we refuse to witness to people, we are being horribly cruel to a poor lost soul, and there’s a good chance God will use the same principle as with Ezekiel. It’ll be our fault that they went to Hell not even knowing the difference. Unnerving, isn’t it? I speak this against myself for I am not good at witnessing.
I got off track though. The prophets of the Old Testament were given the chance to hit a lot of people with what they had to say, giving much better coverage of the warnings. If I tell one person about Jesus I have helped one person. But if I can convey the message to a thousand at once, I have helped a thousand. True, it won’t be on an individual basis which is helpful and needed, but the overall effect is greater. From there individuals can get teaching and training and so on.
On the other hand, reaching one person who then reaches a million is awesome.
Jeremiah in
particular went after the shepherds of
It’s just so sad that they don’t listen most of the time.
We are guaranteed to have two more real, genuine prophets before the end of the age who will warn many. Revelation tells us this:
“3: And I will give power unto
my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore
days, clothed in sackcloth.
4: These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing
before the God of the earth.
5: And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth
out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and
if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.
6: These have power to shut heaven, that it
rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them
to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will.
7: And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against
them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
Revelation 11:3-7 KJV
These two men will do some mighty things in the days to come. Most believe that they will be Elijah and Moses; some add Enoch as a dark horse. I’ve seen arguments that they will be otherwise regular men with the spirits of Elijah and Moses, which actually has some weight to it. Jesus said that Elijah had come in Matthew 17; the disciples realized it was John the Baptist that He spoke about, so it doesn’t have to be the return of dead people. Either way, these two will force many to be accountable for their sin with full knowledge of it.
Will you
help with the cause? Sinners need to be
told. Teachers of bad doctrine need to
be warned. This is why I’m crazy enough
to say things like “Woe to the pre-trib teachers” on the internet where anyone
can see it. We have a cause and it is
worth dying for.