2. The Prophets in general
If we now turn to the books of the prophets, we shall find a new type of Scripture. These spiritual giants were preëminently men of their own times, with a message for all times.
Before the first of the prophets now under consideration appeared, Israel had already passed through many centuries of deep and varied experience. First the Northern and then the Southern Kingdom became grossly idolatrous and wretchedly corrupt. Their ideals had degenerated into a mere cult, and their social institutions into a rigid system of oppression. Through dishonesty, oppression, and irreligion, the national life had so weakened that its destruction was imminent from inward decay and outward attack. Israel was clearly missing her destiny by forsaking God, oppressing the poor, and by trampling underfoot her most sacred ideals. She was inviting the judgments of God by truly meriting them.
Out of this deepening gloom, the lightning of God's wrath and the thunder of His purpose awakened certain sensitive souls to be prophets and seers in Israel. The realization of the nation's crime and danger transformed these prophets into the most fearless reformers the world had ever seen. As couriers with an important message from God, they went in hot haste to a rebellious and foolish people. Because of the real and immediate danger these preachers were exceedingly intense. To save the day, they strove valiantly. If they were to be successful in their mission, both vision and oratorical gift were necessary qualifications. Their keen knowledge of Israel's present made her future inevitable unless she repented of her sins. The prophets were not sent to proclaim any new religious truths in particular, but to be preachers and reformers of the highest order.
Now, how different all this is from what I used to think.
I once supposed that a prophecy was a pure miracle, a case in which God told the prophet, without any insight on the prophet's part, just what the future would be. It did not occur to me that the prophet had the slightest means of knowing the future which he predicted, except as God miraculously informed him. I also thought that God told the prophets what should be, so that, when it came to pass, it would prove the existence of God and the truth of revealed religion. To my understanding, prophecy was divine fortune-telling, designed to convince religious sceptics of a later day, rather than preaching, designed to save the sinners of that day. I did not realize that the predictions were concerning events inevitable, for the most part, to any one not blinded by sin or ignorance. Nor did I realize that most of their thrilling prophecies were made with the hope of bringing the people to repentance,—in which happy event the predictions would not come true.
A Hebrew prophet rarely used an if. That was understood. He always hoped that his predictions of evil would not come true, because of the emphatic manner in which he declared they would. All orientals understood this, and it would greatly enhance the worth of Scriptures if we understood it equally well.
Too often, however, the evil prophecies did come to pass, because sinful Israel refused to hear. And for the same reason predictions of good often failed. Like true preachers and reformers, the prophets dealt largely in warnings and encouragements; hoping, thereby, to lead the people back to Him who loved them with an ever-lasting love.
"Do you think this war is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy?" Yes, this war and every other war is a fulfillment of Bible prophecies. Any prophecy that is true to fundamental principles, and true to human nature, goes right on being fulfilled over and over again. The dark prophecies recorded in the Scriptures will never cease being fulfilled until men no longer sin against God and one another. And when men cease sinning against God and their neighbors, the Bible prophecies of good will be repeatedly fulfilled throughout all the expanding growth of society. But the fanatical uses made of Bible prophecy in our day, by some well-meaning people, are enough to make angels weep.
The great prophets had their hearts wide open toward the God they adored, toward the nation they loved, and toward the times they feared. They were tremendously inspired of God, and regarded their lives of no account if only they could bring Israel back to God and save her from her enemies without, and her foes within. They were statesmen, seers, and lovers of God and men. Their souls burned with an unquenchable fire. They were the greatest preachers that the world has ever seen. To learn the historical setting is to enhance the value of their sermons many fold. And to study the prophet's method of impressing truth upon the oriental mind is a marvelous lesson in the art of persuasion. In their effort to save Israel, the prophets partly succeeded and partly failed. But their messages will live forever, and in this they succeeded beyond all precedent. They were firebrands to punish sin, and torches to enlighten the world.