Jesus, the Prophets, and the End of the World

An Introduction to Biblical Eschatology

Bucknell

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498223270
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The Old Testament prophets and their writings were hugely instrumental in the formation of the second temple eschatology, so an appreciation of the Old Testament prophetic literature greatly helps us in understanding the life and ministry of Jesus and the rationale of the early church. Israel's story of divine election lay at the core of their identity as a nation and people, constantly reinforced in the religious practices and rituals that made up their lives. That story, by the time of Jesus, was heavily influenced by the eschatological expectations created by the prophets. The people of Israel expected, looked for, and waited for God's intervention in their history and in their lives once again as he had intervened in the past.

Part One

the prophets

“From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention.”

—Jeremiah 7:25–26

Chapter One

an introduction to the prophets

“Something started God’s prophets to writing. By the time they had finished, they had produced a body of literature unparalleled in human history. Nothing before or since has equaled the corpus of literature produced by the prophets of Israel.”1

To many Christians the Old Testament prophetic books effectively remain a mystery. Without extensive study, the genre, form, style, chronology, and history of the prophets are all difficult. Study of these books in Bible colleges is often restricted to third year or even post-graduate level, or left as an optional “elective,” which means, in the end, that not many people actually get to do the study. It follows, consequently, that for far too many Christians the books are either “ploughed” through while following a Bible reading plan, effectively ignored, or read devotionally as sources of encouraging personal words from God.

This is a great shame as these books are a major key to understanding the biblical meta-narrative (big story), the biblical story as a whole. In fact it is not too much of an overstatement to say that without an understanding of the prophetic books and of the ministry and message of those who left such an incredible legacy, the New Testament, especially the gospels, cannot be properly understood.

The Old Testament prophets in large measure laid the theological foundations of the late Second Temple period, the historical setting for the ministry of Jesus and the early church. The messianic and eschatological expectations evident in the gospels, with all their associated concepts—the kingdom of God, the return of Jesus, the resurrection, etc.—cannot be properly understood if isolated from the background of the ministry and writings of the prophets. The life and message of Jesus himself cannot be fully appreciated and understood if seen apart from the preparatory work of the prophets. The book of Revelation likewise claims to follow in the tradition of the prophets and, indeed, to bring the prophetic message to its intended conclusion. So the prophetic books are also essential background to understanding the final book of the Bible. That’s why this book is presented in three sections focusing on the ministry of the Old Testament prophets, the person and work of Jesus, and the book of Revelation.

So, many Christians have little idea of the importance of the prophets and their message as the context for understanding all that follows them in the unfolding redemptive program of God. There is often, again, only a vague appreciation of how the prophets and their writings fit into the overall biblical picture. I hope that in the following pages we may be able to address these issues in some measure and to reveal something of the immensity of the wisdom, power, and love of God’s plan, as outlined by the prophets and unfolded in the rest of the Bible. I hope we can do something towards restoring the prophetic literature of the Bible, and the prophetic ministry so prominent there, to the important place it deserves as a key to the biblical story. The prophets have been God’s representatives in the world from ancient times, speaking his words and will into the creation and especially to his elect people.

Some points to start with: This is a book about the prophets and their message and how they relate to the New Testament. Our starting point is the prophetic literature found in the Old Testament. This is not a survey, however, of the Old Testament prophetic books, nor is it a critical discussion of those books. There are many very good commentaries, Old Testament surveys, and other Bible study aids which will help in these areas. We begin with the Old Testament prophetic material, but we examine it in the context of the larger biblical story. Only there can we fully appreciate the place the prophets played in God’s redemptive program and the true meaning and extent of the messages they brought to Israel and to the other nations.

A number of questions arise as we consider the prophets and their ministry. What was the message (or what were the messages) they brought to Israel? What did that message mean to the people of their own time? Is there any way in which that message, or any part of it, transcends their immediate context, and what does that message mean to us today? Do the words delivered to people in a totally different world three thousand years ago have any kind of meaning that reaches beyond their time to ours today? Is the historically specific message also in any way a historically transcendent message? Is there value for us today in studying these ancient writings and if so, what is it? This book is written to address those questions.

The biblical prophets

We will all have some kind of a concept of a prophet in mind, colored perhaps to some extent by a mixture of impressions from the likes of Elijah and John the Baptist—austere and reclusive men dressed in camel-hair coats, eating locusts with wild honey and delivering warnings of impending judgment and doom. The truth is much more varied than that, of course; the prophets were all kinds of often ordinary people called by God to an extraordinary task. Some were “professional” prophets while others were “lay” prophets—farmers, shepherds, priests—and a few women were among their number also. Some wrote books, some wrote histories of the times in which they lived, some left no written record. Some prophesied for a very short time (at least as far as we know of); others had ministries lasting forty years and more. Some prophesied exclusively in Israel and Judah, while others, like Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jonah, carried out their prophetic mandates in and to other nations. They were basically messengers, who heard from God in a number of ways (audibly, or through visions and dreams for example) and conveyed the messages they received to the people of their time. This was sometimes to individuals, sometimes to various groups, and sometimes to national leaders and even entire nations. They also presented the divine message in various ways, through prophetic speeches, sometimes in written form and sometimes through symbolic actions.

Prophets (and prophecy) were a lot more common in Israel than is generally realized. They were also widespread throughout th...

Table of contents

• Foreword
• Preface
• Introduction
• Glossary
• Part One: the prophets
• Part Two: Jesus
• Part Three: the end of the world