Religion in Daily Life

 © By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

Muslims use the word “prophet” when they say, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.” Likewise, millions of Christians use the word “prophet” every Sunday as they recite in the Nicene Creed that the Spirit of God “has spoken through the prophets.” Similarly, some Jewish people look upon Jesus of Nazareth as a human being who was a prophet. “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.” This was the way the crowds in his day viewed him (Matthew 21:11). Though I view Jesus as more than a prophet, we can benefit by seeing him in the line of the Hebrew prophets.

Beginning with Amos in 760 B.C., these prophets include Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. We are mistaken when we see the prophets as primarily foretellers of the future. Their chief function was to be God’s spokesmen to their contemporaries. They delivered God’s message about justice for their own day. What beliefs did Jesus inherit from the prophets? The prophets taught God’s personality. God is not an abstraction, but One who thinks and chooses. The prophets used the image of human personality to speak about God. The prophets taught that God is the One absolute Power. In creating free beings, however, God has willingly limited his power. God submits to his creatures’ misuse of their freedom (Isaiah 43:24-25). Furthermore, God has willed an orderliness to the natural world which he seldom violates (Psalm 148:5-6).

The prophets taught the holiness of God. God’s holiness means He is righteous, just, and expects human beings to act with justice (Micah 6:8). Furthermore, God is loving toward all his creatures (Wisdom 11:23f). The prophet Hosea saw his own unhappy love life as a means of insight into God’s unwavering love for humans. The prophets taught that God is the Creator. Though God is everywhere as the Spirit of life, there is no confusing God with his creation. God is above and distinct from all He has made. Because of this distinction, the prophets continually warn against making idols.

The prophets taught that God’s creatures are free. These prophets trace the source of evil in God’s good world to the lawlessness of rebel wills. Such wrongdoing brings consequences that the prophets portray in human terms as divine punishment. The prophets taught God’s ultimate victory. In the end and beyond the horizon of this world, God will see His plan come to completion as rebels are put down and God sees justice done to wronged persons. In this faith of the prophets, Jesus of Nazareth stood and spoke.