Transcript The Prophets © John Stevenson, 2014 Pentateuch Historical Books Poetic Books Prophetic Books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,

The Prophets
© John Stevenson, 2014
Pentateuch
Historical
Books
Poetic
Books
Prophetic
Books
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1-2
Samuel, 1-2 Kings, 1-2 Chronicles,
Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
Job, Psalms, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations,
Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel,
Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah,
Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
1500 - 1000
Period of the Exodus Judges
and
Patriarchs
1000 - 500
Kings of Israel
and Judah
Sinai
Torah
Historical Books
Poetic Books
Prophetic
Books
Return
2000 - 1500
What is a Prophet?
• They functioned as Preachers
• They functioned as Predictors
• Prophet versus Priest
Jeremiah 18:1-3
The word which
came to Jeremiah from
the LORD saying, 2 “Arise
and go down to the
potter’s house, and there I
shall announce My words
to you.”
3 Then I went down to
the potter's house, and
there he was, making
something on the wheel.
Jeremiah 18:4
But the vessel that he was making
of clay was spoiled in the hand of the
potter; so he remade it into another
vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.
Jeremiah 18:5-6
Then the word of the LORD came
to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of
Israel, deal with you as this potter
does?” declares the LORD. “Behold,
like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are
you in My hand, O house of Israel.”
Jeremiah 18:7-8
At one moment I might speak
concerning a nation or concerning a
kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to
destroy it; 8 if that nation against which I
have spoken turns from its evil, I will
relent concerning the calamity I planned
to bring on it.
Jeremiah 18:9-10
Or at another moment I might
speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10
if it does evil in My sight by not obeying
My voice, then I will think better of the
good with which I had promised to bless
it.
Prediction
Contingency Fulfillment
If I speak
concerning
a nation to
destroy it
If they turn
from their
evil
I will relent
of the
calamity
If I speak
concerning
a nation to
plant it
If they do
evil and do
not obey
I will think
better of
the good
• 2 Samuel 12:22. “…for I said, ‘Who
knows, the LORD may be gracious to me,
that the child may live.’”
• Jonah 3:9. “Who knows, God may turn
and relent and withdraw His burning anger
so that we will not perish.”
• Joel 2:14. Who knows whether He will
not turn and relent and leave a blessing
behind Him
• Conditional Predictions: “If… then”
clauses
• Unqualified Predictions
• Confirmed Predictions
• Sworn Predictions
“Come now, and let us reason together,”
Says the LORD,
“Though your sins are as scarlet,
They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They will be like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
“If you consent and obey,
You will eat the best of the land;
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
You will be devoured by the sword.”
Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
(Isaiah 1:18-20).
Then Jonah began to
go through the city one
day’s walk; and he
cried out and said, “Yet
forty days and Nineveh
will be overthrown.”
(Jonah 3:4).
Then the LORD
answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it
may run.” (Habakkuk 2:2).
“For the vision is yet for the appointed
time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not
fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.
(Habakkuk 2:3).
“Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of
the earth;
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by Myself,
The word has gone forth from My mouth in
righteousness
And will not turn back,
That to Me every knee will bow, every
tongue will swear allegiance.” (Isaiah
45:22-23).
The Old Testament Gospel
The Bible
Isaiah
Old Testament: 39 Books
New Testament: 27 Books
Judgment: 39 Chapters
Comfort: 27 Chapters
Total Books:
Total:
66 Books
66 Chapters
Chapters 1-35
Judgments in the
Present
Chapters 36-39 Chapters 40-66
Historical
Interlude
Glory in the
Future
The Judgment of God
The Comfort of
God
Messiah the Judge
Messiah the
Servant
God’s Government
God’s Grace
A throne (6:1)
A lamb (53:6)
The World of Isaiah’s Day
Northern Kingdom Ends !
740
Uzziah
Jotham
735
716
Ahaz
697
Hezekiah
687
Manassah
Ministry of Isaiah
Amos
Ministry of Micah
Ministry of Hosea
Nahum
Isaiah 1
A Microcosm of the Entire Book of
Isaiah
Isaiah 1:1
Listen, O
heavens, and
hear, O earth
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God
created the heavens
and the earth
Deuteronomy 32:1
Give ear, O heavens, and let
me speak; and let the earth
hear the words of my mouth
Isaiah 1:2-3
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth;
For the LORD speaks,
“Sons I have reared and brought up,
But they have revolted against Me.
3 An ox knows its owner,
And a donkey its master's manger,
But Israel does not know,
My people do not understand.”
2
Isaiah 1:4
Alas, sinful nation,
People weighed down with iniquity,
Literally “Seed
Offspring of evildoers,
of Evil Ones.”
Sons who act corruptly!
They have abandoned the Lord,
They have despised the Holy One of
Israel,
They have turned away from Him.
Isaiah 1:10
Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the instruction of our God,
You people of Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1:11
"What are your multiplied sacrifices to
Me?” says the LORD.
"I have had enough of burnt offerings
of rams,
And the fat of fed cattle.
And I take no pleasure in the blood of
bulls, lambs, or goats.
Isaiah 1:21
How the faithful city has become a
harlot,
She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
Isaiah 1:26-27
Then I will restore your judges as
at the first,
And your counselors as at the
beginning;
After that you will be called the city
of righteousness, A faithful city."
27 Zion will be redeemed with justice
And her repentant ones with
righteousness.
26
Isaiah 6:1
In the year of King Uzziah’s
death, I saw the Lord sitting on a
throne, lofty and exalted, with the
train of His robe filling the temple.
Isaiah 6:2-4
Seraphim stood above Him, each
having six wings; with two he covered
his face, and with two he covered his
feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one
called out to another and said, “Holy,
Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The
whole earth is full of His glory.” 4 And
the foundations of the thresholds
trembled at the voice of him who called
out, while the temple was filling with
smoke.
Isaiah 6:5
Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am
ruined! Because I am a man of unclean
lips, And I live among a people of
unclean lips; For my eyes have seen
the King, the LORD of hosts.”
Isaiah 6:6-7
Then one of the seraphim flew to
me, with a burning coal in his hand
which he had taken from the altar with
tongs. 7 And he touched my mouth
with it and said, “Behold, this has
touched your lips; and your iniquity is
taken away, and your sin is forgiven.”
Child Motif
• Shear-jashub (Isaiah 7:3)
• Immanu-el (Isaiah 7:14; 8:8)
• Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Isaiah
8:3)
• Isaiah’s children (Isaiah 8:18)
• The Royal Child (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Woes of Judgment against Judah (1-5)
A Son and A Song of Salvation (6-12)
Woes to the Nations.
Babylon (13:1 - 14:23).
Assyria (14:24-27).
Philistia (14:28-32).
Moab (15-16).
Damascus (17).
Cush (18).
Egypt and Cush (19-20).
Babylon (21:1-10).
Edom (21:11-12).
Arabia (21:13-17)
Jerusalem (22).
Tyre (23).
A warning (24).
A Song of Salvation (25-27)
Woes of Judgment (28-35)
Historical Interlude
Isaiah 36-39
Isaiah
1-35
Isaiah
36-37
Isaiah
38-39
Isaiah
40-66
Messages Invasion Hezekiah Messages
of the
faces
for Israel
for Israel
Assyrians death &
looking
under
Babylon
ahead
to
Assyrian
Babylon &
struggle
Persia
Historical Section
Prophecy
Prophecy
Judgment
Comfort
Isaiah 53
Jeremiah
The Weeping Prophet
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Saw the Northern
Saw the Southern
Kingdom of Israel
Kingdom of Judah
taken into Captivity at taken into Captivity at
the hands of Assyria the hands of Babylon
Foretold of the
Explained the reasons
judgments that would
for the judgments
come in the future
Judah was
experiencing
Looks primarily to the Looks primarily to the
future
present
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Bold and fearless
Gentle and
compassionate
Was married to a
Was commanded not
prophetess and had to take a wife or have
children with prophetic
any children
names
Pharaoh
Neco
 Carchemish
Babylon
Nebuchadnezza


Jerusalem
Josiah dies
at Megiddo
and is
replaced by
his son
Jehoahaz
 Megiddo
 Jerusalem
(Josiah)
Pharaoh
Neco
Call of Jeremiah (1)
Prophecies of Judah & Jerusalem (2-35)
Prior to the fall of Jerusalem (36-38)
Historical
The fall of Jerusalem (39)
Narrative
After the fall of Jerusalem (40-45)
Prophecies of other nations (46-51)
Fall of Jerusalem (52)
Jeremiah 31:31-32
“Behold,
days
are
coming,”
declares the LORD, “when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah, 32 not like
the covenant which I made with their
fathers in the day I took them by the
hand to bring them out of the land of
Egypt, My covenant which they broke,
although I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 31:33
“But this is the covenant which I
will make with the house of Israel after
those days," declares the LORD, “I will
put My law within them, and on their
heart I will write it; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people.
Jeremiah 31:34
And they shall not teach again,
each man his neighbor and each man
his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for
they shall all know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them,” declares
the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more.”
Old
Covenant
Jerusalem
Let us go up to
the house of the
Lord
New
Covenant
Church
Go unto all the
world and make
disciples of the
nations
Lamentations
The Song of Sorrow
Lamentations
Chapter 1 Chapter 2
3rd person plural
(“they”)
Each verse begins with
an acrostic
Chapter 3
Chapter 4 Chapter 5
1st person
1st person plural (“we”)
singular (“I”)
Each line
Each verse No acrostic
begins with begins with
an acrostic an acrostic
Writer addresses himself to his readers
Writer prays
to God
Lamentations 3:40-42
Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the LORD.
We lift up our heart and hands
Toward God in heaven;
We have transgressed and rebelled,
Thou hast not pardoned.
Lessons from Lamentations
• God is Sovereign over the affairs of
men
• Sin brings forth tragic consequences
• There is hope in the darkness
Ezekiel
The Prophet-Priest
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1 - 24
25 - 32
33 - 48
Oracles against
Judah
Oracles
against
Nations
Oracles of
Salvation
Ezekiel’s call (1-2)
Judgment (3-7)
Temple (8-11)
Judgment (12-14)
Pictures (15-19)
Judgment (20-23)
Pictures (24)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Amon
Moab
Edom
Philistia
Tyre
Sidon
Egypt
• Watchman
(33)
• Restoration
(34-37)
• Gog & Magog
(38-39)
• New Temple
(40-48)
620
610
600
Jehoahaz
580
Zedekiah
Obadiah?
Fall of
Nineveh
560
Babylonian Captivity
Jerusalem &
Temple
Destroyed
Jeremiah
Habakkuk
570
Jehoiachin
Josiah
Amos
Joel?
590
Daniel
Ezekiel
Ezekiel’s Chariot Vision
• Something like glowing metal in
the midst of the fire (1:4).
• Four living beings
• Wheels within wheels
1 Chronicles 28:18
...the altar of incense refined
gold by weight; and gold for the
model of the chariot, even the
cherubim, that spread out their
wings, and covered the ark of the
covenant of the LORD
Daniel 7:9
I kept looking Until thrones
were set up, and the Ancient of
Days took His seat; His vesture was
like white snow, and the hair of His
head like pure wool. His throne was
ablaze with flames, its wheels were
a burning fire
Meaning of the Vision
• God is the God over all life, whether wild
animals or domesticated animals or birds
of men
And each one had four faces. The first
• The
wheels
are
a picture
of the
face
was the
face
of a cherub,
themighty
second
face was the face of a man, the
power
of God.
third the face of a lion, and the fourth the
face of an eagle (Ezekiel 10:14).
The Glory of the Lord
• Ezekiel sees the glory of the
presence of the Lord within
His temple (8:4).
• The glory of God is seen at
the doorway to the temple
(9:3).
• It next leaves the doorway
and moves out to the Eastern
Gate (10:18)
The Glory of the Lord
• It moves completely out of the
city of Jerusalem: And the
glory of the LORD went up
from the midst of the city, and
stood over the mountain
which is east of the city
(Ezekiel 11:23).
Ezekiel’s Vision
A Temple within the City
John’s Revelation
The New Jerusalem
• Ezekiel is taken in this
vision to a very high
mountain (40:2)
• John is carried in the
Spirit to a great and high
mountain (21:10)
• A man uses a rod to
measure the
dimensions of the
temple (40:5-ff)
• An angel measures the
city with a rod (21:15-17)
• The entire temple area
is a perfect square
(42:15-20)
• The entire city is a
perfect cube (21:16)
Ezekiel’s Vision
A Temple within the City
John’s Revelation
The New Jerusalem
• The presence of the
• No need of sun or moon
glory of the Lord enters
because the Lord
the temple (43:3-4)
illumines His city (22:5)
• No foreigner is
admitted into the
temple (44:9)
• Nothing unclean and no
unbeliever is allowed into
the city (21:8, 27)
• A river of water flows
out of the temple
(47:1)
• A river of the water of life
comes from the throne of
God (22:1)
Ezekiel’s Vision
A Temple within the City
John’s Revelation
The New Jerusalem
• There are a total of 12
gates around the city
(48:30-34)
• There are 12 gates to the
city (21:21)
• The name of the city
shall be: “The Lord is
there” (48:35).
• The throne of God shall
be there (22:3)
Ezekiel 43:4-5
And the glory of the LORD
came into the house by the way of
the gate facing toward the east. 5 And
the Spirit lifted me up and brought me
into the inner court; and behold, the
glory of the LORD filled the house.
Daniel
Statesman-Prophet
1:1
8:1
Written in the Third Person
Written in the First
Person
Seven Historical
Narratives
Four Prophetic
Visions
Written in
Aramaic
Written in Hebrew
Hebrew
Prophetic
Prophetic History
Prologue History relating
relating to the Jews
to the Gentiles
Dream of the image of the four kingdoms (2)
Rescue of Daniel’s friends from the fiery
furnace (3)
Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the tree
Daniel’s interpretation
Nebuchadnezzar’s humiliation (4)
Belshazzar’s feast and handwriting on wall
Daniel’s interpretation
Belshazzar’s death (5)
Rescue of Daniel from the lion’s den (6)
Night vision of four beasts (7)
Daniel 2
Vision of a great
statue
Meaning
Kings &
Kingdoms
Head of fine gold Babylon
Breast & arms of Medes &
silver
Persia
Belly & thighs of
Greek
bronze
Empire
Legs of iron & Antiochus?
clay; ten toes
Rome?
Daniel 7
Vision of beasts
from the sea
Lion with wings
Bear with three
ribs in its teeth
Leopard with 4
wings & 4 heads
Beast with iron
teeth & ten horns
Daniel 2
Meaning
Daniel 7
All previous
Coming of Ancient of Days
kingdoms
the Lord
takes his seat
destroyed by the and His
and passes
stone cut without Kingdom
judgment
hands
A new kingdom
His kingdom will
that will never be
be an everlasting
destroyed (2:44)
kingdom (7:27)
Daniel 7
Daniel 8
Dream comes in the Vision given in the third
first year of Belshazzar
year of the reign of
king of Babylon
Belshazzar the king
Successive beasts rise A ram standing by a
up out of the ocean
canal is attacked by a
goat coming from the
• Babylon
west
• Medes & Persia
• Medes & Persia
• Greece
• Greece
• Other Kingdom
Large horn broken;
Terrible beast has ten
gives way to ten horns
horns
Daniel 7
Out comes a small
horn that…
Pulls up three previous
horns
Utters great boasts
Alterations in times and
law
Wages war against
saints and wins against
them
Daniel 8
Out comes a small
horn that…
Grows exceedingly
Magnifies itself against
heaven
Removes regular
sacrifice & throws
down the temple
Flings truth to the
ground
Daniel 7
Daniel 8
Endures for 2300
Saints are given into
his hand for a time, mornings and evenings
times, and half a time
Then the holy place will
Then sovereignty,
be properly restored
dominion, and
greatness are given to
the saints of the Most
High
• Alexander
the Great
• “To the
strongest”
Antiochus Epiphanes
• Comes on the heels of Alexander’s
generals
• Magnifies itself against the Jews and
against their God
• He puts a stop to the sacrificial system
and makes alterations to the Law
• He attempts to overturn the truth of the
Scriptures
• He has power over the nation of Israel
Antiochus Epiphanes
• His sway over the Temple endures for
approximately 3 and a half years (2300
mornings and evenings).
• Then the holy place is ultimately properly
restored
Daniel 11:31
And forces from him will arise,
desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do
away with the regular sacrifice. And they
will set up the abomination of desolation.
Daniel 12:1
Now at that time Michael, the great
prince who stands guard over the sons
of your people, will arise. And there will
be a time of distress such as never
occurred since there was a nation until
that time; and at that time your people,
everyone who is found written in the
book, will be rescued.
Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the
dust of the ground will awake, these to
everlasting life, but the others to
disgrace and everlasting contempt.
“A time of distress…”
• Abomination of Desolation brought
by Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 B.C.
• Destruction of the Temple brought by
Titus in A.D. 70
• The Final Judgment
Daniel 12:4
But as for you, Daniel, conceal
these words and seal up the book until
the end of time; many will go back and
forth, and knowledge will increase.