Our present purpose in calling attention to the study of the prophetical books of the Old Testament is to notice especially their importance in disclosing what is of great value in the personal and practical walk of the believer. We should see to it that the dispensational or doctrinal part of God’s Word does not supplant what is practical. He would never have one side of His truth displace another. Let us, then, look at a few of the truths in the prophets which are of a distinctly practical and personal importance.
The majesty and holiness of God
The prophet Isaiah enters upon his special service after having had such a view of God’s glory as brought him to his face in self-abhorrence (Isa. 6). Like Job, he had heard of Him by the hearing of the ear, but when his eye saw Him, he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. But our blessed God does not reveal Himself to dazzle or to smite, so we see grace mingling with the glory. It is only sin which makes us not at home in His presence, and the coal from off the altar speaks to us of a holiness which has found food there and does not burn but heals the sinner. This is a sweet type of that work (and the fragrance of the person of Him who did it) in which God’s holiness was so vindicated and manifested that it now comes forth to kiss away sin from defiled lips.
In Habakkuk 3 we have a most magnificent description of God’s majesty. "His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise . . . His brightness was as the light. . . He stood, and measured the earth . . . and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow" (verses 3-6). All His enemies are scattered, but though the believer is filled with awe, he says, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom … yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (verses 17,18). God seen and known in this way becomes an object of worship and reverence. Is there not a serious absence of that fear of God which is not only the beginning of knowledge, but the characteristic of His people at all times? The love which casteth out fear never casts out godly fear. Assurance and trembling go together as 1 Peter 1 and Philippians 2 would show us. Were God ever before our hearts in His holiness and majesty, self-pleasing could have no place, conscience would be active, and the path of obedience would be plain and not difficult to walk in. Nor would joy, liberty, and praise be wanting. And the flippancy, looseness of walk, hastiness of tongue would be gone. No flesh can glory in His presence. May we not say, "Lord, increase our fear," as well as "Lord, increase our faith"? Then we would go forth to the world with the message of grace, and our word would be with power.
The Tenderness of God
Perhaps we little realize the tone of tenderness which pervades the prophets. There is so much of holy indignation against sin, so many warnings of judgment, that we fail, perhaps, to notice the tender pleading that often accompanies the severest denunciations. Hosea speaks from God’s heart to that of His people. In chapter 2 after describing Israel’s unfaithfulness like that of a wife untrue to her husband, and the resulting judgments, God says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." What tenderness is manifested here! He cannot let the record of her sins go down without accompanying it with the promise of future blessing. Then, too, when there seems to be a desire to return to the Lord, but not full and deep, how His love pleads (Hosea 6:4)! In looking back over Ephraim’s past history_ "[I took] them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love . . . How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” (Hosea 11:3-8)_He cannot, so He will not, execute the fierceness of His wrath. He will roar as a lion, and His people shall follow Him, trembling indeed, but turning from Egypt and Assyria. Again, In Hosea 14, the very words of penitence are put in their lips, and God’s answer is given in anticipation:"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely" (verse 4).
Jeremiah, too, that dark book of judgment, has beneath the judgment the pleading of One who would have been a husband to Israel, and who now recalls the love of her espousals. Even now, in spite of public unfaithfulness, He pleads with her to return. The tears of the messenger mingle with the judgment pronounced in God’s name.
Ezekiel 16 has a most faithful portrayal of Israel’s history under the figure of the unfaithful wife. The history begins in her infancy, and as she grew up, she was adorned with His comeliness; but she turned it all to strangers. Faithfully is the dark picture drawn, but we know that every stroke gives pain to a love which is neither blind nor insensible. After all is laid bare, love triumphs over sin; and we are pointed on to a time when the poor wanderer will be brought back, nevermore to lift the head in pride, and nevermore to dishonor Him who has won her back. How good it is to apply this to one’s personal history, and to take that lowly place of self-loathing so befitting those with whom divine tenderness has dealt.
The Unveiling of Shams and Inconsistencies in God’s People
Haggai brings a message to us as he did to the returned Jews, when he says, "Consider your ways" (1:5). May we not in this book learn some of the reasons why spiritual prosperity is at a low ebb_each looking after his own house and letting that of the Lord lie in neglect? "All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s" (Phil. 2:21).
Isaiah 58 exposes the formality of a fast which is such only in name, and stirs up the conscience of any who have an ear to hear, pointing away from religiousness such as the Pharisee afterward boasted in, to the practical fruits of a real experience. The unveiling of all shams is one of the prominent characteristics of the prophets. Ecclesiastical assumption and pride, so common, are but a stench in God’s nostrils. Our place, like Daniel’s (chapter 9), is one of humiliation and confession, a real mourning and a real seeking of God’s face. He will hear.
The Spirit of Hope
Blacker pictures of earth’s destiny as they appear in the prophets could not be drawn by the most pessimistic modern writer. Nations pass across the scene to execute judgment on God’s people, or on another nation, only to feel the power of that arm, which had wielded them as His sword, in their own destruction. But in spite of slaughter, famine, and earthquake, never for a moment is lost the truth that God’s purpose is being fulfilled. It is always clear that He is above all convulsions of nations and nature and unfaithfulness of His people, and that after all the disorder peace will at last reign. Let us remember this in a day of ruin and reproach like the present, and stand firm.
The Fragrance of Christ
The person, humiliation, sorrow, death, and coming reign of Christ are put before us constantly in the prophets; had we eyes to see, doubtless we would find much more of Him there. It is by occupation with Christ that we grow like Him, and the spiritual exercise entailed in searching for and finding Him in these books is most beneficial.
We have only gleaned a few things from the prophetic books. What a field do they offer for prayerful research! They were written for a time of failure, and are, therefore, especially appropriate for the present. Written primarily for God’s earthly people, they contain principles for all time. Do we not need the spiritual exercise which would result from letting these books search and try us?
(From Help and Food, Volume 9.)