The prophetic voice makes up a significant part of Scripture. There are 16 books in the Old Testament named after prophets (including the major prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel and the twelve minor prophets) and prophets feature in many of the historical books (Elijah and Elisha probably being the most well-known of these) as well as Moses being a prophet in the first five books of the Bible. In the New Testament we see prophets and read about the gift of prophecy. It’s clearly an important aspect of a life of faith, yet most of us struggle to engage with prophets and prophecy.
The prophetic voice is often uncomfortable, bringing us face to face with God, a God who does not bow to our wishes but who is passionate about holiness and justice, and uncompromising in His demands for people to be wholly devoted to Him. The prophetic voice is insistent about the majesty and power of God, relentless in calling us to repentance and whole-hearted service and uncompromising in waking us from complacency, ignorance and indifference to a life spent dedicated to God.
Prophets see life from God’s point of view. They live in a God-centred world. Most of us lack this ability, believing ourselves to be the centre of the universe and God to be a Father Christmas-like figure benevolently doling out sweeties (aka blessings) to us when we are good. The prophetic voice challenges this viewpoint, confronting us consistently and persistently with the God who IS.
Idolatry is the chief sin the prophets spoke out against. Idolatry means to put something or someone, some philosophy or ideology, before God. It means to rely on someone or something more than God. This is no irrelevant topic, though many feel because they do not worship statues that they have no idols.
In recent months when faced with ‘unprecedented’ situations, people have looked to governments and scientists to provide solutions to illness. They want human ingenuity and talent to provide answers. There is nothing wrong with using our skills to help people, but if we are trusting in people and their solutions (e.g. vaccines), we are not necessarily trusting in God. There is a danger when we put our full trust in anything other than God.
The prophetic voice was never popular. Even the religious authorities refused to listen. I believe we need the prophetic voice more than ever today, but it’s unlikely ever to ‘sync’ with the popular voice or the ‘mainstream’ view. The prophetic voice will always cut down the roots of sin (and self-reliance or reliance on others are at the heart of sin) and call us back to simple trust in God. That will always be a radical, unpopular solution, but this is at the heart of the prophetic voice.
