Prophets & Prophecy in the Bible: Their Purpose, Proclamation & Promises

What do you picture when you hear the word “prophet”? Do you imagine someone forecasting the future using the formula: “The Lord says …”? Do you think of figures like Martin Luther King Jr. giving his “I Have a Dream” speech and working toward racial equality? Or perhaps you only picture ancient prophets whose prophecies were fulfilled long ago and have since faded in our modern age?

How can one title stir up so many different images?

Prophets are associated with hearing the Lord’s word for the future, speaking into situations of injustice, and calling for change. As we better understand who the prophets were, the prophecies they gave, the role of prophecy in the Old and New Testament, and the value of a biblical theology of prophecy, we will better recognize what prophets and prophecy mean for us today.

Who were prophets?

First, let’s consider who the prophets were, their role within society, their calling by God, and the future elements of their messages.

1. A prophet’s role in society

In the ancient world, prophets served an important social role, whether we are describing the prophets of Israel or those of the pagan nations. It was believed that the gods/God spoke through prophets to give messages to the king and the people.

At times, prophets served an official role in the king’s court. Among the biblical prophets, we can see the unique relationship between kings and prophets in examples like Nathan to King David (2 Sam 7, 12), Elijah to King Ahab (1 Kgs 17–19), and Isaiah to King Ahaz and King Hezekiah (Isa 7, 38). Prophets were located in a unique space because unlike all other people who were below the king in society, prophets had the role of speaking from God to the king, putting them in a position alongside—and in some cases over—the king, whether the king liked that truth or not. While this was part of the official role of the prophet, it did mean that sometimes an angry king would injure or even kill a prophet. Accordingly, prophets in these formal roles often had a plan for prophetic succession (e.g., Elijah to Elisha).

In other cases, the prophets served in an unofficial capacity, working other professions. These included, for instance, Amos, Ezekiel, and John the Baptist. In such cases, the prophet was called directly by God from other kinds of work (e.g., Amos was a shepherd and arborist, Ezekiel was likely a priest). While John the Baptist spoke against the king as official prophets did, he lost his life because of it (Matt 14:1–12; Mark 6:14–27; Luke 9:9). Amos almost died in his encounter with the priest Amaziah (Amos 7).

Some prophets wrote biblical books (e.g., Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah). Others did not write books of prophecy themselves, but are described by others in biblical books, such as Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, and Elisha. The earliest biblical prophet, Moses, sits in the middle of these two categories. While Moses did not write an entire prophetic book that bears his name, he did write extensively, including writing down God’s messages in Exodus and Numbers, speaking or writing an extended speech and some poetry in Deuteronomy, and even composing a psalm (i.e., Ps 90).

These Old Testament prophets help to point to the New Testament prophets. John the Baptist is a prophet compared to Elijah (Luke 1:16–17) and Jesus is compared to Moses (Acts 3:17–23). Neither Jesus nor John wrote books themselves, but the Gospel authors wrote about them and their prophetic words and actions. Recently, scholars have explored the way that the Apostle Paul also seems to be represented as a prophet for three reasons: his visionary experiences, his use of Old Testament prophetic language and imagery to describe his mission, and his work in prophetic discernment in the early church, particularly at the Church of Corinth. Revelation represents another written prophetic book that is named for what it is rather than the author (“the revelation”). In Revelation, John at Patmos wrote down his visions and the words he received from God.

In the ancient world, the prophet’s role was distinct from the priest’s. Both prophets and priests acted as mediators between the people and God (and the king and God). Yet prophets uniquely received God’s word to share with the king and the people, and they also shared the people’s and king’s requests to God. In comparison, the priests performed the necessary ritual steps to draw the people and king back to God. The roles of prophets and priests had related purposes. Through the prophet’s message from God, the people and king were encouraged to return to God and stop their acts of injustice, pursuing righteousness. This would allow the people to come before God via the priests to perform the rituals in an effective way leading to true worship. This is why false priests and prophets are often found condemned together in the Bible because both of their roles were essential to having a good relationship with God and maintaining justice in society.

2. A prophet’s calling by God

Biblical prophets were not self-appointed. They were explicitly called by God, as we see with Amos (Amos 7:14–15), Jeremiah (Jer 1:4–5), and Isaiah (Isa 6). We sometimes hear their reluctance about God calling them. Isaiah declares that he is a man with unclean lips (Isa 6:5), but accepts God’s call after he is cleansed (Isa 6:5–8). Jeremiah is worried he is too young, yet eventually becomes God’s prophet (Jer 1:6–9). Both Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s mouths are touched by God so that they can speak his words to the people.

The prophets were called by God to champion obedience to the covenant and warn against disobedience. The goal of the prophet was to share God’s words, calling the king and people to return to their commitment to worship God and no other gods and to love their neighbor. The prophets have a combination of hopeful promises and fearsome words of judgment, because God wants the people to know the consequences of failing to return to him. Yet this shows part of the character of God. He refuses to judge the people without first warning them (Amos 3:7) and is constantly using the prophets to remind the people of who they truly are.

The two key callings of the prophets come from the dual commands that are at the heart of the law: Love God and love your neighbor. These dual commands are reflected in the ten commandments (Exod 20). Jesus refers to these as the greatest commandments on which every other hangs (Matt 22:37–40). The prophets frequently point to the connection between worship and justice. They call the people to return to the true worship of God and care for their neighbors (e.g., Isa 58; Mic 6:8; cf. Jesus’s call to the Pharisees in Matt 23).

Besides calling the king and people back to God’s covenant, the prophets explain why things are happening the way that they are. In times of prosperity, prophets explain how God has helped the people. In times of suffering, prophets offer God’s words about the reasons for their suffering and his desire to transform it. In both cases, prophets point to God’s sovereignty amidst whatever circumstances the people are in: God has the power to bring blessings and to lift people out of their suffering.

God empowers prophets by his Spirit to do their prophetic work. Luke 4 offers a helpful picture of how this resonates from the time of Isaiah to the time of Jesus. In Luke 4:14–30, Jesus reads Isaiah 61 in the temple. Isaiah 61 describes God’s Spirit’s empowering the prophet “to proclaim good news to the poor … to proclaim freedom for the prisoners … recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19). Each of these proclamations and actions focuses on different groups who were marginalized in Jesus’s time: the poor, prisoners, the blind, the oppressed. Jesus says that “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Through the power of God’s Spirit, Jesus will do the work that the prophets of Isaiah’s time hoped for. Yet that very work creates tension between Jesus and the leaders of his time. Besides the Spirit’s empowerment of the prophet, the Holy Spirit also is key to discerning whether prophecy is true or not, as we will see below.

3. A prophet’s future visions and promises

Besides receiving direct words from God, prophets also were at times given visions of the future. While our tendency is to think that the Old Testament prophets were talking about the distant future, it was far more common for these visions to concern the imminent “future.” The goals of these visions, like the prophet’s descriptions of God’s potential blessings or judgment, were to encourage the people toward present change. Biblical scholars often describe this as forthtelling, as opposed to foretelling. Prophets were not first and foremost sharing visions and words about a time that the people would never see (foretelling), but instead were speaking forth about changes to their specific current situation (or a situation that was soon to come).

Prophets were not first and foremost sharing visions and words about a time that the people would never see.

Yet this did not limit the prophet’s messages to only his time. It was common in Jewish thought that what God did once, God would do again and even more. Because of this, earlier prophecy was read again and again into new situations, sometimes generations later. For example, Ezekiel 34 speaks of wicked shepherds, a title for leaders of his time, and of God as the shepherd who will undo their treacherous actions (Ezek 34). Ezekiel’s imagery addresses the specific issues that caused the Babylonian exile and how God will respond. Zechariah 11 builds on Ezekiel 34’s shepherd imagery to describe a foolish and wicked shepherd who will not tend to God’s sheep. Zechariah is describing the leaders of his time after the return from exile and their future judgment.

John 10’s description of Jesus as the Good Shepherd uses language from Ezekiel 34 and Zechariah 11. Jesus equates himself with the God of Ezekiel 34 who acts against the wicked shepherds and protects his sheep. John 10 uses Zechariah 11 when speaking of the violent actions of the shepherds. Using Ezekiel and Zechariah, John shows how the original messages of these prophets speak not only to their own time and situations, but they become a way of understanding who Jesus is centuries later. This is a helpful way to think about what “fulfillment” means: The original prophecy had meaning in its time and is then filled up to fullness in later uses.

The combination of how prophets push toward social change and their experiences of future visions is why today we may have two or more very different pictures of who prophets are. When we point to Martin Luther King Jr. as a prophet, we are pointing to the prophetic work of social justice, just as the prophets called the people back to God’s covenant. When we point to modern prophets who hear God’s word and see visions, we are pointing to the future aspect of a prophet’s work.

What was prophecy?

There were many types of prophecy in the ancient world. We see prophecy throughout the Old and New Testament, but also in the cultures surrounding them. Prophecy also includes prophetic actions like sign-acts and has overlap with a related genre called apocalypse. Judging between true and false prophecy was essential. Thankfully, the Bible offered guidelines for how to do this.

1. Types of prophecy

Prophecy was common in the ancient world, just as prophets were. We have evidence of this throughout the ancient Near East and in Greco-Roman cultures. For example, the Egyptian prophecy of Neferti legitimated the king, and we have numerous records of seers who received divine revelation. Prophecy is also found in Old Akkadian, Old Babylonian, and Neo-Assyrian languages with examples like the Mari letters and Nineveh oracles to King Esarhaddon. Such prophecy points to comparisons between these ancient Near Eastern prophesies and Old Testament prophecy. The Greco-Roman social context surrounding the New Testament also included prophecy such as Delphic and Didymean oracles. While these prophesies are notably different than the prophecy found in the New Testament, they also show some striking similarities. Studying these prophecies in neighboring regions and cultures helps us discern what types of prophecy were common in the ancient world.

Biblical prophecy is of many types and purposes. As noted above, prophets often experienced visions and dreams. These visions may include elements of their past, present, and future situations. Frequently, imagery of past events such as creation in Genesis 1–2, or the exodus or wilderness wanderings in Exodus and Numbers, provide the foundations to speak about future warning or hope. For example, Ezekiel 37’s vision of God breathing life back into dry bones is based on God’s breath of life when forming human beings in Genesis 2:7. For Ezekiel, this vision offers a future hope that God’s people will be restored after their horrible experiences in Babylonian exile.

At times, these visions include heavenly encounters such as the angelic messengers in Zechariah and Revelation, and may include a theophany scene. Theophany, coming from the Greek θεός (theos; “God”) and φαίνειν (phainein; “to appear, show”), are times when God appears in front of someone. Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1, and Revelation 4 are examples of these prophetic moments, each revealing who God is, what God wants to do, and how the prophet should participate in God’s work.

Oracles are common to prophecy. An oracle is direct communication from God to a prophet in order to share God’s word with others. In the Bible, oracles may have titles like “a word from the Lord” or may be described with “the Lord says.” These oracles come in a wide variety of types. Scholars at times divide oracles into three types:

1. oracles of salvation,
2. judgment, and
3. repentance.

These in turn have subdivisions, such as oracles of personal vs. communal repentance. Oracles can also be organized by their literary genre. In the Minor Prophets alone we see poetic oracles (e.g., Joel), oracles against the nations (e.g., Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah, Zechariah), and woe oracles (e.g., Habakkuk).

Some prophecy includes narration. This can include elements of biography, such as Isaiah and his children or Hosea and his family. Prophetic narrative can describe interactions between the prophet with God, the king, and the people. Some prophecy includes extensive narrative (such as Isaiah and Jonah), while other prophecy contains very little narrative (such as Joel and Obadiah).

2. More than words: prophetic actions and prophetic genre

Prophecy is about more than words and visions. It can also describe and explain prophetic actions. For example, sign-acts are actions that demonstrate God’s message. These physical enactments place the prophet in the role of the people (or of God) in a given message. Ezekiel’s notable sign-acts include creating a model of the siege of Jerusalem (Ezek 4:1–3), laying on his right and left sides for a number of days to indicate the duration of judgment (Ezek 4:4–8), ingesting small amounts of water and bread to mirror Jerusalem’s famine (Ezek 4:9–17), and cutting his beard and hair with a sword and burning the hair to represent attacks on Israel by sword and fire (Ezek 5:1–4). Jesus’s prophetic actions at times align with a specific message, such as withering a fig tree to demonstrate the power of prayer (Matt 21:18–22). John’s Gospel describes Jesus’s actions such as turning water into wine in John 2 as “signs,” similar to Ezekiel’s sign-acts.

Prophecy’s unique blend of poetry and prose also sets it apart as literature. For example, the poetry of Hosea 2 is surrounded by narration in Hosea 1 and 3, and Isaiah’s prophecy shifts from narrative sections to poetic prophecy (e.g., Isa 39–40). In the New Testament, narration about Jesus’s prophecy and prophetic actions are placed alongside Jesus’s prophetic poetry and parables, as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7 and in many of the parables of the kingdom throughout the Gospels.

The form of prophecy develops across time and shifts into another genre similar to prophecy that is called apocalyptic. Scholars chart the development from biblical prophetic literature through to the exilic period into the early developments of proto-apocalyptic literature in the post-exilic period (e.g., Zechariah, Joel), and finally into the full development of the apocalyptic in the time leading up to Jesus. Apocalyptic literature has characteristics that overlap with prophecy, such as heavenly encounters, theophanies, visions and dreams, vivid imagery, and all with theological purpose. Apocalypticism distinguishes itself by:

• being a planned work with numbers having specific meanings,
• dualism such as temporal dualism (the age to come vs. this present age), spatial dualism (above vs. below, heavens vs. the earth), ethical dualism (good vs. evil),
• fantastical imagery (e.g., multi-horned beasts),
• frequently an anonymous author in the broader ancient world (not in Revelation where John at Patmos is the stated author),
• sealed up for a future time to be revealed (but in Revelation these seals are opened), and
• frequently used to address situations of theodicy (understanding justice amidst suffering).

In the New Testament, not only is Revelation an apocalyptic book, but the Gospels depict Jesus in ways that resonate with apocalyptic themes. Paul’s stories and theology show strong apocalyptic elements. Peter and Jude also include apocalyptic style and themes. While some try to clearly differentiate the apocalyptic from the prophetic, it is more helpful to see them on a continuum of development, where prophecy builds towards apocalypticism and remains essential throughout the New Testament.

3. True and false prophets and prophecy

Both the Old and New Testament distinguish between true and false prophets and the prophecy they give. False prophets can be found saying “peace, peace where there is no peace,” treating the deep wounds of sin lightly (Jer 6:14) in order to keep the king and people happy. In comparison, true prophets speak God’s word, even when it may endanger their own lives (Amos 7:10–17; Mic 2:6–11).

Prophecy was also judged by whether the prophet’s prediction, which he claimed was from God, came true and whether that message was consistent with what God had said and done before (Deut 18:21–22). This also indicates the timing of predictive prophecy was generally focused on the prophet’s own time, when the people could see whether the prediction actually came true.

The New Testament points to the problem of false prophets and priests. Jesus’s critiques of the priests and leaders echo many of the Old Testament prophet’s language and themes when differentiating true and false prophets (e.g., Jesus’s woes against the leaders in Matt 23). When speaking to the Church of Corinth, Paul encourages discernment around true and false prophecy with the standard of faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 12–14). First John 4 also encourages a similar discernment between false and true prophecy that is tested by whether they are proclaiming that Jesus came in the flesh and comes from God.

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What was the message of the prophets?

While prophets like Moses and Elijah appear in other parts of the Old Testament, the specific part of the Old Testament that we call “prophetic literature” is divided into two groups: Major and Minor Prophets. The Major Prophets include:

• Isaiah
• Jeremiah
• Ezekiel
• Daniel

The Minor Prophets are:

• Hosea
• Joel
• Amos
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Micah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Zephaniah
• Haggai
• Zechariah
• Malachi

We can organize the messages of these prophets in two ways:

1. Chronologically: how prophetic messages respond to their specific historical situations
2. Thematically: how prophetic messages are full of recurring theological themes

1. Prophetic messages considered chronologically

Approaching these prophetic messages chronologically helps us to better see how the specific historical circumstances directly informed these messages. When we organize prophetic messages chronologically, certain trends arise.

i. Pre-exilic prophets

Pre-exilic prophets of the eighth century BC, such as Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Zephaniah, were writing when the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Meanwhile, Assyrian power was growing and the threat of Assyrian attack was imminent. Both the leaders of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms aligned themselves with foreign nations to protect themselves, even as these two kingdoms fought each other. Alongside seeking the aid of foreign nations, Israel as a nation began worshipping foreign idols.

Thus, the prophetic messages of pre-exilic prophets

• focused on the nation of Israel’s idolatry, at times comparing it to adultery (e.g., Hosea),
• indicted Israel for seeking foreign aid instead of trusting God (e.g., Isaiah, Hosea),
• anticipated the Northern Kingdom’s destruction by Assyria due to their many sins (e.g., Amos, Zephaniah), and
• spoke of what true worship would look like instead (e.g., Micah).

ii. Exilic prophets

In the years that followed between the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the Assyrians did destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel, leaving the Southern Kingdom of Judah vulnerable. In the sixth century BC, the growing power of Babylon led to their conquest of Judah, destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and the capture of Jewish leaders and the elite into exile in Babylon.

The messages of exilic prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Habakkuk, and Obadiah focus on the pain, isolation, and the loss of the temple, as well as the identity connected with this. These prophetic messages

• ask questions about God’s justice in the face of this suffering, longing to understand why this happened (e.g., Habakkuk),
• provide stories of these prophets standing firm in the face of persecution (e.g., Jeremiah, Daniel) and speaking difficult truths to God’s people (e.g., Ezekiel),
• include oracles against the nations that call for justice via God’s judgment of those who have hurt Israel (e.g., Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Obadiah), and
• offer extended inspiring pictures of God’s comfort, restoration, and transformation, picturing a coming anointed one/Messiah (Isaiah), lands redeemed (Jer 32), the temple rebuilt (Ezek 41–48), life restored (Ezek 37), and the Spirit poured out on the people (Joel 2).

iii. Post-exilic prophets

Eventually the Babylonians were overtaken by the Persians. Unlike Babylon and Assyria, who conquered by extreme violence and took people into exile, the Persians allowed the conquered people to return to their homelands and have a modicum of self-governance and freedom to observe their own religion. Thus, the Israelite people were allowed to return from Babylon to their homeland. Yet not all of the promises of earlier prophets were fully realized yet.

The post-exilic prophets’ messages

• helped the people to adapt to this return (e.g., Haggai, Zechariah),
• gave explanations of how God would ultimately fulfill his previous promises (e.g., Haggai, Zechariah, Joel),
• called the people to rebuild the temple (e.g., Haggai),
• encouraged the people to repentance to avoid the judgment of previous generations (e.g., Joel, Jonah, Malachi), and
• offered a future hope that the nations would turn to God (e.g., Zech 2, 8).

iv. New Testament prophecy

By the time the Gospels begin, the Greeks have conquered the Persians and then the Romans conquered the Greeks. By Jesus’s time, Rome rules the nation of Israel.

The prophetic messages of the New Testament include

• John the Baptist and Jesus continuing to call for repentance while showing concern for the people under foreign rule,
• Paul, as a kind of apocalyptic prophet, speaking to the needs of the growing early church, and
• Revelation giving an apocalyptic prophetic message of hope to address the circumstances of a persecuted Christian community.

2. Prophetic messages considered thematically

Thinking thematically about these prophetic messages offers us insight into who God is, what he wants to do, and how the people should respond. Theological themes flow from the Old Testament prophets to the New Testament prophets.

i. Repentance and return

Both Old and New Testament prophets have calls for repentance and the people’s return to God. The prophets call the people to return to the heart of the law to love God and love each other, to care for the most vulnerable, and to care for the land. These messages emphasize the need for holiness and righteousness (right-related-ness) to reflect God’s holiness and righteousness.

• The Hebrew word שׁוב (“return”) is used extensively throughout Hosea to emphasize this message.
• Isaiah speaks of God as “the Holy One of Israel” calling the people to repentance and holiness.
• Ezekiel builds on the language of Leviticus. Ezekiel is made hard like a stone so that he can speak to hardhearted people, offering them a new heart and spirit from God.
• John the Baptist stands in the tradition of Old Testament prophets announcing the coming Messiah and calling for repentance.
• Luke emphasizes the role of the Spirit in cultivating holiness similar to Isaiah.

ii. Justice and societal change

As noted above, Old Testament prophets connected worship and justice (e.g., Isa 58; Mic 6).

This theme continues in the New Testament in Jesus’s combination of blessings and warnings (e.g., the woes in Matt 23, “what you do to the least of these you do to me” [Matt 25:40–45]). Worship and justice are also combined in the climatic vision in Revelation 21–22.

iii. Theodicy

As mentioned above, a key element to the prophets’ messages in the exilic period was responding to why God allowed the exile to happen. This is part of a larger question about why God allows suffering to happen in general.

• Exilic prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel address these questions, and their responses are foundational to Revelation.
• Revelation focuses on addressing theodicy as the Christian community experiences persecution through a vision of justice and ultimate restoration.

iv. New creation and new exodus

The foundational stories of creation and exodus become patterns for prophetic hope in the Old Testament.

• Isaiah builds on the exodus story to speak of a new exodus (e.g., Isa 40).
• Ezekiel uses the imagery of creation to speak of a new creation with the valley of dry bones (e.g., Ezek 37).

The New Testament builds on these Old Testament prophetic themes.

• Mark’s Gospel uses Isaiah to speak of a new exodus through Jesus.
• Paul’s letters are full of new creation language (e.g., 2 Cor 3:2–6:3; Gal 5:1–6:18).
• Revelation’s ultimate vision in Revelation 21–22 uses creation imagery to speak of the new creation through Christ’s second coming.

v. Kingship and kingdom

The theme of God as the Great King is central throughout the prophets of the Old and New Testament. The human king is intended to be dependent on God.

• Post-exilic prophets picture God’s lead as Great King (e.g., Isa 6, God as king; Dan 7, the Son of Man enthroned beside God’s throne; Zech 9, God as coming king and defender of his people).
• The New Testament builds on this theme through Jesus’s proclamations about the kingdom of God and his depiction of himself as king (e.g., John 12’s use of Zech 9).
• Revelation enters the throne room of God as king to worship him (e.g., Rev 4’s use of Isa 6).

vi. Day of the Lord

The Day of the Lord describes a time when God will act decisively with judgment and transformation. This theme emerges in Isaiah and throughout the Minor Prophets. The New Testament further develops this theme as part of anticipating Jesus’s second coming.

vii. God’s salvation to the whole world

One of the themes of biblical prophecy is how God will deal with the foreign nations.

• Biblical prophecy is built on the foundational stories of the Israelite people and their covenant with God. When God calls Abraham, he not only uniquely blesses the Israelite people as chosen ones, but intends to bless the nations through them (Gen 22:15–18).
• Yet as the nations inflict terrible wrongs against the Israelite people, prophets speak oracles against them. These oracles against the nations are common in pre-exilic and exilic prophetic literature (e.g., Amos 1 against Tyre and cities of Philistia; Joel 3 against Tyre, Sidon, Philistia, Egypt, and Edom; Obadiah against Edom, Nahum against Nineveh; Isa 13–23, Jer 46–51, and Ezek 25–32 against many nations).
• After the exile and Israel’s return to their land, hope for the nations’ repentance and turn towards God emerges (e.g., Zech 2:11; 8:20–23). The New Testament shares in this vision for the nations through Jesus as hope for the nations (Luke 2:22–39), Paul’s gentile mission, and Revelation’s vision of all nations worshipping God (Rev 7:9–12).

viii. Restoration and shalom

Throughout the prophetic messages, themes of restoration and the return to shalom (wholeness and peace) employ vivid imagery (e.g., Jeremiah’s redeemed land, Ezekiel’s transformed temple and new spirit/heart, Hosea 14’s plant imagery). The New Testament builds on these images to speak of ultimate restoration and return to shalom in Jesus’s first and second coming depicted in the Gospels and in Revelation.

What is a biblical theology of prophecy?

Biblical theology explores theological questions by starting with the Bible, tracing biblical themes across the Bible to reveal the character of God, his relationship to humans and his creation, what God wants to do in the world, and the responses of human beings and God’s creation to God. Our exploration of prophetic theological themes throughout the Old and New Testament is a start at cultivating a biblical theology of prophecy.

A biblical theology of prophecy shows how prophecy shapes our understanding of who the triune God is: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

• For example, Hosea uses imagery of God as Husband and Father to speak of God’s relationship with Israel. John’s Gospel uses this imagery of God as Father extensively. For instance, the Father shows his love for the world in sending his Son (John 3:16).
• Daniel 7 describes the Son of Man enthroned beside the Ancient of Days (a title for God). John’s Gospel uses Daniel’s language to speak of Jesus as the coming Son of Man (John 1:51).
• Luke 4 builds on Isaiah 61’s depiction of God’s Spirit empowering the prophet to speak of Jesus’s mission.

In this way, a biblical theology of prophecy traces who God was in Israel and the early church’s past, who God is in Israel and the early church’s present, and promises who God will be to them (and to us!)

As we discussed above, the prophets were commonly forthtelling messages about the near future to the people, yet these messages were considered equally prophetic for later generations. Prophets built on the prophecies of previous prophets within the Old Testament as well as from the Old to the New Testament. Tracing these stages of prophetic fulfillment via biblical theology allows us to see the consistent character of God and God’s continuing work from generation to generation. We can see this prophetic development in examples such as comparisons between the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 and depictions of Jesus in the Gospels as Messiah and as prophet, priest, and king, building on Old Testament prophecy.

Prophets built on the prophecies of previous prophets within the Old Testament as well as from the Old to the New Testament.

A biblical theology of prophecy helps us better understand how the role and purpose of the prophets are fulfilled (given additional fulness) in Jesus. While Moses experienced God’s presence in the burning bush (Exod 3) and the pillar of cloud and fire (Exod 13:17–22), Jesus is God’s presence with us! While prophets received God’s word to share with the people, Jesus is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The prophets knew who God was because of his messages to them and to the people. Jesus knew the Father because he and the Father are one (John 10:30; 17:21). Jesus is God and, when he makes God known, he is sharing directly from the triune God. A biblical theology reveals how these prophetic trajectories lead towards who Jesus is and what he does among God’s people.

A biblical theology of prophecy also allows us to see how the continuing work of prophecy informs what we think prophecy is and does. For example, Jesus’s discussion of the Holy Spirit’s continuing work after Jesus’s death in John’s Gospel (John 14–16) and Jesus’s anticipated second coming in Revelation indicate that not all biblical prophecies are already fulfilled. Revelation 21:4 uses the promise of Isaiah 25:8 that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death” to speak of an anticipated time when there will be no more “mourning or crying or pain.” We still await this promise with expectation when Jesus comes again. Revelation 22 builds on other parts of Old Testament prophecy to describe the fulfillment of all of the promises given to God’s people: return, restoration, new creation, the fullness of God’s presence with us, the elimination of poverty, suffering, wars, and death, and the hope of a bridal feast with the triune God.

Why does prophecy matter today?

The themes and theology of biblical prophecy continue to hold meaning for today. As we await the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments to be completely fulfilled, we can learn lessons about how God wants us to live in these times between Jesus’s first and second coming.

1. Worship and justice

Old and New Testament prophets encourage us to return to true worship. The prophets link this to the need for meaningful and just relationships with one another and the world around us in light of our relationship with God. Both worship and justice matter.

As the prophets demonstrate, revelation of the truth, even when it is hard to hear, leads to reconciliation with God and each other. This in turn leads to holiness and righteousness. When we embrace the truth of God’s prophetic messages, we allow God to cleanse us and set us apart for his purposes (holiness) as well as to empower us through his Spirit to live lives in right relation with him and those around us (righteousness).

This may look like cultivating a connection between the worship practices in our churches and our care for those most vulnerable around us. This may look like getting to know our neighbors and investing in their lives as part of our worship of God.

2. Theodicy

Biblical prophecy offers hope in the midst of suffering. In the same way that the Old Testament prophets spoke into the suffering of their times, and Revelation spoke to persecuted early Christians, today we need hope in a world filled with despair.

A biblical theology of prophecy helps us avoid overly idealistic perspectives that pretend the world is already fixed. But it also guards us from falling into pessimistic despair for what has not yet been fixed, as though there is nothing we can say or do. Instead, biblical prophets provide an already-not-yet hope: God is already at work to change things, but he isn’t done yet.

We can live this out in practice by caring for those who are suffering today. This can include visiting those who are sick, the elderly, and those struggling with other kinds of distress. We can also work toward changing the systems that lead to different forms of suffering in our world.

3. New creation and new exodus

The prophets remind us that, just as God created in Genesis and freed his people in Exodus, we live as new creations who have experienced a new exodus. Further, we live as part of God’s new creation with anticipation of the fullness of our transformation in the future.

We follow Paul’s encouragement (building on Isaiah) about what it means to be a new creation, embracing our freedom in Christ. Paul encouraged the Church of Corinth to be a community characterized by faith, hope, and love rather than greed, selfishness, and arrogance. Remembering our own new creation and new exodus can help us create churches shaped by these virtues.

4. Kingship and kingdom

A biblical theology of prophecy reminds us that we live as part of God’s upside-down kingdom during the Day of the Lord today! This vision points to the new way the Spirit was released that allows us to live Spirit-filled lives. In this kingdom, we find strength in weakness and hope in despair. We are encouraged to care for “the least of these” in our society.

5. Salvation for the whole world

Exploring a biblical theology of prophecy helps us remember God’s desire for his kingdom to be enacted throughout the entire world. God’s message from the start was to bless the nations. Prophecy in both the Old and New Testaments encourages a missional vision for the nations to be transformed through God’s love. Jesus as the Great Prophet models what this kind of love-in-action looks like, exemplifying what the kingdom looks like in mission.

6. Restoration and true shalom

Finally, understanding that we live in God’s already-not-yet kingdom helps us work toward restoration and true shalom, realizing that these goals can only be fully fulfilled in Jesus’s second coming. Yet we are still active participants in this restoration when we work to restore broken relationships today and seek wholeness (shalom) in our homes, neighborhoods, cities, and world.

Share your thoughts

How would you define prophecy and the role of the prophets in Scripture? Join us in the Word by Word group to share your thoughts.

Beth Stovell’s recommended resources for further study

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• The Olivet Discourse: Second Coming Prophecy or Prophetic Warning against Jerusalem?