THE PROPHETIC WORD

For many Scripture readers, the “prophetic word” is about how God is going to punish this or another population for crimes they committed. It is very true that in the prophetic books of the Scriptures, the prophet is challenging the reader to consider the consequences of a particular behavior. To stop there, though, is to only get a small part of the message, the word that God wants us to hear.

The prophets did not simply challenge Israel then, nor even us today, to change their ways of doing but to change their way—our way—of being. The prophetic word is about how God called Israel and her Canaanite neighbors to seek a fraternal relationship with God. Humanity today is called by that same God into that same relationship through God’s Son, Jesus the Christ.

The prophetic word is about redemption, about restoration, about communion. Repentance is the path, but God’s desire for communion with His created self-image is at the core of the prophetic word.