Mountain Movers

"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets." (Hebrews 11:32)

There are many prophets and prophetesses in the Bible with stories of their impacts upon the lives of the followers, and adversaries, of God. There are hundreds of prophets mentioned in the Bible. There are named and unnamed prophets. There are godly and false prophets. In order to fully understand the role of a prophet, let us look at the definition.

The word prophet in this context comes from the Greek word prophetes. The NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon defines a prophet as "one who, moved by the Spirit of God and hence his organ or spokesman, solemnly declares to men what he has received by inspiration, especially concerning future events, and in particular such as relate to the cause and kingdom of God and to human salvation." Prophets of God centered their teachings on what we will find in heaven when all is said and done. Furthermore, true prophets of God also boldly let others know about the consequences of not being obedient to God.

It is human nature that we always want to present a rosy picture to people. While there may be many positive things that happen in one's life, the reality is Satan is alive and well, attacks and, as a result, can deceive people many times.

Jeremiah was very up front with the false prophets of his day.

From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain; prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace,"they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when I punish them," says the Lord (Jeremiah 6:13-15)

Jeremiah delivered an unpopular message from God to the people. He had a life devoted to confronting people on their sin. No one supported him except for his secretary, Baruch. He delivered warnings and faced stiff opposition from those around him. On the other hand, the popular "prophets"just delivered their bogus niceties with a wink and nudge to the people. They didn't rock the boat and lived lives of comfort and complacency while the people suffered spiritual poverty.

Jeremiah is often referred to as the "weeping prophet." His message was not motivated by cynicism, ingratitude or frustration--on the contrary, it was "faith expressing itself through love"(Galatians 5:6) as he obediently communicated the heart of God to the people around him.

One could look at Jeremiah's life as being tragic. After all, he had no wife or children, was often rebuking and warning those around him, and was imprisoned and ultimately died without seeing reprieve for God's people. However, he also gave a message of hope to the people.

"For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."(Jeremiah 29:11-13)

For those that persevered, God's plans for their lives shone through. Those who took heed of Jeremiah's warnings found revival and restoration after the Babylonian captivity was over. And for Jeremiah, he lives happily ever after in heaven. Jeremiah knew that his message would be hard to swallow. But the book of Jeremiah is the second longest book in the Bible. He certainly impressed God as a prophet of faith.

Another prophet who greatly influenced those around him was Jonah. God chose Jonah to preach to Nineveh and warn them about their wickedness. However, in response Jonah ran away. God placed some challenges in his way that caused him to reflect on his life. He repented and obeyed God.

In ancient times, Nineveh was a seat of power and the largest city in the world. And one of the most wicked. It must have taken a lot of courage for Jonah to go alone to warn a city of hundreds of thousands of people that they were on the fast track to destruction because of their evil ways. Yet their response was surprising.

The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. (Jonah 3:5)

The entire city practiced lightning repentance. Even the king urgently pleaded with everyone to obey God. Jonah's message penetrated the hearts of 120,000 wicked people within a matter of weeks.

Total Nineveh was positively changed. Even Jesus mentioned in Luke 11 that the Ninevites would be up in heaven on Judgment Day. Mosul, Iraq is near the former geographic location of ancient Nineveh and while Middle Eastern countries may be dominated by Islamic influences and largely cut off from Western thought, Mosul has a large Christian population proclaiming their commitment to the Bible.

Jonah and Jeremiah are only two of the prophets who lived their lives by faith. To mention the feats of all the prophets would take up thousands of pages of writing. The responses that Jonah and Jeremiah received from those around them are polarized: everybody responded positively to Jonah and nobody responded to Jeremiah's message. Yet our faith is not based on what people think of our words and actions, but rather what God thinks of them.

In the next chapter, we will look at examples in the Bible where faith in action led to victory both in the lives of individuals involved and in the lives of the nations they led. The faithful claimed the promises of God through faith and God rewarded them abundantly.