What Do the Old Testament Prophets Have To Do With Us Today?

Over the past several weeks I finished reading the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and am currently about one-third of the way through Jeremiah. These are beautiful books of the Old Testament and if you are a passionate reader of the Scriptures, you probably love reading these great works as much as I do. Maybe you have even been through Sunday school lessons on them and heard sermons preached on the texts. Personally, I have read each of these books several times in the course of my travels through scripture. But through the years as I have grown in my Bible studies, it has become clear that these writings are not just wonderful literary works, nor are they simply a history of the Jewish Nation. No, I believe with all my heart, that God not only sent these prophets to speak to the hearts of the Jews, He sent them to us with a message as well. Paul explains the real purpose of the Old Testament to us Christians in Romans 15:4, saying that, “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

The Old Testament was as much for our instruction, as are the scriptures of the New Testament. Listen carefully to what I am saying. No, Christians are not under the same covenant as Israel was in those days. We are not bound by the Mosaic Law in terms of a need to follow some rules to be saved. But honestly, a right understanding of the Old Testament will demonstrate the fact that no one is, was, or will ever be saved by the law. The only way to heaven and to God’s Kingdom, is through the saving blood of Jesus. I won’t take time to here to explain the specifics of how salvation by faith worked out for the Jews, I will leave that to your own Biblical study. The point I think needs to be grasped by the modern-day Christian, is that we are no different in what God is looking for when He calls us to be His.

What God wants from each and every person He elects to salvation, is their heart. Since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, man’s heart is naturally turned against God. When God sent the flood to cleanse the earth of its sinful condition, it was the heart of man that God spoke to.

Genesis 6:5
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Jeremiah tells us that truth about our hearts.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

That is us, people. Our hearts are so sick that we cannot even understand ourselves. This is what drives men to desperate acts. Our world, our nation, our cities, and even our families are filled with strife. Addictions, adultery, sexual attitudes that rebel against all of God’s Word, crime and violence consume our news today. Suicides, murders, violence against women and children are all just responses to the sickness of the human heart. Listen to the what God says to us in response to our sick hearts.

Jeremiah 17:10
 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

This must lead us to a personal response to the question, what does God see within my own heart? You see, the message we see in the OT prophets that is for us today, is important. Yes, we are saved by grace, it is only the blood shed at Calvary in which we have hope. But think about what is happening to God’s chosen people in the stories of the OT. God chooses them and makes a covenant that gives them many physical promises, yet in spite of the multitudes of miracles and provision He gives, their hearts continually move away from Him. They fall back to their idols.

I think the American Christian takes his blessings for granted. We live in such abundance that we think God has made a special deal with us and we can just sit back and thank Him on Thanksgiving Day, tell Jesus, “Happy Birthday” on Christmas, and put on a nice suit and go to church on Easter Sunday and then all is well.

Wake up America! Whatever semblance of a Christian nation our forefathers set up, has been systematically dismantled. In my life time alone, prayer has been removed from schools, abortion made legal, sex has been liberated from the bonds of marriage, and even gender is no longer accepted as God-given.

God has no covenant with America. Unlike Israel, we are NOT God’s chosen people. It’s time we opened up our Bibles and turned to the prophets to see what God had to say to them about their sin. If God would bring judgement as He did against His chosen people, then how much more might God consider bringing judgment to us?

The good news for the Jews is that God always leaves a remnant. The good news for us is that God sent Jesus and in Him we have an eternal hope if we confess Him as Lord and Savior. But the warning from the prophets to the Jews is the same warning to us as well. Repent from our sin and we will be blessed. Continue in your sin? Read your Bible. It won’t be good.

The only hope America has is in the remnant of true Christians that dwell here today. If we do not start standing for God and His Word, we are risking severe judgment. As spoiled as we are in this country, even the simple removal of our blessings will bring many to their knees.

What must we do? First of all, pray. We need to stop whining about our leaders and focus on praying for them. Secondly, we as God’s church, His elect, need to repent. Third, we must stand for God’s truth. We must speak out, in love, against sin. This means we must stop following along with the world. Revival starts in our own heart. As my pastor once said, draw a circle around yourself, and start there. Open your Bible and read it as if it is speaking directly to you. It is.

I leave you with a message from God’s Word. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal its truth to you personally.

1 Peter 4:17
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?