Dr. William Wood shows how the Prophets awaken us to the seriousness of sin, point us to the grace of God in Christ, and direct our hope to the new heavens and the new earth. In doing so, they help us remain faithful even in seasons of hardship.
The following is a transcript of the video above.
What do the Prophets teach us about staying faithful?
The prophetic books are probably the most useful tools in an age of hardship, struggles and faithlessness to maintain fidelity to the Lord. There are many things that we could say about that. I just want to mention three for you. First, the prophets picture for us in very vivid terms the atrocity or the sinfulness of sin. It’s tempting when we’re living in broader non-Christian cultures or cultures that have ideas that are standing against a Christian mentality of life and the world to have that inundate our own spiritual lives. And there’s a sense, as we read the prophets, that wakes us out of our spiritual lethargy and causes us to see the atrocity and the sinfulness of sin. One of the biggest reasons people don’t want to read the prophets is that they’re so full of judgment, doom and gloom. That’s kind of the point, because they take you to recognize the nature of sin and its consequences in very vivid imagery. But they don’t leave you in the dark. They don’t leave you in the muck of misery. The prophets also present some of the most beautiful pictures of redemption and salvation in the entire Old Testament. After Isaiah deals with a judgment against Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin. In Isaiah chapters 1 through 39, what more comforting words are there than in Isaiah 41? Comfort, comfort, my people, says your God. He speaks tenderly to you through the prophetic word. He doesn’t just reveal to you the reality of sin and misery, but also its remedy in the grace and mercy of God that is found in Jesus Christ. As it does so, the prophets also give us a third thing, where they draw our attention regularly and programmatically to the hope of heaven as we live as sojourners and aliens in this world. In a time where we’re surrounded by all sorts of sin and atrocities, it’s easy to get discouraged. But for the Christian who reads the prophets, they are given the eyes of faith to look forward to the new heavens and the new earth where righteousness dwells, the age where God will wipe every tear of misery from your eyes and you will live in perfect union and communion with him forevermore.
