[Forty-Fourth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: A prophet is someone who speaks for God. In the Old Testament, God called many individuals to serve as His voice among the people of Israel. While we think of a prophet as someone who predicts the future, a prophet mostly preached to God’s people, calling them to repentance and bringing a word of comfort to them. Occasionally, a few prophets would see into the future and tell God’s people what God was going to do.
Just as God raised up prophets to speak His Word to Israel, so He now calls pastors to proclaim that same Word to His Church. The pastoral office doesn’t deal in visions or predictions, but in the faithful preaching of Christ crucified, the administering of His sacraments, and the shepherding of souls through Law and Gospel. Like the prophets, the pastor is sent—not to offer his own insights, but to speak what God has already spoken in his word. His task is to call sinners to repentance, to comfort the weary with the promises of Christ, and to point always to the One who is both the message and the Messenger. In this way, the pulpit becomes a kind of prophetic post—not by new revelation, but by the Spirit’s ongoing work through the Word of God.
According to the prophets, the Messiah would be a descendant of Eve, whom Satan would kill, but who would defeat Satan. (Genesis 3:15) He would be born of a virgin. (Isaiah 7:14) In Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), the Messiah would be a descendant of David and would be called God (Isaiah 9:6). He would be crucified as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53:4-12)
As important as the prophets were, Jesus is greater than all of them. He was a prophet like Moses. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) The writer of Hebrews tells us that “in many and various ways, God spoke in ancient times through the prophets, but now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” Prophets spoke the word of God, but Jesus was the Word of God. When we hear Jesus, we hear the Father; when we see Jesus, we see the Father. When we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus.
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