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Lesson 7: The Work of the Prophets *

Introduction: What, exactly does a prophet do? Is the job about telling the future? Is it religious instruction? Is it finding donkeys? Is it making us feel bad? Is it being God's agent for all sorts of things? Let's dive into our Bibles and find out!

  1. Donkey Finders


    1. Read 1 Samuel 9:3-5. What does this tell us about the character of Saul? (He was considerate of his father, he was diligent and he was trustworthy.)


    2. Read 1 Samuel 9:6. Is this servant joking? Are prophets available for donkey finding? Would God take the time to deliver a donkey-finding message to a prophet?


    3. Read 1 Samuel 9:14-16. What prophet work do we find in these verses? (God revealed to Samuel the future, He made Samuel His agent to select and anoint a leader in answer to the prayers of the country.)


    4. Read 1 Samuel 9:18-20. What prophet work do we find here? (Donkey finding! Notice that Samuel knew the past, not just the future. God revealed both the past and the future to Samuel so that he could advise Saul.)


    5. As you consider this story, how would you describe a prophet's work? (The prophet is God's agent on earth to do the things God directs. This includes simple things like keeping track of lost property, to major things like directing the leadership of the country.)


      1. Should a modern-day prophet be active in politics?


        1. On what should your answer depend?


      2. Is it selfish to pray to God to help us with little things, when people are praying to God to be healed of cancer?


        1. Can we say "God has unlimited ability to answer prayers, when I'm asking about small things I'm not taking His attention away from those dying of cancer?" What about the prophet Samuel? Did he have unlimited time? (Saul enjoyed the favor of God and God was willing to help Saul with what was the main matter on his heart at that time.)


  2. Correcting and Reminding


    1. Read 2 Kings 17:13. Last week we noted that Jeremiah spoke of a distinction between prophets who said things we want to hear and those who say things we don't want to hear. Are the prophets referred to in this text saying things the people want to hear?


      1. Are these prophets adding new rules to what God has already laid out? (Not here. God uses the prophets to remind the people of His rules, and to point out how the people have strayed from those rules.)


    2. Read 2 Kings 17:18-20. The people did not listen to the prophets. What happened as a result? (Other people plundered them.)


      1. Is God just mad at His people? What about our picture of a loving and forgiving God?


      2. Read 2 Kings 17:17. Why would these people sacrifice their children? (They thought it would help them with their gods. This is true late term abortion. To make my life easier, I will sacrifice my child.)


      3. Notice again 2 Kings 17:18. What sense do you get from the phrase "removed them from His presence?" (God is holy. When His people rejected His warnings and engaged in the most vile sins, He did not want them "in His presence." When they were out of the presence of God bad things happened to them.)


        1. Is this just an "Old Testament thing?"


    3. Read Isaiah 30:10-11. What are the people asking when they say "stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel?" (God is holy. They don't want to come face to face with a holy God.)


      1. Does that mean this "out of My presence" is not just an Old Testament thing as opposed to a mutual thing - that sinners want to be outside the presence of God?


    4. Would Jesus want to be outside the presence of sinners? I thought that was where He went?


    5. Read Matthew 9:10-12. Are the Old Testament rules out the window? Jesus and sinners want to be in each other's presence?


      1. Is this just a temporary situation? (Read Luke 4:24-27. When people do evil, they do not want God. Jesus' main point is that prophets are not accepted in their hometown, but His secondary point is that the prophet goes elsewhere. Jesus came to sinners. They came to Him. But at some point they had to make a decision for Jesus or for sin. In the main, Israel rejected Jesus and His gospel went to others.)


      2. Read Matthew 8:11-12. Will Jesus cast people out of His presence? (Yes. Those who reject His invitation.)


    6. Are we getting off our topic here? What does a sinner's resistance to correction have to do with the work of the prophet? (It is a warning to us not to reject the prophet just because the message makes us uncomfortable.)


    7. Let's continue reading in Isaiah. Read Isaiah 30:12-14. What message is the prophet giving here? How is sin catching up with the unrepentant sinner? (The sin problem gets so big is just figuratively explodes and takes out the sinner. The sinner cannot be used thereafter for even simple tasks.)


      1. Do you know someone like that?


      2. Has this happened to you?


    8. Read Isaiah 30:15,18. What is God's goal for us? How are prophets (like Isaiah) involved in that goal? (The primary work of the prophet is to warn and correct. The goal is to be gracious. We do not have an Old Testament/New Testament face of God. God longs to be gracious to us, that is why He sends His prophets to warn us of the dangers of sin. At the same time, He is a holy God and that means that sin cannot ultimately live in His presence.)


      1. What are your prophet issues? Are you struggling over whether a modern day prophet is true or false? Ask yourself if your struggle is primarily about your pride? Ask yourself whether it is primarily about a feeling of condemnation when considering the prophet's words?


    9. Read Romans 3:19-20. Is the work of a true prophet to make you feel good or make you feel guilty? (Recall that we determined that the "gold standard" for communications from God is the Ten Commandments. These verses tell us that the purpose of the law is to "silence" our pride. To convict us of sin and to drive us to Jesus. This is clearly an important part of the work of a prophet.)


    10. Read Romans 3:21. What other prophet work do we find? (The work of the prophet is also to share the good news about God's grace. The warnings drive us to repentance, and that brings the good news of grace.)


  3. Record Keeping


    1. Read 1 Chronicles 29:29-30. What other prophet work do we find? (Recording history. Another work of the prophet is to record the workings of God through history so that the people can better see and understand God's work. This helps to give them confidence in God's hand in their lives.)


  4. Reveals Mysteries


    1. Read Daniel 2:45-47. What prophet work do we see here?


      1. Why would God give this work to His prophets? (It gives us courage and confidence about our God and His role in shaping the future. When the things predicted come to pass, we have confidence in our God and His care for us.)


    2. Friend, are you open to accepting the work of a prophet? Do you believe it is one way God uses to communicate to His people?


  5. Next week: The Authority of the Prophets.
* Copr. 2009, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses a blackboard or some other visual aid.

Discussion

We welcome discussion of this lesson. To contribute your thoughts, click here or scroll down to the bottom of the page.

The comments below are the opinions of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bruce N. Cameron or SabbathSchoolLessons.com.

why would you mention \"late term abortion\"? What are you getting at. I appreciate the comments that turn our eyes to the Word but, then you add the comment. why?
Posted by denise on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 07:08 AM
This is a very interesting and insightful lesson which seeks to outline god’s instruments of communication. In 2008 we learned about discipleship which by faith in Jesus Christ we believe we are. The work of prophets appears to me as a duplicate to that done by disciples. When Christ was to ascend to heaven he gave a special commission to his disciples which we are told were multitude and the commission was to go and make disciples reflecting on Jesus teachings and baptize those who accept the faith in the name of the father, son and the Holy Spirit. John the beloved disciple had a revelation about the past, present and the future. Even Paul, you find many accounts E.g. Thessalonians where he talks about the future. I would imagine prior Jesus on earth God use to peak to an individual to be god's spokesman, however, Jesus said if I go I will send the Holy Spirit to guide you into the truth. As a consequence god's work is moving at a rapid pace because not only one person is commissioned but all those who are willing to be used work. I don’t disregard the fact that god would pick few in the last days, the young and old would dream and see visions says the verse but he would pick from disciples because not all disciples had visions and revelations. That did not reflect the measure of faith but god would use us differently to fulfill his mission.
Posted by Patrick on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 03:10 AM
Bruce, here I am for comparing the themes and joining more spiritual perspectives about the Sabbath school, such as:
THE PROPHETIC ACT
1. INTRODUCTION
The inspiration of this lesson, it’s the great disappointment of 1844 and the God’s solutions by the acts of the prophetic gift in Christ, in sisters and brothers, principally like E.G. White. About this event, many people don’t take all ideas and motivation for the relation with Christ, in the prophetic context of present days and in the future. It’s not enough to think in the disappointment of 1844, like an easy protocol of the God’s solutions, without the involvement of the members in the present day. It’s important to raise a question: today, doesn’t it happen again?
In this lesson there are some questions:
1.1. What did the prophetic act in each time of history? And today?
1.2. What does the prophetic act make in the relation of the church? An institution? An organization? Or the Christ’s body?
1.3. How does the prophetic act treat the sinner and the sin?
1.4. What’s the message of the prophetic acts?
1.5. For the prophets, what’s the most important issue in the Bible?
2. THE GOD’S VISIBILITY
The prophetic act origins the God’s visibility in the world, because gives the continuous search and challenge for God’s similarity inside and outside of human kind. For example, the great disappointment was consequence of the limitation of one idea about God: essentially a liberty of a condition, which was explored by many ways. Would be the prophetic act based in Christ’s visibility transformation, or in the future paradise of Christ? There are lessons in the great disappointment for avoiding the same situation before Christ’s second coming, as for example in the relation between the events of the visibility of Jesus in this time and the necessity for individual and collective change as result of his proximity. So the troubles are problems which separated and blinding the sinner before God, like the entrance of Christ in the principal part in the sanctuary, which was seen and revealed by the prophetic gift in that time.
3. ORGANIZATION, OR INSTITUTION, OR THE CHRIST’S BODY
In the great disappointment, the event happened because there are not a union. Many preach and interpretations did not create a state and a search, which allowed the Holly Ghost to develop the anticipation and later the God’s concretization by Christ in the Church body. The prophetic act by preach constructed a union in Christ, which organized and institutionalized the spiritual relations. Therefore, in the present days, it is important that the prophetic act of Christ creates in the human being and in the Church, institutionalized or organizational forms, which will create the union in Christ from the passed, present and future events.
4. THE GOD’S LOVE
Why did God clarify the people after the great disappointment? Because people didn’t accept the prophetic act, before the tragic consequences of their choice. Therefore, it was great the God’s love and patient, but he differentiates between the sinners and the sin. With any event from past, or in present and future, the prophetic act gives the real perspective of the positions and relations with God, and his efforts for to save by the first and second coming, where the decisions in freedom became the God’s judgement justifiable before entire universe.
5. THE GOD’S WILL
It understands the God’s will; pass for experiences like the great disappointment, which result of the fruit of the egoism. The importance of the God’s will, achieves by the prophetic vision the consequences of choices and plans of Christ, in his first and second coming, and in his intercession in the sanctuary. The human’s ego by prophetic act understands the benefits of its association with the will of God.
6. THE GOD’S ACTION
Essentially the prophetic act calls attention about the God’s act, and the relations with the others in the eternal time, and the others events which are against him. The God’s action has a flexible schedule until certain point of his patient, and doesn’t take it bring the definitive choice of the separation. In the great disappointment God’s by the prophetic act reveal the reality of his actions, and today the spirit of the Elijah became the world aware of what it has to choose.This is the important prophetic act about the God´s action.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Posted by João Cavaco from SDA Central Church of Lisbon - Portugal on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 01:06 PM
work of a prophet like e.g.white is to show God is still working true morden day people using them at will to bring light in accordence with the bible.
Posted by Deon Moultrie on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 07:47 PM
My Q is are true prophets Sabbath keepers?
Posted by henry beck on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 11:29 PM

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