Old Testament Major Prophets – 5 Books

From Isaiah through the end of the Old Testament, there is a section of Scripture called prophecy. The first 5 of these books are categorized as the Major Prophets. I’m sure there are many good reasons for these designations, but for our purpose of familiarizing ourselves with the books of the Bible in their order, we’ll keep it simple. They are longer than the writings of the Minor Prophets. Major by virtue of sheer bulk. Not more important, but perhaps more familiar to most Bible students; especially Isaiah.  All of them contain important scripture. These men spoke God’s Word to a nation that was descending into pagan rebellion. They proclaimed warnings about what will happen to such a nation, because of its own negative volition to God’s standards and its ingratitude for God’s grace provision. The kingdom had split into two: Northern--Israel (10 tribes), and Southern--Judah (2 tribes). Both  kingdoms were under constant threat of annihilation by neighboring heathen nations. Israel’s and Judah’s only hope of security was to maintain their close relationship with God. Seems they were more interested in pleasure and pride than in securing their national future by obedience to their creator and redeemer.

Qualifications of God’s prophet: Deuteronomy 18:20-22

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

These men predicted local events for the immediate future, as well as events with distant future application. The fulfillment of the near and local predictions gave credibility to the prophet’s whole message. If his local pronouncements didn’t occur, he was labeled a false prophet. There are no messages of false prophets in the inspired scriptures. Hundreds of prophecies by these men have been fulfilled literally. Therefore we know that the long-term future prophecies will also come to pass, just as they have predicted.

“Their message….was not one of doom and gloom alone, for they saw the Day of the Lord and the glory to follow. All of them looked through the darkness to the dawn of a new day.” J. Vernon McGee

Isaiah – Book of God’s Servant. His ministry took place during some extremely dark days in Judah. The northern kingdom of Israel was carried away into captivity by Assyria during this period. The kings of Judah during Isaiah’s time were Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. That gives us the historical perspective. Isaiah’s prophecies concern God’s Justice in chapters 1-35. Chapters 36-39 are historic and deal with a time when the seat of world power was changing from Assyria to Babylon. Chapters 40-66 reveal to us the Savior, the Redeemer Who is coming to Zion.

As Isaiah saw national destruction coming, he warned of it and also made reference to God’ remnant:
If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah. Isaiah 1:9

Isaiah is the one who told us about Satan’s 5 “I wills” of pride that got him tossed from God’s throne room. Isaiah 14:13-14 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’

Very early on, however, in Isaiah 7:14, the prophet told of the coming supernatural virgin birth of God’s Own Son, Immanuel. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Then, in all of chapter 53 Isaiah presents the gospel message, having this statement of propitiation in vss 10-11…Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

Jeremiah – Book of Impending Judgment. Jeremiah’s ministry began about 60 years after Isaiah’s death. Contemporaries of his whole span of work were Zephaniah, Habakkuk and Daniel. God made it clear to Jeremiah when he called him to service that He had been preparing Jeremiah’s soul from eternity past for this very work. Jeremiah 1:5 - “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah’s ministry was to be an intense one, verse 7: But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.” No excuses, Jeremiah. I prepared you, I consecrated you, I send you. I’ll tell you what to say, you say it. Simple instructions for a burdensome job. Jeremiah spoke God’s words to the people, alright, and they didn’t want to hear those words. They hated Jeremiah for speaking those words of judgment to them. He became frustrated and wanted to just walk away from it. Chapter 20:9 - If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” His responsibility, his compulsion was to deliver the message. The message was rejected. 

Jeremiah 7:16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.” No one can or should interfere with God’s chastening. These rebels were practicing idolatry all the while they called themselves the children of God. Sound familiar? “Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.” Vss 17-18 

Jeremiah prophesied disaster and destruction, and he also prophesied restoration and refreshment for God’s remnant, who would be carried away captive into Babylon “for their good,” chapter 24:5. Jeremiah’s prophecies and proclamations make it clear that the discipline of God’s disobedient people was by God’s design, for God’ purpose and for the people’s good. His message broke his own heart. He not only prophesied, but also experienced, the destruction of Jerusalem and the Babylonian captivity.

Even as the horrendous events were destroying Judah, God was promising them a return to peace and prosperity under His tender care. Jeremiah 33:3,7 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” “I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and rebuild them as they were at first.” 14-16 “I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah…..I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.”

Lamentations – Book of Mourning. This is also considered a book of poetry, but it is Jeremiah’s lament, and follows his prophecy. It is Jeremiah’s hymn of heartbreak; dirge of desolation; account of agony.  Jerusalem had been destroyed and the remnant were carried away captive. Jeremiah was among them. The closest we can come to envisioning this is the film footage we’ve seen of the holocaust from WW2.

Chapter 1:1 She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. 1:2 she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. 1:3 Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; 1:8 Jerusalem sinned grievously; therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away. 1:9  Her uncleanness was in her skirts; she took no thought of her future; therefore her fall is terrible; she has no comforter 1:11 All her people groan as they search for bread; they trade their treasures for food to revive their strength. “Look, O Lord, and see, for I am despised.”

Chapter 5:8 Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand. We get our bread at the peril of our lives, 5:11-12 Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. 5:21 Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!  What commentary could a 21^st century American add to this Lament?

Ezekiel – Book of Divine Visions. Ezekiel was a young man when Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah’s remnant was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. While in captivity, Ezekiel’s ministry was to keep reminding the exiles of the disobedience that had brought about God’s judgment on their nation. Jeremiah was an old man, speaking to the remnant who remained in the land. Daniel had been taken captive in the first captivity, about 8 years before Ezekiel’s group. Daniel spoke in the court of the king of Babylon. Ezekiel spoke to the captives who were exiled along the rivers of Babylon.

Before the judgment, during the execution of the judgment, and after the judgment on God’s people, He provided His spokesmen to prophesy, to teach, to exhort and to always give comfort regarding future fulfillment of God’s covenant with Israel.

Ezekiel was the prophet of God’s glory. He experienced amazing visions of the glory of God, beginning in chapter 1 with the four living creatures which represent God, and whose characteristics correspond to those of Jesus Christ as seen in the 4 gospels. They had faces of human, lion, ox and eagle, each of which symbolizes an eternal truth about God. This symbolism is explained in my blog post of October 10, 2011, titled The Gospels. Ezekiel is the prophet who reported the visions of the abominations being committed by the priesthood in the temple, the visions of the cherubim, the vision of the dry bones. He was appointed as God’s watchman on the wall to warn Israel of all the destruction they would incur by their rebellion, all the while they were telling each other “God does not see, He has abandoned us.” (ch. 9:9).

Daniel – Book of Prophecy. Daniel’s life and ministry bridge the entire seventy-year period of Babylonian captivity. Deported to Babylon at the age of sixteen, and handpicked for government service, Daniel becomes God’s prophetic mouthpiece to the Gentile and Jewish world declaring God’s present and eternal purpose. Nine of the twelve chapters in his book revolve around dreams, including God-given visions involving trees, animals, beasts, and images. In both his personal adventures and prophetic visions, Daniel shows God’s guidance, intervention, and power in the affairs of men.

Nelson, Thomas (2006-04-11). Open Bible, NKJV (Kindle Locations 99473-99474). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

The message of the book. The book is the key to all biblical prophecy. Apart from an understanding of the great eschatological disclosures of this book, the entire prophetic program of the Word of God remains sealed. Jesus’ great Olivet Discourse (Mt 24-25; Mk 13; Lk 21), as well as 2 Thess 2 and the entire book of Revelation, can be unlocked only through an understanding of the prophecies of Daniel. The great themes of NT prophecy, the manifestation of the Antichrist (the man of sin), the Great Tribulation, the second advent of Messiah, the times of the Gentiles, and the resurrections and judgments are all treated in Daniel.

Unger, Merrill F.; Unger, Merrill F. F. (2005-04-01). The New Unger's Bible Handbook (Kindle Locations 9190-9194). Moody Publishers. Kindle Edition.

In Daniel we have close, personal accounts of his life in the courts of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel had the gift of interpretation of dreams, and some of Neb’s dreams were quite prophetic. This is the book that tells of the 3 young Jewish men who were thrown in the fiery furnace, Daniel’s night in the lions’ den, the colossal image of the kingdoms of world history; and in chapter 9, the revelation of the 70 weeks, which show a definite time period allotted to Israel on earth, which has been interrupted by the Church age.

Daniel 12:1-4 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”