He Gave Us Prophets: Dynamics Of The CovenantsSample

Prophetic Ministry: Revelation 2:7

On the one hand, the prophets constantly reminded the people of God of the mercies that Yahweh had shown them. At the same time, however, Old Testament prophets concentrated a lot of their attention on human responsibility in the covenant. They were called by God to approach the people and to remind them of the requirement of loyal service. We must always remember that the prophets knew there were both believers and unbelievers within the visible community of Israel. And for this reason, they treated human responsibility in the covenant as a testing or proving ground. The response of people toward the stipulations of the covenant showed the true nature of their hearts. 

On the one hand, unbelievers within the visible community showed that they did not actually have saving faith because they would turn away from their covenant responsibilities. They failed to trust Yahweh for salvation, and they refused to give Him their loyalty. These flagrant covenant violators would suffer the judgment of God. On the other hand, the test of human responsibility also identified those who were truly within the invisible covenant community. Now, these were people who were eternally redeemed. They had exercised saving faith in Yahweh, and they were on their way to eternal life. But the fact is that many times the prophets even challenged these people to prove their faith, much like the New Testament does.  Consider the words of Revelation 2:7:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. 

This kind of theme, that we must obey the Lord in order to prove that we genuinely do have saving faith, is a theme that runs throughout the prophets as well. 

Now we have to be careful here not to think that the prophets were legalists simply because they emphasized human responsibility. The reality is that the prophets understood that God’s grace was behind every act of obedience and faithfulness. We know this too from the whole teaching of scripture, that whenever people are faithful to the Lord, it’s because the Spirit of the Lord is working within them. At the same time, however, the Bible constantly reminds us of our responsibility to obey. And because the prophets knew that God’s grace was behind every act of obedience, they did not hesitate to call God’s people into obedience and faithfulness.