Ever think, ‘how cool would it be’, to have the prophetic accuracy of Isaiah? To have seen and told of the coming Messiah – His birth, His life, His death. And, be read, studied, memorized by people for thousands of years.
Some 500 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah declared the virgin would be with child. He would be called Emmanuel, ‘God With Us’. He would have other names….. Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God.
Or Zechariah – who foretold that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem on a donkey – how amazing and incredible was that?!
There are dozens and dozens of prophecies in the Old Testament about ‘the coming Messiah’, that all came true with Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection.
Daniel and Ezekiel wrote down their visions of a time called “the last days”. May of the images are repeated by Jesus in the Gospels, by Paul in Thessalonians, and by John in The Revelation.
What a rush! To receive a holy, divine vision and be instructed to share it. Write it down! Declare it to your people! Make sure everyone knows what you have seen, and what you believe is coming.
Pause.
Just for a moment, consider this: none of the Old Testament prophets who spoke about the coming Messiah saw their prophecies come true.
None of the family & friends who heard their words, saw them come to pass.
We readers in hindsight marvel.
The hearers surely mocked and murmured.
Or, consider the names listed in Hebrews 11 – designated the “Hall of Fame of Faith”. The amazing record of Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and others. Especially Abraham – known as the ‘Father of faith’ by history and song. He was promised a land and descendants. The people of Israel didn’t enter their promised land until after 400 years of captivity – long after Abraham had died. Verse 13 of Hebrews 11 says: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth”
The shadow of the prophets and of those listed in the ‘Hall of fame’ of faith might sound glamorous. Yet in truth, their greatest strength was consistently lived out in the absence of seeing what God had promised. Daily choosing to hold on and believe through ridicule, accusation, and no visible evidence of the words of the Holy One coming to pass. Resolute in their awareness of how so ‘not at home’ they were on this temporary earth, they were willing to be perceived as foolish by all around them, choosing with unflinching courage to set their gaze on their forever home, with their forever King.
Verse 38 of the same chapter in Hebrews states simply, and clearly, that the world was not worthy of them.
Shadow of the prophets? Shoulder to shoulder with our ancestors of faith?
To have any chance of walking in their sandals or living in their legacy, we must be willing to leave the timing to God, and let the naysayers’ arrows roll off our armor on a daily basis.
May His Kingdom come, His will be done, in His way and His timing, through each of us.
[Rev. LoriJo Schepers has been in ministry for several decades, serving as pastor, on-air personality fora local Christian music station, and currently as Executive Director of Barnabas Ministries. She has been a writer since she could hold a pencil, her first publication at 15. She shares more of life and faith on her blog HopeScribe. She has four grown children and three special granddaughters. Her contact: lorijo@barnabasmin.org]
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