- Disobedience
- Idolatry
- Unrighteousness
- Greed
- Disregarding the poor
- Injustice
- Impurity
- Drunkenness
- Leading others into sin
- Suppressing or preventing others from serving God
- Complacency
- Empty worship
- Crushed
- Imprisoned
- Weak
- Ineffective
- Shamed
- Hungry
- Thirsty
- Unproductive
- Sick
- Defeated
I think the Israelites did not believe the prophesy primarily because of 2 reasons...
- They did not have the bible: It's easy for me to believe there are consequences/punishment(s) that result from sin because I have the bible that contains many examples of this truth. But the bible was not around for Israelites. They didn't know the prophets and prophesies were the real deal.
- Pride: The Israelites did not believe they were THAT bad and surely God was not THAT angry at them and certainly God would not punish them THAT much. They minimized their sins. Perhaps they even minimized God.
We have it SO good... unlike the Israelites, we have the bible to guide us with many instructions and examples, and Jesus to wash away our sins including our pride. WOW :)
3 comments:
Thanks for lengthy post. It's a good break down of what's going on. I'm nt sure if they All had a copy of the bible or the law that they wouldve obeyed. Although it would be hard to know what is happening in other areas. Maybe some didn't hear what the prophets said. I wonder how that worked. There wasn't CNN to put the word out. And maybe some of the leaders prevented the prophets from sharing it too. It s a shame that they didn't listen and repent. I've got make sure I'm listening.
Thanks for posting this topic Tera, very thought provoking. Here's a thought to provoke, do you think we have modern day prophets? If so, what are they saying? If not, why not. Is it because God couldn’t find a righteous enough man to prophecy His will
Great question Mitch, I personally don't know. But I found 2 views on this...
1) The teachers of our church did put a response to this question in the Discipleship Handbook, Pg.96...
If we define prophesy as "revealing and interpreting the will of God," then prophesy ended with the death of the first century apostles (Acts 8:9-18; 1 Cor 13:8-10). The apostles received all truth in the first century, and through inspiration delivered it to us (John 14:25-26; 16:13; Eph 3:2-5). Finally, the NT was complete and gives man all that he needs to please God.
2) The Life Application bible has a view on this as well (comment to 1 Cor 14:2)...
If we define prophesy as "preaching" God's word, then there would be prophets living today.
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