2. They functioned as Predictors.

3. The Distinctive Roles of Prophet Versus Priest.

There are several common themes that run through the prophets.

1. The Covenant.

1. What is a covenant?

• It involves an agreement between two parties.
• It contains stipulations and promises as well as warnings as to what will take place if those stipulations and promises are not fulfilled.
• It also implies an ongoing relationship between those parties.

1. Covenant-cutting.

The earliest covenant ceremony called for cutting an animal into two pieces. The parties to the covenant would then pass between the pieces of the animals, indicating that they were bound by life and death to keep the terms of the covenant.

This is vividly pictured in Genesis 15 where Abraham cuts the animals in two and then the presence of God moves between the pieces of the animals.

This idea of the cutting of a covenant was so prevalent that the term "cut" came to be used by itself as the making of a covenant.

Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make (literally "cut") an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David (Isaiah 55:3).

There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant (literally, "cut" as the word for "covenant" is not even used here) with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. (2 Chronicles 5:10).

2. The Covenant Lawsuit.

1. The Day of the Lord.

The theme of the Day of the Lord came to be used as a description of God's coming judgment. This same term could be used for a localized and immediate judgment and it could also be used for the ultimate judgment of God at the end of the age.

2. The Promise of Messiah.

• Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14).
• Ministry in Galilee (Isaiah 9:1-2).
• Born as a child and a son, yet he would be the eternal God and the prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6-7).
• He would come from the line of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1).
• The Spirit of the Lord would be upon Him (Isaiah 11:2).
• He would be known for His righteous judgments (Isaiah 11:4-5).
• He would heal the blind, the deaf and the lame (Isaiah 35:5-6).
• The way would be prepared before His coming (Isaiah 40:3-5).
• He would not strive or cry out (Isaiah 42:2-3).
• His appearance would be marred (Isaiah 52:14).
• He would be despised and forsaken (Isaiah 53:3).
• He would be pierced and scourged (Isaiah 53:5).
• He would bear the sins of men (Isaiah 53:6).
• He would remain silent during his sufferings (Isaiah 53:7).
• He would be with both the wicked and the rich in his death and burial (Isaiah 53:9).
• The nations would come to believe (Isaiah 60:3).
• He would preach good news to the afflicted and freedom to the captives (Isaiah 61:1).
• He would be a descendant of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6).
• The slaughter of the infants (Jeremiah 31:15).
• He would seal a new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
• He would ascend into heaven (Daniel 7:13-14).
• The date of his coming foretold (Daniel 9:24-26).
• He would be called out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1).
• The offer of salvation would be given to all men (Joel 2:32).
• Darkness would come over the land (Amos 8:9).
• He would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
• He would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 9:9).
• He would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12).
• His body would be pierced (Zechariah 12:10).
• He would be preceded by a messenger and would come suddenly to the temple (Malachi 3:1).

No prophet says so much about the coming of the Messiah as Isaiah. For this reason, his book has been called the fifth gospel. Indeed, the book of Isaiah has a curious likeness to the Bible in brief.

The main division of Isaiah takes place at the close of the first 39 chapters of Isaiah in the same way that the Old Testament ends after the 39^th book of the Bible.

If you happen to be asked on a test as to the two major parts of Isaiah, this is the answer. The first 39 chapters focus upon the judgment of God while the last 27 chapters focus upon the comfort of God.

Jeremiah has been known as the "weeping prophet." It isn’t that he was a crybaby. It is that he loved his countrymen and saw what they were going through and it brought him to tears.

The book of Jeremiah can be divided into two major portions.

• The first part deals primarily with judgments against Judah.
• The second part gives oracles against the other nations.

We have mentioned that the covenant concept is present throughout most of the prophets. Jeremiah introduces us to the promise of a new covenant.

Throughout the book of Jeremiah, he has continually charged the people with being a nation of covenant-breakers. They have transgressed the covenant and have therefore brought the curses of the covenant upon themselves. They are called to repent, but they continue to refuse. Why? Because of an INTERNAL problem. Jeremiah has already pointed out this problem:

Hebrews 8 quotes this passage to show that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. There are four specific reasons why this is so.

1. The New Covenant is Better because it is an Internal Covenant: I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it (31:33).

The participant in the New Covenant has something that the believer of past ages never had. He has the Holy Spirit living within him. He has the Keeper of the Covenant indwelling him. And that makes a big difference. It means that God has gifted His people in a special way, working from the inside out.

2. The New Covenant is Better because it in All-Inclusive: And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD (31:34).

The Old Covenant was primarily Jewish in scope. It was focused upon the land of Israel and upon the sacrifices that took place in Jerusalem. If you wanted to enter the Old Covenant and were not Jewish, you had to proselyte to Judaism. This called for circumcision and an adherence to the Law.

But this changes with the New Covenant. Even though it is made with the House of Judah and with the House of Israel, it looks outward to the world to invite all men to enter the Kingdom.

3. The New Covenant is Better because it Forgives Sins: For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more (31:34).

The Israelites broke the Old Covenant. God wrote His commands on tablets of stone and when the Israelites disobeyed, Moses took the tablets and shattered them. But the New Covenant is not written upon tablets of stone. It is written in men’s hearts. And because it is written in men’s hearts, it brings with it the means of fulfilling its obligations.

How can you possibly fulfill the obligations of the New Covenant? It is only by trusting in the One who fulfilled them on your behalf. That is what verse 34 says: For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.

This was the greatest failure of the Old Covenant. It could not forgive sins. It could temporarily cover sins with animal sacrifices that looked forward to a future fulfillment. But the blood of sheep and goats can never take away sin. For this there needed to be a New Covenant relationship.

4. The New Covenant is Better because is does not become Obsolete.

There are five chapters to the book; just as there are five books to the Torah. Unlike most chapter divisions in our English Bible, these chapter divisions find their origin in the Hebrew text. They are evidenced by the fact that each chapter forms an acrostic.

The author of this book is not named. Jewish tradition has it that it was Jeremiah. There is no reason to doubt that this was the case.

If the author is Jeremiah, and I think that it is, he had every right to say, "I told you so." They ignored everything he told them and they treated him harshly.

But instead, we see in this book that he has identified himself with the people of the Captivity. He does not look down his nose at them. Instead he associates himself with the sins of the people.

The Book of Ezekiel can be divided into two major parts.

• Message of Judgment (1-32)
• Message of Restoration (33-48)

The entire first part of Ezekiel deals with the subject of the judgment of God. This section is divided into two parts:

There is a lesson here. It is that when judgment first comes, it begins with the people of God. He judges His own people first.

Why is this? It is because His people represent Him on earth and God takes very seriously how He is represented.

Three times in this chapter, God says that the reason He brings judgment against His people is because He will not allow his name to be profaned in the sight of the nations. He will not allow His name to be associated with sin. He will not allow pagans to look at the sins of His people and to say, "If that is what it means to be a Christian, then I want no part of it."

This is important. When you become a Christian, you take on the official position of an ambassador of Christ. You represent the God of the universe on planet earth. He will not allow you to misrepresent Him.

• Ezekiel 1-24. Ezekiel afflicts the comfortable.

• Ezekiel 25-48. Ezekiel comforts the afflicted.

Do you see it? God disciplines and then He hugs.

Early during the ministry of Ezekiel (chapter 8), he is given a vision of the Temple in Jerusalem. He sees the idolatry that is taking place within the very house of God.

• At the beginning of the vision, Ezekiel sees the glory of the presence of the Lord within His temple (8:4).
• Then the glory of God is seen at the doorway to the temple (9:3).
• It next leaves the doorway and moves out to the Eastern Gate (10:18).
• From there it moves completely out of the city of Jerusalem: And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mountain which is east of the city (Ezekiel 11:23).

Do you know which mountain is to the east of the city? It is the Mount of Olives.

This was a sign of judgment against the Jews. The Temple was the place when you went to go and meet God. But God left the Temple.

There is a principle here. The way God destroys His Temple is by leaving it. For a number of years the physical structure of the Temple was to remain in Jerusalem, but for all intents and purposes, it had already been destroyed. In light of this passage, it is almost anticlimactic when Ezekiel hears in chapter 33 that Jerusalem has been destroyed. The Temple is not even mentioned. Why? Because it had already ceased to function as a Temple when God left it.

We say that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, but we are only partially correct. God had already destroyed the Temple by leaving it. Remember the principle: The way God destroys His Temple is by leaving it.

Do you remember the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem? Where did He go? To the palace of Herod Antipas? To the Fortress of Antonia? No. He went to the Temple. And when the religious leaders of the Temple rejected Him, He left the Temple and went out to the Mount of Olives where he foretold the eventual destruction of the Temple.

It is no coincidence that the last place we see Jesus before His ascension into heaven is on the Mount of Olives -- the same place where we last see the presence of God in Ezekiel’s vision.

This brings us to a question. Where is God’s Temple today? It is here. It is the church. It is you guys. It is the corporate body of believers that come together to meet the Lord.

There is a warning here. It is that God is still in the Temple-destroying business. God destroys His Temple by leaving it. And God destroys churches in the same way. He does not bring a bulldozer or a stick of dynamite. He just leaves. The building and the services and the people might all remain. But it is no longer a church.

This is why it is so important that we have a repentant attitude when we come together to worship the Lord. We come together to meet Him. He will only be there as we have put aside the world’s idols -- those things that draw our attention from Him.

The book of Ezekiel ends with a glorious vision of a New Temple. The prophet is taken on a guided tour through the structure -- a structure that is tantalizingly familiar if we have read the book of Revelation.

Just as Ezekiel had previously seen the glory of the Lord leave the Temple in Jerusalem, now he sees the glory of the Lord come into this house.

The first chapter of Daniel is written in Hebrew. When we come to Daniel 2:4 there is a change:

From this point until the end of chapter 7, the book is written in Aramaic. Then from chapter 8 to the end of the book is written in Hebrew. Aramaic was the lingua franca -- the common language of that day. It is similar to Hebrew. Indeed, our Hebrew Bible generally uses the Aramaic alphabet. As we look at this section, we find that it is primarily concerned with narratives and prophecies that relate to GENTILES.

Because of this language division, we can suggest an outline of the book of Daniel.

Daniel 2:4 says, "Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic." From this point on to the end of chapter seven is written in Aramaic.

This section of Daniel begins and ends with visions and dreams that set forth a scheme of prophetic history.

Chapters 3 and 6 each give an account in which the reigning king mandated a form of worship that was unacceptable to the Jews.

• In both cases, the heroes of the narrative engaged in civil disobedience in order to remain faithful to the Lord.
• In both cases they were sentenced to death.
• In both cases there was a supernatural deliverance.

Chapters 4-5 also give parallel accounts.

• In both cases there is an example of unwarranted pride on the part of the Gentile ruler.
• In both cases, a supernatural message is sent that can only be interpreted by Daniel.
• In both cases, the fulfillment of the prophecy comes very soon after it is given.
• In both cases, the Gentile king to whom the prophecy is given suffers a grievous setback.

Chapters 2 and 7 give a series of corresponding visions. As the vision of chapter 7 opens, Daniel sees the four winds of heaven that are driving the sea. Remember that the word for "wind" and the word for "spirit" are the same. Daniel would be reminded of a time when the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters (Genesis 1:2). Now God is again moving the waters.

The four in the series is characterized by the number 10. There are ten toes in the image and there are 10 horns on the fourth beast. The number 10 goes back to the 10 commandments. It carried the idea of a number of completeness.

We have a tendency to read this and think of these kingdoms as being "on the earth" instead of "in the land." Antiochus best fits this prophecy if we do not identify the fourth beast as Rome. This will especially be seen to be true when we compare chapter 7 with chapter 8. On the other hand, while we can see Antiochus as a pre-figure, it is in the days of Rome that Christ came to establish His kingdom.

Daniel 8 starts a new section of the book, yet there are interesting parallels to be seen between this chapter and the previous chapter.

There seems to be considerable overlap within these two visions, yet there are also some considerable differences.

• The vision in chapter 7 is given in chiastic parallel with that of chapter 2.
• The vision of chapter 8 is not so linked.

The vision of chapter 7 contains the description of animals that would have been unclean by Jewish standards. By contrast, the animals of chapter 8 are clean by the cultic standards of Jewish religion. These were the animals used in the rituals of Yom Kippur.

In order to further see the fulfillment, we need to know something of Jewish history as it took place between the Old and New Testament.

When Alexander the Great lay on his deathbed, his general gathered around and asked, "To whom do you bequeath your kingdom?" He replied, "To the strongest." With those words, he plunged his empire into civil war as each of his generals attempted to carve up a piece of the kingdom. After a hundred years of fighting, two main powers emerged from this.

• Ptolemy took Egypt
• Seleucus and his descendants eventually gained possession over Syria, Mesopotamia and Anatolia.

These two superpowers continued to oppose one another until the days of Antiochus IV who took the throne and set out to make himself another Alexander.

He had heard that Egypt was making offers to Judah to turn against him, so he decided to make sure that his hold there remained undisturbed. In order to stabilize his position in Judah, he appointed men whom he could trust to positions of responsibility. One of these positions was that of high priest.

In doing this, he touched the Jews at their most sensitive spot — their religion. He created the very explosive situation that he had sought to avoid. Judah became a powder keg, waiting for a spark to set it off.

Antiochus invaded Egypt in 168 B.C. and was victorious. Only the capital city of Alexandria stood against him. As Antiochus marched on Alexandria, a Roman emissary came out of the city to meet him.

The Senate’s message was a crisp order to Antiochus to put an end to his Egyptian campaign and retreat. Antiochus replied that he would call his advisors together and consult them on what was to be done. The Roman emissary responded by taking a swagger stick that he had been carrying and using it to draw a circle around Antiochus on the sand. He told Antiochus not to step out of the circle until he had given his decision concerning the contents of the letter. Antiochus agreed to leave.

As Antiochus left Egypt, he received news that the Jews had rebelled. He was furious. Antiochus now began an intense persecution of the Jews. He set up a statue of Zeus in the Temple and forced the Jews to worship it. The statue had an uncanny resemblance to Antiochus. This is described in Daniel as an "abomination that makes desolate."

The Maccabean Revolt started in 166 B.C. in the small, village of Modi’in, 17 miles to the northwest of Jerusalem. A Seleucid officer arrived in the village early one morning with a few soldiers. They proceeded to erect an altar in the middle of the town square.

Assembling the villagers, the Seleucid official ordered that Mattathias, a Jewish priest, slaughter a pig upon the altar and offer it to Zeus. The villagers would then eat of the pig’s flesh, signifying their acceptance of the Greek religion. When Mattathias did not respond, the old man was offered wealth and honor if he would obey. Mattathias refused.

Suddenly one of the villagers stepped out of the crowd and walked up to the altar, announcing that he was willing to make the sacrifice. Mattathias was enraged. Grabbing the sacrificial knife from the villager, he slit the villager’s throat and then turn and killed the Seleucid official. Before the astonished soldiers could take in what was happening, the five sons of Mattathias attacked them and slaughtered them.

The villagers banded together under the leadership of Mattathias and his five sons, stripping the soldiers of their weapons and uniforms and hiding the bodies. The handful of rebels moved out into the hills. The revolt had begun.

In the following years, the sons of Mattathias and specifically his son Judas organized the resistance movement. Judas was given the nickname of Maccabee, meaning "Hammer" because of his hammer strikes against the Seleucids.

After three and a half years of fighting, the Jews liberated the Temple Mount and were able to purify the Temple and restore the sacrifices. To this day, the Jews celebrate this time in the Feast of Chanukah.

The parallels between the prophecies of Daniel 8 with the career of Antiochus Epiphanes are striking.

• He comes on the heels of the wars among Alexander's generals
• Magnifies itself against the Jews and against their God
• He puts a stop to the sacrificial system and makes alterations to the Law
• He attempts to overturn the truth of the Scriptures
• For a time he has power over the nation of Israel
• His sway over the Temple endures for approximately 3 and a half years (2300 mornings and evenings).
• Then the holy place is ultimately properly restored

I have to conclude that Antiochus did indeed fulfill these prophecies. On the other hand, Jesus indicated that there would come "an abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet" that would come in the future who would again stand in the holy place (Matthew 24:15). The implications of this are obvious. Jesus said that it would happen again.

It did. Within 40 years from the time that Jesus spoke these words, the Romans landed three legions in Palestine while a fourth marched up from Egypt. They converged upon Jerusalem and the city fell in August of A.D. 70. The Roman General Titus entered the Temple and burned it to the ground. It has never been rebuilt and to this day there remains upon the site an abomination that renders it desolate to Jewish worshipers.

Will there be a third fulfillment of this prophecy in the future? I don’t believe that the Scriptures mandate such a fulfillment, but I would not presume to tell God what He can and cannot do. What we CAN do is to point out the fulfillments that have already taken place.