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When I use the word “prophet,” what do you think of?

It’s a very intriguing word to me. When you’re a kid, you mostly understand it used to describe someone who predicts the future. Then, in my experience, you go through a period where people explain that (at least in Biblical/Christian views), the word is used to describe someone who interprets the future—perhaps through visions, dreams, etc. 

I’ve been doing some Googling this morning to see what others say. After my first line of defense—Dictionary.com—came up empty, I had to resort to other avenues. Here are some thoughts from the interweb…

Wikipedia

In religion, a prophet is a person who has claimed to have been encountered by the supernatural or the divine, often one who serves as an intermediary with humanity.

In Christianity a prophet is one inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to deliver a message for a specific purpose. It is often associated with predicting future events…

Princeton Wordnet

an authoritative person who divines the future; someone who speaks by divine inspiration

The Free Dictionary

1. A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed.
2. A person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression.
3. A predictor; a soothsayer.

and again, from Wikipedia

Traditionally, prophets are regarded as having a role in society that promotes change due to their messages and actions.

The prophetic function in the Biblical narrative is probably more closely related to this last definition from Wikipedia. The prophets in the Old Testament, in the Nevi’im (the Hebrew Bible’s component of the Prophetic Books—divided into Former Prophets and Latter Prophets), are more expansive than most people realize. Kings, Samuel, Judges and Joshua are part of the Hebrew Canon as prophetic books. 

I would say that these books, anything from Kings to Isaiah to Amos, hold a few things in tension:

First, they are honest about the way things are. Are the people sinful and disobedient? Boom! Called out! The prophets had a way of getting right to point and being completely honest. No sugar coating, no sparing the people, they did the work that had to be done. 

Second, they see (you can use the word predict, I guess) the way things are supposed to be. These people are incredibly convicted by the way God created the world. In their heads, through visions and dreams and prayers, they are constantly wrestling with and talking about a world they can only see in the future. It’s a better world, where justice flows like rivers and things are put to rights. Where people worship the One who created them. The prophets can see the world God intended, and it’s bigger and more complex than any one nation-state becoming powerful and dominant. 

Third, they allow the entrance of Prophets and prophetic moments into the story. And the function of these moments and people are to push things from the way they are to the way they are supposed to be. They call the people into a better reality.

The primary function of Prophets in the Bible is to push the people Israel to a better way of living, the way in which they were called as the people of God. Prophets were weird, abstract, edgy, and extreme. They talked strange and acted strange. They were always talking about and for the will of God.  

They were people on the fringe of society, pushing society to be better. It was required that they be so abnormal that they literally dealt a severe blow to the status quo. They ruffled feathers by not just offering a social critique, but by finding clever and creative ways of living out a social critique. 

These were and are not normal people. 

And I would argue that this is very intentional. There is a distinct separation between prophets and the rest of the people. If everyone acted like those prophets, then things would never get done. Everyone would be depressed. Prophets and the prophetic function are just a part of the picture, if even a beautiful and disturbing part.

The point I want to make in looking at prophets is also to analyze the idea of prophetic moments in our lives. I think we have experiences—short term, one time, long term, etc.—which act in a prophetic way in our lives.

They’re weird, abnormal, and extreme. They’re highly convicting and probably original. They are not the norm but they are meant to change us. 

Please think about that and don’t throw it away: they are not the norm but they are meant to change us.

They push on us and prick our imaginations. They call us out on our crap and give us a picture of a better reality, a better world. They give us a glimpse of what the world should be like, maybe in combination with how the world is, and then call us to align ourselves with that vision. 

Prophetic moments make us feel justice deep down in our bones and they disturb our sleep. They mess with our heads and we should come out on the other side of the encounter somehow different.

Be on the lookout for prophetic moments. Savor them (though they may be painful), learn from them, and let them infect you with a passion for a better way of life. And then go, do something about it. Don’t dwell on it and by all means, don’t throw it away.