Who were the prophets of the Old Testament speaking to? Our knee-jerk reaction may be that they were speaking to the Israelites, which is true. But much like Jesus’ parables there were usually deeper levels to what was spoken.
1 Peter 1:10-12, “This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you. They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward. They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you…”
Paul reminded us of the same thing in Romans 15:4, “Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.”
In other words, we need to be able to learn from the past to help guide our future. This has been a common theme throughout Scriptures, and really throughout our own lives. Therefore, there is a constant need for us to be able to gain the wisdom revealed in how God dealt with those He was leading to the Promised Land, or those He reprimanded for their unfaithfulness, or many other issues.
In the New Testament, Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote a letter to some churches to encourage, or maybe warn, them to do just that. He had planned to write about the joy and hope of salvation, but realized they had become sidetracked. In his letter, he addresses the immorality that they were welcoming into their lives, but it’s how he does it that I want to highlight.
He compares the false teaching they were entertaining to that same kind of teaching that led the Israel into rebellion (Numbers 14), and he describes the outcome. Then he continues with the angels who violated God’s will. Although this is a controversial issue to some, many scholars believe this is what was being described in Genesis 6 prior to the flood of judgment. He moves on to Sodom, and the perversions that they were engaging in (Genesis 19). The point is that he’s bringing up stories that most Hebrew people would have been familiar with--stories that we can now see their purpose when looked at through the lens of Christian living. He also brings up other (non-canonized) books like 1 Enoch 1:9 that describes a prophecy from Enoch, who lived prior to the flood. Followed by a reminder about Cain (Genesis 4), Balaam (Numbers 22-25), Korah (Numbers 16), Selfish Shepherds (leaders) in Ezekiel 34:2, Chaotic waves (unstable people) in Isaiah 57:20.
The past is constantly pointing us towards the right path that leads away from sin and death. We have to be wise enough to accept it and listen to it. What Jude does in his letter Peter did in his 2 Peter 2:1-3, John did in 1 John 4:1-3, Paul did in 2 Timothy 3:1-9, and Jesus did in Matthew 7:15-19. Pray that we will be wise enough and obedient enough to learn from the mistakes from the past instead of being doomed to repeat their same judgment for our stubbornness.
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