Two Kinds of Prophets

There are two kinds of truth speakers. Two kinds of prophets.

1) Detached Proclaimers:

There are men today like Jonah, who have the message of the coming wrath from the Lord; and like Jonah they proclaim the message in outward obedience. This is great, and something to celebrate! But these men are detached from their message, and their hearts do not break for their hearers. They care little whether or not fire and brimstone rains from heaven in the end. These Jonahs do what they have been called to do, sometimes effectively--but they do so out of obligation.

There are many who are like Job's good friend Eliphaz, a man who seemed to have a high view of the transcendent God and a developed doctrine of the depravity of man. When I read what Eliphaz says throughout Job, I nod in agreement: "this guy is pretty close to right!" Indeed, "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?" And yet his harsh speech heaps greater weight on an already shattered man.

In Paul's day there were ministers who preached the gospel out of selfish ambition and vain conceit. Their message was true and for that Paul rejoiced. Surely there was fruit due to their proclamations! But their internal motivation lied elsewhere. Their hearts were ambivalent. The souls of man were forced into the background by things perceived to be of greater importance.

2) Burdened Proclaimers:

Then you have messengers like the prophet Isaiah, and we read his terrible prophecy against the nation of Moab (a gentile nation, mind you). Unlike the detached proclaimers above, this message takes a toll on the prophet: "So I weep, as Jazer weeps, for the vines of Sibmah. Heshbon and Elealeh, I drench you with tears...My heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir Hareseth."

There is Moses who pleads with God Almighty following the golden calf fiasco: "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." Moses was not a passive third party. He was a participant. He was so burdened, his heart broke so deeply for the sin and the coming judgment--that he was willing to receive judgment himself rather than see God cut off His people.

Paul, never the detached proclaimer reminded the Ephesian church before he departed, "So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears."

Right while wrong

I am learning that one can be right and yet be wrong. Today we can all too easily fall into the trap of being detached proclaimers.  We can get every nuance right and have a perfect intellectual system; we can master every speaking technique and have good answers to every question. And still, we can remain untouched by the message. We can somehow preach salvation to the lost and dying without so much as a tear. It is more comfortable to speak in emotional isolation than to lose sleep over souls.

I have had the opportunity to preach on occasion. Often my thoughts are centered on, "how am I doing in this message?" "Is this a good presentation?" "Are people engaging with what I am saying?" In perhaps more sinister moments I think to myself, "This is a pretty good opportunity for me--a good chance to get some recognition or for me to develop my craft." Selfish ambition and vain conceit were not exclusive to Paul's day.

And though God uses both kinds of prophets; both will be judged accordingly: not unlike Jonah, Job's friends, or Paul's contemporaries were.

So, let's seek the Lord that we may be truly burdened by the eternal and drastic implications of the Message. That its words would sink deep and burn within our bones like it did Jeremiah. Let us beseech our Heavenly Father that we would be mere proclaimers no longer, but that our hearts would be fully engrossed in the glory of God and the state of the souls of our hearers.