Main Purpose of Prophecy

HiRes | MidRes

Loading...

(Right click this link to download video.)

Question
What was the main purpose of biblical prophecy?
Answer
The prophet is the recipient of God's word, and the prophet proclaims that. We often talk about, in prophecy, two kinds of prophecy: foretelling and forth-telling. Foretelling is what many people think of when we talk about prophecy, and that is predicting the future, and we say, he's a "prophet" — he predicts the future. But in fact, forth-telling, which is proclaiming God's word, is really the essence of prophecy. Sometimes it's foretelling; sometimes it's telling the future, what's going to happen; but it's always forth-telling. It's always proclaiming God's message and calling God's people to respond.

Answer by Dr. Mark L. Strauss

Dr. Mark Strauss is Professor of New Testament at Bethel University.