Prophecy 4 "relevance"

One of the more obnoxious traits of contemporary Western Christians is our assumption that "it is all about me." When I hear us talking about the Bible, it is stunning how frequently we treat the text as a personal note from God written directly to us/me and written for the sole purpose of giving us/me information which answer our/my questions. Now, in fairness, probably throughout history this has occurred (though we certainly take it to the next level). Also, it is true that the Scriptures are meant to be read and heard as "the Word of the Lord" (thanks be to God!) in each new setting and by each contemporary hearer/reader. And I believe God speaks to the listener/reader in and through the Biblical text.

So what then is the best approach to reading the prophets?

I think the first thing to keep in mind is that the prophets were SPEAKERS. We forget that. We read a book and it has words in it. We unconsciously think of "the prophets" as writers. So the name Isaiah or Jeremiah, for us (and it is unconscious) refers to a written text, i.e., a book. But in real life, they were men (and Isaiah was a couple of men, that book stretches over a long period time, much longer than many lifetimes). They were, like us, human beings with a family, a history, a personality and character. They were filled with questions and concerns like us. They desired to know, love and serve God like us.

Thomas Aquinas once said "grace builds on nature," in other words God uses the existing stuff of the world to engage the world. These real men were the natural beings whom God used. So we need to imagine them, in their ancient setting. And we need to understand that the "word of the Lord" came to them (NB, Jesus is the Word incarnate. So pre-existing Jesus: God the Son, is coming to them). The language they use of this experience is interesting. Sometimes they even interchange seeing and hearing (I heard the vision), as if the experience of God transcends normal ways of talking. They see and hear things and try to convey this message to their contemporaries. And the mode of communication was verbal. The prophets spoke these words. It is only later that someone wrote them down. So the actual words were spoken to an audience at a particular time and place. The message, therefore, had a primary referrent. It was God's word to that situation. And it probably was relevant to their time and place. That is key. So to hear the word we must, and this is hard work, find the context. That requires thinking ourselves back to their setting. The word has a context in which its meaning makes sense. The prophets were speaking to those people, the ones in front of them, not to us, thousands of years later (although we hear them, too, we are listening in on their conversations).

After doing this, the next step is the process of analogy and symbol, where we delve into the meaning and apply it to a new context. Sometimes there is wondrous revelation hidden within the meaning of their words. Sometimes in our new context the words take on a new (and improved!?!) meaning. Often times, there is power in encountering the faith of another. Sometimes the terror of judgment as we realize God has demands. Sometimes the peace of comforting words of hope. But be clear, most of what the prophets speak about is the economic practices of an ancient people, the intricacies of Justice's demands in that culture and the shape of true God worship. We do not live in a time with carved idols and pagan religion like theirs. They had kings and slaves and a much different economy. They did not share the same assumptions about the world as we do. It is the "ancient-ness" of the text which leads so few to actually read the Bible. It is foreign and "hard to understand."

I want to look at some of those texts, like the "the virgin will be with child" quote, and looking at the texts try to figure out what they meant to the prophet and his audience, and then later what they mean in the NT context. And what that means to us, today.