Introduction

Welcome to our new series studying the Biblical Prophets. These books are among the most important in Scripture, yet they are often overlooked. The Bible read by the earliest church was the Old Testament—especially the Prophets. While the New Testament was still being written, the first Christians had grown up hearing and memorizing these stories. They knew that the prophetic books pointed to the day when the Lord would dwell with His people in a future kingdom. These promises gave them hope and prepared them to recognize the fulfillment of God’s plan in Jesus, the righteous King.

ICEBREAKER: When do you think our wedding with Christ is?

🧭 The Prophetic Foundation

A guide to understanding the heart of God’s messengers.

1. The Core Definition: What is a Prophet?

A prophet is a divine messenger called to bring God’s specific word to a specific people in a specific moment. Their primary role was "forth-telling"—declaring God’s truth to the present generation—rather than just "fore-telling" the distant future.

• Scripture: "But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds." (Jeremiah 23:22)

2. The Ethical Purpose: Why did they speak?

Biblical prophecy is overwhelmingly ethical. When a prophet speaks of future judgment, it is a warning to repent; when they speak of future blessing, it is an incentive to persevere. The goal is not to satisfy our curiosity, but to demand a total transformation of our lives in the here and now.

• Scripture: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" (Micah 6:8)

3. Modern Application: How do we listen?

For the Church today, the Prophets are a call to action. We must evaluate our own ethical obedience against God’s unchanging standards of holiness, mercy, and faithfulness.

• Scripture: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." (Romans 15:4)

Because expectations about the future directly impact our present priorities and values, prophecy was given to shape how we live today. Ultimately, all prophecy points to Jesus Christ and His sovereign rule. By viewing prophecy through this lens, we see it as a comforting assurance to encourage believers during times of severe trial, reminding them that Christ controls the chaos of human history.

📝 Recap: Daniel 9

In our last study, we learned that we should not simply observe prophecy but learn how to participate in it, using Daniel as our primary template. We took a hard look at the "most abused verse" in the Bible—Jeremiah 29:11—and saw that while many use it as a personal manifest for their own dreams, Daniel read it as a summons to get on board with God’s plan. He realized that for God to "visit and fulfill His word," the people had to "seek Me and find Me." Daniel decided to be the one to fulfill that search on behalf of the nation. Ultimately, we discovered the incredible reality that Daniel was reading a prophecy about himself; he was the very voice God was waiting for to trigger the restoration of his people.

🎯 The Big Takeaway

Biblical prophecy is an invitation to participate, not just a prediction to observe.

As the scholar Benjamin Warfield noted, "all prophecy is ethical in its purpose, and that this ethical end controls not only what shall be revealed in general, but also the details of it".

The Called Out Ones

In the Old Testament, the presence of the Holy Spirit operated as a 1-1 relationship where God "called out" His Spirit upon very specific individuals—typically kings, priests, or prophets—to accomplish specific tasks. During this era, the Spirit would land on one person so they could speak to the many.

Correspondingly, the presence of God was confined to the physical temple, specifically the Holy of Holies. This sacred space was designed as a Cube and the Bible calls this the place where His Names Dwells.

The Prophet Joel Saw The Start Of The Church

However, the prophet Joel foretold a dramatic shift, promising a day when the Spirit would no longer be restricted to a few leaders but would instead be "poured out" on all of God's people.

Who Is Joel?

Joel was a post-exilic prophet, speaking to a remnant that had returned to the land. In the first half of his book, He talks about two different Day Of The Lords.

• The 1st Judgment (Past to Joel): Joel points to a literal, devastating locust plague from his recent past.
• The 2nd Judgment (Future To Joel): Joel warns of a 2nd plague, another day of the lord future to him.

The point is like any other prophecy in the Bible. God's call is the same. Gather together, humble yourselves, repent, and trust God's compassion is sufficient to deal with the problem. Remember what we learned from Daniel last time.

Discussion Question: What were the Jews looking forward to when they came back from captivity and returned to Israel?

Joel Sees The Church

Joel is a prophet of that saw the start of the new New Covenant. Joel looks at the event of his day, and see the promise of the The Holy Spirit. After both these coming plagues in His time, He foretells a day when the Spirit would no longer be for a few leaders, but would be "poured out" on all flesh before a third and final "Great and Awesome Day Of The Lord".

Discussion: What does it mean for the Holy Spirit to dwell in us?

The Apostle Peter confirms that this specific "afterward" was fulfilled centuries later on the Day of Pentecost.

Paul later uses this same verse in Romans 10:13 to describe how people enter the Church.

The Holy Spirit’s role in the lives of the original prophets corresponds directly to the Church's function in the modern world:

Discussion: Why were the unity of languages the sign of the Holy Spirit?

The Tower of Babel: The Covenantal Divorce

What's really cool about Pentecost is that it's a parallel of another OT story, the tower of Babel.

At Babel, humanity tried to build a "Name" and a "City" for themselves.

• The Judgment: God confused their tongues and "divorced" the nations, scattered them, and put them under the administration of lesser beings (Deuteronomy 32:8). The same nations we see in that story we see in the book of Acts as well.

Pentecost: The Marriage of the Nations

In Jewish tradition, Pentecost—known as Shavuot—is a holy day that commemorates the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. It is often understood as a kind of “wedding” between God and the people of Israel. In this imagery, the Torah functions as the the terms of the relationship—much like a marriage contract. The people, having been redeemed from Egypt, are now formally set apart as God’s chosen nation.

At Babel you see a type of judgement in which God left the other nations, which is parallel by the first day of Pentecost at the mountain of Sinai. However we read throughout the other OT prophets like Jerimiah, we learn that Israel themselves God divorced as well when they failed to keep the covenant.

This is why it was such a big deal when the Spirit was poured out in Acts 2; it was the Legal Reversal - not just of Israel but for all nations. The Spirit moved into the Bride and immediately began repairing the "Divorce".
In a wedding, the couple must speak and understand one another to seal the covenant. At Pentecost, people from "every nation under heaven" heard the "wonderful works of God" in their own language (Acts 2:11).

• The Confusion (Babel): > "Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth..." (Genesis 11:9)

• The Restoration (Pentecost): > "And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues... everyone heard them speak in his own language." (Acts 2:4, 6)

• The Goal, we are one in Christ: > "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne..." (Revelation 7:9)

The "Wedding" is not a future event; it is the Union of the Spirit.

• The Chamber: Holy Spirit used to dwell inside The "Chamber" of the Holy of Holies and is now being poured out into the Bride at Pentecost.
• The Union: This is the consummation where Christ and His Church become "One Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:17).
• The Finished Home: The Bride is now the New Jerusalem, the finished dwelling place where God lives with men.

Discussion: Why didn't the Holy Spirit descend at the Resurrection, why wait 40 days?

Jesus Is The Groom

Jesus follows the Old Testament "Betrothal at the Well" pattern to prove He is the True Husband. It's curiose that his first appearance for doing miracles is also at a wedding, this is no small thing. During the wedding Jesus said, "My hour has not yet come.", He has not yet married his own bride.

1. The Search: The Groom leaves the Father’s house to find a Bride in a foreign land. Ancient grooms (Isaac's servant, Jacob, Moses) met their brides at wells.

   • Jesus leaves Heaven to find His Bride on earth. "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." (John 6:38)
   • Jesus meets the Samaritan woman—the "Outcast" Bride at the well. He doesn't ask for her water; He offers Living Water, identifying Himself as the Groom she has been looking for.. "Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God... He would have given you living water.'" (John 4:10)

2. The Price and the Contract: The Groom pays the price and establishes a legal covenant/

   • The Price: Jesus pays the highest price—His own life—to legally purchase the Bride. "For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body..." (1 Corinthians 6:20)
   • The Groom offers a cup of wine to the Bride. "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." (Luke 22:20) He then enters the Prison of Death (the Grave) to bind the Strong Man and "plunder" the Bride from his grasp.

3. The Preparation: Building the Chamber: The Groom returns to His Father’s house to build an addition (the wedding chamber).

   • Ascension: Jesus enters the True Holy of Holies (the Heavenly Chamber). He "prepares the rooms" by making the human heart and the Church a legal and holy dwelling place for God. "In My Father’s house are many rooms... I go to prepare a place for you." (John 14:2)
   • Scholars note "Rooms" refers to permanent dwelling places. Jesus "prepares" the Bride to be the dwelling place of God. He promises to bring us to dwell with him by being in us "We will come to him and make Our home with him." (John 14:23)

4. The Marriage: The Home-Taking: The Groom returns for the Bride to bring her into the Chamber.

   • The Consummation: At Pentecost, the Chamber moves into the Bride. "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19)
   • The Union: They become "One Spirit." like humans become "One Flesh" with each other "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)

The Ongoing Wedding Feast

The "Afterward" is a permanent celebration that began in the first century and continues today.

• The Feast: We are living in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. "Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!" (Revelation 19:9)
• The City: The Bride is the New Jerusalem, a perfect Cube (the shape of the Holy of Holies). "The city is laid out as a square... its length, breadth, and height are equal."_ (Revelation 21:16)

Because the Marriage is a finished fact, we are living in the "Afterward." Jesus gave us a parable to understand it

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb is the current life of the Church. We are the servants in the "highways and byways" inviting the world to a wedding that has already happened. By being "called out" into the Church, we are living in the "afterward" that Joel spoke of. We are the evidence that the Resurrection wasn't just a historical event for Jesus, but a current reality for everyone who "calls on the name of the Lord" (Joel 2:32).

The Interrupted Wedding:

Following the pouring out of the Spirit, Joel transitions to prophesying a desolation by Gentile forces. Joel specifies that "in those days", God would bring a Gentile army back to destroy Israel for good. This final judgment, described with the apocalyptic imagery of the sun and moon darkening (Joel 2:30-31), points directly to the Roman army in the 1st Century AD.

While not a Old testament pattern, I saw this verse in Joel stick out to me.

The word here is

The new-married man was, during a year, exempted from going out to war, or from any duties which might "press upon him" Deuteronomy 24:5. But nothing was to free from this common affliction of sorrow. Even the just newly married, although it were the very day of the bridal, were to leave the marriage-chamber and join in the common austerity of repentance.

In Joel's literal context, the "Day of the Lord" (judgment) is so close and so terrifying that it interrupts the wedding. The wedding is ready, the couple is in the chamber, but they have to stop and come out because the King is calling for a Fast.

In Joel’s day, the Bridegroom left the chamber of Joy to face a world of Judgment. At Easter, our Bridegroom left the chamber of Judgment (the grave) to bring us into a world of Joy.

In the New Testament Era, The Church (the already married Bride of Pentecost) is called out of the of the Upper Room. They "come out" to face the coming Day of Judgment (AD 70) as a light to the nations to call the world to the Ongoing Wedding Feast.