Comments by Joan Boney apostle/prophet
The prophets of the OT had so much deep grief to endure.
The kingdom had been divided into two parts (Judah & Israel) because of the sin of Solomon. The various kings were mostly evil doers in the sight of God and caused much sin among the people.
Then God turned Judah over to Babylon and the people of Judah were carried away captive for seventy-years as ordained by God. The wonderful house of God built by Solomon was stripped of the gold walls and ornaments and the silver was gone, though silver didn't amount to much in those days. Then the building was destroyed from the foundation up and later they had to build another foundation.
It would have been terrible to go through all these things, especially as a prophet. I feel grief over it when I read it.
But I also feel great joy when I see in these scriptures the work of God in setting forth HIS judgments which are totally righteous.
Background:
The 12 tribes of Israel (sons of Jacob renamed Israel by God) demanded a king to rule over them. God told Samuel, the prophet, to tell them what would happen if they got a king like the other nations.
I Samuel 8 ... 1 And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. 2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah:they were judges in Beersheba. 3 And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, 5 And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways:now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6 But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee:for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee.
9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice:howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.
10 And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that asked of him a king.
11 And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you:He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.
12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.
13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.
14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.
15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.
16 And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work.
17 He will take the tenth of your sheep:and ye shall be his servants.
18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day.
19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.
21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord.
22 And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.
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So God gave them a king, Saul, to rule over them
Saul disobeyed God so God removed the kingdom and the Spirit of God from Saul and gave the kingdom to David.
David died and God chose Solomon to replace David as king. God gave Solomon wisdom and Solomon was very rich. Peace was upon the land until Solomon built high places for the gods of his strange wives. God had warned Solomon twice about marrying these strange women but Solomon wouldn't listen to the warnings. God said they would turn his heart from God to their gods. And that is what happened. As penalty against Solomon, God divided the kingdom after Solomon died.
Now the kingdom is divided with one king ruling over the kingdom of Judah and another king ruling over the kingdom of Israel.
Some of these kings were extremely evil, Jeroboam and Ahab as examples of the epitome of evil, along with Jezebel, Ahab's wicked wife.
The prophets had to experience all of this.
It is the way I grieve when I see the heads of the churches today doing evil or misusing scripture as many do.
I know the grief of these prophets.
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Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth:
for the Lord hath spoken,
I have nourished and brought up children,
and they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knoweth his owner,
and the ass his master's crib:
but Israel doth not know,
my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity,
a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:
they have forsaken the Lord,
they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger,
they are gone away backward.
5 Why should ye be stricken any more?
ye will revolt more and more:
the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
6 From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it;
but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores:
they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities are burned with fire:
your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard,
as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city.
9 Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant,
we should have been as Sodom,
and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom;
give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord:
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts;
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When ye come to appear before me,
who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me;
the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with;
it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth:
they are a trouble unto me;
I am weary to bear them.
15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:
yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:
your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes;
cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well;
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured with the sword:
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become an harlot!
it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it;
but now murderers.
22 Thy silver is become dross,
thy wine mixed with water:
23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves:
every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards:
they judge not the fatherless,
neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the mighty One of Israel,
Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries,
and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon thee,
and purely purge away thy dross,
and take away all thy tin:
26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first,
and thy counsellors as at the beginning:
afterward thou shalt be called,
The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment,
and her converts with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together,
and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired,
and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,
and as a garden that hath no water.
31 And the strong shall be as tow,
and the maker of it as a spark,
and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
NASB ... 31 The strong man will become tinder, His work also a spark.
Thus they shall both burn together, And there will be none to quench them.
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Comments by Joan Boney
KJV ... 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning:
afterward thou shalt be called,
The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
NT apostles are like "judges", especially considering scripture and doctrine of the church with an anointing from God.
NT prophets certainly spend a lot of time delivering messages of correction and often counseling along with the correction.
One thing the NT church tried to say didn't exist today are apostles and prophets. That would be like removing judges and police ... then they could set up all manner of perversions inside the church itself.
It is easy for me to see why the apostle Paul said the following.
Acts 20 ... 22 And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. 24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.
25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. 27 For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. 31 Therefore watch,
Terrible perverse things go on in the Christian churches today. All manner of doctrines have taken over to explain away what the Bible says. (Mt. 5:32, Jesus says, 32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery:and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery... I've never heard it taught in any church group that the man who marries the divorced woman commits adultery, yet this is what Jesus said.)
Today in the NT church, the followers are taught a doctrine also where the fear of God is removed. They are being taught "it's under the blood" so all manner of sin is being approved in the congregation. But these evils are not approved by God in the churches and the time will come when HE will strongly judge both those who set up these false doctrines and those who live by these false doctrines.
The sadness I feel over what goes on in the churches today is like the sadness Isaiah and the prophets felt about the sins of Judah and Israel.
Yet I feel a great joy in reading such things as I Samuel, II Samuel, I Kings, II Kings, I Chronicles, II Chronicles and the books of the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and others for these books show the view of God. We will hope to go through all these books in the months ahead.
Concerning apostles & prophets in the NT church, the following should show you such do exist today.
Eph. 4 ... 7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Paul is not the last of the apostles as some churches teach.
Paul is the first of the NT apostles, for Paul is one of those gifts given to the church after Jesus arose, after the resurrection.
After Jesus arose, HE gave to the NT church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ... for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4)