CHAPTER 5 THE TEACHINGS, DEMANDS
AND WARNINGS OF THE PROPHETS

GOD’S NATURE AND PROGRAM

God the Creator of everything
The King of Heaven, the Judge of all
God is the Living, Unchanging God
God is with us
God is no idol; no false god. He made everything there is
God is coming with Mighty Power
In Jerusalem the Lord is Judge, Lawgiver and King
God wants his people to obey his Laws
God is the Lord of Justice and Righteousness, Holy with Love and Truth
God is the First and the Last
Let all the people of the world look to God for Salvation
The Lord is a Wonderful Teacher
The Lord is closely watching all mankind, all the peoples on earth

[Note for the Reader: Quotations from the Prophets sometimes show the original text. Elsewhere they are given as first person responses to indicate the mode of obedience required.]

God the Creator of everything
ISAIAH 43:13
(adapted)
From eternity to eternity God is God. No one can oppose what he does.
ISAIAH 48:12-13
Listen to me my people, my chosen ones! I alone am God. I am the First; I am the Last. It was my hand that laid the foundations of the earth; the palm of my right hand spread out the heavens above; I spoke and they came into being.
JEREMIAH 10:12-13
…but our God formed the earth by his power and wisdom, and by his intelligence he hung the stars in space and stretched out the heavens. It is his voice that echoes in the thunder of the storm clouds. He causes mist to rise upon the earth; he sends the lightning and brings the rain, and from his treasuries he brings the wind.
ISAIAH 44:23-24
Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done this wonderful thing. Shout, O earth; break forth into song, O mountains and forests, yes, and every tree; for the Lord redeemed Jacob and is glorified in Israel! The Lord your Redeemer who made you, says, All things were made by me; I alone stretched out the heavens. By myself I made the earth and everything in it.
ISAIAH 45:6-8
…and all the world from east to west will know that there is no other God. I am Jehovah and there is no one else. I alone am God. I form the light and make the dark. I send good times and bad. I, Jehovah, am he who does these things. Open up O heavens. Let the skies pour out their righteousness. Let salvation and righteousness sprout up together from the earth. I, Jehovah, created them.
JEREMIAH 27:5
By my great power I have made the earth and all mankind and every animal; and I give these things of mine to anyone I want to.
ZECHARIAH 12:1
…the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, and laid the foundation of the earth, and formed the spirit of man within him:
JEREMIAH 10:6-7
O Lord, there is no other god like you. For you are great and your name is full of power. Who would not fear you, O King of nations? (And that title belongs to you alone!) Among all the wise men of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world there isn’t anyone like you.

The King of Heaven, the Judge of all
DANIEL 4:34-37
“At the end of seven years I, Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon), looked up to heaven, and my sanity returned, and I praised and worshipped the Most High God and honored him who lives forever, whose rule is everlasting, and whose kingdom is for evermore. All the people of the earth are nothing when compared with him; he does whatever he thinks best among the company of heaven, as well as here among the inhabitants of earth. No one can stop him or challenge him, saying, ‘What do you mean by doing these things?” When my mind returned to me, so did my honor and glory and kingdom. My counselors and officers came back to me and I was re-established as head of my kingdom, with even greater honor than before.”
“Now, I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and glorify and honor the King of Heaven, the Judge of all, whose very act is right and good; for he is able to take those who walk proudly and push them into the dust!”

God is the Living, Unchanging God
DANIEL 6:25-27
Afterwards King Darius wrote this message addressed to everyone in his empire:
“Greetings! I decree that everyone shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel in every part of my kingdom. For his God is the living, unchanging God whose kingdom shall never be destroyed and whose power shall never end. He delivers his people, preserving them from harm; he does great miracles in heaven and earth; it is he who delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”

God is with us
JEREMIAH 32:27
I am the Lord, the God of all mankind; is there anything too hard for me?
ZECHARIAH 2:13
“Be silent, all mankind, before the Lord, for he has come to earth from heaven, from his holy home.”
ISAIAH 6:3
They sang to each other, “Holy, Holy, Holy (Faultless, Perfect and Complete) is the Lord of heaven’s armies; the whole earth is filled with his glory.”
HOSEA 11:9
(adapted)
God is God and not man; God is the holy one living among us.
ISAIAH 8:9-10
Immanuel – “God is with us.”
HABAKKUK 2:20
“But the Lord is in his Holy Temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
EZEKIEL 43:12
… This is the basic law of the Temple: HOLINESS! – Godliness, Moral Purity and Righteousness!
ISAIAH 43:15
(adapted)
God is the Lord, Israel’s Holy One, Creator and King.
ISAIAH 10:17
God, the Light and the Holy One of Israel.

God is no idol, no false god. He made everything there is
JEREMIAH 51:15-19
God made the earth by his power and wisdom. He stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he speaks there is thunder in the heavens and he causes the vapors to rise around the world; he brings the lightning with the rain and the winds from his treasuries. Compared with him, all men are stupid beasts. They have no wisdom – none at all! The silversmith is dulled by the images he makes, for in making them he lies; for he calls them gods, when there is not a breath of life in them all. Idols are nothing! They are lies. And the time is coming when God will come and see, and shall destroy them all. But the God of Israel in no idol! For he made everything there is, and Israel is his nation; the Lord of heaven’s armies is his name.

God is coming with Mighty Power
ISAIAH 40:1-31
Comfort, Oh, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and tell her that her sad days are gone. Her sins are pardoned, and the Lord will give her twice as many blessings as he gave her punishments before.
Listen! I hear the voice of someone shouting, “Make a road for the Lord through the wilderness; make him a straight, smooth road through the desert. Fill the valleys; level the hills; straighten out the crooked paths and smooth off the rough spots in the road. The glory of the Lord will be seen by all mankind together.” The Lord has spoken – it shall be.
The voice says, “Shout!”
“What shall I shout?” I asked.
“Shout that man is like the grass that dies away, and all his beauty fades like dying flowers. The grass withers, the flower fades beneath the breath of God. And so it is with fragile man. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the Word of our God shall stand forever.”
O Crier of Good News, shout to Jerusalem from the mountain tops! Shout louder – don’t be afraid – tell the cities of Judah, “Your God is coming!” Yes, the Lord God is coming with mighty power; he will rule with awesome strength. He will give everyone his just deserts. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will carry the lambs in his arms and gently lead the ewes with young.
Who else has held the oceans in his hands and measured off the heavens with his ruler? Who else knows the weight of all the earth and weighs the mountains and the hills? Who can advise the Spirit of the Lord or be his teacher or give him counsel?
Has he ever needed anyone’s advice? Did he need instruction as to what is right and best? No, for all the peoples of the world are nothing in comparison with him – they are but a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales. He picks up the islands as though they had no weight at all. All of Lebanon’s forests do not contain sufficient fuel to consume a sacrifice large enough to honor him, nor are all its animals enough to offer to our God. All the nations are as nothing to him; in his eyes they are less than nothing – mere emptiness and froth.
How can we describe God? With what can we compare him? With an idol? An idol, made from a mould, overlaid with gold, and with silver chains around its neck? The man too poor to buy expensive gods like that will find a tree free from rot and hire a man to carve a face on it, and that’s his god – a god that cannot even move!
Are you ignorant? Are you so deaf to the words of God – the words he gave before the worlds began? Have you never heard nor understood? It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. (The people below must seem to him like grasshoppers!) He is the one who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. He dooms the great men of the world and brings them all to naught. They hardly get started, barely take root, when he blows on them and their work withers and the wind carries them off like straw.
“With whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
Look up into the heavens! Who created all these stars? As a shepherd leads his sheep, calling each by its pet name, and counts them to see that none are lost or strayed, so God does with stars and planets!
O Jacob, O Israel, how can you say that the Lord doesn’t see your troubles and isn’t being fair? Don’t you yet understand? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall walk and not faint.

In Jerusalem the Lord is Judge, Lawgiver and King
ISAIAH 33:5-6
The Lord is very great, and lives in heaven. He will make Jerusalem the home of justice and goodness and righteousness. An abundance of salvation is stored up for Judah in a safe place, along with wisdom and knowledge and reverence for God.
ISAIAH 33:20-22
(Instead) you will see Jerusalem at peace, a place where God is worshipped, a city quiet and unmoved. The glorious Lord will be to us as a wide river of protection, and no enemy can cross. For the Lord is our Judge, our Lawgiver and our King; he will care for us and save us.

God wants his people to obey his Laws
ISAIAH 42:21-25
The Lord has magnified his law and made it truly glorious. Through it he had planned to show the world that he is righteous. But what a sight his people are – these who were to demonstrate to all the world the glory of his law; for they are robbed, enslaved, imprisoned, trapped, fair game for all, with no one to protect them. Won’t even one of you apply these lessons from the past and see the ruin that awaits you up ahead? Who let Israel be robbed and hurt?
Did not the Lord? It is the Lord they sinned against, for they would not go where he sent them nor listen to his laws. That is why God poured out such fury and wrath on his people and destroyed them in battle. Yet, though set on fire and burned, they will not understand the reason why – that it is God, wanting them to repent.

God is the Lord of Justice and Righteousness, Holy with Love and Truth
JEREMIAH 9:23-24
The Lord says: Let the wise man not bask in his wisdom, nor the mighty man in his might, nor the rich man in his riches. Let them boast in this alone: That they truly know me, and understand that I am the Lord of Justice and of Righteousness whose love is steadfast; and that I love to be this way.
ISAIAH 5:16
The Lord of heaven’s armies is exalted (raised high) above all, for he alone is holy, just and good.
ZECHARIAH 8:8
… I will be their God, just and true and yet forgiving them their sins.
(“I will be their God in truth and in righteousness.”)
JEREMIAH 50:7
…The Lord, the God of Justice, the hope of their fathers.
ISAIAH 61:8
(adapted)
The Lord loves justice; he hates robbery and wrong.
JEREMIAH 10:10
But the Lord is the only true God, the living God, the everlasting King. The whole earth shall tremble at his anger; the world will hide at his displeasure.
ISAIAH 43:10-11
(adapted)
God alone is God. There is no other God; there never was and never will be. God is the Lord, and there is no other Savior.

God is the First and the Last
ISAIAH 44:6-8
The Lord, the King of Israel, says – yes, it is Israel’s Redeemer, the Lord of the armies of heaven, who says it – I am the First and Last; there is no other God. Who else can tell you what is going to happen in the days ahead? Let them tell you if they can, and prove their power. Let them do as I have done since ancient times. Don’t, don’t be afraid. Haven’t I proclaimed from ages past [that I would save you]? You are my witnesses – is there any other God? No! None that I know about! There is no other Rock!

Let all the people of the world look to God for Salvation
ISAIAH 45:21b-23
For there is no other God but me – a just God and a Savior – no, not one! Let all the entire world look to me for salvation! For I am God; there is no other. I have sworn by myself and I will never go back on my word, for it is true – that every knee in all the world shall bow to me, and every tongue (every language) shall swear allegiance (swear loyalty) to my name.
HOSEA 13:4
(adapted)
God alone is God, our Lord, and has been ever since he brought Israel out from Egypt. We have no God but God, for there is no other Savior.
ISAIAH 45:15-19
Truly, O God of Israel, Savior, you work in strange mysterious ways. All who worship idols shall be disappointed and ashamed. But Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with eternal salvation; they shall never be disappointed in their God through all eternity. For Jehovah created the heavens and earth and put everything in place, and he made the world to be lived in, not to be an empty chaos. I am Jehovah, he says, and there is no other! I publicly proclaim bold promises; I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner so that no one can know what I mean. And I didn’t tell Israel to ask me for what I didn’t plan to give! No, for I, Jehovah, speak only truth and righteousness.
JONAH 2:9
Deliverance comes from the Lord alone.
ISAIAH 51:6b
The Lord’s salvation lasts forever; his righteous rule will never die nor end.

The Lord is a Wonderful Teacher
ISAIAH 28:29
The Lord of heaven’s armies is a wonderful teacher and he gives the farmer wisdom.
ISAIAH 28:26
The farmer knows just what to do, for God has made him see and understand.
ISAIAH 52:6
(adapted)
The Lord will reveal his name to his people and they shall know the power in that name. Then at last they will recognize that it is he, yes, he, who speaks to them.
ISAIAH 8:16
Write down all these things I am going to do, says the Lord, and seal it up for the future. Entrust it to some godly man to pass it on down to godly men of future generations.
MALACHI 2:7
Priests’ lips should flow with the knowledge of God so the people will learn God’s laws. The priests are the messengers of the Lord of heaven’s armies, and men should come to them for guidance.
ZECHARIAH 1:5-6
God’s Word endures (remains in existence)!
ISAIAH 34:16
Search the Book of the Lord and see all that he will do; not one detail will he miss…the Lord has said it, and his Spirit will make it all come true.
EZEKIEL 12:25
For I am the Lord! What I threaten (I warn) always happens.

The Lord is closely watching all mankind, all the peoples on earth
JEREMIAH 23:23-24
Am I a God who is only in one place and cannot see what they are doing? Can anyone hide from me? Am I not everywhere in all of heaven and earth?
ZECHARIAH 9:1
…the Lord is closely watching all mankind (everyone, everywhere), not only Israel (for the cities of Syria belong to the Lord, as much as do the tribes of Israel).
DANIEL 4:25
“…the Most High God dominates the kingdoms of men, and gives power to anyone he chooses.”
DANIEL 4:32
“…God parcels out the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he chooses.”
DANIEL 4:17
“…the Most High dominates the kingdoms of the world, and gives them to anyone he wants to, even the lowliest of men!”
MALACHI 1:5
O Israel, lift your eyes to see what God is doing all around the world; then you will say, “Truly the Lord’s great power goes far beyond our borders!”
MALACHI 1:11
“But my name will be honored by the Gentiles from morning till night. All around the world they will offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of heaven’s armies.
HABAKKUK 2:14
(The time will come when all the earth is filled, as the waters fill the sea, with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.”
JEREMIAH 29:10b-13
…But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.