When I study the prophets, I am looking for God. I’m not looking for an outline of what’s going to happen tomorrow or the events of the next few years. What I want to know is: What does God have to say, what does it mean, and how might it affect my life? Because God doesn’t change, if God came down on an ancient people because they behaved a certain way, I figure if I behave the same way that same God is liable to come down on me.

God doesn’t often speak to man, and when he does it pays to listen very carefully. And just because events were long ago doesn’t mean you and I can afford to ignore them. Now, I can throw out all the old clichés about history repeating itself, but in truth it comes down to this one simple fact: human nature doesn’t change and neither does God. If God has responded to human actions in the past, he is likely to respond the same way in the future. Which is why he said this to Isaiah:

Produce your case, says the Lord; bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they were, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare to us things to come.