Preaching faithfully from the Old Testament is always a challenge. But preaching faithfully from the Old Testament Prophets is perhaps most challenging of all. “The books of Israel’s prophets are among the most difficult in the Old Testament, and probably among the most difficult books ever written.” Luther agreed: ““The prophets have a queer way of talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.”
Yet, despite the difficulty, we cannot neglect or avoid preaching the Prophets if we seek to declare to our people the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). Instead of telling you what to do, here is a brief list of what not to do when preaching from the Prophets. Consider the following a “not-to-do” checklist.
1. Don’t preach about the prophet. Preach the message of the prophetic book.
The first thing not to do when preaching from the Old Testament Prophets is to preach about the prophet. Instead preach the message of the divinely inspired book that bears the prophet’s name.
The Old Testament prophets are colorful characters.
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