How to Teach the Prophetic Books in Youth Ministry
This month’s series is focusing on how to teach the different genres of Scripture to youth. We all know there’s a big difference between a Ezekiel and Psalms, but how should that effect the way we study and teach those portions of God’s Word in our ministry? Subscribe to the blog to get forthcoming articles in this series.
Early in my years of ministry, I needed to fill in a 2-3 week gap in my midweek teaching schedule, and my pastor then suggested that I look into doing a short series on one of the minor prophets. I caught myself thinking, “Why would I do that? Those books are depressing and repetitive! It’s mostly God being angry because the Israelites are disobedient.” As I have matured as a youth leader, I realize that my thought process all those years ago was incredibly flawed.
Instead of shying away from specific genres of Scripture, I needed to take a Pauline approach found in Acts 20:27 and teach my students “the whole counsel of God's Word.” This meant finding and teaching the meaning and purpose in one of the most challenging genres of Scripture: the major and minor prophets.
Despite my initial reluctance, I have learned that these books (including the oft-overlooked minor prophets) hold true to what Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: they are all the inspired word of God, and they are all profitable to study. Students can learn a great deal by studying prophetic books, and their faith can be challenged through them.
Below are 4 recurring ideas I have discovered as I have sought to teach teenagers the major and minor prophets. These include several major themes and concepts that the prophets are uniquely helpful in making sense of, and as we seek to teach our students this difficult genre of Scripture, remembering these concepts can help guide our lesson preparation.
The Attributes of God
God reveals Himself in all of Scripture, and the prophets often highlight attributes to remind people what God is like. By studying the prophetic books, teenagers can get a targeted look at the attributes of God and how God communicates them to His people. In the prophetic books, God chooses specific people to deliver these messages to His people at specific times. There are two main types of God’s attributes: incommunicable and communicable, and both are present in the prophetic literature. Look for them.
Incommunicable attributes are those that, despite their being made in the image of God, humans do not share with Him. These include God being eternal, unchanging, self-sufficient, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. We see these types of attributes appear numerous times in the Prophets, where God is announced as unique (Isaiah 46:9), unchanging (Malachi 3:6), and omnipresent (Jeremiah 23:23-24). Incommunicable attributes are those that God reveals to His people to show how He is not like them. They are often meant to inspire confidence in God’s willingness and ability to rescue His people; because He is so far beyond a normal human, they ought to have greater confidence in Him. God reveals these attributes so that His people will fear and trust Him.
Communicable attributes are those that humanity shares with God as His image-bearers. These attributes include things like wisdom (Job 12:13), faithfulness (Jeremiah 10:10-11), goodness (Nahum 1:7), mercy, and patience (Hosea 11:4). These are the attributes of God, but are also those God expects His people to embody in their own lives, bringing Him glory in how they live. That means these are often the basis of prophetic rebuke and calls to repentance. He reveals these attributes so that His people can learn what it means to imitate the God who loves them.
The Coming Messiah
Biblical prophecy is often about a future event that the prophets were meant to deliver to a specific group of people. Many of these messages were to prepare them for a coming Messiah who would save them from their bondage. For the Israelites, bondage was an unfortunate experience during multiple periods of Old Testament history. They were enslaved by the Egyptians, persecuted by the Philistines, and exiled by the Babylonians. Through all this, God’s love for His people was often reemphasized by talking about His plan to send a Savior, with many prophets delivering messages about this coming rescue for God’s people. Isaiah 7 and 53 are excellent examples of this idea.
Although many thought this promised Messiah would save Israel from their oppressors, the greater reality was that God was going to save them from their sin. Jesus often identifies Himself as the fulfillment of these Old Testament prophecies, like in His encounter with disciples in Luke 24. In this passage, Jesus walks through the Old Testament with His disciples, and at the end, He explains how everything in Scripture points to Himself: that He is the Messiah who was prophesied. This recurring theme can help students to understand that the Old Testament points forward to Jesus just as the New Testament points back to Jesus. The Bible is centered on God's love and rescue plan for his people through Jesus, and there are glimpses of that from Genesis through Malachi.
The Importance of Holiness
Biblical prophecy announces this idea repeatedly: God’s expectation for His people is that they will look like Him: holy. But they often fall short of that standard. They are like sheep who are wandering and have chosen their own path (Isaiah 53:6). Their misplaced worship of things other than God has caused His judgment to be poured out on them (Jeremiah 1:16). They are like the prostitute wife who returns to the streets when she has a faithful, loving husband at home who redeemed her (Hosea 3:1). Thankfully, God also promises how He would make His people holy through His Messiah by giving them a new heart and a new spirit (Jer. 31:31-34).
Thankfully, we know that God kept these promises and sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could be forgiven. The judgment we deserved was paid for (Romans 4:24). The prophets call teenagers to turn to God and forsake their sin so that they can be made holy by the blood of Christ. God is calling them to live in a way that honors Him (2 Chronicles 15:4).
The Hard Callings of Christians
God’s people, like many of the prophets, are called to do difficult things. A perfect example is found in Ezekiel 1-3: where God calls Ezekiel, he objects to God’s call, and God reassures him of how God will provide for him. You may have had an experience similar to Ezekiel when you felt led toward ministry, where God called you, you objected to that call, and God reassured you of that calling.
But this is not limited to specific individuals. In fact, God’s people have always been called to live set apart, to bring God glory and make Him known, even in hostile contexts. Sometimes, like Jonah, Jeremiah, or Isaiah, God calls people to hard places to deliver hard messages.
What has God called your teenagers to do? The same kinds of difficult tasks. We can learn from the prophetic books what God’s call looks like and how He reassures us of his provision and faithfulness as we respond in obedience.
Conclusion
The prophetic books can be difficult to understand, let alone teach to a group of teenagers. Who wants to willingly stand up and teach teenagers about a prophet marrying a prostitute like God called Hosea? How many of us want to field questions from the students or parents after that?
Despite the challenges of teaching prophecy, that doesn't absolve us as leaders and disciple-makers. We should teach the whole counsel of God's Word. God has gifted us with prophetic books to help teenagers understand who He is, what He has done for them, and what He has called them to do for His kingdom. May we remind ourselves that He does this throughout all of Scripture, not just the easier passages. May we develop the confidence to, like the prophets, proclaim God’s Word to youth for His glory and our good.