THE WORD OF THE LORD came to me: 22“Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’? 23Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer quote it in Israel.’ Say to them, ‘The days are near when every vision will be fulfilled. 24For there will be no more false visions or flattering divinations among the people of Israel. 25But I the LORD will speak what I will, and it shall be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, you rebellious house, I will fulfill whatever I say, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”
26The word of the LORD came to me: 27“Son of man, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’
28“Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”
13:1The word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to those who prophesy out of their own imagination: ‘Hear the word of the LORD! 3This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 4Your prophets, O Israel, are like jackals among ruins. 5You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD. 6Their visions are false and their divinations a lie. They say, “The LORD declares,” when the LORD has not sent them; yet they expect their words to be fulfilled. 7Have you not seen false visions and uttered lying divinations when you say, “The LORD declares,” though I have not spoken?
8“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because of your false words and lying visions, I am against you, declares the Sovereign LORD. 9My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.
10“ ‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”
13“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: In my wrath I will unleash a violent wind, and in my anger hailstones and torrents of rain will fall with destructive fury. 14I will tear down the wall you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the LORD. 15So I will spend my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, 16those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign LORD.” ’
17“Now, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them 18and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? 19You have profaned me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.
20“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds. 21I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 22Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives, 23therefore you will no longer see false visions or practice divination. I will save my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the LORD.’ ”
Original Meaning
THE PROBLEM OF distinguishing between true and false prophecy had a long history in Israel. Alongside the true messenger of God, who brought God’s word to his people, were many imitators who bore a message of a different stamp. In Ezekiel 13, the prophet addresses the men and women who had appointed themselves Israel’s spiritual guardians. First, however, he turns to address a related issue in 12:21–28, the cynicism and general confusion that resulted from the conflicting messages that the people were hearing.
Confusion Over Prophecy (12:21–28)
AS HE DOES on a number of other occasions, Ezekiel addresses these issues by presenting two current popular sayings or slogans. (1) The first “proverb” of the people asserts the ineffectiveness of the prophetic word in general: “The days go by and every vision comes to nothing” (12:22). The people had grown so used to hearing visions proclaimed that never came about that some had come to the conclusion that all prophetic visions were nothing more than empty words. There was no such thing as genuine revelation from God, and the prophets could thus safely be disregarded. Time passed and nothing happened. Therefore, these people reckoned, nothing would ever happen. The Lord’s response through Ezekiel to such people was to throw a slightly revised form of their saying back in their faces. By changing the verbs of their formulation, he affirms: “The days are near when [lit., and] every vision will be fulfilled” (12:23).
Indeed, every vision would be fulfilled because of a twofold action on the Lord’s part. In the first place, there would be no more false visions or flattering divination among the people of Israel (12:24). The mention of the “false vision” (ḥazôn šāwʾ ) points forward to the worthless activities of the so-called “prophets of Israel,” which are criticized in the next chapter (cf. 13:6),1 while with the expression “no more” (lōʾ . . . ʿôd), we encounter a characteristic idiom of the prophet’s contrast between the way things were in the past and the way they would be in the future.2 False prophecy would be silenced, so that the people might no longer be led astray by it. In addition, however, true prophecy would be vindicated: The Lord will speak, and what he speaks will happen with no more delay (12:25).
The people had grown tired of waiting so long for the Lord to act in fulfillment of the words of the true prophets (Hab. 2:2–3). When the prophesied judgment of Jerusalem took place and the false prophets were cut off, then the people would know who were the true prophets, and that they had indeed spoken at God’s command (cf. Ezek. 2:5). This is God’s answer to the skeptics of Ezekiel’s day.
(2) Yet alongside these unbelievers was apparently a second party, the delayers. This group of people did not deny the effectiveness of the prophetic word in general. They simply hoped that this particular word of judgment would not take effect until a future generation. Their motto was, “The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future” (12:27). Such an attitude was not without historical justification. Isaiah’s prophecy to Hezekiah of a future Babylonian invasion of Judah and the enslavement of his descendants at their hands was recognized by Hezekiah as implying “peace in our time” (Isa. 39:5–8). Had not a whole series of prophets foretold the coming doom of Israel down through the years? Might not at least one more generation pass before the ax of judgment descended? This second group also receives a “no more” answer from the Lord: There will be no more delay; the Lord will fulfill whatever he has spoken (Ezek. 12:28).
The Lord’s commitment to fulfill whatever he has spoken (12:25, 28) brings us to the crux of the issue between the true and the false prophets—the source of their words. Not every word spoken by someone claiming to be a prophet would be fulfilled, for not all spoke the word of the Lord. In order for every prophetic word to be fulfilled, it was necessary that judgment should come to silence the self-proclaimed prophets. This idea, mentioned in passing in 12:24, is unfolded throughout chapter 13 in two halves that show considerable symmetry.3 Ezekiel first addresses the false prophets (“the prophets of Israel,” 13:1–16) and then the false prophetesses (“the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination,” 13:17–23).
Address to the False Prophets of Israel (13:1–16)
THE VERY TITLE Ezekiel gives his opponents—“the prophets of Israel” (13:1)—raises a paradox. In spite of the existence of a body of men who could be addressed thus, their ineffectiveness to accomplish the Lord’s purpose is such that he must still raise up someone like Ezekiel so that the people “will know that a prophet has been among them” (2:5).4 The foundational difference between Ezekiel and “the prophets of Israel” is the origin of their prophecy: The false prophets “prophesy out of their own imagination,” whereas Ezekiel declares the vision that the Sovereign Lord has revealed to him (cf. 11:25).
In 13:3 Ezekiel calls these people “foolish prophets [a pun on the similar sounding words nebîʾîm, prophets, and nebālîm, fools] who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing.” They confidently proclaim the divine origin of their words, saying, “Hear the word of the LORD” (13:2), and using the oracle formula, “The LORD declares” (13:6–7). They even hope to see what they have prophesied established (13:6), though in actuality they have no calling from Yahweh (13:7).
Because the message of the false prophets originates in their own hearts rather than in the Lord’s revelation, Ezekiel also criticizes the content—or rather, lack of content—of their messages. Their visions are false and their divinations a lie (13:6); this phrase and its variations form a constant refrain in 13:6–9. What their message consists of is revealed in verse 10: They have been prophesying “Peace,” when in fact no peace is to be expected.5
Such false comfort has had catastrophic results. In speaking according to their own hopes rather than the word of the Lord, they have seduced God’s people into a false security that will be devastatingly exposed on the coming day of judgment. This criticism of the prophets is expressed in a series of pictures. (1) They have acted “like jackals among ruins” (13:4). The Hebrew word translated “jackals” (šū’ālîm) also covers smaller scavengers such as “foxes.”6 Clearly this is not a positive image. The average jackal is not busy among the ruins with a trowel and construction helmet, rebuilding what has fallen down; rather, his presence there is a matter of self-interest, looking to pounce on any small animals hiding in cracks in the rocks. It seems from other passages in the Bible that the picture may be even more negative than that. The jackal/fox may be thought of as an agent of destruction, as in Nehemiah 4:3: “What they are building—if even a fox (šūʿâl) climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!”7
(2) Intent on pursuing their own prey, these skulking scavengers have failed to take on the dangerous, but necessary, task of standing in the gaps to build up a solid protection for Israel on the Day of the Lord (Ezek. 13:5). In this verse, the picture is changed to that of a besieged city. In ancient warfare, the attackers would build up a siege ramp, frequently to a corner of the city, in order to breach the walls higher up where they were thinner. Meanwhile the defenders would build a counter-ramp on the inside to enable the easy supply of materials to repair any breaches that were made.8 Only the bravest would be found at the breaks in the wall, for there the fighting would be at its fiercest. The false prophets, however, are more interested in their own personal security than the safety of the city.
(3) The third picture Ezekiel uses to describe the “prophets of Israel” also involves a wall. In 13:10–16 the image is of a poorly constructed wall,9 which the prophets rather than rebuilding properly merely cover with “whitewash,”10 thus giving it a misleadingly solid appearance. Its true nature will be exposed, however, by the coming of the storm. When the rain comes down in floods, with hailstones and violent winds, the wall will collapse to the destruction of all concerned in the venture (13:12–15).
The concern of the passage is not so much the fate of those who trust in the whitewashed wall, but that of those who have whitewashed it, that is, the false prophets. The divine hand will be raised in judgment on them,11 and it is decreed that “they will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel” (Ezek. 13:9). (1) To be excluded from “the council of my people” (sôd ʿammî) was to be cut off from their place in the assembly of the righteous, the true Israel.12 It is surely a fitting fate that those who have falsely claimed to be prophets, and thus to have access to the council of the Lord (sôd yhwh), will ultimately be excluded even from the council of his people.
(2) Further, their names will not “be listed in the records of the house of Israel” (13:9). To be left off the records of the people means being excluded from full participation in the community. The importance of such a list may be seen from Nehemiah 7, where the finding of a register listing those who first returned from exile became the basis on which certain families were excluded from the priesthood (Neh. 7:63–64 = Ezra 2:62–63).
(3) They will not “enter the land of Israel” (13:9). When Israel returns from exile, the false prophets will not participate in that return. Like rebellious Israel in the desert, they will not [re-]enter the Promised Land.
Address to the False Prophetesses of Israel (13:17–23)
THE CHARGE AGAINST the women who prophesy in the second part of Ezekiel 13 is both similar to and different from that against the prophets of Israel. In common with Ezekiel’s criticism of the prophets of Israel, the source of the women’s prophecy is identified as “out of their own imagination” (13:17). However, whereas the prophets of Israel were apparently prophesying in forms indistinguishable from those used by Ezekiel,13 the practices adopted by the women seem to have had magical overtones. Exactly what those practices are has been a matter for some debate because of the obscure terminology employed. It seems that the women were involved in tying magic bands of some kind (kesātôt, 13:18),14 though whether the object being tied up was the medium herself, the inquirer, or an image of the victim is not clear.
Further, the prophetesses are charged with making mispāḥôt for their heads (13:18). mispāḥôt occurs only here and in 13:21, and the common translation “veils” is at best a tentative suggestion on the basis of the context; they may equally well have been amulets worn around the neck. How those veils or amulets functioned is also a matter of conjecture. Whatever the precise form of their actions, however, they are not those of a true prophet (or prophetess) of the Lord.
The prophesying women are apparently concerned more with the future of individuals than the fate of the nation. They mediate life and death to “the righteous” and “the wicked” (13:22). There is certainly nothing wrong in such concerns; such themes are part of Ezekiel’s own calling to prophetic ministry (see 3:17–21; 33:1–9). The women are not criticized for dealing with the wrong questions but for giving the wrong answers. They “disheartened the righteous with [their] lies, when I had brought them no grief, and . . . encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives” (13:22). In other words, their magically derived oracles are upsetting the moral and spiritual order, afflicting those who ought not to have been afflicted and comforting those who ought not to have been comforted.
In doing this, the prophesying women are motivated not by divine calling but by pursuit of personal profit in the form of small payments of barley and bread.15 The result of their activities is deadly, killing “those who should not have died” and sparing “those who should not live” (13:19). They are, in a graphic image, “ensnar[ing] people like birds” (13:20), that is, regarding both their clients and their communities as disposable objects, to be exploited in whatever ways proved profitable. These statements should be read against the background of Ezekiel’s own call to be a watchman, warning the wicked to turn from their ways and encouraging the righteous to remain steadfast (3:17–21; 33:1–9). Fulfillment of this role is a means of turning the wicked from death to life and releases the prophet from responsibility for them. The women’s destructive work in this area, however, prevents the wicked from becoming aware of their true state, putting both their lives and the women’s own lives in jeopardy (13:18).
As with the condemnation of the prophets of Israel, there is a focus on the negative results of the activities of the prophesying women. They have lied to the people, who in turn have listened to their lies (13:19). Out of concern for the people of Israel, referred to as “my people” five times in this chapter (Ezek. 13:9, 10, 19, 21, 23), the Lord will act to break the power of the prophesying women over the people, destroying their equipment so that the people will no longer be their victims (13:20–21).
The closing verses of the chapter (13:22–23), while still grammatically addressed to the women, pick up themes from the first section to round off the whole. The “prophets of Israel” and the “[women] who prophesy” both oppose in different ways the ministry to which God has called Ezekiel.16 The “prophets of Israel” are a stumbling block to the reception of Ezekiel’s message of national judgment by the people, while the “[women] who prophesy” undermine his calling to proclaim life to the righteous and to warn the wicked to turn from their ways. To be opposed to the prophet God has sent is to be a false prophet (ess), ensnaring the people rather than setting them free, causing distress to the righteous and false confidence to the wicked.
In this way, both righteous and wicked are trapped as they come to believe inaccurate and false ideas about God’s plan for his people. Ezekiel asserts that the future fate of his opponents will show him to have been the true prophet of the Lord. When the Lord acts to destroy the works of his opponents, then the people “will know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 13:14, 21, 23) and (by implication) that Ezekiel has acted as his true prophet. The coming of the truth will indeed set them free. Then the unbelievers and delayers will be answered in full.
Bridging Contexts
SPEAKING GOD’S WORD TODAY. It may seem as if the world of ancient prophets and prophetesses is very different from ours, until we consider what a wide variety of sources people around us turn to in order to determine the future. We too live in a world where many people claim to speak for God, both inside and outside the church.17 We too live in a world where people readily turn to superstition for guidance, consulting their daily horoscope in the newspaper or calling “dial a psychic.” Though we may not have an officially sponsored “magical” worldview, as the Babylonians did, popular attitudes are often much closer to the old paganism than we might expect.18 These false ideas trap people by making it harder for them to hear God’s Word.
What has changed for us, however, is the form in which God’s revelation comes. For Ezekiel, God’s word came to him directly. To be sure, in some instances he had God’s earlier self-revelation to judge it by. Thus his prophecies are strongly influenced by references to the events of biblical history and in places he adapts the words of other prophets, notably Jeremiah and Zephaniah (e.g., cf. Ezek. 22:25–28 with Zeph. 3:3–4). His prophecies did not come to him in a vacuum, but what marked him out from his opponents was that he spoke as one directly and inerrantly inspired by God. He had stood in God’s council, heard his words, and received his commission; therefore he spoke. When Ezekiel said “This is what the Sovereign LORD says. . . ,” he spoke the truth.
The false prophets, by contrast, spoke out of their own imagination. They pretended to such inspiration, even adopting similar formulas (“The LORD declares. . . ,” Ezek. 13:6–7), yet there was no reality of revelation to back up their words. The visions they claimed to have seen were empty lies, not the real thing.
Our situation is different from Ezekiel’s. We who speak God’s word today do so “second-hand,” as it were. We do not speak as those who have received a direct, personal message from God, but as those who have the full and completely inspired Word of God, the Scriptures. Our task is to take that word and apply it to our contemporary situation. The contrast in our day between “true prophet” and “false prophet” is not so much as to who has really received the word of God, but rather who is rightly handling the Word of God.
At first sight, it might seem to be a disadvantage to be living in a time of mediate rather than immediate revelation. It might seem attractive to be able to declare to our congregations as the prophets did, “This is what the LORD says . . . ,” and then proceed with God’s direct revelation for today. Yet the difficulties experienced by God’s people in discerning between true and false prophets and between true and false prophecies, then and now, point us in the other direction. Actually, we are the advantaged ones, for our congregations can test our words against an infallible measuring rod, the completed Scriptures.
However, even though the Scriptures are infallible, our exegesis of them is not. Not everything in the Bible is equally clear, nor is it always clear which particular text is appropriate to a particular situation, or which texts provide the context in the light of which other texts should be read. These facts should lead us to cautious humility when it comes to identifying our opponents as “false prophets.” Other believers may, while seeking to apply Scripture to the same situation as ourselves, come to different conclusions from us. The issue between us in this case is not whether there is a revelation from God or whether Scripture applies to a particular situation, but what that revelation requires us to do. With such people, we should be willing to enter patient dialogue, seeking to grow in our mutual understanding of how the Word applies to this particular problem.
Misreading God’s Word. But we also encounter in our situation those who disbelieve in the reality of any revelation at all, just as Ezekiel did. Here our concern is not so much with those holding other religious convictions or no religious convictions, but with those who while claiming to be Christians actually undermine the Bible as the basis for theology. This may take the form of a soothing semiorthodoxy, proclaiming a partial message that sounds like the truth, but is actually a distortion. Such preachers may mention only the positive aspect of salvation, while ignoring the uncomfortable realities of God’s wrath on sin and the judgment to come.
Or it may take the form of a more radical revisioning of Christianity in the likeness of pagan religions, addressing God as “Divine Father/Mother” or “Sophia.”19 The basis of these first two positions is ultimately a denial of the reality of the Bible as the ultimate revelation of God and the sole standard for faith and practice.
In addition, we have those who, while recognizing the Bible as a revelation from God, blunt its message by applying it to a time other than our own. This may take the form of an eschatologically overworked imagination, which pushes the significance of the Bible into the future. On this approach, the Bible is seen as a source book for end-times prophecies rather than a message that speaks to us in our everyday life.
However, perhaps more common in our situation is a more subtle form of this problem, which pushes the significance of the Bible back into the past. For such people, the historical and cultural rootedness of the Scriptures provides a reason for abandoning its teaching in our present historical and cultural context. For instance, instead of considering how Paul’s teaching on the role of women both challenges and affirms aspects of our own culture, it is held that while Paul may have had something true (and even inspired) to say to the people of his day, before it can say anything to us, his teaching must be brought up to date and into line with the times in which we live.
Even such a well-respected evangelical scholar as F. F. Bruce could fall into this error. In discussing Paul’s view of the role of women in the ministry of the church, he concluded: “Whatever in Paul’s teaching promotes true freedom is of universal and permanent validity; whatever seems to impose restrictions on true freedom has regard to local and temporary conditions.”20 For Bruce, this extrabiblical criterion—“true freedom”—became the means by which Scripture’s less palatable teachings were ruled of no relevance for the present day. Now this is not to suggest that there are not difficult questions to answer about how particular Scriptures should be applied in changed cultural conditions; however, in principle the answer to that difficulty is fundamentally to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, rather than to submit it to modern consciousness for arbitration.21
Such teachings are no less destructive in our era than they were in days of old. The result of both kinds of teaching is that people are confused about what the Bible says and how, if at all, it relates to us. The word of warning to the false prophets and prophetesses is still valid. There is no place among God’s people for those who seek to lead them astray. Yet the comfort for God’s people remains. When the Lord ultimately acts, it will be seen definitively who has rightly handled his Word.
Contemporary Significance
RESPONDING TO THE present Babel. “If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Cor. 14:8). So Paul describes the babble of conflicting voices heard in the Corinthian church. There was no clear message—no “revelation or knowledge or prophecy or word of instruction” (14:6)—and the result was an unedifying confusion. A similar confusion reigns in the church of our day. There have never been more different denominations and factions within denominations, each proclaiming a different message to the world. No wonder the world is confused as to what the essential message of Christianity is!
How should we who make up the church respond to the present Babel? On the one hand, it is more essential than ever that those within the church who affirm the Scriptures as the divinely inspired Word of God, the sole rule of faith and practice, should work together to seek to resolve old problems and bury irrelevant distinctions. Past history should not keep us apart where the Scriptures do not. The force of Jesus’ high priestly prayer for the full unity of those who will believe in him should be fully felt (John 17:23), not least because the result of that unity will be the world knowing that the Father has commissioned and sent the Son. It is a travesty when racial, social, and historical differences divide the church of Christ.
On the other hand, however, we should recognize that the current cacophony is not simply the result of a disagreement among family members. Satan’s strategy is to imitate God’s means of self-revelation in order to confuse the message. Wherever there are prophets, there are also false prophets. Wherever there are those preaching the truth, there are also those propagating lies. Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:22–23: “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” It is not enough to be sincere; it is not enough to make great claims about yourself; what counts is knowing God and faithfully declaring his Word.
We are therefore not automatically to believe those who claim to be speaking the Word of God to us. As John instructs us, we are to test every spirit (1 John 4:1). If someone is of God, then he or she will confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2). The need to test those who claim to bring God’s message to us did not come to an end in Ezekiel’s day; it was true in New Testament times and it is true today. We are to apply the test that the Bereans are commended for: They “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11). We are not to be taken in by lofty claims, but rather to test all things by the standard of the Word of God. In some instances, that may mean separating from those who claim to be Christians but fail the test. We should not allow historical accidents to hold us together with those from whom the Scripture insists that we part.
Motivation behind failure to prophesy correctly. What was it, though, that motivated the false prophets? Why would people claim to speak for God when they had received no such commissioning? Why would someone prophesy a peace for which he had no evidence? It’s really very simple, isn’t it? People want to hear good news. When the terminally ill patient comes to his physician and says, “Tell me the truth, Doctor, is it serious? Am I going to die?” which is easier: to tell the uncomfortable truth or gloss it over with optimistic words? It is much easier to tell people happy news than sad news—especially if that sad news involves a judgment on their lifestyle. The bottom line for the false prophets was comfort for themselves, self-interest rather than telling the people what they really needed to hear. It is so much easier to build on sand than to dig down to the solid rock. But when the flood comes, the difference in foundation is immediately apparent (Matt. 7:24–27).
In truth, all of us who preach or talk to others about Christianity are familiar with the temptation to be a false prophet from time to time. Sometimes the temptation is to be a jackal. As a jackal, the ruins of other people’s lives are of no account to you so long as you have the things you need. You have little concern for those around you going to a lost eternity in hell; your own interests are more important.
At other times, perhaps the temptation is to be a draft-dodger, happy to let others stand in the gap rather than you. Your security and safety are what are really important to you. So you do not witness to those at work or at school because they might laugh at you or think you are weird. Not for you a place on the front lines of evangelism. You’d rather watch from the sidelines.
At still other times, the temptation comes to be a whitewasher. You never confront anyone about their sinful lifestyle. Instead, by your silence, you whitewash their wall. Should I witness to that family member who is a Mormon? Why, he lives such a good moral life! Splish, Splash! On goes another coat of whitewash. Should I inquire whether my family members are really trusting in Jesus for their salvation? But they all go to church, don’t they? Splish! Splash! The appearance is all that counts. If the truth be told, there is a little bit of each of these categories of false prophet within each of us.
Jesus Christ, the true prophet. We should not leave this passage, however, without considering how Christ has fulfilled the role of true prophet. The man who stood in the gap in the city wall on the day of battle was risking his own life for the good of others. Jesus not only risked his life but gave his own life freely, pouring out his blood on the cross for you and me. Jesus did not let his own security stand in the way of doing God’s work, nor did he guard his own comfort. Instead, for the sake of his people, he “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Phil. 2:7–8).
Nor was Jesus ever willing to whitewash over people’s sins, as a cursory glance at the Gospels will show. He had a better way of dealing with human sins than to cover them with whitewash; he covered them with his atoning blood. As a result, Christ’s people are those who have “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). He is himself both the foundation on which they build and the One who is able to make what they have built stand forever. The wise person is indeed the one who is built on such a rock, which is alone able to withstand the storm of the Final Judgment.