What Were the Prophets of Israel Trying to Accomplish?

The Prophets of Israel Were Sent to Restore

The Prophets of Israel were God’s “mouth.” They were responsible for conveying the Word of God to the sons of Israel so that everyone in Israel might have sufficient knowledge of the Truth to be saved through faith (belief) in the Truth of the Word of God. Contrary to what many Christians today believe, New Testament Believers were not the first to be saved by faith in the Word of God. As the author of the Book of Hebrews plainly states, Old Testament Believers were also saved by faith (belief) in the Truth of the Word of God:

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
(Hebrews 11:39–40) —NASB

The first of the Prophets of Israel was Moses. At God’s behest, Moses taught the sons of Israel the meaning and significance of the parabolic images that explained God’s purpose in the birth, life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is, The Teaching of Moses utilized parabolic images and Hebrew idioms—which are the two constituent parts of parables—to teach concerning Jesus Christ.

The parables of The Teaching of Moses conveyed specific information about the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, that the sons of Israel needed to know and believe in order to be saved. Sadly, the sons of Israel did not believe The Teaching of Moses, so God repeatedly sent other Prophets of Israel to restore the Truth of the Word of God that Moses had taught the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. All of the prophecies of Moses and the Prophets of Israel ultimately explain God’s purpose in the birth, life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus said as much Himself on several occasions:

And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. … Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
(Luke 24:27, 44) —NASB

“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me.”
(John 5:45–46) —NASB

The fact that the sons of Israel ultimately crucified their Messiah provides sufficient evidence that they had somehow lost an accurate understanding of the Truth of The Teaching of Moses that the Prophets of Israel repeatedly restored. The Apostle Paul makes it clear they crucified their Messiah because they had long since lost insight into the Mystery that had been handed down to them by Moses and repeatedly restored by the Prophets of Israel:

Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden {wisdom}, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; {the wisdom} which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
(1 Corinthians 2:6–8) —NASB