DIFFERENT VIEW OF PROPHECY
For Jews and Christians, the most vivid images of prophets derive from Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and other prophetic writers of the Old Testament. Christians, of course, add Jesus to the list of prophets while also assigning to him other supernatural qualities that distinguish him from all other prophets.

Despite widespread affirmation of the role of prophets in the Bible, it is a curious fact that, except for prophecies regarding the Messiah, neither Jews nor Christians pay any real attention to most of what prophets have to say. Jews focus on scriptures that frame expectations about the coming Messiah, while Christians relish prophesies that anticipate either the first or second coming of a Messiah. Beyond these narrow views, warnings of the prophets are generally ignored.

These very different perspectives prove that prophecy is grossly misunderstood by both Jews and Christians. Both religions affirm the function of prophets and the validity of their prophecies, but, because they do not understand the symbolism of the prophecies, they do not pay attention to prophetic warnings that speak of their personal spiritual lives. Thus they deny what God says about all scripture being useful for training in personal righteousness.

Furthermore, they are unable to discern between false prophets and true prophets. This is predictable in Old/First Covenant religions that accumulate their various doctrines from the literal interpretations of scripture offered by many different religious leaders. However, failure to discern does not happen when the spirit of God speaks through the spirit of God to New Covenant disciples.