The prophets of old were men who reacted to Israel’s wrongdoing in a very straightforward manner. They did not mince words in dealing with their people’s transgressions against the law of the Lord. Whatever else may be said of them, and there is very much that might be said, they were men who called “a spade a spade” in their dealings with evil. Sometimes it cost them dearly, but they seemed always ready to pay the price in order to remain faithful in delivering the Lord’s message.

They were also quick to offer the solution to the sin problem (repentance, reformation and restoration) as well as a modicum of the “balm of Gilead” in healing the wounds left in the wake of it. The sinner who comes to himself and recognizes the disastrous consequences of his bad choices will need some sort of divine palliative to treat his injuries. In light of this need the prophets were just as hasty to inform such people of God’s mercy and forgiveness, while never underestimating or marginalizing the destructive nature of their wickedness. Micah illustrates this quality as he closes out his book. Having underscored the nature and seriousness of their evils, he speaks of God’s desire to forgive them and permit them to start anew:

Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old (Micah 7:18-20).

The word “sin” carries the idea of deviation from the right way or of missing the goal. “Transgression” suggests the notion of rebellion. “Iniquity” means to deviate from or to twist the standard. Other general terms employed by them include “to err” (Isa. 28:7; Ezek. 45:20) as a flock might stray away from its shepherd (Ezek. 34:16), as well as “to act wrongfully” which frequently appears in Ezekiel’s summaries dealing with individual responsibility (Ezek. 3:20; 18:21ff.; etc.). Such language is very expressive and is so frequent in the declarations of the prophets that it needs little illustration for the reader of these great spokesmen for God. Turn to almost any page in their writings and permit the eye to scan the page; somewhere on that page there is a condemnation of some act or attitude of the people. On many of them several will appear. Their courage in dealing forthrightly with evil is what set them apart in such stark contrast from the cheap counterfeits described as “false prophets” on those same pages.

On account of this persistent and petulant practice of the Lord’s representatives, they were frequently and sometimes rather violently opposed by those whose sins they condemned. Thus, Amaziah the priest of the idolatrous shrine at Bethel complained to the king that Amos had conspired against him, “The land is not able to bear all of his words” (Amos 7:10). He then told Amos to go to the land of Judah and never again prophesy at Bethel. He also accused him of prophesying for money and attacking the king’s sanctuary and the royal residence. Jeremiah was thrown into a muddy cistern for condemning the sins of the people; he languished so long that he almost died from the dank and darkness. Elijah fled from the fierce wrath of Jezebel, and yet refused all the while to hold back from pronouncing divine curses upon her and her whole house. During the days of the great drought he had to abandon the country in order to save his life. Micaiah the son of Imlah was put in prison and fed a diet of bread and water because of his prophecy of doom pronounced against Ahab. The prophet Isaiah is said to have been sawn in half because of his prophesies against the evil king Manasseh. The writer of Hebrews said that the world was not worthy of such remarkable men of faith (Heb. 11:37, 38).

Living as we do in the shadow of such great men of the past, why would we think that it is conceivable that our God would be happy with us if we were not to condemn the sins of our own generation? Yes, the men of our own time appeal to us (just as theirs did to them) to “prophesy smooth things” (Isa. 30:10), to preach to them positive preaching and avoid the mention of sin. But the true sons of the prophets will not be so inclined. We ought to be just as inclined as they were to proclaim the message of the Lord’s willingness to forgive. But in order for us to proceed on to that step we must work our way through the ever-present problem “iniquity, transgression and sin” first.

There is no other way. Only when sinners awaken to their evil ways will they recognize their need for forgiveness and listen to the divine appeal to be “reconciled to God.” Indeed, the temptation to short-cut the process is understandable. It is an altogether unpleasant business. When I go fishing for crappie (or “speckled perch” as the Floridians refer to them), I want to throw them right into the pan and fry them up. I find dressing fish unpleasant and even downright distasteful. After I have dressed a mess of fish sometimes I have to freeze them up for later because I have lost my taste for fish by the time I have performed the unsavory task of preparing them for the fryer. But anyone who has ever fished and brought home a stringer full of good ones knows that you cannot short-cut that process. The fish must first be scaled and cleaned in order to make them edible. Fish must be prepared for the frying pan. First they are cleaned, and then they are fried. But many fishermen find fish cleaning a most unsatisfying activity. Some of them so much so that they will throw every fish right back into the water. They do not like to scale or clean fish. So they just refuse to do it. They will take a picture of a really nice one and toss it right back into the current from whence it was drawn out.

And similarly, people must be prepared for the mercy and grace of God, or else they will quite simply see no need at all for it. The only way to get from here to there is by making them aware of their sins. It will not help them to attempt to minimize their sins, or to justify their wrongs, or to rectify their evils. The only way to get them to see the need for God’s mercy and grace is to identify them as sinners in no uncertain terms. For them to be forgiven they must be made aware of their sins and told that they must repent of them or calamity is on the way. That is precisely why the prophets preached as they did. And all of the human reasoning to the contrary will not change the facts of the case. The fact that some who claim to be preachers of the Word of God do not like this aspect of the work is altogether understandable. It is an unsavory business. There is nothing pleasant about it. But they are being derelict in their duty. We must also preach the sinfulness of man, just as they did, or people today will never awaken to their need for mercy or grace or salvation — and absent this recognition they will never experience the Lord’s forgiveness. To get to mercy and grace we must wade through the reality of iniquity, transgression and sin!