(Note: I stole some of this from a sermon I posted two years ago.)
Prophets are popularly thought of as people who “know” things to tell others, typically things about the future. In a Christian context, they are understood to receive messages from God via supernatural revelation.
While Prophets often do reveal messages about the future from God, there is data that shows us that communication in the opposite direction is equally part of their task and definition. Thus, God says to Abimelech, “Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live” (Genesis 20.7a). There are couple of other passages that are interesting but not as persuasive on their own: Jeremiah 37.3; 42.2-4. But one will note that the prophets, in the midst of their receptions of messages, also record their own prayers as part of the prophetic documents.
Abraham led his family in worship and offered sacrifices, so why didn’t God tell Abimelech that Abraham was a priest who could pray for him? Why is praying for another person associated with the office of prophet?
The issue, I think, is access. God tells Jeremiah what makes a good prophet:
Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
Behold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until he has executed and accomplished
the intents of his heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.”
Prophets have access to God’s council. This brings us back to Abraham who, as a prophet, did not simply receive information about the future, but also was, in that same instance, called upon to interced for Lot and thus for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18.16-33).
I think this point about prophets is related to the term “saint,” which is used over and over again to describe Christians and as a name for them.
The easiest thing to do is to say that a saint is a “holy one” and just assume we all know what holiness is and let it go at that. I don’t think that really explains anything to us. Yes, a saint is a Latin derivative that translates the Hebrew and Greek terms for “holy one.” But what does that mean?
The first time we find the word holy used as a noun it is used in Exodus 3.5 when Moses meets God in the burning bush. God tells him to remove his shoes because he is standing on holy ground. Normally the ground is cursed because of sin but when God draws near his presence makes the cursed ground holy so that it is an insult to wear shoes as if one needed protection from it.
So that’s one story. God drew near to a particular place at a particular time and that meant that the ground that he touched down upon was holy and had to be treated accordingly.
Another story is the story of Passover with the resulting law set down for Israel in Exodus 13.3 that every first born animal was to be “sanctified”—made holy. How does one sanctify a firstborn? Well in the case of an animal that is acceptable on the altar, sanctifying the firstborn meant bringing it to the central sanctuary and offering it up into God’s presence from the sanctuary altar.
That leads us to another story, the story of when God came down on Mount Sinai, once again that piece of geography had to be treated as “holy”—as special due to God’s special presence there. On that Mountain, God instructed the Israelites to build him a tent in which to live. That tent had different sections: the outer section was called “the holy place” and the interior section where God’s footstool dwelt was called “the holy of holies.” And that whole structure, that Tabernacle, was known as God’s “holiness” or “holy thing” or “holy place.” But it is translated the first time it is mentioned in Exodus 25.8 this way: “And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them.” Sanctuary, like saint, is an English terms we have derived from our Latin roots. Santus—“holy”—is the root of both saint and sanctuary, holy one and holy place.
In fact, it is in remembering Sinai that we first have a reference to people as “holy ones” or saints. Moses gives a blessing that recounts what happened:
The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; [angels]
At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.
Indeed, He loves the people;
All Your holy ones are in Your hand,
And they followed in Your steps;
Everyone receives of Your words.
Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob [33.2-4].
When God is enthroned at Sinai, it is appropriate to refer to his angels as “holy ones”; and when at the same time God is enthroned among his people, it is appropriate to refer to them as “holy ones,” saints, as well.
We typically think of holiness as a certain kind of moral quality. Someone is holy if he is righteous or godly. That’s true but it is a secondary development.
The primary meaning of holy is simply near to God’s special presence (in the case of God Himself holiness probably refers to His own independent integrity which also reminds us of his transcendence and separation from creation). Some things come near to God and they have no business being there so God expels them by destroying them or banishing them. They are not holy and therefore may not get that close. Other things belong near to God so that they can be called holy even if they are separated from God’s presence—they are meant to be brought to Him. The idea there is that they shouldn’t be so separated.
Related to this concept of holiness is the fact that those who are brought near to God need to behave in a way that is appropriate for being in God’s presence. But the moral quality is secondary.
So saints are saints because they have been given access to God’s sanctuary. Saints have sanctuary privileges. They belong in God’s presence and are part of his inner sanctum. The fact that both words in English come from the same Latin word is actually convenient. Remember the meaning of the word saint by hearing the first syllable of the word sanctuary.
The sanctuary, remember, is where God is enthroned. Beyond the holy place in the Holy of Holies was the Ark of the Covenant overshadowed by two golden Cherubim. The Bible declares that God was enthroned above those Cherubim so that the Ark was his footstool (First Chronicles 28.2; Psalm 99.5; 132.7). As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 98—a Psalm all about God’s ruler over the world from his throne—“Holiness befits your house, O LORD.”
This is the legal position of all Christians. We are all given authorized access to God’s throne room. Saints have sanctuary access. We are part of God’s inner court.
We thus, have access to the council of the LORD. We are there like the true prophets of old. We are near. We are prophets. We are saints.