Sabbath School Lesson 2 Summary – The Call of a Prophet | Q4 2026

Speaker A 00:00:00 - 00:01:03 Hello, I'm Clive Nash. Welcome to Let God Speak. Today we plan to look at the lives of various Bible prophets. Being a prophet in those days was not easy. Jeremiah was tortured. Tradition says Isaiah was sawn in 2. It is no wonder that accepting the call to be a prophet of God was often met with reluctance. Put yourselves in their shoes. How would we respond to such a call? Today we'll take a look at some Bible prophets. Hopefully we'll be inspired by them. Well, on our panel today we have Rosemary Malkiewicz and Kaysie Vokurka. Good to have you with us today, ladies. Speaker B 00:01:03 - 00:01:03 Good to be here. Speaker C 00:01:03 - 00:01:03 Thank you. Speaker A 00:01:03 - 00:01:38 I'm looking forward to our discussion, but before we begin, let's take time to pray. Our dear Father in heaven, we thank you that you have called people and gifted them in various ways through the power of the Holy Spirit. And as we look today at the gift of prophecy, we just pray that you'll be here to guide us. May that same Spirit who brought inspiration also bring to us illumination. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, Rosemary, were prophets in the Bible called to their roles at important times in history? Speaker C 00:01:38 - 00:02:01 Well, they certainly were. God even said that He didn't do anything without informing His prophets first because He was about to do something. So prophets were very important and Just thinking of an example, Isaiah lived during a time where he outlived 4 kings. Speaker B 00:02:01 - 00:02:02 Mm-hmm. Speaker C 00:02:02 - 00:03:40 In, in Judah during the 700, 800 BCs. And he had good kings and bad kings. And we're just going to look at an example so our viewers can know about it. I'm going to read 2 Kings 16:2, and it says, Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. Well, of course, David was an ancestor, but they always referred to him as the father. But But then in 2 Kings 18, it refers to his son, that when Ahaz died, his son Hezekiah became king. And the record says in 2 Kings 18 that Hezekiah was a good king who did what God wanted him to do. He made mistakes, but he was basically good. So there were good kings like Hezekiah and wicked kings like Ahaz. And it was almost like the luck of the draw. of what you got. Because a good king could have a bad son and a bad son could have a good son. So, but Isaiah was given messages of judgment on Israel at a time when it was so important that the people turn themselves back to God because they'd had some bad kings. So, yeah, God had an important time for Isaiah. Except for when He called His prophets. Speaker A 00:03:40 - 00:04:05 Yeah, that's interesting because, you know, in families you can have, you know, children don't follow in the footsteps of the parents or whatever. So we can understand how it happened in Kings of— in the time of the Kings of Judah. But let's go a bit further back in history. And Kaysie, I'd like to think about Abraham. He came from Ur. What kind of place was Ur where he came from? Speaker B 00:04:06 - 00:05:08 Yeah, well, in Genesis 11 it talks about it being Ur of the Chaldees. So this is from the Babylonian sort of historical area, and it was very pagan. It was very idolatrous. And Abraham, that was where he lived. That's where his home was. And it's amazing that even in that environment he was true to God and his family was true to God. And God called him, and it says in Genesis 12, verse 1 and 2, it says, now the Lord had said to Abraham, or Abram, get out of your country, from your family, and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a blessing. And Abraham obeyed this call, and he left Ur and went to Canaan. And Canaan was also idolatrous and pagan and heathen, and yet he was— he lived there faithfully to God. It's call on his life and he was the forerunner of 3 great religions, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Speaker A 00:05:08 - 00:05:19 Hmm, yeah, it's amazing that a monotheist should come out of a polytheistic environment like that, isn't it? Rosemary, what was Abraham's prophetic ministry? Speaker C 00:05:19 - 00:05:46 Okay, so not all prophets foretell the future and so Abraham was basically showing people by example and telling them, revealing to them the God that he knew and served so that they would do the same. And he was an example of those who would be saved by, by faith, by righteousness, by faith. Speaker A 00:05:46 - 00:05:47 Hmm. Speaker C 00:05:47 - 00:06:43 Faith in God. And I just want to look at one of the verses, Genesis 15:5-6, to give an example of this. It says, then He brought him outside and said, God brought him out, look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And He, God, said to Abraham, so shall your descendants be. And Abraham believed in the Lord, and He, God, accounted it to him for righteousness. So because of his faith, God counted it for his righteousness. And so he was an example of those who would be saved by faith in God. And he was also called the father of the faithful. So that's the same way we are saved today, exactly the same way that Abraham was saved then, by faith in the promises of God. Speaker A 00:06:43 - 00:06:48 Yeah. And that text from Genesis is quoted in the New Testament. Speaker C 00:06:48 - 00:06:50 Yes. Speaker A 00:06:50 - 00:07:39 Often quoted, of course, in Hebrew literature, Talking about Hebrews, I'm going to go across to the New Testament to Hebrews chapter 11, and I'm going to read verses 8 to 10. Hebrews chapter 11, verses 8 to 10. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So Kaysie, do you find this passage inspirational talking about Abraham here? Speaker B 00:07:39 - 00:08:54 Yeah, it's a real snapshot of his experience. And basically, yeah, he obeyed God's call on his life and then he was faithful even in a foreign country where there was heathen around him, and he held on to God's promises, it says there. And, you know, the parallels for us today are that, you know, we can often be in the similar kind of circumstances where there are many competing ideologies surrounding us. You know, there's atheism, agnosticism, humanism, and the list can go on. And yeah, by faith we can hold on to God's promises and to what his word teaches us and live out the gospel message in our lives. And we can be reminded of the calling God has on us— for us today from Revelation 14:6-7, which says, Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. And so that is the call for everyone who will hear God's voice today. That is the call that God has for us. Speaker A 00:08:54 - 00:09:02 Yeah, Rosemary, let's think about another great monumental person in the Old Testament, and that's Elijah. What do we know about Elijah? Speaker C 00:09:02 - 00:11:51 Well, Elijah was a prophet. He had a great influence on the people because he brought reform to Israel. But he also— there was a symbolic interest in him too, which we will look at again a little bit later. But I just want to read about him in 1 Kings, chapter 18, verses 19, as well as 37 and 38. And it's— this is the story of Mount Carmel where Elijah had confronted King Ahab and the wicked Queen Jezebel, Ahab's wife, and said there would be no rain for 3 and a half years. And the place was in terrible drought because of what he said. The king had been searching for him, hadn't found him. And finally, at the end of 3 and a half years, Elijah turned up and he said to gather all the people on Mount Carmel. So verse 19 says, now therefore send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel. The 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel's table. And then in verse 37, 38, hear me, O Lord. He's praying on Mount Carmel. Hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God and that You have turned their hearts back to You again. Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice. and the wood and the stones and the dust. And it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now, this is an incredible situation. And the prophets of Baal and Asherah had not been able to do anything. Nothing had happened to their sacrifice. Their gods were ineffective because their gods are not real. They're man-made. But Elijah here calls to the true God and the true God responds. So, all the people, know that Elijah's God is the true God. But one of the things I enjoy about this is that Elijah's there. If you read the story in 1 Kings 18, Elijah is, is taunting the prophets of Baal and Asherah as they're cutting themselves and they're dancing and they're jumping around and doing all sorts of weird things, trying to get their gods to do something. And he said, He says to them that, is your god asleep? Is he on a journey? You know, maybe he's gone somewhere and he's just not listening to you, or he's too deep in sleep to listen. And I find that part of the story absolutely fantastic as he's ridiculing these, these men who are following a false god when he knows the true God. Speaker B 00:11:51 - 00:11:52 Highlighting the lack of power. Speaker C 00:11:52 - 00:11:53 Yes. Speaker A 00:11:53 - 00:12:20 Well, it's interesting, the response of the people too, because in 1 Kings 18:17, Verse 40 says, verse 39 rather, says, now when all the people saw it, this fire coming down, you know, destroying this sacrifice, when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, the Lord, this is Yahweh, He is God, the Lord, He is God. Speaker C 00:12:20 - 00:12:21 That's right. Speaker A 00:12:21 - 00:12:24 Repetition, of course, is significant in the Old Testament writing. Speaker C 00:12:24 - 00:12:25 Such a contrast. Speaker A 00:12:25 - 00:12:32 Yeah. So Elijah was an instrument of revival really, wasn't he? Speaker C 00:12:32 - 00:12:32 Yes, he was. Speaker A 00:12:32 - 00:12:37 Did any of these prophets, the false prophets escape, Kaysie? No. Speaker B 00:12:37 - 00:13:42 In verse 40 of the same chapter, it says Elijah said to them, seize the prophets of Baal. Do not let one of them escape. So they seized them. Elijah brought them down to the Brook Kishon and executed them there. So they were eliminated, and for a time also false worship lost influence in Israel after this event. And God rewarded the people's repentance by actually sending rain. And we read that in the next verse, in verse 41 of 1 Kings chapter 18. Then Elijah said to Ahab, go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. So he knew that that was going to come, and Yeah, so basically Elijah's message was a call to turn away from idolatry and worship the true God. And so it was a call for revival, for repentance, reformation, and this is something which we are challenged to seek today. Ellen White tells us in one of her writings, a revival of true godliness among us is the greatest, most urgent of all our needs. Speaker A 00:13:42 - 00:13:44 Hmm. Speaker B 00:13:44 - 00:13:46 This is something that is very relevant for us. Speaker A 00:13:46 - 00:13:58 I like that, our greatest need, most urgent. Rosemary, this seems to me that this Elijah symbolism keeps recurring throughout Scripture, doesn't it? Speaker C 00:13:58 - 00:14:29 Well, it does, and let me just talk about one of the applications. Malachi chapter 4, excuse me, verses 5 and 6 says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. Now remembering Malachi was hundreds of years after Elijah. Speaker A 00:14:29 - 00:14:30 Mm-hmm. Speaker C 00:14:30 - 00:15:30 The original prophet. So he's saying that I will send Elijah the prophet. So then if we go over to Luke, 13, verse 7— 13, sorry, Luke, verse 1, chapter 1, verses 13 and 17. We will find the story there where an angel of the Lord came and spoke to Zechariah in the temple in Jerusalem. And this is what the angel said to Zechariah. But the angel of the Lord said to him, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. And you shall call his name John. He will go also before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. So, this is the one who fulfilled the prophecy in Malachi as well as in Isaiah that Elijah would, the spirit of Elijah would come again. Speaker B 00:15:30 - 00:15:30 Hmm. Speaker A 00:15:31 - 00:15:36 And Kaysie, is there another application to this larger prophecy? Speaker B 00:15:36 - 00:17:00 Yes, so in verse 5 of Malachi 4 it mentions that this time of revival would occur before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And when we compare other scriptures, this actually points to an eschatological fulfillment, which basically means applicable to the end times. And so, for example, 2 Peter 3: 3:10-13 gives a description of that time. It says, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. So it is a great, a great day, a great time. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and Godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwell righteousness dwells. And so obviously you can see how grand this day is. But in the midst of that sentence, that passage, it says, you know, we should consider our own lives. and where they stand. And so that message of revival is right in the heart of importance at this time. Speaker A 00:17:00 - 00:17:10 And Rosemary, I think you referred to Isaiah earlier on. Besides the fact that he wrote one of the biggest books in the Old Testament. Speaker B 00:17:10 - 00:17:10 Yes. Speaker A 00:17:10 - 00:17:14 You know, how significant was he in Old Testament times? Speaker C 00:17:14 - 00:19:13 Okay, Isaiah was one of the major prophets. And yes, his book is the longest of the prophets' books. 66 chapters in the Old Testament. But he was not just a foreteller of the future, which he did in so many prophecies for the future, but he was also a forthteller in teaching the people the way of God. So, he was a messenger of, of God for His people in that day, as well as for future generations. But if we turn to Isaiah, Chapter 6, there is a wonderful story in there about a vision he had coming before the throne of God in Heaven. And verse 5, I find really interesting because after he sees God, he's a prophet, but he sees God and he cries out, Woe is me, for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. So he suddenly realized that he's no better than anybody else. He's a sinner along with every other person on earth. He's not better because he's a prophet. Now he's seen God. He realizes how bad he is. And the wonderful thing is an angel comes with a coal from the fire at the altar in, in, in Heaven and comes and anoints his lips with the coal, the live coal. And then God says, your sins have been purged away. You are now clean. And God makes a call. Who will go for Me? Who will we send? And in verse 8, after being cleansed, He's— this is what it says. Also, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Then I, Isaiah, said, here am I, send me. Speaker A 00:19:13 - 00:19:13 Send me. Speaker C 00:19:13 - 00:19:35 And He said, go and tell the people. And so he was, once he was cleansed and he knew he was in right standing with God, he was willing to go. He was willing to be sent by God to preach the truth to the people and turn them back to God. We should be the same. If we really love Jesus, we will also be willing to go. Speaker A 00:19:36 - 00:19:53 Yeah. Now, Kaysie, in chapters 13 and 14, we've got an example of revealing the future. In particular, this was a message about the fall of the kingdom of Babylon. Was this the only sample of divine judgment to come? Speaker B 00:19:53 - 00:20:50 No, there were others that Isaiah mentioned where there were prophecies against certain nations and people groups. And for instance, the Philistines, the Moabites, the Syrians, to name a few. But the prophecy of most significant importance in Isaiah is about the coming Messiah, and Isaiah writes a lot about that, so much so that he's often called the Gospel Prophet. And in Isaiah 53, we just can get a little taste of it. Isaiah 53 is pointing to Jesus' work and His mission and His sacrifice. And in verse 7 it says, He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. So of course this is pointing to the time of His trial, crucifixion. Speaker C 00:20:50 - 00:20:51 Um hmm. Speaker B 00:20:51 - 00:21:29 And then in verse 9 it says, And they made His grave with the wicked, but with the rich at his death, because he had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in his mouth. And this was also something fulfilled in Jesus' experience. In the end of John chapter 19, it talks about how Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, Nicodemus who were wealthy Jews, they helped to bury him in a proper way, you know, with the costly spices and things. Which, yeah, that was something they did for him, and so it fits with this. He was given a rich burial because of who he was. Speaker A 00:21:29 - 00:21:34 Now Rosemary, do you think that Isaiah has a message for us today? Speaker C 00:21:34 - 00:22:52 Most definitely, and we need to learn from the past or we'll repeat the same problems, the same sins that they did. In Isaiah chapter 1, verses 21 and 23, it says this: How the beautiful city has become a harlot! It is full of justice, righteousness lodged in it. It was full of justice, righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your princes, verse 23, your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them. Now, this is, a description of the sins and the lack of justice and reform by the people in Israel at the time, and it brought the downfall of their nation. But the author of the Sabbath School lesson makes the remark, the same sin will mark the destruction of earth's wicked inhabitants when Christ returns. So are we behaving the same way that they did where justice and reform were not practiced and the fatherless and the widows and, and the downtrodden were not helped. Are we behaving the same way? Speaker A 00:22:52 - 00:23:00 And another great prophet, of course, in the Old Testament was Daniel. And Kaysie, can you tell us a bit about Daniel? Speaker B 00:23:00 - 00:24:07 Yeah, Daniel's a very famous one and he was He was living at a time where he was actually taken to Babylon, and he was found in the court of Nebuchadnezzar the king. And Nebuchadnezzar had a dream which he knew was very significant, but when he woke up, he couldn't remember it. And so that caused him to be very angry, and then he wanted to kill all the wise men. And then so Daniel and his 3 friends prayed for their own lives and the other lives of the other men, that God would reveal what this dream was. And God did. He showed it to Daniel and his meaning, and it was a prophecy about the future. And he was able to share that with the king, and the king was very impressed for a time. He actually even— in the end of Daniel chapter 2, it says that he promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. And he also promoted his friends And Daniel ended up sitting in the gate of the king. So it was quite an influential situation that he ended up in as a result of this. Speaker A 00:24:07 - 00:24:11 Yeah, Daniel was a witness to more than just one king, wasn't he, Rosemary? Speaker C 00:24:11 - 00:25:16 He was. In the Bible it actually mentions in the Book of Daniel that he was there with 4 kings, but there were possibly more as well in between. And so each of those kings put him in a position of power in the government. And in some cases, he was the second person in the kingdom, which was quite astounding being a captive. But we're all familiar with the story of him in the lion's den. And that came in the time of Darius the Mede, who took over from the Babylonians. And Darius was tricked into signing a paper to stop people from praying really to God. But when he found out, it was too late because Daniel just kept on praying as usual. He didn't stop because of the decree. So he had to be thrown into the lion's den, which was so unfortunate. But the king was so glad when, when Daniel was found alive. He said, the lions didn't eat me. Their mouths were closed. Speaker B 00:25:16 - 00:25:16 Yeah. Speaker A 00:25:16 - 00:25:27 And so he was a wonderful example and witness Now I'd like to just briefly before we close, Kaysie, touch on one other New Testament prophet, John the Baptist. What can you tell us about him? Speaker B 00:25:27 - 00:26:15 Well, John the Baptist, he was someone who was a forerunner of Christ and was to prepare the way. And Jesus had something very interesting to say about him. He says in Matthew chapter 11, verse 9 through to 11, it says, But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you. Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. So Jesus really gave him honor and acknowledged his prophetic calling for Yeah, another Elijah messenger. Exactly, exactly. Speaker C 00:26:15 - 00:26:22 Yeah. He fulfilled that position, as I said before, that of being the counterpart of Elijah. Speaker A 00:26:22 - 00:27:58 Yeah. Well, my guests today were Rosemary Malkiewicz and Kaysie Vokurka, and I'm Clive Nash. Thanks for joining in our discussion today. In the early part of the 19th century, William Miller became intensely interested in studying the time prophecies of Daniel. He learned that the 2,300-year prophecy about the cleansing of the sanctuary ended in 1844. He was convinced that this meant that this earth would be cleansed at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. That was a misunderstanding. It led to a great disappointment. It was in that setting that God called Ellen Harmon to be His messenger. She was only 17 when given a vision of the saints of God on the path to heaven. She wrote, quote, if they kept their eyes fixed on Jesus, who was just before them, leading them to the city, they were safe, end of quote. Later Ellen would marry and become better known as Ellen G. White. Her prophetic ministry as the messenger of the Lord would last the rest of her life. In the next episode of Let God Speak, we will discuss challenges for Old Testament prophets We'll find echoes in the life and ministry of Alan G. White. Well, we're glad you joined us on Let God Speak today. If if you were blessed by this program, why not tell your friends? Remember, all past programs plus teachers' notes are available on our website threeabnaustralia.org.au, or you can email us on lgs at threeabnaustralia.org.au. We hope you'll join us. We'll see you once again next time. Until then, God bless. Speaker B 00:27:58 - 00:28:36 You have been listening to Let God Speak, a production of 3ABN Australia Television. To catch up on past programs, please visit 3abnaustralia.org.au. Call us in Australia on 13 49 73 34 56, or email [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. Thank you.