Introduction: If I asked you to give the names of some important prophets, who would you remember? Daniel would be first to come to mind for me. Who else? Do you remember anyone from the New Testament? This week we are going to take a quick look at five prominent prophets: Abraham, Elijah, Isaiah, Daniel, and John the Baptist. Does it seem odd to you to call Abraham and John prophets? Let’s dive into our study of the Bible and see what we can learn!
I. Abraham
A. Read Genesis 12:1. Imagine that God came to you with this command. What would you immediately think? Would you obey without question? (Abram is being asked to leave everything that he knows — his country, his friends, and family. And he is not told where he is going.)
B. Read Genesis 12:2-3. Aside from God asking Abram to go, what motivation does God give him? (That God will make him famous. He will become a “great nation” and he will be blessed. God also says something that seems ambiguous: “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”)
C. Read Genesis 12:4-5. Note that Abram is 75 years old when he is asked to leave. Does Abram actually leave everyone? (No. He takes his wife and his nephew with him.)
1. We read that Abram also took “the people they had acquired in Haran.” Are these slaves? Are they converts? Are they paid servants? (The verse does not tell us whether they entered his service voluntarily, through debt, by birth, by purchase, or by some combination of those means.)
D. Read Genesis 17:4-7. God’s promise now expands from Abraham being the father of a great nation, to being the father of “nations.” What action does God take to move towards Abram having all of these descendants – even though he is now 99 years old and has no child by Sarah? (God changes his name from Abram to Abraham.)
1. If you were Abram, how would you feel about this name change?
E. Read Genesis 22:1-2. God calls Isaac Abraham’s “only son.” But doesn’t Abraham also have Ishmael? Why call Isaac his only son? (Isaac is Abraham’s unique son of promise, the son through whom God said the covenant would continue.)
1. What does God ask Abraham to do with his only son, the one that will make Abraham the father of nations? (To make a “burnt offering” out of him.)
a. How would you react to this order?
F. Read Genesis 22:10-13. Does Abraham obey? Did God spare him from the loss of his son? (Abraham does obey. But God spares him from the loss of his son.)
G. Read Genesis 20:7. Does the Bible actually call Abraham a prophet? (Yes.)
1. How does the sacrifice of Isaac also make Abraham’s experience prophetic? (It acts out, centuries in advance, the Father’s willingness to give His Son.)
2. How do you view the sacrifice of God the Father and Jesus for you? Can you doubt God’s love for you? (This account makes the extent of God’s gift intensely personal to every parent. This is an acted-out prophecy.)
II. Elijah
A. Read 1 Kings 18:17. Why is King Ahab calling Elijah a trouble maker? (Read 1 Kings 17:1. Elijah told King Ahab that there would be a drought until God said otherwise. This drought was the trouble King Ahab was referring to.)
B. Read 1 Kings 18:18. What is the reason for the drought? (God’s people are not obeying Him, instead they are following Baal.)
C. Read 1 Kings 18:19. Elijah gets to order King Ahab around? (This shows the king was desperate.)
D. Read 1 Kings 18:21 and 1 Kings 18:23-24. What does Elijah propose? (A showdown between the power of Baal and the power of God. He wants the people to see who is truly God and then choose God.)
E. Read 1 Kings 18:25-28. How are things going for team Baal?
F. Read 1 Kings 18:30 and 1 Kings 18:37-39. How are things going for Elijah and God?
G. Read Malachi 4:5-6. How do you understand this prophecy? (Read Luke 1:17. This points to John the Baptist fulfilling this prophecy.)
1. I am troubled by the phrase “great and awesome day” or KJV “great and dreadful day.” This sounds like Jesus’ Second Coming. Will this prophecy have two applications?
III. Isaiah
A. Read Isaiah 6:1-3. Isaiah is recording what he saw. If you saw the same thing, how would you react? What would you think?
B. Read Isaiah 6:5. Would you say that you are “lost,” or would you claim that you must be pretty special to have this vision of God?
1. What does Isaiah’s reaction tell us about him? (He is the kind of humble man that God can use.)
C. Read Isaiah 6:6-7. This is troubling theology. If atoning for sin only requires burning coals and angels, Jesus could have saved Himself a lot of time and trouble. How do you understand this?
1. From where did this coal come? (From the altar. The angel does not say which altar, but one possible source is the continuously burning altar at the court of the priests. See Leviticus 6:12-13. It could also be from an altar in heaven.)
D. Read Romans 3:23-26. How were sins dealt with before Jesus died on the cross? (Christ’s sacrifice works not merely forward but also backward. This shows that Isaiah’s atonement came not from a hot coal and an angel, but rather from what Jesus would do in the future.)
1. Is this like Abraham, that God’s interaction with him gives us a view of the future?
E. Read Isaiah 53:3-5. Was Isaiah more than a man whose life situation predicted the future? (Absolutely. This text is an accurate prediction of what Jesus would do for Isaiah and every other human who accepts Jesus’ sacrifice.)
IV. Daniel
A. Read Daniel 2:3-5. Is this just a routine day at work for the Chaldeans? (Hopefully not. Otherwise no one would survive long in that position.)
B. Read Daniel 2:29-30. Who comes to the rescue of the Chaldeans and Daniel? (God. “He who reveals mysteries” gave the dream to the king and He gave Daniel the interpretation of the dream.)
C. Read Daniel 2:31-35. If you had this dream, what would you guess that it meant?
D. Read Daniel 2:36-38. If you were Daniel, would you be glad to give this interpretation to the king? (This is excellent news for the king so far. The king is the head of gold who rules over all.)
E. Read Daniel 2:39-40. How do you think that the king will react to this part of his dream? (The news is getting less good. Babylon will not last forever.)
F. Read Daniel 2:41-43. What is important about this prophecy? (Several things. First, Daniel is used by God to reveal the future of the kingdoms of the earth. Second, this proves to us that God knows the future because we are living in the “toe” time of history. Third, we learn that no single nation will rule the world in our time.)
G. Read Daniel 2:44-45. What is the future? (All the kingdoms of the world will be destroyed and God will set up a kingdom that will “stand forever.”)
1. Is this the most important prophecy of the Bible?
V. John the Baptist
A. Read Mark 1:2-4. Who predicted the coming of John the Baptist? (Isaiah.)
B. Read John 1:28-30. What extraordinary claim is John making about Jesus? (Jesus is the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.)
1. What does that tell us about John’s understanding of Jesus’ mission? (John understands that Jesus has come to deal with humanity’s sin.)
C. Read Matthew 11:7-9. Who calls John a prophet?
VI. The Common Thread
A. As you consider these five prophets, what is the common thread that ties all of them together? (All of them in different ways are telling us about Jesus’ coming. Jesus will do the unthinkable by giving Himself up to torture and death, He will save us from our sins, and He will rule victorious forever!)
B. Friend, if you don’t believe that the Bible is trustworthy, how can you explain these prophets, from different times, predicting the coming of Jesus? Why not decide, right now, to become a Bible believer and a follower of Jesus?
VII. Next week: Old Testament Prophets.
Copr. 2026, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. If you normally receive this lesson by e-mail, but it is lost one week, you can find it by clicking on this link: http://www.GoBible.org. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you study.
