Prophetess

Passage: 2 Kings 22:11-20

We come this evening to Huldah, the final of the three good, named prophetesses in the OT.  Next week Pastor Mike will preach on Anna, the prophetess in the temple when Jesus is born.

As with Deborah, we will need to consider the background and context of II Kings 22 and Huldah’s place in it.

By the time we get to II Kings 22 we are almost to the end of the monarchical period in Israel, nearly 500 years after David and Solomon.  King Josiah is the 16^th of 20 kings in Judah, so the end of Judah and its fall to Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar is quickly approaching.

There have been more bad kings than good.  In fact only 7 of the 20 were called good, and only three of them were compared with David, Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah, who turns out to be the last of the good kings.

Download Sermon Notes

Passage: Judges 4:1-10

If you have been paying attention over the past thirty or forty years you have noticed a trend in how women are depicted in movies and TV and video games.

From animated and Disney movies to drama and crime mysteries to superhero themes, women are cast less frequently as the damsel in distress, and more often as the physically powerful rescuer come to save the day with guns blazing.

Ex. Terminator, Mad Max, Wonder Woman, Black Widow, Mulan, She-Ra, Captain Marvel.

It is harder and harder to find a good show where men are men and women are women, where there is an honest reflection of the realistic differences between men and women, where the feminist agenda of men and women as totally interchangeable isn’t being promoted.

Think about what models and examples are being portrayed in movies today and how much better it would be for young women to see less empowered warrior women acting like men, who could kill a dozen bad guys and jujitsu their way out of any danger, and didn’t need any man to protect them.

Movies today mostly lie to us about how God has created women and who He has created them to be, life-givers, nurturers, helpers, wives and mothers.  They reverse the roles of men created with bodies and minds crafted for war, to be peacekeepers, protectors and if necessary bloodshedders, faithful husbands and father.

Movies today deaden our spiritual and Biblical sensitivities and sensibilities about the differences between men and women.  “Feminism is the new normal, which is to say abnormal is the new normal” (Nathan Alberson).

Colossians 2:8-9 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

Stories from the Bible give us a far truer picture of women in real life.  Some are godly, some are not.  There are women worthy to be imitated, like Abraham’s wife, Sarah, Ruth, Esther, Abigail, and Mary.  And there are women not to be imitated, like Ahab’s wife, Jezebel.

Of all the judges God gave to Israel, he gave one who was a woman, and she wasn’t only a judge, but also a prophetess. Her name was Deborah.

Download Sermon Notes

Passage: Exodus 15:19-21

Women have always played an important role in the Bible.  This is true in the OT, in the life and ministry of Jesus, in the history of the early church in Acts, and to the present day.  More than any other religion, women have been elevated and honored in the Christian faith from the beginning.

For the month of November we will spend our Sunday evenings considering the four named good prophetesses in Scripture.  There are three in the OT and one in the NT.

The four named prophetesses we will consider are Miriam, the older sister of Moses; Deborah, the prophetess and judge when Israel was ruled by judges; Huldah, the prophetess in the time of the monarchy during the reign of King Josiah; and finally Anna the NT prophetess in the temple at the time of Jesus’ birth.

Let me begin by reminding you again when we are studying the people in the Bible, the Bible is not a history of what people did for God, but what God did through people.

There are no perfectly righteous people in Scripture.  Many of them are deeply flawed and broken.

I Corinthians 1:26-31 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. … 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Download Sermon Notes