The Call to the Prophetic Office

The call to prophetic office is in the hands of God, who knows what He wants and when, where, and why He wants it at any given time. Therefore, it is not man’s responsibility to direct in the choice of the prophet. This call does not come by committee action or by human planning or devising. As with the priesthood, “no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Hebrews 5:4; see 2 Peter 1:21). God’s men are individually chosen, prepared, called, and directed by Him, and yet it is done in such a way that the call to prophetic office comes to the individual with convincing power and sufficient evidence that both he and his associates know it for a certainty.BHP 33.1

The call of Amos is to the point in question. “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore fruit: and the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel” (Amos 7:14, 15).BHP 33.2

Again, God’s call to Isaiah was of an entirely different nature. The young man went into the Temple and while there God opened his eyes and gave him a vision of the throne of God and the angels about that throne, which seemed high and lifted up. Isaiah caught that vision of God in all His glory and celestial majesty. Immediately he felt his own humiliation and sensed his unworthiness. He would flee from the presence of such awful holiness and grandeur, but the Lord took a live coal from off the altar and, as it were, placed it upon his lips and said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isaiah 6:7). Purification made him ready to be God’s servant and God’s messenger. Then in response to the call, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Isaiah in his youth responded, “Here am I; send me.”BHP 33.3

Isaiah, as God’s chosen mouthpiece, became the gospel prophet of the Old Testament, and has left for the Christian world a piece of literature of surpassing beauty. The testimony of Jesus through Isaiah is an example of the prophetic gift in sublime and powerful action.BHP 34.1