Do not despise prophecy.
Despise not prophesyings. 1 Thessalonians 5:20
There were several prophets in the bible that were hated and were heavily persecuted and suffered for speaking the word of God.
For some reason, some people do not like to hear the word of the Lord.
It is beyond me. Why don’t they respect the word of God?
Not only do many people not respect the word of God, they utterly hate it.
I might miss some, so don’t think of this as a full list.
Joseph is one that stands out.
He had incredible dreams from God which foretold the future.
His brothers hated him so much because of what he said,
they thought about killing him, but instead, they sold him into slavery.
This all turned out to be God’s will as Joseph saved all of their lives years later.
The most wicked King Ahab and his wicked wife, Jezebel,
hated true prophets of God.
From 1 Kings chapter 22:
And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat,
There is yet one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah,
by whom we may inquire of the Lord:
but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.
And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. v. 8
And Micaiah said, As the Lord liveth,
what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak. v. 14
The lying prophets promised King Ahab prosperity in the battle
and the Ahab did not like what Micaiah said:
And the king of Israel said,
Take Micaiah, and carry him back unto Amon the governor of the city,
and to Joash the king’s son; And say,
Thus saith the king, Put this fellow in the prison,
and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction,
until I come in peace. And Micaiah said,
If thou return at all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me.
And he said, Hearken, O people, every one of you. vs. 26-28
Ahab died in the battle.
Jezebel died, too, and the dogs ate her remains
and pooped them out all over so she has no grave,
just like the prophet of God Elijah said:
And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field
in the portion of Jezreel;
so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel. 2 Kings 9:37
The wicked queen Jezebel wanted to take Elijah’s life.
It turned out, she was the one who died
and Elijah was taken by God into Heaven.
Jeremiah was imprisoned and lowered into mire
because he spoke the word of the Lord.
Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah
the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison:
and they let down Jeremiah with cords.
And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire:
so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Jeremiah 38:6
There was Elijah, whose life Jezebel wanted to take.
He was afraid beyond the fear we can comprehend.
He ran away and then he prayed to the Lord
and the Lord gave him yet another word that he was to anoint another king.
Just as in the Old Testament,
people did not want to hear the word of the Lord from Jesus.
So much so, that they killed Him to try to make His words stop.
We know that didn’t work since Jesus is God in the flesh.
If you are a prophet and speak the word of the Lord,
do not expect to get a pass.
If people do not love the truth, they will not love the word of God.
They will also not love the word of God spoken by His prophets.
We all must choose to love the word of God above our own lofty thoughts,
whether we are a prophet or not.
We do have a choice in the matter,
we can choose to not obey the Lord and to keep our mouths shut.
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you,
as though some strange thing happened unto you:
But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that,
when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
1 Peter 4:13-14
Scriptural References:
(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
Casting down imaginations,
and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God,
and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience,
when your obedience is fulfilled.
2 Corinthians 10:4-6
And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh,
is not of God; and such is the spirit of Antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come,
and even now already it is in the world.
1 John 4:2-3