Prophecy: messengers of God in the world’s religions

The English word comes from the Greek prophetes, “one who speaks for” or “one who speaks forth.” The Hebrew word navi and the Arabic word nabi are related, meaning one who is called or who announces. A prophet is not mainly a fortune-teller but a messenger who conveys God’s will, warns against wrongdoing and reminds people of their covenant or obligations.

The Hebrew Bible describes a long line of prophets. Moses is regarded as the greatest, the one to whom God spoke “face to face” and through whom the Torah was given. Later prophets include Samuel, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea and others whose words are collected in the prophetic books.

These prophets condemned idolatry and social injustice, called for care for the poor, the widow and the stranger, and spoke of judgment and hope. Rabbinic tradition holds that biblical prophecy ended in the early Second Temple period, with Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, after which religious authority passed to sages and interpreters of the Torah.

Christianity accepts the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and reads many of their words as pointing to Jesus. The New Testament describes John the Baptist as a prophet and presents Jesus as more than a prophet: the Messiah and Son of God, in whom God’s word is fully revealed.

The New Testament also speaks of prophecy as a gift of the Holy Spirit in the early church. Christian traditions differ on whether such prophecy continues today: Pentecostal and charismatic Christians emphasize contemporary prophetic gifts, while many other churches hold that revelation was completed in Christ and scripture.

Prophethood, nubuwwa, is one of the pillars of Islamic belief. Islam teaches that God sent prophets to every people, with the same core message of worshipping one God. The Quran names twenty-five prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad, and tradition speaks of many more.

Islam distinguishes a nabi, a prophet, from a rasul, a messenger who brings a revealed scripture or law. Muhammad is the “seal of the prophets,” the last prophet, after whom no new prophet will come. Prophets are believed to be protected by God from major sin and error in conveying the message.

Many prophets are shared across the Abrahamic religions, but their status differs. Jesus is a prophet in Islam, the divine Son of God in Christianity and not regarded as a prophet in Judaism. Muhammad is the final prophet in Islam but is not recognized as a prophet by Judaism or Christianity. Later movements, such as the Baha’i faith and the Ahmadiyya community, have made claims about continuing prophecy that mainstream traditions reject.

Prophetic texts do include statements about the future, and religious communities have often read them as predictions fulfilled in later events. Christians, for instance, read passages in Isaiah as foretelling the Messiah. Jewish interpreters read the same passages differently. Scholars also study the historical setting in which prophetic texts were spoken.

Other traditions have comparable figures. Zoroastrianism honours Zarathustra as the prophet who received revelation from Ahura Mazda. Indian traditions speak of rishis, seers who perceived the Vedas, and Sikhism honours its Gurus as enlightened teachers, though these roles differ from Abrahamic prophecy.

Because many people have claimed to speak for God, traditions developed ways to judge such claims. Deuteronomy warns against prophets who lead people to other gods and says a prophecy that does not come true was not from God. Christianity tests prophecy against the teaching of scripture and the church. Islam teaches that prophethood ended with Muhammad, so later claims to prophecy are rejected.

Prophecy is the belief that God speaks through chosen messengers. Judaism honours Moses and the biblical prophets, Christianity sees prophecy fulfilled in Jesus, and Islam teaches a line of prophets ending with Muhammad. Prophets are primarily messengers calling people to faithfulness and justice, not simply predictors of the future.