The prophet's handbook

their nakedness represented their message. Their nudeness imaged the outcome of an angry Jehovah who was about to strip His precious country bare. The prophets’ symbolism said that its inhabitants would be attired as fugitives instead of kings and priests. Prophetic Imagery and Symbolism Aside from knowing the functions of the prophetic office and its diverse manifestations, prophets also need to understand the way God speaks and why. Divine communication often comes in the form of symbolism and imagery. Pictures or signs say visually what is spoken audibly. God is able to speak in all His nations’ tongues, but to assure that His word and works are understood in all tongues forever, He uses these two with His agents and workers. Their use is what we mean by the language of the Spirit, and its words are based on His creation. They make the Bible fit age to age. When the Lord speaks in visions, He uses His own language in the form of imagery. Creation elements and objects make God’s thoughts visible. For instance, mountains represent governments and high celestial powers. Hills symbolize high stratospheric powers. River imagery equates to flows and streams as in information or revelation, and trees stand for nations as the Lord’s plantings. Chariots exemplify war and transportation vehicles, while horses depict warfare, service, competition, and travel. Symbolic language is necessary for God because it transcends time. Nature images tend to represent both perpetuity and timelessness. Human instruments bespeak a particular era or trend and thus are transitory. Since human language varies from culture to culture, creation symbolism sees to it that what God says over the millennia of earthly existence is always relevant. Think about it. A bird is a bird, known around the world with different names. Winged creatures mean the same thing to every civilization. Likewise, animals, land and water, foliage, dirt, sun, moon, stars, and such all mean the same thing to every generation. God uses them when He wants to depict a human behavior that is analogous with a lower creature, or a spiritual one. It is the same when God uses angelic imagery. Their ordained station is as significant to the message as the creature itself, being heavenly rather than earthly. Weather, family, males, females, and children, regardless of what they are called in a particular country, nonetheless conjure the same image in people’s minds. It is for these reasons that imagery serves God’s spiritual communication purposes so well around the world era to era. Prophets are very attuned to this reality and are