How they demonstrated their messages in the Bible

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The Old Testament is filled with God’s prophets demonstrating, not just proclaiming, God’s message. When God wanted Jeremiah to understand the impending decay of Judah and Jerusalem, he had him buy a new linen loincloth and wear it without washing it. Later, God instructed Jeremiah to hide it for an extended period in the rocks next to the Euphrates River. After a long time, when God instructed him to, Jeremiah retrieved the rotten garment, which was now falling apart (Jer 13:1–8). After Jeremiah saw (and smelled) the result of the prolonged decay, he was prepared to fully hear and proclaim the message from God: “This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem. These evil people, who refuse to listen to me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and who have followed other gods to serve and bow in worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all” (Jer 13:9–10).

This was not an isolated incident. On another occasion, God required the prophet Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot for three years. Strange behavior, but it had a purpose—to illustrate that captivity was coming and that the people would walk into their destiny without anything (Isa 20:1–4). God also instructed one of his prophets to marry a prostitute, which became an analogy for Israel’s unfaithfulness to God (Hos 1–3).

The prophets helped the people understand, visualize, and experience their message. They did more than tell the people something; they demonstrated the truth.

Jesus used analogies to help people understand his teaching

Jesus used normal, everyday items in people’s lives to represent extraordinary kingdom truths. John records many of these in his Gospel. At a well, Jesus told a thirsty woman that he could provide “living water” that leads to eternal life (4:13). He spoke of bread (6:35), light (9:5), doors (10:1–3, 9), and shepherds (10:11). Beside the tomb of a dead man, he said that he is the resurrection and that those who believe in him will live even after they die (11:25–26). He also taught using vines and branches (15:1–8), servants and masters (15:20), a woman in labor (16:21), and lambs (21:15–19). These analogies helped the people understand, apply, and experience his message.

In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5–7, Jesus used salt (5:13), light (5:14), lamps and baskets (5:15), moths and rust (6:20), birds (6:26), and flowers (6:28). He also used specks and planks (7:3); dogs, pearls, and pigs (7:6); a hungry child (7:9); gates (7:13); wolves (7:15); and grapes, bushes, trees, and fruit (7:16–20). Jesus closed the sermon by referencing rain, floods, foundations, and buildings (7:24–27). Jesus used everyday, ordinary, familiar items from his hearers’ lives to teach them something new—about a life that they could experience in his kingdom.

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