If you will carefully study the prophecies and preaching of these men, you will find that none of them confronted men and women the way most do today. None of them started out by saying, "God loves you and Christ died for you, now won't you accept Him as your personal Savior?" Nowhere in the Bible will you find God's prophets or preachers confronting people in that way. They did not ask, plead, or beg with people to do anything, but were as "ambassadors" and spokesmen of their God and King. The messenger of the King is never sent to ask men anything but is sent with a declaration, usually preceded by a "Hear ye, Hear ye! Thus saith the King." And this is exactly the way God's men preached: "Thus saith the Lord." Take John the Baptist for example.

They asked John, "Who are you?" He didn't say, "Why I am the Most Right Reverend, Doctor, Father, Pope John the Baptist, D.D., M.A., M.Div." No! He said, "I [am] the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (John 1:23). John's name and ministry weren't important; only Christ's name and glory mattered to him. He said, "He must increase, but I [Must] decrease" (John 3:30). John was quoting another bold prophet named Isaiah, who said he was "a voice" (Isaiah 40:3). And God Almighty gave him and all other such "voices" one and the same message. Isaiah said, "What shall I cry?" God said, "All flesh [is] grass, and all the goodliness thereof [is] as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth" (Isaiah 40:6-7). Man is nothing and his goodness is non-existent. God also told him to lift up his voice with strength, to be not afraid, and to tell everyone to "Behold your God' (v.9). Not your co-pilot, not your sugar daddy, not the man upstairs — but your absolute sovereign, all-powerful creator, ruler, and controller. Behold, fear and worship your God, for "The fear of the Lord [is] the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10).

God also told the voice to "Behold" and proclaim one more thing. He said "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, [in whom] my soul delighteth" (Isaiah 42:1). God was talking about none other than Jesus Christ. He said "He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he hath set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law" (v.4). You see, Jesus Christ is not the pathetic figure that most make Him out to be. He is not the Jesus who tries and fails, who wants to and can't, who loves everyone so much and wants so badly to help them if they will let him. No! Jesus Christ is God. He is Sovereign over all. He has "the keys of hell and of death" (Revelation 1:18). He is the judge of the universe, who must decide to accept us, not vice versa. He is not beholding us to see what we will let Him do, but it is us who must "behold Him," worship Him, bow to Him, and cry unto Him for mercy and salvation.

This was the message of every man of God in the Bible and it is the same message of every true preacher today. There are still a few "voices" out there who are not afraid to tell the truth. These are those who are not trying to win friends and influence people but are trying to be true to the word of God and the souls of men and women.