Children of the Prophets

When Peter spoke to the people in Jerusalem shortly after the ascension of the Savior He told them, “Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (Acts 3:25).  The Savior said the same thing the Nephites at approximately the same time but elaborated further: “And behold, ye are the children of the prophets; and ye are of the house of Israel; and ye are of the covenant which the Father made with your fathers, saying unto Abraham: And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed” (3 Nephi 20:25).  So what exactly does it mean to be the “children of the prophets”? 

               I think there are a few different ways that we might understand and learn from this phrase of being the children of the prophets.  One meaning could simply be that we are of the House of Israel, literally (or spiritually) descended from prophets, particularly from Abraham.  Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham” (Galatians 3:7).  He also spoke to the people of Antioch in Pisdia saying, “Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent” (Acts 13:26).  But being a descendant of Abraham and the prophets doesn’t help us unless we strive to live the kind of life they lived.  John the Baptist challenged the Jews of his day saying, “And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham” (Matt. 3:9).  The Jews of Christ’s day justified their behavior saying, “Abraham is our father,” to which the Savior responded, “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham” (John 8:39).  Being the children of the prophets implies that we are willing to do the works of those prophets did. 

               Christ hinted at another implication of being children of the prophets when He mentioned the seed of Abraham.  The Lord had told Abraham in speaking about the Priesthood, “  in thy seed after thee (that is to say, the literal seed, or the seed of the body) shall all the families of the earth be blessed, even with the blessings of the Gospel, which are the blessings of salvation, even of life eternal” (Abraham 3:11).  So we might think of this phrase as a reminder to us that we are to spread the gospel to all the world as descendants of Abraham with the Priesthood restored.  We may not be prophets because we are “children of the prophets,” but we can remember their faith and our need to be like them and spread the gospel to all those who will hear it.