THE STORYTELLER'S BIBLE
Act IV - The Prophets, Scene 1
Script by Bob Allen
For four voices

                                                               THE PROPHETS

                                                                    Scene 1

                                                          2                                              1
                                                   3                                                            4

VOICE TWO:     A man called by God.

VOICE THREE: A seer!

VOICE ONE:     A prophet!

VOICE FOUR:   Courageous individuals who served the King of kings.

VOICE TWO:     Samuel, while still very young, had to tell the high priest Eli that his house had been
                            rejected by God from continuing in the priesthood.

VOICE THREE:  Nathan had to shake his bony finger under the nose of King David and rebuke him in the
                            matter of Bathsheba.

VOICE ONE:     An unnamed "man of God" was called to confront wicked King Jeroboam concerning the
                           false altar at Bethel.

VOICE FOUR:   Elijah defied nine hundred prophets of Baal as well as King Ahab on the top of Mount
                           Carmel.

VOICE TWO:     They were preachers, foretellers, doomsayers when necessary, and spokesmen for
                            Jehovah God.

VOICE ONE:     Dreams, visions, theophanies and direct inspiration by the Holy Spirit also readied them
                           for one of their greatest contributions of all--the inscripturation of the Holy Word of God.

VOICE FOUR:   These were the men God used.

ALL:                   These were the prophets.

VOICE THREE:  Uzziah!  Jotham!  Ahaz!  Hezekiah!  Four kings.  One prophet.

VOICE ONE:     (CROSS TO CENTER STAGE AND SIT.)  It all began the year that King Uzziah died.

                           (AFTER READER # 1 IS IN POSITION AT CENTER STAGE, READERS #2, #3
                           and # 4 MOVE INTO NEW POSITIONS.)

                                                                          3   2   4
                                                                                1

VOICE FOUR:   Access to the inner courts of the temple remained strictly limited to the Levitical
                           priesthood, yet Isaiah recognized immediately where he was standing in his vision.
                           Behind him the massive two-leaved doors, plated in pure gold and hung with a rich
                           tapestry in the four colors of the temple--fine linen, blue, scarlet and purple.  To his left
                           the golden candlestick with its seven lamps, burning as they had since they were first
                           crafted for the tabernacle at the time of the Exodus. On his right the table of showbread,
                           and directly in front of him the altar of incense.   All of these he recognized from their
                          descriptions in the holy books of Moses.

VOICE THREE:  The throne was totally unexpected.  Behind the altar of incense, where the Holy of Holies
                            should have been, stood a throne.  Massive, elegant, and awesome, it filled all of the
                            space before him and seemed to extend far out into space beyond the temple walls as if
                            the house itself could not contain such a throne.  On either side of the throne of majesty
                            angels flew, rank upon rank of angels, extending like the throne far beyond the limits of his
                            gaze.  Two of the seraphim spoke with voices like crashing thunder.

VOICES ONE/TWO:   Holy!  Holy!  Holy is the Lord of Hosts!  The whole earth is full of His glory!

VOICE FOUR:   The effulgent brilliance and splendor of the One who sat upon the throne penetrated the
                           smoke, now filling every corner of the Holy Place, until the entire room overflowed with a
                           brightness of white light--inapproachable light, where no man could dwell.

VOICE THREE:  In his dream Isaiah fell to his knees, overcome with the knowledge of his sinfulness in the
                            presence of the purity and holiness of God.

VOICE ONE:     Woe is me, for I am ruined.  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a
                           people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

VOICE TWO:    Isaiah had seen the Lord, and nothing would ever be the same again.  For the next sixty
                          years he would fulfill the promise made that day before Almighty God, "Here am I, send
                          me."

VOICE THREE:  As the confidant and advisor to King Hezekiah, Isaiah ministered during one of the
                            greatest periods of the divided kingdom after years of spiritual drought under Jotham
                            and Ahaz..  His was the influence behind the great revival during Hezekiah's reign.
                            Because of his faithfulness to God the wicked King Manasseh
                            executed him, but not before he proclaimed the Word of God with some of the most
                            memorable phrases of the entire Old Testament.

VOICE FOUR:   Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

VOICE ONE:     They shall beat their swords into plowshares.

VOICE TWO:     For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

VOICE THREE:  Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.

VOICE ONE:     All we like sheep have gone astray.

VOICE FOUR:   But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings
                           as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.