Theme for July: Prophecy
July 2, 2011
In the Old Testament prophets were people who spoke for God and communicated His message; often putting themselves in danger. The Old Testament prophets received a call directly from God, sometimes even before birth as we see in Jeremiah 1:5. "Before I formed you in your mother's womb I knew you. Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nation".
There were others who had no special qualifications and came from all walks of life. Some were called for a lifetime, others were given only a brief ministry. But one attribute characterized them all; they faithfully proclaimed God's Word and not their own. (Jeremian 23:16, Ezekiel 13:2).
Sometimes prophets made their points using dramatic acts. For example, Isaiah went barefoot and unclothed for three years (Isaiah 20:2-3). Ezekiel lay on his left side for 390 days and on the right side for 40 more (Ezekiel 4:1-8). Zechariah broke two staffs (Zachariah 11:7-14).
A prophet's activities usually aroused curiousity and caused people to think, but at times it also brought scorn (Jeremiah 11:21).
Some early Christians did not have access to any of the books of the New Testament. The New Testament prophets “filled the gap” by proclaiming God’s message to the people who would not have access to it otherwise. The last book of the New Testament (Revelation) was not completed until late in the first century. So, the Lord sent prophets to proclaim God’s Word to His people.
In the early church, some believers were given the gift of prophecy, such as Agabus and the four daughters of Philip (Acts 1:8-11). These people, who spoke by the Holy Spirit, gave direction to the church in the period before the New Testament had been fuly written.
According to John Paul Jackson in his article on Spiritual Gifts entitled "Taking the Pathetic Out of the Prophetic", the misuse of prophecy has brought great embarrassment to the church. Jackson says, "It's time to clean up our act and apply biblical standards."
Jackson went on to say that "too many "prophetic" words inundate the web, go out in email and appear in videos all over the internet. If all of them were mature and accurate words from the Lord, I would have little to say here, but most are not". He was even more concerned that no one (referencing so-called Christians) is addressing the error. When the words that are prophesied does not come to pass, they are just swept under the rug somewhere and forgotten.
We were warned in Matthew 7:22,23 that many would prophesy and do signs and wonders in Jesus name; people would be healed and delivered through those prophetic words, but in the end, God will denounce them., because He doesn't know them.
In his closing remarks, Jackson stated that prophets must learn that edification is God's heart for the church and so are the gifts. Read 1 Cor. 14:26.