Michael Houke . What Is a Prophet? Basically, a prophet had the ability to receive direct revelation from God and then to communicate that revelation to men. Some identify the gift of prophecy with the gift of preaching today, but that is not correct because the key element is missing -- a preacher does not get his messages directly from God. A pastor gets his message from the Word of God (hopefully), but God does not appear to him in dreams and visions or by speaking directly to him. Since a prophet got his message from God, it was free from error, which obviously is not the case today! God cannot communicate mistakes! If God had so garbled the message He wanted to reveal to man and there were so many mistakes that the meaning was not clear, then God would not have revealed Himself at all. Prophecy Is Necessary Only for Additional Revelation The gift of prophecy is only necessary when God wants to give additional revelation (when He wants to reveal more of Himself than He has revealed up to that point in time). A person who says the gift of prophecy is present today is in the same breath saying the Bible is not complete and that we need more material revealed from God. However, God says the Bible is complete and there is no additional revelation. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book (Rev. 22:18). The Revelation the Apostles and Prophets Received Is the Foundation of the Church Just as the apostles received direct revelation from God, so did the prophets. That revelation is the foundation upon which the Church is built. Many times in both the Old and New Testaments, those who received the direct revelation were given the power to perform miracles and foretell the future. One of them (the prophets) named Agabus stood up and began to indicate by the Spirit (prophesy) that there would certainly be a great famine all over the world. And this took place in the reign of Claudius (Acts 11:28). Later, Agabus was prophesying the imprisonment of Paul (Acts 21:11). There were female prophets as well as men. Now this man had four virgin daughters who were prophetesses (Acts 21:9). The Old Testament also has examples of prophetesses such as Huldah, Deborah and Miriam. Paul is classified among the prophets and teachers as well as an apostle (Acts 13:1). Not every prophet was an apostle, but in all probability every apostle had the gift of prophecy. God Gave Prophets Direct Guidance Connected with the gift of prophecy is direct guidance from God. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a certain man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying Come over to Macedonia and help us (Acts 16:9). God does not communicate in visions to Christians today. There is no need for God to appear in visions. He has given us the Bible as our guide for direction in our daily lives. In a number of other places the Spirit directly reveals Himself to Paul and tells him something concerning his future activities (see Acts 18:9-10; 22:17 21; 27:23,24). Summary of the Gift of Prophecy It has been noted that the gift of prophecy was temporary. There are three main reasons which we have covered: 1. When the New Testament was completed, there was no reason for additional revelation and the gift of prophecy is always connected with receiving new material from God. You do not find prophets getting material from God just to reiterate what God has already done or said. 2. The apostles and prophets were the foundation of the Church (Eph. 2:20). When the foundation was laid, the material for the foundation was given. When the foundation was complete, there was no longer any need for apostles or prophets. 3. Since there is no longer a need for prophecy, the gift of prophecy came to an end with the completion of the New Testament. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away (1 Cor. 13:8
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 07:28:02 +0000
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