There is great fascination in this dispensation about the prophetic. Part of the reason why people are more interested in prophecy is because of the challenging times we are currently experiencing. Over two hundred thousand people have died of the COVID-19 virus in United States America alone and approximately 31million cases have been confirmed world wide. This virus has caused a total shut down of the world. Governments have shut down churches, businesses and malls, global travel has drastically reduced. People's lives have been drastically impacted, even in hospitals patients with COVID-19 are dying in isolation in fear of contamination. There is an upsurge of mental illness, anxiety attacks and depression. Nationally in the United States of America the flames of political violence, racial tension and literal veld fires are raging on. There is so much division politically and the vitriol in our political discourse has gone out of hand. With the advent of social media, decorum, respect and decency is quickly evaporating from our social fabric.There is so much dispair as people are losing family members, jobs and relationships and everyone is grappling for solutions. Some Christians have adopted an escapist mentality trying to locate prophetic word concerning the rapture of the church whilst others are simply looking for solutions for their life bugging problems.It imperative for me to define what prophecy entails and how to interpret the prophetic. There are some wolves and dogs in some churches right now taking advantage of God's sheep through erroneous prophecies that are contrary to God's Word and His Spirit. In this article I will define what prophecy entails, the nature of prophecy and the ministry of prophets.
The webster's dictionary defines prophecy as a prediction of the future under divine inspiration; the practice of a prophet; something predicted. There are five Hebrew words associated with the word prophecy in scripture.Here is a breakdown of the Old Testament Hebrew words for prophecy:
- Chazah = "To gaze at; to contemplate; to have a vision; to see in the spirit; to behold; to look; to prophesy; to provide."
- Massah = "To have a burden; a testimonial; a tribute; abstractly a porterage; chiefly a doom, especially singing; mental, desire."
- Naba = "To prophesy, to proclaim under divine inspiration or sing under the Spirit; prophesy under the power of the Holy Spirit in an joyful state."
- Nebuwah ="A prediction spoekn or written; a prophecy"
- Nataph ="to ooze; to distill gradually; to fall in drops; to speak by inspiration; prophecy, discourse."
In the New Testament the Greek word for prophecy is propheteuo which is a combination of all the five Hebrew words for prophecy.It means to foretell events, to speak under divine inspiration, to excercise the prophetic office; to speak divine revelation, prophesy, to foretell future events, to forthtell, to inspire under the power of the Holy Spirit.
The nature of prophecy is in three dimensions; prophecy as forth-telling, prophecy as foretelling and various degrees of prophetic inspiration. Prophecy in the realm of forth-telling is associated with preaching, encouragement,comfort, warning, correction and exhortation.Whereas prophecy in the realm of foretelling encompasses foretelling future events and has an element of prediction. There are several degrees of prophetic inspiration such as: The Spirit of prophecy, The Gift of prophecy and The Office of the Prophet. The bible says in Revelation 19:10;"The tesitmony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy." The Word of God is has a prophetic nature and most importantly the testimony of Jesus is highly prophetic. The gift of prophecy is included by Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:10 as one of the nine gifts of the Spirit. It is a gift that we are admonished to earnestly desire as it edifies the body of Christ. Then we have the Office of the prophet, this is a calling by divine election. These are individuals who are called by God before birth and endowed with prophetic mantles. They are God's mouthpieces or spokesperson, they speak what God is saying, whether its forth-telling or fore-telling. One example is prophet Jeremiah whom God called before he was formed in his mother's womb. He was predestined to be a prophet unto the nations, God ordained him in eternity past. There is a difference between the Office of a Prophet and the gift of prophecy. A person might carry the gift of prophecy and not necesarrily be a prophet. However every prophet has the gift of prophecy. A prophet is himself or herself a gift to the body of Christ according to 1 Corinthins 12:28 and Ephesians 4:11. God sets some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and some to be teachers. Everyone is not called into the office of the prophet, it is a high calling that comes with a huge price. The fourth degree of prophetic inspiration is the prophecy of scripture. In II Peter 1:19-21 apsotle Peter refers to the Old Testament as the prophecy of Scripture. II Timothy 3:15,16 states that every scripture is given by divine inspiration.
We locate the ministry of the prophet all the was from Penteteuch to Pentecost. There are prophets in the Old Testament and prophets in the New Testament. The Spirit upon them is the same but their functions differ according to calling and purpose. Prophets in the Old Testament are primarily called to the nation of Isreal but in the New Testament they are sent to the spiritual Isreal(the church). Prophets are men and women of God who walk morally and ethically in righteousness and holiness. They are anointed and consecrated for God's use, they are God's servants and must lay down their lives for a higher cause. They are seers, they see in the Spirit; they function with hindsight, insight and foresight under divine inspiration. They are interpreters of the scriptures, they forth-tell scriptures, they carry divine revelations. They are special messengers sent to the body of Christ by God, they embody the message itself, they are eccentric, strange and they usually do not fit in.
The office of the prophet develops primarily from Moses. Moses is a foundational prophet representing the letter of the Law. Before Moses, Abraham, Noah and Enoch are some of the individuals who walked with God and referred to as prophets. But when Moses comes God distinguishes him from other prophets. God spoke to Moses face to face and not in dreams and visions. Moses was the prophet who received the Law o Mt.Sinai. Every other prophet who followed was tested by the Law of Moses. Moses is a paragon of strength and virtue among prophets, a prophet of high order and a man who walked with God and saw extraordinary things in the Spirit. Moses decleres that Jesus was coming in the future and he likened Jesus to himself. From Prophet Samuel to Malachi we witness a different order of prophets. Samuel is the last Judge and the first of a new line of prophets. Samuel is the first to establish a school of prophets who received instruction and education from the Law of Moses and were taught to respond to the Spirit of the Lord in worship and prophecy. They stood for the spirit of the Law whilst Moses stood for the letter of the law.
Then we begin to see prophets who dealt with Kings. For example prophet Samuel anointed King Saul and King David. He was a prophet to both kings and he warned, encouraged and instructed them with the word of God. Prophets in this era represented the voice of God, they carried the word of God. Nathan and Gad were two other prophets who ministered to King David. Prophet Nathan also ministered to King Solomon. King Rehoboam had the prophet Shemiah and Ahab had Elijah and Elisha. Daniel spoke into the lives of Nebuchadnezzar and King Darius.
There are prophets who write and those who do not write.There are those who are just local yet others are called to minsiter to the destiny of nations. There are generational prophets and transgenerational prophets.And then Jesus who is the eternal prophet and our chief apostle. I hope this gives you a gist of what the prophetic ministry entails. There is so much to cover under this topic that will require a book.
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