Prophecy
by Joey Carroll Corinth Baptist Church
Last week we touched on the subject of speaking in tongues.
This week we will take a brief look at prophecy as we continue walking through 1 Corinthians 14.
The word prophecy is derived from a Hebrew verb which means to “bubble forth” like a fountain.
Of course in the context of the Bible, it is to bubble forth from the fountain of God’s wisdom.
The men who spoke from this fountain of God were referred to as prophets.
You really understand how this worked when you notice a phrase that is so often repeated in the Old Testament, “Thus says the Lord.”
There were two reasons that Israel was unique in ancient history:
God dwelt among them, and God spoke to them. Both of these wonderful realities will be our joy in Heaven as well.
Ever since The Fall in Genesis 3, God has been working to bring His people into the blessing of enjoying His presence and hearing Him speak in a deeper and more personal way.
When the Lord Jesus came, He accomplished both of these wonderful realities.
John tells us in his gospel account that not only did Jesus dwell among us (John 1:14), but John also called our Lord the Word (1:1).
The writer of Hebrews tells us something very important about how prophecy has worked over the years.
“God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son…” (Hebrews 1:1-2, NASB).
So we see in the Old Testament how God communicated to His people. He spoke to them through the mouths of His prophets.
Moses was God’s first prophet and his role was certainly confirmed by the miracles that God worked through Him.
But after Moses, the Lord instituted a way to determine whether or not a prophet was truly a prophet of God.
“When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.
The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:21-22, NASB).
The need to determine if a prophet was truly from God was great because there has always been and will always be false prophets.
God promised that one day He would send a prophet.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like Me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to Him” (Deuteronomy 18:15, NASB).
And when Jesus came, He was that prophet. In fact, there were many who referred to Him as “the prophet to come.” (John 6:14)
But when the Lord Jesus spoke, He said, “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak” (John 12:49, NASB).
A true prophet never spoke his own words; he only spoke what he had received from the Heavenly Father.
The purpose of prophecy has always been to instruct and exhort the people in the wisdom and ways of God:
to call the people to repentance and to predict some future event that the people of God would experience.
However, the individuals who spoke on behalf of God, always experienced contempt and persecution from those who belong to the world.
In a sense, every time someone speaks from Scripture to edify, exhort, or console the church, they are performing a task that began several thousand years ago.
The only difference is the source.
The prophet received revelation directly from God.
Today, faithful pastors speak directly from the pages of Scripture.
And the most important thing the church can do is to respond faithfully to the proclaimed Word through humble faith and obedience.
And for those of us who minister from God’s Word, we must remember the warning from 1 Corinthians 4:6 “do not exceed [or go beyond] what is written” (1 Corinthians 4:6, NASB).
