9/3/06 A Prophetic Interlude
Before we return to our study of the Gospel of John,
there is a question that came up
as a result of a comment I made last week about modern day prophets,
and I think it’s important enough for all of us to spend a little time on it this morning
before we plunge back into the text.
If you were with us last week
you’ll remember that we were talking about John the Baptist,
and then we broadened that topic out
into looking at the role of the prophet throughout history
in God’s communication of Himself to us.
And at one point in that discussion
I mentioned that John the Baptist was nearly the last true prophet in the Old Testament sense
sent by God to the human race,
and that the next and final two such prophets
will appear in the three and a half years just prior to the return of Christ.
Then I said that if you find someone in the church world today
who calls himself a prophet,
run like the wind.
And I had a friend this past week
ask me for a little more explanation of why I said that.
Clearly there are prophets mentioned in the New Testament,
and there are certainly those who were equipped by God with the gift of prophecy.
So what’s the difference?
To answer that
I need to give just a little background on God’s communication of Himself to His creation,
and especially concerning the change that took place
following the death of Christ.
During the past few months
we have dropped back repeatedly into the book of Genesis
and looked at that account in the first few chapters
of Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God
and the separation that then resulted between God and the human race.
Ever since that time
everyone of us enters this world
with a spirit that is separated from God
and in rebellion against Him.
Satan’s lie to Adam and Eve
was that, if they disobeyed God,
GEN 3:5 "...you will be like God..."
Like all of his lies to us,
there was imbedded in that promise
a twisted bit of truth.
What they became was not like God,
but rather they became their own god.
They removed the creator God from His proper place
as the center of their lives,
and they replaced Him with themselves.
And ever since then
everyone of us who enters this world
does so with the inner spirit belief
that we have both the right and the ability to run our own lives.
We may reach out to God at times for input,
or for help,
but fundamentally we believe that we have the ultimate right
to call the shots.
That self-centered spirit within us is the heart of sin.
And it is what has separated us from our Creator.
OK, once that wall existed between us and our God,
communication between us and Him became far more difficult
and far more complicated.
Prior to Adam’s sin
Adam and Eve would literally walk with God in the evenings,
talking with Him face to face.
But following man’s rebellion,
one of the things God did
in His ongoing commitment to call us to Himself
was to bring on the scene two communication tools,
one through which He could communicate with us
and the second through which people could reach out to Him.
The first was the prophet
through whom He communicated Himself to His people,
and the second was the priest,
through whom His people could reach out to God and communicate with Him.
And as we read the Old Testament
we find God giving strict instructions about both of these.
Knowing that there would be many who love the kind of power that comes
from being recognized as a prophet of God,
and knowing that there would be many
who would be tempted to position themselves as prophets in society,
He laid down strict tests
on how true and false prophets could be recognized.
In Deuteronomy 18:20-22
He told his people that
if someone claims to be a prophet
that person should be required to make several short term prophecies about the future,
and if they were not 100% correct in what they prophesied
they should be executed.
And when this instruction was applied
it was, obviously,
a strong deterrent to people seeking prophet standing from selfish or corrupt motives.
The true prophets of God,
those who truly were filled with the Spirit of God,
were used by Him to accomplish three major tasks.
First, they were used by God to confront people with their own rebellion against God
and to call them to repentance.
This was by far the most common role they played.
Second, they would at times literally speak the words of God Himself to His people.
JER 31:3 The Lord appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”
JER 31:7 For thus says the Lord, "Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chiefs of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, 'O Lord, save Your people, The remnant of Israel.'
And third,
there were some prophets who were used by God
to literally reveal the future.
Sometimes they did this through God speaking directly through them...
MAL 3:1 "Behold, I am going to send My messenger, and he will clear the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming," says the Lord of hosts.
Sometimes they did it through simply recording visions they had seen,
as we have, for example, with the prophet Daniel,
visions in which God literally revealed the entire future course of the history of the human race.
I mention these three roles
because I think we sometimes confuse prophecy only with foretelling the future,
and that’s not what the term means.
There were a few prophets who did that,
but there were many who didn’t,
and the word prophet itself doesn’t mean “to predict”, it means “to speak forth”.
Christ Himself said that the greatest prophet of them all was John the Baptist,
and yet to our knowledge
he never made even one future prediction.
His entire work was one of speaking forth God’s mind to the nation of Israel,
confronting people with their sins,
and calling them to repentance and submission to God.
The prophets were not fortune-tellers,
they were not predictors of the future,
they were simply mouths of God Himself,
speaking whatever God wanted spoken at any given time.
And just as there were strict requirements placed on the prophets,
so there were strict requirements placed on the priests.
The form they followed was carefully outlined by God,
and if we took the time
we could go back into that form
and see that it was a form carefully designed to picture Christ Himself.
But my point with all of this
is simply that prior to Christ’s appearance
God’s communication between Himself and His creation
rested heavily on those two key figures -
the prophets through whom He spoke to people,
and the priests through whom people could reach back to God.
But once Christ offered Himself
as full payment for all of our sins
a profound change took place in God’s interaction with those of us who come to Him.
I do love the way God said it through the Prophet Jeremiah.
JER 31:31-34 "Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, "declares the Lord. "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."
In that passage Jeremiah captures the heart of what existed both before and after the work of Christ.
Before Christ came
God provided the prophets through whom His Spirit
call out to people that they should “know the Lord”.
It certainly kept people aware of God’s offer of forgiveness and grace,
but it was always an external voice
that had no power to bring about changes within those who heard.
But once the debt of our sin was paid in full through Christ’s death
everything changed forever.
For now, when we come to Him,
submitting to Him as our God
and placing our lives into His hands,
He literally places His Spirit within each one of us,
placing His laws into our minds,
and writing them upon our hearts,
recreating us at the spirit level into His holy ones.
Now that does not mean that we then live out the desires and leadership of that new heart perfectly
because, even though our spirit now knows and loves God,
the body in which that new spirit now lives
is filled with memories, reasoning processes, and emotional responses
all of which war against the life within that new spirit.
But it does mean that, because of that cleansing work of Christ within us,
every Christian now lives with the Spirit of God within them,
constantly living in the presence of God at the spirit level.
No longer do we need the voice of the Prophet to tell us the mind and will of God
because exactly the same Spirit that once worked in and through those prophets
now lives in every Christian.
Do you remember those three things that God once accomplished through the prophets?
First, they were used by God to confront people with their own rebellion against God
and to call them to repentance.
Second, they would speak the words of God Himself to His people.
And third,
there were some prophets who were used by God
to literally reveal the future.
Who accomplishes that work within our lives now?
Who confronts us with our sin and rebellion against God and calls us to repentance?
JOH 16:7-8 "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment...”
No longer do we need the Spirit of God working through the external voice of the Prophet to confront us with our sin
because now the Spirit Himself accomplishes that work within each individual.
And who now reveals the voice and the words of God to us?
JOH 16:13-15 "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify Me; for He shall take of Mine, and shall disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.
1CO 2:9-10, 12, 16 “...but just as it is written, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, And which have not entered the heart of man, All that God has prepared for those who love Him." For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God... Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God,... But we have the mind of Christ.
And how about that business of predicting the future?
Don’t we need a prophet for that?
Well, the truth is that as far as world events are concerned,
everything that God wants us to know about the future
He has already revealed to us through His written Word.
I think the final words recorded for us in the final book of the Bible are relevant here.
REV 22:18-20 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
And if there are times in your life
when God wants to reveal to you
some piece of your own personal future,
then He will do that in exactly the same way as He does everything else in your life -
through His Spirit’s personal, intimate communication to you.
It will not be through some self-proclaimed “prophet”
who brings to you “the Word of the Lord”.
And just as we no longer need the prophet because the Spirit of God now fulfills that work in each of us,
so no longer do we need the priest to bring our sacrifice to God for us,
and intercede with God on our behalf,
because... well, let me allow the author of Hebrews to say it.
HEB 10:14,19, 21-22 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience ...
We no longer need a prophet to tell us the mind of God
because His Spirit within us has given each of us the mind of Christ.
We no longer need a priest to give us access to God
because each of us are now personally seated with Christ in heavenly places
and live every second of our lives in the very presence of God.
In His own words,
the last thing Christ said to His people was, MAT 28:20 “...I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
So, when I told you last week
that you should run like the wind
if you encounter someone within the church world
who tries to take onto him or herself the stance of a prophet in the Old Testament sense,
my intent was to warn you
about a common technique through which
people use religion for their own ends.
There is no easier place in all the world
to use people for ego gratification or for personal gain
than in the world of religion.
And there is no quicker way to do it
than through phrases such as,
“The Lord has given me a special message for you...”,
or “ I have received a word from the Lord concerning you...”.
I spent more than a little time during my early Christian life
in a religious world in which such things were frequently said.
And every time it happened
two things took place.
First, the social status of the person speaking soared.
Here was a person who possessed the ability
to hear the voice of God in a way that none of the rest of us could ever do.
They were clearly rare and chosen vessels of God!
Welcome to the hideous world of religious power games!
And second,
the person receiving the message
took a huge step back in their own ability
to hear and follow the voice of God’s Spirit in their own life.
A short while ago I was in a conversation with a young man
who was facing a major decision
that would impact his life for years to come.
At the time I had a strong personal opinion
about what I believed was the correct choice.
It was not the choice this young man was leaning toward.
There were times in that conversation
when I felt so strongly about that choice
that I wanted to say, “I know the will of God for you in this.”
But, to my credit I didn’t
because I knew that there was a far greater issue involved
than just the decision itself.
The real issue
was whether or not this young Christian
could begin to hear, and trust, and follow the voice of the Spirit within him,
and whether I would have enough faith in both him and my God
to allow him to do so.
So mostly what I said
was that I didn’t know God’s will for him,
but that my hope was that whatever it was,
once he knew it he would do it.
Within two hours after that conversation
it became abundantly clear to both of us
that he was right and I was wrong.
He had heard the voice of God
and I could have done sever damage to him
in his ability to trust that voice.
We are all so fragile at times in our walk with Christ,
and so quick to doubt the life of Christ within us,
and so vulnerable to those who claim some access to the voice of God that we apparently don’t have.
And often the greatest kindness we can ever extend to a fellow Christian
is our strong affirmation to them
that the same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead dwells in them,
and they can trust Him to live out His life through them
in the way that is perfectly matched to His unique purposes for them.
Now, at this point in my life,
if someone were to say to me,
“Larry, God has given me a prophetic word for you.”,
I think probably I would respond by saying,
“So why in the world would He do that?
I have His Spirit within me.
Why would He give you His message for me?”
And then what I’d like to say is,
“Has this type of thing happened to you before - getting messages from God for other people?”
And if they said it had,
I’d ask them to share the details of their last three prophecies,
with the understanding that if the results were not exactly as they had prophesied
we as a church reserved the right to stone them.
Certainly God frequently says things to us through one another.
But when He does that
you will know it’s true
not because some other person has declared themself as the voice of God in your life,
but rather because God’s Spirit has taken another person’s words
and given them life.
It’s the Spirit of God within you that gives those words power,
not the other person assuming some position of spiritual dominance over you.
There are times when the words I speak here on Sunday mornings
have a powerful affect on the lives of some of those who hear me.
Most of the time
I have no idea when or with whom that happens.
And when it happens
it isn’t because God has granted to me some kind of elevated access to Him,
it happens simply because God takes my words
and gives them life and power within you.
And it always goes back to what’s happening between you and your Lord.
But if there really are no prophets in the Old Testament sense today
then how about that gift of prophecy given by the Holy Spirit to some of His people?
EPH 4:11-12 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ...
Perhaps I could best make the distinction between prophets in the Church
and prophets prior to Christ
by saying that for us today
it is not a position we hold
but rather a gift we receive.
And like all gifts of the Spirit,
it is not a gift given to us,
but rather a gift given through us.
And keep in mind that the word for prophet used in the New Testament
means simply “to speak forth”.
If a local fellowship is actively seeking the life and leadership of Christ
both in their personal lives and in their life together as a church,
there are specific things God wants “to speak forth” in and to that fellowship.
It is a key ingredient in the growth and health of the body.
In fact, that is exactly what Paul says those gifts are given for...
EPH 4:12-13 ...for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
But these gifts within the body
operate very differently from the prophetic work of the Old Testament Prophets.
We know that because of the clear ground-rules laid down by God
in the exercise of these gifts.
When Paul gave his instructions on the use of the prophetic gift in the public worship service he said,
1CO 14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment.
This, of course, is radically different
from what God did in and through the Old Testament Prophets.
No one was allowed to pass judgment on what they said.
In fact, do you remember from last week
what happens to those who try to do that
with the next true Prophets God sends?
REV 11:5 And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies; so if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
That is not what now exists within the family of God.
For us now he was clearly laying down a protective checks and balances system
in which, rather than negating the life of Christ within each Christian,
he boldly affirms it.
Paul is telling us that, if what you hear being spoken by any other Christian
is not confirmed both by the written Word and by the Spirit of God within you,
trust His Word and His life within you,
not the prophetic word of the other person.
And if any other Christian
ever claims by either their words of their actions
to have some secret insight into the will of God for you that you do not possess,
run like the wind!