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Home , Agabus, Lucius of Cyrene, Silas, Simeon (Gospel of Luke)

"The Gift of Prophecy Under the Microscope" 1 Cor. 14:1-5. preached Wednesday 6/30/21 at CAW

I. Prophecy As Understood From Scripture

Prophecy describes various forms of inspired utterance, facilitated through God revealing something to a believer, and that believer giving the human communication of what God is revealing. Prophecy includes, but is not limited to, preaching or the written words of recognized Old Testament . Old Testament prophecy was mainly predictive in nature. prophecy is mainly for edification of believers. At its core, all prophecy consists of God communicating specific messages through human instruments.

II. A Distinction Between the Office of & Those Who Simply Exercised the Ability To Prophesy

A. The OT writing prophets - , , , , etc.

God individually commissioned these men to speak on His behalf, and only to speak what He communicated to them and through them. He then inspired these men to write their prophecies, and God preserved their words as Scripture. These words are established as the very words of God with all of His binding authority.

B. The NT office of prophets:

Acts 13:1 - “Now there were in the church at prophets and teachers, , who was called Niger, , Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.”

Ephesians 4:11-12 - “And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the for the work of ministry, for building up the body of .”

Named prophets: John the Baptizer, ( & 21), Judas & (:32)

C. The NT gift of prophecy: 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14; :6

There were some who prophesied but were not officially titled prophets: Philip’s 4 daughters (:9); unnamed men & women at Corinth (1 Cor. 11:4-5); unnamed Christians in Rome (Romans 12:5); unnamed men at Ephesus (:5-6)

III. There Are Varying Degrees of Authority In Prophecies

A. Scriptural prophecy is infallible, supreme and always binding

2 Peter 1:19-21 - “And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the ." B. Non-inscripturated OT prophecies: Medad, Eldad (numbers 11:25-29); King Saul (1 Sam. 10:10); scores of unnamed prophets (Books of , Kings & Chronicles).

C. NT prophecy - has to be evaluated to be validated as genuinely coming from God.

1 John 4:1 - "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world."

1 Thess. 5:20-21 - "Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good."

Variables to consider:

Prophecy is not a one size fits all!

o OT prophets - most were predictive of the future; most offered warnings, some offered hope, most were scorned, some were obeyed, none were exactly alike o (Deuteronomy 18:15, 34:10; :22, 7:37) o Samuel, the judge (1 Samuel 3:19-21) o King Saul (1 Samuel 10:6-12, 19:24) o (:24-28) o - ministered in all facets of prophecy: upbuilding, edifying, warning, condemning, revelation and prediction

OT prophets: handpicked by God individually and specifically commissioned by Him. NT prophecy: ALL believers are encouraged toward the gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14:1).

§ OT saints often needed the prophets to enquire of the Lord on their behalf. § The prophet was often a mediator between God and man. § This type of prophetic function is done away with in the NT as all believers are indwelt and guided by the Holy Spirit, and therefore have the ability to communicate with the Lord themselves.

OT prophets gave revelation that was accompanied by a clear mandate to obey what was prophesied. NT gift of prophecy offers the people revelation but does not necessarily carry a mandate to obey w/o quesiton.

Example: In Acts 21: 7-15, Agabus gives his prophecy to Paul about the dangers of going to , but Agabus himself gave Paul no instructions. The prophecy of Agabus is placed before the people to decide what counsel to give Paul about going to Jerusalem. They urged Paul not to go based on the prophecy of Agabus concerning the danger awaiting him there. Paul did not heed their counsel. Clearly this is different than OT prophecy where all prophecy was to be obeyed as an authoritative Word from God. There is not a single instance of the NT gift of prophecy being employed as the singular channel of mandated instruction to be obeyed. This is an obvious difference between OT prophecy & NT prophecy.

In the OT, a prophet was the mouthpiece of God. Old Testament prophets had the singular role of bringing God’s word - His instruction, warnings, prophecies, and so on - directly to His people.

By contrast, in the New Testament all believers have a relationship with God and can hear Him speaking to them personally. Therefore, prophecy is human communication of what is already heard through relationship with Divine God.