Prophet, Prophecy, Prophesy (Part 2)
(This “Blog Post” - or what began as one - turned into 20 pages in a Word document, so I broke it down into 4 blog posts that I am sharing over the 4 weeks so as not to overwhelm you with too much information all at once. This is part 2.)
Prophecy
In Acts 2:17-18 Peter quotes the prophet Joel saying that God will pour out His spirit on “all people” and that sons and daughters, men and women will prophesy.
1 Corinthians 14:1 encourages us to pursue love and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially that we may prophesy.
14:3 He who prophesies speaks edification (encouragement) and exhortation (urging, counseling, persuading, warning or cautioning) and comfort to men. 14:5 Prophecy is more important than the gift of tongues because it edifies the church. 14:22 Tongues (interpreted) are a sign for unbelievers, prophecy is for those who believe or will believe 14:25.
I wonder if the truth of God’s Word lives in EVERY man’s heart from birth….and hearing the truth simply reveals the truth already born in all of our hearts.
Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe. Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.
1 Corinthians 14:22-25
In other words, Paul explains that if people are speaking in uninterpreted tongues in church, it can confuse non-believers, but when we share prophecy or speak God’s message in a clear and understandable language, even the person who is a non-believer’s heart will be convicted leading him to worship God.
The judgment of God
For as many as have sinned without the law (without having heard) will also perish without the law (without being judged by the law), and as many as have sinned in the law (knowing the law) will be judged by the law (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.
Romans 2:12-16 (my own understanding added)
In other words, Paul is explaining that God judges everyone fairly based on the light they have received. The law doesn’t save anyone, only obeying it matters. For those who do not have the Bible, or at the time the Jewish Law, God has placed a moral compass inside them. We live and are judged according to that moral compass within until we are confronted with the Law in Scripture and our need for a Savior.
It is my understanding that people who don’t know the law are not exempt from eternal judgement, but they will be judged by a different standard than those who knew Scripture. We are all born with God’s moral requirements “written on our hearts.” Our conscience accuses us when we do wrong or defends us when we do right. Being judged by what we know, we will be judged by how well we follow our own conscience and the moral truths available to us.
Everyone alive has violated our own conscience at some point, so Paul argues that all of humanity is guilty before God and needs a Savior.
What does that judgment look like for those who have never heard? I wouldn’t want to find out, and my heart’s desire is that no one would ever find out.
What does judgment look like for those who have heard and rebelliously live in opposition to the will of God? I also don’t want to find out. I’m personally not afraid of the coming judgment, because I am walking in the reverential fear of the LORD. I’m not afraid of Him. I respect Him too much to willfully choose to disrespect Him in my behavior.
The fear of God for those who do not know God is the fear of punishment, but for the one who puts their trust in Jesus, the fear of God is evidenced in a desire to honor Him with our lives.
I believe we are all sinners in need of a Savior. I have experienced the unexplainable peace, joy, and hope of walking with Him, so I will boldly share the gospel and trust God to be God in the lives of others. Have you ever heard the saying, “Stay in your lane”? God never told us to decide how people would be judged, in fact, Jesus tells us not to judge and says that to the measure we judge others, we can expect to be judged. No thank you!
I focus very little on judgment and the consequences of sin. Because I LOVE God I desire to honor Him with every area of my life, not only in my actions, but also in my thoughts and emotions. He LONGS for an all-consuming relationship with us, and I personally LONG for that fellowship with Him.
When you begin desiring fellowship with Him more than anything this world has to offer, reading His Word and talking to Him becomes a joy and the longing of your heart. When God has your full attention, obedience is a natural overflow of that attention. Disobedience begins to grieve your heart deeply as it grieves His. Old desires fade and new desires take their place.
Back to prophecy versus being a prophet. It’s hard for me to get on one topic without weaving in and out of Scripture. There are no stand alone subjects in the Bible. Subjects masterfully weave in and out creating a tapestry of what life in Christ looks like. It would take several lifetimes to exhaust even the little we can know about God in the pages of the Bible, and without the Holy Spirit, even what we THINK we know could be flawed.
Prophecy vs Prophet
ALL Christ-followers (Christians) are called to prophesy, to speak on behalf of God, but NOT MANY are called to BE a prophet.
In Jeremiah 1:4 the LORD says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you (set you apart); I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Have you ever read the books of prophecy in the Bible and felt pain in your chest as you read?
When I read any of the 17 books of prophecy in the Bible, I feel DEEP pain in my heart and a desire to share what I read. I have often asked God to please NEVER call me to BE a prophet, because of the way my heart BURNS in my chest when I read what they have written.
The calling of the prophet is a heart-wrenching assignment. As a prophet, you are exhorting God’s people to repent for their rebellion and turn back to God, KNOWING that there are steep consequences if they don’t. The vast majority of the prophet’s warnings to the ancient Israelites and surrounding nations were either ignored or rejected.
Imagine KNOWING what a prophet knows and having almost no one willing to listen and turn from their ways.
It’s to a much lesser degree, but I think that anyone who has raised or even attempted to mentor teenagers can imagine this pain. As parents and mentors, we have experienced personally or have witnessed countless examples of people who have learned the hard way, so in our desire to spare the young people in our lives the pain we have experienced or witnessed, we seek to counsel them. Occasionally you will find a young person with the wisdom to both listen and heed your advice, but the grand majority of your wisdom will fall on deaf ears.
Years and even decades later, after experiencing much pain of their own, looking back on the wisdom we TRIED to offer them and wanting to spare the young people in their own lives the same pain…they will, often in vain, attempt to advise the next generation as we attempted to warn them.
Over and over in the Bible people were encouraged to tell the next generation:
Psalm 78:4-7 Tell the coming generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD so they can put their confidence in God and keep His commands.
Deuteronomy 4:9 Moses warns the Israelites to watch themselves closely and not forget the things they have seen, and to teach these things to their children and grandchildren.
Deuteronomy 6:6-7 God commands parents to impress the LORD’s commandments on their children, talking about them at home, walking on the road, lying down and getting up.
Joel 1:3 is a call to pass down stories of faith to your children who will in turn tell their children who will pass the message down to future generations.
2 Timothy 2:2 the Apostle Paul instructs a young pastor Timothy to take the things he has learned and entrust them to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others.
Titus 2:3-4 older women are encouraged to teach and train younger women what is good, passing on wisdom and life lessons.
We aren’t encouraged to do this because it’s easy or because they will listen but because if we don’t, we are participating in their destruction.
“When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.”
Ezekiel 3:18
Not only do we have a DESIRE to tell the young people in our lives what will save their lives…if we don’t, WE will be held accountable for their death. This is true of the prophet who does not tell what the LORD tells him to say, but I believe it is also true of us when we refuse to teach this next generation to honor God with their relationships, bodies, and lives. It goes back to that parable of the sower, or as I call it, “The parable of the careless farmer,” in Matthew 13:
Will some of our wisdom be snatched up by the enemy? Yes.
Will the cares of this world choke it out in the lives of some young people? Yes.
Will some enthusiastically receive the message with joy, but when it gets hard, they will quit walking in wisdom? Yes
But just as in the parable, some of what you share will fall on good soil and it will produce a good and bountiful harvest! Praise the LORD!
When we share the wisdom of scripture, we prophesy….we speak on behalf of God into the lives of those who will have freedom to either learn from it and be blessed or reject it and suffer the consequences of refusing the Word of God. When we get our pride out of the way, we realize that when people reject the wisdom of Scripture we share, they are not rejecting us, but God.
“For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us his Holy Spirit.”
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8
“And the LORD said to Samuel, ‘Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.’”
1 Samuel 8:7