The Coming of The Prophets

The appearing of the prophets became necessary when the people of Israel failed to approach the mountain and have direct fellowship with the LORD at Mount Sinai. The ultimately fulfillment of the LORD’S plan was delayed by the failure of the people (Heb 8:7) until a future time spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, (Jer 31:31-34). As close as the prophets came to know the LORD, no subsequent Old Testament prophet achieved the same relationship with the LORD as Moses, (Num 12:6-8).

The prophets who followed Moses did not speak with the LORD in the same manner as Moses, “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend,” (Ex 33:11). As a result, the responsibility of these prophets was to reiterate, magnify, and clarify the words given by Moses (2 Pet 3:2), but the prophets were not given the authority to add or subtract from the original words. Moses cautioned those who followed him by saying, “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you,” (Deut 4:2, 12:32). A similar warning was spoken by Solomon who said, “Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar,” (Prov 30:6).

The apostle John offered this warning in the Book of Revelations, “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,” (Rev 22:18-19). Although John’s warning appears specific to the Book of Revelations, this principle remains true from the time of Moses. In the words of Solomon, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun,” (Eccl 1:9).

Only once in scripture does Jesus refer to a commandment as new when he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” (John 13:34). Yet, this commandment is simply a variation of the original commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). Jesus identified the two greatest commandments as “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matt 22:37)(Deut 6:5) and “Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt 22:39)(Lev 19:18). These commandments were not new when Jesus spoke them, but originate in the teachings of Moses, as it is written, “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” (Matt 22:40). Therefore, it follows that the words of the prophets and the words of the apostles, given as the believer’s foundation (Eph 2:20), are build on the original revelation from the LORD spoken at Mount Sinai. Otherwise, the prophets and apostles would be found to violate the words of the LORD given through Moses (Deut 4:2, 12:32).

THE ROLE OF THE PROPHETS

The responsibility of the prophets is reinforced at the beginning of the first book of prophecy where Joshua told the people, “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful where ever you go,” (Josh 1:7). The last book of prophecy concludes with a similar statement from Malichi, “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the decrees and laws I gave him at Horeb for all Israel,” (Mal 4:4). The beginning and ending of the prophetic books are seen to frame the purpose of the prophets; to reinforce the teachings of Moses.

The apostles tell us that the role of the prophets was to search “intently and with the greatest care” (1 Pet 1:10), to uncover the deep mysteries that were already contained in the teachings of Moses, but “hidden for ages and generations,” (Col 1:26)(Rom 16:25). Jesus likened this process to “the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old,” (Matt 13:52). In this statement of Jesus, the new treasures come from the same house as the old treasures. Further, Jesus validates the continuing importance of Moses’ words by saying, “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matt 5:18).

For most believers, the idea that the apostolic text is given to magnify and clarify the words of Moses is a foreign concept. After all, where do we find many of the principles of our faith revealed in the words of Moses? For example, where is the concept of the resurrection of the dead revealed by Moses? Jesus faced this question from the Sadducees who limited the inspired word to the original five books of Moses and saw no evidence of the resurrection. The Pharisees did believe in the resurrection, but found their strongest evidences in the prophetic statements of the prophets, such as Daniel, who said, “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt,” (Dan 12:2).

To demonstrate their disbelief in the resurrection, the Sadducees developed the story of a woman who had seven husbands over the course of her life. They used this story to pose a question to Jesus, “At the resurrection whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?” (Matt 22:28). First, it is important to note that the response of Jesus does not come from the prophets, but from the Torah to demonstrate that the concept of the resurrection existed in the original writings of Moses. “Have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.” (Matt 22:31-32). Second, Jesus uses the opportunity to validate another concept in the Torah that gains clarity in the prophets; the existence of angels, (Matt 22:30). Although the concepts of angels and the resurrection of the dead gain significant clarity in the prophets, Jesus demonstrated that the original concepts exist in the Torah. As it turns out, Daniel was only magnifying what already was communicated by Moses.

THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE PROPHET

According to Hebraic tradition, there were twice as many prophets as Israelites who left Egypt or over a million prophets in the 800 years from the time of Moses until the end of the first temple period. This number probably represented less than one percent of the Israelites who lived during this period. Most of these remained unnamed in scripture like the seven thousand in the days of Elijah who had “not bowed the knee to Baal,” (1 Kings 19:18)(Rom 11:4). Of all the prophets who prophesized, the Jewish text only records the words of forty-eight men and seven women. The words of these individuals have been preserved because they spoke to future generations, in addition to their own. The forty-eight included the patriarchs and other outstanding personalities in the Bible. The seven prophetesses are Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Ester.

The term “prophet” comes from the Hebrew word “navi,” which means “one who speaks on behalf or before God.” The earlier prophets were often called “seers,” (1 Sam 9:19), because they were granted a deeper insight which enabled them to provide spiritual and practical guidance to the people. When Saul lost his donkeys, he went to Samuel for assistance because Samuel was a “seer,” (1 Sam 9:19). Samuel told Saul, “As for the donkey you lost three days ago, do not worry about them; they have been found,” (1 Sam 19:20). Saul came to Samuel because prophets assisted people in their everyday lives. In the case of Saul, God used the lost donkeys to send him to Samuel (1 Sam 9:16), so Samuel could anoint Saul as king.

Prophecy was not a gift arbitrarily conveyed by God upon men, but the crowning of an individual who had obtained an exceptionally high level of spiritual growth. The priest Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, were both given the gift of prophecy because they were “upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly,” (Luke 1:6). The man Simeon was able to prophesy over the Christ child on the eight day after his birth because Simeon was “righteous and devout,” (Luke 2:25). In a similar manner, Anna also was able to prophesy over the child because she “worshipped night and day, fasting and praying,” (Luke 2:37). Consistent with these examples, Jesus revealed himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, not because Paul persecuted the church, many people did, but because Paul was found to be righteous and “faultless” on the basis of the Law (Phil 3:5).

The gift of prophecy is only possible through a person who has received the anointing of the Holy Spirit, (1 Pet 1:11)(2 Pet 1:21). Moses became a prophet (Deut 18:18) through the power of the Spirit of God that rested on him (Num 11:17). In a similar manner, the word of God came through Jesus because the Spirit of God (Act 1:2) descended on him when he was baptized by John (Matt 3:16-17). The LORD took part of the Spirit that rested on Moses and placed the Spirit on seventy of Israel’s elders who were known to be leaders and officials among the people (Num 11:16-17). This transmission was understood to be analogous to the lighting of one candle by another. The flame of the first is not diminished by the lighting of the second candle. Following this pattern, the Spirit of God was transmitted without degradation from one righteous person to another, and from one generation to another through the generation of those who witnessed the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:26).

To receive the anointing of the Spirit in the Jewish text, a person had to achieve a level of righteousness that far exceeded that of the average Israelite. The understood process is quoted in Everyman’s Talmud as follows:

“Zeal leads to cleanliness, cleanliness to ritual purity, ritual purity to self-control, self-control to holiness, holiness to humility, humility to fear of sin, fear of sin to saintliness, and saintliness to the Holy Spirit.” (Sot. IX:15) (Everyman’s Talmud, “Revelation,”T page 121)

The process outlined in the Talmud closely follows the words given by Peter to make our “calling and election sure,” (2 Pet 1:10).

Applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness , 7 and in your godliness , brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(2 Peter 1:5-8)

What level of righteousness is required to receive the gift of prophecy? The righteousness of the prophets is reflected in the life of the earliest prophet to have his words recorded in scripture, Enoch (Jude 12). In addition to the words recorded by Jude, Enoch named his son Methuselah, which translates, “when he dies it will come.” The “it” was the flood that came in the same year Methuselah died. As a testimony to the righteousness of Enoch, the Bible tells us that “Enoch walked with God: then he was no more, because God took him away,” (Gen 5:23). Enoch, along with the prophet Elijah, are the only two individuals in scripture who were translated directly into the presence of the LORD without experiencing death.

Paul instructed believers to specifically desire the gift of prophecy. “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy,” (1 Cor 14:1). In addition to the benefits of strengthening, encouraging, and comforting, (1 Cor 14:3), the gift of prophecy obligates the believer to achieve a high level of righteousness following the path described by Peter (2 Pet 1:5-8) and elsewhere in scripture. One of the principle reasons the church lacks prophecy in the present age originates from the deficiency of personal righteousness in most believers. Although we receive righteousness from Jesus, we fail to walk in a manner that is “spotless and blameless,” (2 Pet 3:10), the standard Jesus desires for us.

To achieve the required level of righteousness, prophets tended to be the sons, daughters, or disciples of a prophet (1 Kings 20:35). When a father’s name is mentioned in scripture along with the prophet, tradition holds that the father was also a prophet such as, “Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo,” (Zech 1:1). John the Baptist was the son of Zachariah who prophesized at his birth. Amos stands as an exception to the rule since he “was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (Amos 7:14).

Most prophets were disciples of a prophet, a precursor to the pattern of Jesus and his disciples. Elijah and Elisha are the primary example in scripture of this relationship. Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen when “Elijah came up to him and threw his cloak around him. Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah,” (1 Kings 19:19-20). The calling and proper response of Elisha are alluded to by the words of Jesus, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” (Luke 9:62). Elisha did not again put his hand to the plow, but left his oxen and remained a disciple until he saw Elijah carried up to heaven by the chariots and horsemen of Israel, (2 Kings 2:12).

The process of elevating a person’s righteousness to the level necessary to receive the prophetic revelation often required many years. For this reason, prophets tended to be older individuals who achieved the necessary level of righteousness over the course of their lives. Moses, the principle prophet of the nation of Israel, was close to eighty years old when he encountered the LORD at the burning bush. This is one of the reasons why “the crowds were amazed” at the teaching of Jesus. At the young age of only thirty years, “He was teaching as one having authority,” (Matt 7:28). The chief priests and the elders did not understand and wanted to know where Jesus had received this authority, (Matt 21:23). At thirty years old, (Luke 3:23), Jesus was simply too young to have achieved such wisdom and spiritual power.

The prophecy of Joel sited by Peter (Acts 2:17) is significant because of the age when people will prophesize.

“I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions,” (Joel 2:28).

When “young men” see visions and “sons and daughters” prophesy, the normal process to becoming a prophet has been accelerated through a special outpouring of the Spirit.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPHECY

Once the nation entered into the land of Israel, no person came to be a prophet who was born outside the land of Israel. A person born in the land could prophesize outside the land, such as Jonah did for Ninevah and Daniel did in Babylon. However, a person could not be born outside of the land and become a prophet for the nation. Because of this requirement, prophecy greatly diminished for the nation of Israel in the days following the Babylonian captivity as the generation born in Israel passed away. Prior to the exile, Ezekiel witnessed the departure of the Holy Spirit from Israel, (Ezek 10:18-19). The departure of the Spirit was the principle indication that prophecy was coming to an end.

There is a tradition that Jonah fled over the ocean to escape the prophetic utterances of God. Although Jonah understood that God is everywhere, he reasoned that he could avoid the continued calling of the LORD to go to Nineveh if he traveled on the sea since there had been no record of God speaking to prophets at sea. As it turned out, God did not speak to Jonah on the waters. It was Jonah who spoke to God. The LORD heard and delivered the prophet through a whale that spew Jonah onto dry land. Jonah’s concern was proved true; Nineveh did repent and God subsequently judged Israel for their unrepentant heart. Jesus used the story of Nineveh to proclaim the coming judgment on another generation of unrepentant hearts. “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here,” (Luke 11:32).

Even when a prophet was born in the land of Israel, and had achieved a personnel level of righteousness, he might be prevented from prophesying because of the faithlessness of the community. The story of Jesus’ inability to perform miracles in Nazareth is a testimony to this fact, as it is written,

“He did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith,” (Matt 13:57).

“To prepare the way for the Lord,” (Matt 3:3), the LORD sent John the Baptist to “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous – to make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” (Luke 1:17). Without John to prepare the way, the hearts of the people would not have been open to receive the miracles of Jesus and the message of the kingdom.


MAINTAINING THE GIFT OF PROPHECY

It was understood that a prophet could lose the gift of prophecy if he failed to maintain the level of righteousness necessary to sustain the gift. Although the Spirit of God had been given to Saul (1 Sam 11:6), the Spirit departed (1 Sam 16:13), after Saul sinned by not completely destroying the Amalekites as the LORD had commanded, (1 Sam 15:2-3). David cried out to the LORD, “Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me,” (Psa 51:11), after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. The apostle Paul warned the believer,

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Eph 4:30-31).

Although each believer is given the gift of the Spirit, the effective work of the Spirit within us is directly related to the righteousness we maintain in our walk. We are “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” (Eph 3:20). The statement of Paul offers limitless possibilities that are limited when a life is filled by acts of bitterness, rage, anger, and the like outlined by Paul. Further, we can be assured that no person can be a prophet of the Lord if their life does not reflect the righteousness associated with the prophetic gift.

Humility can be considered a subset of the righteousness required of a prophet. Moses was considered to be the greatest prophet of the Jewish people, while at the same time, “The man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth,” (Num 12:3). Following the pattern of Moses, Jesus was “gentle and humble in heart,” (Matt 11:29). As James has written, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble,” (James 4:6).

As a prophet received greater and greater revelations, it probably became increasingly difficult to maintain the proper level of humility. To maintain a level of humility and maintain purity, prophets frequently “went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute,” (Heb 11:37). The wearing of these garments also reflected a disassociation of the world by the prophet. It is difficult to maintain a high level of righteousness while constantly living in a sinful world. For this reason, the life of a prophet was often a lonely experience leading Elijah to believe, “I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too,” (1 Kings 19:10).

The LORD allowed the prophets to be persecuted and mistreated, (Heb 11:37), to demonstrate their faithfulness and to maintain their humility. In the case of Paul, a thorn in the flesh was given, “to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations,” (2 Cor 12:7). In keeping with his own humility, Paul often referred to himself as “the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,” (1 Cor 15:9).

THE END OF PROPHECY

There remains some question about the role of prophecy in the present age. We understand from scripture that prophecy continued to exist during the early church (Acts 21:10) and we accept the Book of Revelations as the pinnacle of prophetic utterances. Further, a time is coming when all prophecy will be completed, as Paul has written,

If there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. (1 Cor 13:8-10)

The words of Paul imply that prophecy will be done away with “when the perfect comes,” but what is “the perfect?” The meaning of the phrase “the perfect” has been the subject of debate for centuries. However, if the function of prophecy is to clarify and magnify the Torah, as was stately earlier, then it follows that prophecy will be done away with when men come to possess a perfect understanding of the Torah. This opportunity occurred at Mount Sinai, but the people were afraid to approach the mountain to have a personal relationship with the LORD. Yet the LORD is a God of second chances and Jeremiah prophesized of a future time when the word of God will be taught by the Creator Himself and written on the hearts of men.

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." (Jer 31:33-34)

The initial fulfillment of this prophecy began with the life of Jesus and the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Yet, believers have not reached a complete and perfect understanding of God’s word and we still are asking our brothers and neighbors to help us understand passages in the Bible.

There is a time coming when the Living Word (Torah) will return to the earth at the second appearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At that time,

“Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.” (Isa 2:3-4).

When the LORD teaches us, we will have no further need of prophecy because the Perfect will be our teacher to lead us into a perfect understanding of the Torah. According to Everyman’s Talmud, “When everybody is obedient to the commandments; there will be no further need for the prophetic exhortations which were only intended for a sinful world and not the era of perfection to be inaugurated by the Messiah,” (Chapter Revelation, page 124).

Does this mean that prophecy can exist before the Perfect comes? Prophecy can and will exist before the return of Jesus. Look no further than the two witnesses in the Book of Revelations who are said to prophesize (Rev 11:6). There also remains the second fulfillment of the words of Joel,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. (Joel 2:28-29)

However, until that day, prophecy will be greatly diminished because of the limited righteousness of individuals called to prophesy and the faithlessness of those to whom the prophecy would be directed.

Scott