“A Balancing Word on Prophets and Prophecy”
12/27/23
Matthew 24:1-25 “Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’
4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 24 For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you beforehand.”
Now, when asked what would be the sign of His coming, Jesus mentions pandemic spiritual deception first, and mentions it three times in all.
He said the deception would come by way of false Christs, false prophets, and false teachers that masquerade as legitimate ministers and teachers of the Word.
He warned of the same thing in the Sermon on the Mount: “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves”—Matt. 7:15 NLT
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These kinds of warnings against false teachers and false prophets infiltrating the church of Jesus Christ are found all throughout the New Testament.
In fact, 26 of the 27 NT books warn about false teachers and prophets. Philemon is only exception.
We’re days away from the New Year of 2024 and self professing prophets are going to come out of the woodwork to give their “word for the New Year.”
They will offer predictions, warnings, promises, and other “words” they will claim to be straight from the throne room of God.
It’s not that someone can’t be right on, they may be.
But experience teaches that most of them won’t.
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So I want to bring a balancing word on prophecy today by first noting:
I. The ever present danger of false teachers and false prophets
Just before his departure from Ephesus, Paul warned the elders of the church:
“For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking misleading things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29-30).
Note how Paul stresses that the false prophets and teachers would come “from among yourselves,” from within the church, to teach misleading things.
Home grown, we might say!
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Paul also warned the Corinthian church of the same danger:
“13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness…” (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
And when will this be most prevalent? Just before Jesus returns!
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Then we find Paul prophetically warning Timothy, his own son in the faith, regarding last days deception by false prophets and teachers:
“You may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian”—2 Tim. 3:1 LB
And why so difficult? One reason is the infiltration of false prophets and teachers into the church:
Paul predicts they will “…work their way into people’s homes and win the confidence of vulnerable women who are burdened with the guilt of sin and controlled by various desires. 7 (Such women are forever following new teachings, but they are never able to understand the truth.) 8 These teachers oppose the truth…They have depraved minds and a counterfeit faith”—2 Tim. 3:6-8 NLT
And again Paul warns Timothy:
“Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons”—1 Tim. 4:1 NLT
And who brings these teachings from demons?—False prophets and false teachers that infiltrate the church!
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So summing it up—false prophets and false teachers will:
—Infiltrate the church
—Come disguised as genuine ministers, even ‘angels of light.’
—Teach false doctrine and prophesy false things.
—They will be convincing and, unfortunately, often successful.
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Now, Scripture shows that:
II. The designation of ‘prophet’ began early on in the OT.
The first prophet found in the Bible is Abraham.
In Genesis 20:7, God warned King Abimelech after he had taken Sarah, Abraham’s wife, into his own house:
“Now therefore, restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you shall live.”
The word ‘prophet’ here means ‘spokesman,’ and includes someone who mediates between God and man.
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A few hundred years later, Scripture identifies Moses as a great prophet:
“There has never again been a prophet in Israel like Moses.”—Deut. 34:10 CEV
The word ‘prophet’ here again means spokesman—Moses spoke to the people the words God gave him.
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Then as OT Scripture unfolds, we find God raising up more mighty prophets to speak to His people.
Generally their purpose was to warn God’s people who were straying away from God, and to call them to repentance.
There were four major OT prophets—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
And twelve minor prophets I won’t list, but you can look up.
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These OT prophets are mentioned in Hebrews 1:1-2…
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son.”
The OT prophets not only warned God’s people, they also delivered to Israel and to the world the inerrant, unfailing, perfect OT portion of the Word of God.
Paul says of their writings, “Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character,” (2 Tim. 3:16 CEV).
The way they were inspired is described by Peter:
“For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21 NIV).
And their predictions never failed; they never said, “Oops, I missed it!”
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And it’s important to note that Jesus didn’t come to do away with the OT prophets, He came to fulfill their predictions.
Of their writings, Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law (what the prophets wrote) till all is fulfilled.”—Matt 5:17-18 NKJV
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Now, as we move from the OT to the NT, we see that the gift of prophecy is still alive and well.
We read that Jesus Himself predicted things both near and far with 100% accuracy.
And at least three of His Apostles prophesied of future events in their epistles—John, Paul, and Peter.
Jude, who was not one of the original 12 apostles, also predicted future events.
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Now, once the church was established, Paul the Apostle wrote to the Corinthian church about the “gift of prophecy” that was operating among them.
He lists nine gifts of the Holy Spirit for the church, and one of them is prophecy:
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all…to one is given PROPHECY.”—1 Cor. 12:10 NKJV
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In the NT, the word ‘prophecy’ is found 28 times, and there are two kinds of prophecy:
FORTH-TELLING, which means ‘to tell forth God’s will through His word.’
It is anointed, inspired preaching for the edification of the saints.
Paul speaks of this kind of prophecy in 1 Cor. 14:1 “Desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.”
It’s clear he’s talking about the ‘forth-telling’ kind of prophecy here as he describes its effect on the listeners:
“But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men” (14:3 NKJV).
Then there is…
The FORE-TELLING kind of prophecy, which is to predict a future event in the name of the Lord.
This kind of prophecy is what the OT prophets routinely brought forth.
One incredible example of their accuracy is in their predictions of the coming Messiah.
There are over 400 prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the coming of Jesus, including of His life and death.
Jesus Christ perfectly fulfilled every single one of them!
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Now, Paul wrote to the Thessalonians about prophecy, saying:
“Do not quench the Spirit, do not utterly reject prophecies, but examine everything; hold firmly to that which is good,” (1 Thes. 5:19-21 NASB).
“Don’t stifle those who have a word (an inspired message) from the Master. On the other hand, don’t be gullible. Check out everything, and keep only what’s good. Throw out anything tainted with evil” (1 Thes. 5:19-21 Message).
And in 1 John 4:1, John urges the church to test the source of prophecy: “Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world.”
The word “test” means to examine, prove, scrutinize; to recognize as genuine after examination, to approve, or deem worthy.
So how do you “test the spirit” or the prophecy coming out of a person?
FIRST, is it in line with God’s Word and His character?
Does it agree with or contradict the teachings of Scripture morally, with finances, theologically, with guidance, Christology, with the way God operates in the Word, and so on.
SECOND, does it resemble the way God speaks in the Bible? Is it clear? Concise? Sound? Direct?
THIRD, if it’s predictive prophecy is it specific? Clear? To the point? Or is it super general, non-specific, unclear, cloudy, wishy-washy, saying much without saying anything, a confusing word salad that in the end cannot be verified or validated?
FOURTH, take time to pray over what you heard. Don’t respond impulsively until you’ve had time to pray and wait on God. Does it set right in your spirit?
FIFTH, does the prophecy glorify God or people?
And FINALLY, in prayer simply ask, “Holy Spirit, is this from You?”
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So in summary:
• The Bible, from Old to New Testaments, is replete with prophecy and prophets.
• Bible prophets never erred.
• Prophecy is one of the spiritual gifts listed in 1 Cor. 12.
• Prophecy can manifest as forth-telling or foretelling, with forth-telling being by far the most common in NT times.