Prophets and Prophecy 101

This week I want to talk about prophecy.

My final comment on last week's post said that I would examine a prophecy of Daniel, but the more I thought about it (and after listening to some feedback from facebook) I decided that I need to talk about prophecy and what it means for Christians today.

The first thing I want to point out is that prophecy doesn't necessarily mean "a prediction from the future".  In John 4:16-19, Jesus asks a woman to get her husband, and the woman replies that she has no husband.  Jesus then points out that she’s telling the truth—she has no husbands, but she has been married five times, and the dude she’s currently with isn’t her husband.  When Jesus reveals this knowledge about her, she says: “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.”

The woman declares Jesus’s prophet-hood not because he told the future, but because he knew something about her past.  In other portions of scriptures, Pharisees say that if Jesus was truly a prophet, he would know that he was in the company of sinners (Luke 7:39), again demonstrating that a prophet should be aware of a person’s past as well as making predictions of the future.

This idea that a prophet’s knowledge is not limited to the past is exascerbated by the fact that when Jesus was being struck on the face after being tried by the Pharisees, they mock him, saying: “Prophecy! Who hit you?”  My assumption is that they wouldn’t ask this question unless information of the present would also be available to a prophet.

Past, present, future.  The power of prophecy doesn’t seem to be limited to just the future, and the power doesn’t seem to be limited for good, either.

Deuteronomy 13:1-4 states that a prophet shows their authority from God by performing a sign or wonder, but they can still announce that the Israelites should follow other gods.  Obviously, God didn’t want the Israelites to follow other gods, and this scripture is followed by an ordinance saying that if this happens then God is testing them to see if they will follow other gods (and other people), or if they will continue to follow the one true god.

While he have exemplary models for dedication to God from various prophets (Isaiah had to be naked for three years (Isaiah 20:3), and Ezekiel was initially told to eat bread baked from human execrement (Ezekiel 4:12), but God relented (Ezekiel 4:13-15)), we also have the not so great example of Jonah, who decided to go against God’s will and not preach to Ninevah as he was told (Jonah 1:1-3).  From this I think it is fair to assume that just because you have the gift of prophecy doesn’t mean you’ll use the power for good; just that the information revealed to you is true.

What does this mean for the modern Christian?  Just that we need to be sober-minded when it comes to someone’s claim to prophet-hood in our era.  If someone says that they have the gift of prophecy, but they only make claims to the future, be alert.  Same thing if they start saying stuff that isn’t aligned with God’s will (remember Deuteronomy 13:1-4?) Or if they can’t accomplish other “signs and wonders” (Elijah and Elisha were able to part water in 2 Kings 2:8 and 2:14, similar to Moses parting the Red Sea). So, while most of the prophets did amazing things (especially Jesus), that doesn’t mean that ALL prophets are good.

A final note:  I personally don’t believe that people have the power of prophecy today.  I believe that prayer produces miracles and that sometimes God may reveal to people certain goals or missions for their lives, but I highly doubt that people have the power to know information that should remain hidden to most.

I’m going to continue talking about prophecy next week.  The week after I think I might tackle some political issues that Christians are facing today.