*Pastor’s Note: I want to state right up front that if you are one of those Christians, and I do believe you’re a Christian, who doesn’t believe in the office of a Prophet as a ministerial gift in this day and time, what many call the dispensation of the Church, then I’m sad to say this article is probably not for you.
However, if you are the least bit curious about what a Prophet was or even is today you might be interested in some of the facts that I have gleaned from one of the well-known teachers of end-time prophecy.
I will state up front that I am not one who is into TITLES other than the ones necessary for legal purposes as I have always taught that you are what you do IN the Lord. If your motive is to serve the Lord and the church, there is no title necessary to accomplish your tasks to which the Holy Spirit has called and equipped you. However, there are indications of your ministry in the things you do for the Lord and especially related to the desires to see them accomplished.
With that in mind, here’s an article from one of favorite prophecy teachers, Mark Hitchcock, from his book, The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy.
As I have stated time and again and will do so here, with any of these articles that are not mine, the credit is listed at the end of the excerpted article and all rights are reserved to the author and publisher.
*Pictures were added for this post.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-21, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” KNJV (Bold emphasis, added).
When most people think of the job description for a prophet, they immediately think of dramatic dreams and visions of the future apocalypse. The common image of a prophet is of a predictor and prognosticator. Biblical prophets foretold the future with 100 percent accuracy and announced the coming Messiah, the coming of Antichrist, and the end of the world. This aspect of the prophet’s ministry is often called “foretelling.” The prophet was God’s mouthpiece and spokesman for predicting and previewing the future of Israel and other nations.
This future-predicting aspect of the prophet’s mission—the unfulfilled Bible prophecies of the last days or end times—is the primary focus of this book. However, it is important to remember that the prophets also had a powerful, pertinent message for the people of their own day. This aspect of the prophet’s ministry is sometimes called “forthtelling.” The prophet echoed forth God’s message to his or her own generation.
In both of these aspects of the prophetic office, the overall purpose was the same. Whether the prophet was forthtelling to the people of his or her own day or foretelling about future events, the goal was to call people to trust the Lord, obey God’s Word, and submit to his will for their lives. In essence, the ministry of the prophet was to call people to live their lives in conformity with God’s law.
It is also important to understand that even in the forthtelling function of the prophet, the foretelling element is always present to some degree. When the prophets spoke to their contemporaries about current situations, they generally included warnings and encouragements about the future in their message. Almost every prophet appears first as a foreteller. The notion of prediction seems to be the very essence of the prophetic office and function (Deuteronomy 18:20–22). Nevertheless, while always recognizing the future aspect of all prophecy, it is important for us to also remember the important function of the prophets to their contemporary society.
In the Scriptures there are at least five specific tasks, functions, or missions that the prophets fulfilled as they announced God’s message to the people of their day. Let’s briefly consider the five functions of forthtelling:
Reformers The prophets served as reformers. They consistently called the people to obey the law of God. The prophets were ethical and moral preachers who denounced all the moral, religious, and social evils of the day. The prophet of God was called on to fearlessly rebuke idolatry, marital infidelity, oppression of the poor and needy, injustice, and social, moral, and political corruption. The prophets called people to turn back from their sinful ways and to live in conformity to God’s Word.
Statesmen The prophets confronted kings and played the role of statesman in national affairs. Interestingly, the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David, were also prophets. But the two roles even in that day were clearly separate. The prophet Samuel confronted Saul about his disobedience (1 Samuel 15:13–23), and the prophet Nathan confronted David when he committed murder and adultery (2 Samuel 12:1–12).
Watchmen The prophets served as watchmen among the people. God raised up the prophets to point out the people’s religious apostasy and to trumpet forth warnings of judgment for the people’s failure to turn from idolatry.
Intercessors The prophets served as intercessors for God’s people. While the priests were the primary intercessors, offering sacrifices for the people, the prophets also assumed this role, apart from sacrificial and ceremonial activity. There are numerous instances of prophets praying for the needs of people.
| REFERENCE |
INTERCESSION |
| 1 Kings 13:6 |
An anonymous man of God prayed for King Jeroboam. |
| 1 Kings 17:17–24 |
Elijah prayed for the widow’s son. |
| 2 Kings 4:18–37 |
Elisha prayed for the son of the woman from Shunem. |
| Jeremiah 7:16; 14:7 |
Jeremiah continuously prayed for God’s mercy on the rebellious nation. |
| Amos 7:2 |
Amos asked God to forgive Israel. |
Comforters and Encouragers The prophets comforted and encouraged God’s people. Prophets are often caricatured as negative doomsayers who spent all their time going around lambasting people for their sins. As we have seen, this was certainly a principal part of their calling. But we often forget that a key aspect of the prophet’s ministry was to console and comfort. First Corinthians 14:3 says, “One who prophesies is helping others grow in the Lord, encouraging and comforting them.” (NIV). The prophets were called by God again and again to remind the people of his faithfulness, love, mercy, and compassion. By urging the people to conform their lives to God’s law, the prophets edified and encouraged the Lord’s people. In Isaiah 40:1–2, the Lord tells the prophet, “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says your God. ‘Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and that her sins are pardoned.’” (NLT).
The prophet Nahum, whose name means “comfort” or “consolation,” brought comfort to the nation of Israel by predicting and previewing the savage destruction of the wicked city of Nineveh. (Nahum is often called the book Jonah would like to have written.) In this short book of three chapters, Nahum clearly presents judgment and comfort side by side. This is not unique to Nahum. While almost all the prophets spoke about God’s judgment and wrath on the unrepentant, many also closed their message with the promise of a glorious future in the messianic kingdom. So even in the midst of judgment, there is a beautiful message of hope, comfort, and encouragement. Hobart Freeman summarizes the task of the prophet in this way:
The prophets boldly rebuked vice, denounced political corruption, oppression, idolatry and moral degeneracy. They were preachers of righteousness, reformers, and revivalists of spiritual religion, as well as prophets of future judgment or blessing. They were raised up in times of crisis to instruct, rebuke, warn and comfort Israel, but interwoven with their ethical and moral teaching are to be found numerous predictions of future events concerning Israel, the nations and the Messianic kingdom.[1]
[1] Mark Hitchcock, The Complete Book of Bible Prophecy (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1999)
*Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Is God’s
John R. Rice (December 11, 1895 – December 29, 1980) Preacher … evangelist … revivalist … editor … counselor to the thousands … friend to millions—that was Dr. John R. Rice, whose accomplishments were nothing short of miraculous. Known as “America’s Dean of Evangelists,” Dr. Rice made a mighty impact upon the nation’s religious life for some sixty years in great citywide campaigns and in Sword of the Lord conferences.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 
God Wants Us Holy
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5:
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God. (NIV)
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. (NLT)
Becoming “holy” involves a process called “sanctification.” It does not happen all a once. In fact, when you have accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, you have been chosen by the Lord for continued sanctification. This process continues throughout every believer’s lifetime on earth, preparing him or her for Heaven. God takes the old patterns and behaviors and transforms them to his standards and will. Like Paul wrote to the Corinthians, you become a “new creation in Christ Jesus” (see 2 Corinthians 5:17). Those who are being sanctified have accepted Christ as Savior and are allowing, through surrender, the Holy Spirit to work in their lives, making them more and more like Christ.
Because God wants his people to become holy, believers need to uphold certain standards due to the fact that we are living in the world. Remember, as new lives, reborn spiritually, we are in the world, but no longer OF the world, or world system of doing things (see John 17:14-16).
Christianity is not a list of dos and don’ts however, but a relationship in which believers desire to please their heavenly Father (see 1 Thessalonians 2:4; 4:1). To please him requires obedience to HIS standards. Apparently the area of sexual sin (Greek, porneia) was plaguing the church in Thessalonica, as it was plaguing the Roman Empire as a whole. The many idols worshiped in the regions across the empire often had an emphasis on sex, even to the point that some temples employed prostitutes for the pleasure of “worshipers.” In general, people regarded any kind of sexual activity as acceptable. It was quite common for a man not to limit his sexual relationship to his wife. Homosexuality was common. Incest was overlooked. Slaves were kept and used for sex.
God’s standards are the extremely opposite of the worlds. Paul taught abstinence from sexual immorality. This included any kind of illegitimate sexual intercourse or relationship outside of marriage. He forbade any homosexual activity. In Corinth some of the new Christians had been prostitutes, adulterers, or homosexuals. When they came to Christ out of such sinful perversion, they had to alter their attitude toward this particular area of life. They had to accept God’s standards; standards which had to be taught to them, as Paul was teaching them here.
Today sadly, we live in a society similar to the one in which Paul lived and taught. Every kind of sexual activity, including violence and abuse of children, has become commonplace. Unbridled expression of all desires has become the norm. As Christians, we must uphold the sanctity of sexual expression within the loving commitment of the marriage relationship as it was established by God, Who is the Creator of man and woman.
These believers were not being exhorted to keep clear of (literally, “abstain from”) ALL sex but of ALL sexual sin and immorality. God created sex to be a beautiful and essential ingredient of marriage, but sex outside the marriage relationship is sin. That is where God drew the line. These believers had to keep clear of all forms of sexual sin; they had to stay away or even run away if need be (see 1 Corinthians 6:13–20). Therefore, Paul taught that believers must CONTROL their bodies “and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.” Sex should be kept within the context of marriage between a man and woman; sex should be done in “holiness and honor—not in lustful passion.” Honorable conduct is contrasted with an evil, lustful attitude that can contaminate even a marriage. People who live by “lustful passion” are ignorant of God because they have chosen to ignore the knowledge of him that they have been given (see Romans 1:19–20, 24–27) and to ignore his messengers who bring the Good News to them.
Allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify us on our journey and to make us “holy as God is holy,” (1 Peter 1:15-16) is on par with “taking up our cross daily” to follow after Christ Jesus. And it isn’t just sexual immorality, for the world is full of one temptation or another. But as we do mature in the Lord and become more and more like the image of Christ, the true evidence of sanctification will be manifest.
In closing remember the words of the Apostle Paul and do not be discouraged pressing forward:
Adapted in part from: 1 & 2 Thessalonians: Life Application Commentary, Life Application Bible Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999)
*Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved.
**Where noted, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.