Prophets are God’s spokesmen; their function is to speak for God, speaking forth God by God’s revelation and not speaking of themselves.
This week in our Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy we come to the topic of, Christ – the True Prophet Typified by Moses.
Five main things that we will see and enjoy is (1) what is a prophet, (2) seeing Moses as the prophet, a type of Christ, (3) knowing Christ as the prophet especially in His first coming, (4) Paul as the counterpart of Moses in the New Testament was the chief prophet, and (5) an appendix, seeing what are the false prophets.
Regarding this matter of being a prophet and what is a prophet, we need to realize that, according to the Bible, prophets are God’s spokesmen (Deut. 18:15; Amos 3:7; Isa. 6:1-8).
God is the Word, and He does everything by His speaking. Without His word, without His speaking, God remains a mystery, and His economy, His heart’s desire, His intention, His will, and His counsel, all remain a mystery without Him being the Word to reveal all those mysteries.
Some of those mysteries were kept from the foundation of the earth throughout the ages until the age of the New Testament, when Paul for example received a revelation of those mysteries in spirit, and he revealed those mysteries.
God works by His speaking; without His speaking, He has no work and no move on this earth, for everything that God does is through His speaking.
This makes the prophets extremely important, for prophets are God’s spokesmen – they speak for God, they speak on behalf of God, they are God’s mouthpiece, and they are the ones who convey to men what is God’s thought, His will, His desire, and His way in His words.
Prophets are God’s spokesmen and they speak God’s word from God; they either speak it orally or by writing.
Although we know that in the Old testament the primary ministries were the priesthood and the kingship, the prophethood was needed when these two were weak.
The prophethood as a ministry is a great ministry, without which we would not know what God is doing and what is His will with His people.
In Amos 3:7 it says that God will not do anything unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. May we be such ones, may we be the Lord’s servants to whom He can reveal His secret, so that we may speak to others what is on God’s heart!
May we have an aspiration to know God and His will, realizing that without the revelation of His secret, His mysterious thought, His will, His ways, His self, His person, to His servants the prophets, God will not and cannot do anything.
Without the word of God we are stuck: we don’t know what to do, we are motionless, we cannot advance, and we have no destination, map, or meaning in our Christian life.
Prophets are God’s Spokesmen; their Function is to Speak for God and Speak forth God by God’s Revelation
In Isa. 6:1-8 we see Isaiah’s experience and being called by God to speak for God; he saw the Lord on a high and lofty throne, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
In the light of the glory of this holy situation, Isaiah said, Woe is me, I am done, I am finished, I am a man with unclean lips, and in the midst of a people with unclean lips I dwell, yet my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Hosts.
A seraphim came, touched his mouth with an amber from the fire, and said that his iniquity has been taken away and his sin was purged.
Then God asked, Whom shall I sand, who will go for Us? And Isaiah replied, Here am I, send me.
This is the calling of the prophet; being a prophet is a serious matter, for the prophet must match the One on the throne, he must be holy, sanctified, and his iniquity and sin must be purged and cleansed before he can be the mouthpiece of this holy and glorious One on the throne.
Prophets are God’s spokesmen; no prophet can speak without being sent by God, and they cannot speak except what God tells them to speak.
The function of the prophets is to speak for God (1 Cor. 14:31; 2 Tim. 4:2). The believers function as prophets in the church meetings, and Paul encouraged his young co-worker to proclaim the word.
May we realize that the main function of a prophet is not mainly to predict things that are coming but to speak for God!
So we need to have the word of God, we need to speak by being inspired by God, and as we stand up to say something in a prophesying manner, we need to remember that we are speaking for God.
Oh, how much we need to be cleansed, sanctified, and purged so that we may be God’s spokesmen, those who are in a right condition to speak for God!
According to the Bible, the main function of a prophet is not to predict things that are coming but to speak for God and to speak forth God by God’s revelation (Exo. 4:10-16).
In our natural religious concept we may think that to prophesy is to speak the things to come; yes, prophesying includes that, and this is an essential part of prophesying, but the main function of the prophet according to both the Old and the New Testament is not to predict things but to speak for God by God’s revelation.
For example, in Exo. 4 we see how God came to Moses and sent him to deliver His people from Egypt; Moses, however, who at forty years old was powerful in words and very eloquent with the best education, now at eighty years old said he is slow of speech.
So God provided him a prophet – Aaron, his brother, who will speak for him; Moses himself was the real prophet speaking what God spoke to him, and Aaron became Moses’ prophet, speaking what Moses spoke to him.
The word didn’t come directly to Aaron but to Moses, and Moses communicated it to Aaron, and Aaron spoke to Pharaoh.
Aaron didn’t predict things; he was Moses’ spokesman. In a similar way, prophets are not mainly those who predict the future, but prophets are God’s spokesmen, those who speak for God and speak forth God by His revelation.
Lord Jesus, we aspire to be Your spokesmen, those who have God’s revelation, receive the words of God, and speak the Word of God according to God’s revelation. Amen, Lord Jesus, speak to us and make us God’s spokesmen, those who speak for God and speak forth God by God’s revelation. Cleanse us of our sins, wash us of our iniquities, and purge us from our transgressions; sanctify us, Lord, so that our being would match You and we would be qualified to be the prophets who speak for God before men! Teach us what to speak, give us Your living word, and put Your words in our mouth so that we may speak for God!
Prophets Receive God’s Revelation and are Borne by the Spirit to Speak for God and Speak forth God
Hallelujah, our God is a speaking God! God, having spoken of old in many portions and in many ways to the fathers in the prophets, has at the last of these days spoken to us in the Son (Heb. 1:1).
Our God – who is a speaking God – spoke in the Old Testament to people in many portions and in many ways in the prophets.
Eventually, He spoke to us in the Son, in Christ, who is the very Word of God, everything that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Our God is hidden; He is a God who hides Himself, and He speaks righteousness, declaring the things that are right.
He is a hidden God, but by is speaking He is no longer in secret; His speaking is not in secret, for He wants to declare Himself, make Himself known.
God has spoken (Isa. 1:1-2); He is no longer a secret God but a revealed God, and He is no longer an unknown God but a God who can be known, because He has spoke to us through His prophets, revealing Himself and His heart’s intention to His people!
Prophets, according to 2 Pet. 1:20-21, are those who receive God’s revelation directly and are borne by the Spirit of God to speak for God and to speak forth God.
No prophecy was of man’s own interpretation, explanation, or exposition, for no prophecy was born of the will of men; rather, men spoke from God being borne by the Holy Spirit.
The prophets didn’t speak of themselves; the prophecies were not the writer’s own exposition or solution, which were not inspired by God through the Holy Spirit.
Praise the Lord, no prophecy of the Scripture is of the prophet’s or writer’s own concept, idea, or understanding, and no prophecy came from the source of man, from the private or personal thought of the prophet!
Rather, men spoke from God, being borne, carried along, by the Holy Spirit. No prophecy was ever carried along by the will of men; the source is God, the Holy Spirit moved men along as a ship is moved by the wind, and men spoke out the will, desire, and wish of God.
This is why the prophetic word is altogether reliable and trustworthy, for this word didn’t come from man but from God, and all the prophecies are God’s word, His speaking.
The source was God, by whose Holy Spirit men were borne, as a ship is borne by the wind, to speak out the will, desire, and wish of God.
In the old days the ship cannot move and will not move until the wind blows; and then the ship will move according to the speed of the wind, in the direction of the wind, and toward the destination of the wind, going wherever the wind took it.
A prophet is in the same way; prophets are God’s spokesmen, and they have nothing to say except when they are borne by the Spirit, and that’s when they speak for God.
No matter how clever and smart someone is and how much of the Bible he knows, the source is not man but God.
Lord, we praise and worship You for the divine inspiration of the prophecies in the Scriptures. Hallelujah, no prophecy was ever borne by the will of men, but men spoke from God, being borne by the Holy Spirit! Amen, Lord, save us from speaking for You or speaking Your word without taking You as our source and without being borne by the Holy Spirit! May we not be presumptuous to speak in God’s name things that God didn’t command us to speak. May we be those who have God’s word, receive His revelation, and are borne by the Holy Spirit to speak what God has spoken to His people!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Truth Lessons—Level One, vol. 2, lsn. 14 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 7, Christ — the True Prophet Typified by Moses.
- Hymns on this topic:
– The Bible is God’s breath; the essence of His Person. / God’s speaking out through man; borne by the Holy Spirit. / The Bible is God’s speaking in the prophets and the Son; / The Bible is the Holy Spirit’s revelation. (Song on, The Bible is God’s Breath)
– Thou art the Prophet raised by God, / With pow’r for God to speak; / Like Moses, Thou God’s plan hast shown, / That we God’s will may seek. (Hymns #193)
– Jesus, O living Word of God, / Wash me and cleanse me with Your blood / So You can speak to me. / Just let me hear Your words of grace, / Just let me see Your radiant face, / Beholding constantly. / Jesus, living Word, / My heart thirsts for Thee; / Of Thee I’d eat and drink, / Enjoy Thee thoroughly. (Song on, Jesus, O living Word of God)
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