The concept of real prophecy - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 7:1-2,

"See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will
be your prophet. You are to say everything I command you, and your
brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his
country."

What is a prophet? How does prophecy work?

Over the years I have heard all kinds of notions as to what a prophet
is(was), and not a few claiming to be a "prophet." People who
allegedly can foresee the future, predict events, have "special
insight" into things, etc. I have heard the preaching of Scripture, as
in a pastor delivering a sermon on Sunday morning, as "prophecy", or
the use of Scripture in evangelism.

While there may be some slight parallels in the above to true
prophecy, none of it is really the case. God takes Moses and Aaron and
uses them in a way that illustrates true prophetic activity. In their
assignment from God to confront Pharaoh to let the Israelites go,
Moses is depicted as God who has a message for Pharaoh, Aaron is to be
Moses "prophet" by being Moses' mouthpiece with a message for Pharaoh.

Here is what real prophetic activity is. God has a message, and has a
spokesman, an intermediary, deliver it to the intended audience.
Almost as simple as God on the phone with a message for someone, and
has the person who picked up the phone (someone else) deliver it for
him.

Simply predicting the future is not the same as the concept of
Biblical prophecy. The reason it is thought so, is that often God
would foretell (not simply "predict") an event to authenticate what he
had to say in some prophetic message. There is a big difference
between predicting something and foretelling something. One speaks of
possibility, the other is a simple announcement of what will take
place. The message that is authenticated is the prophetic message as
much as the authenticating foretelling of something.

Someone preaching the Scriptures is not Biblical prophecy. The reason
it might be thought so is that both deliver a message from God.
However, prophecy is an immediate communication directly from God to
an intended audience, involving an intermediary in real time. Not
simply someone restating or preaching what God has said in the past.
To think so confuses a very important activity of God in human
affairs.

Peter speaks of a certain kind of prophecy - the kind that led to the
written word of God, the Scriptures, what we have in our Bibles.
Perhaps here it is most important we have a clear understanding of
what real prophecy actually is. "Above all, you must understand that
no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own
interpretation of things. 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 Peter 1:20-21. Here we see the
importance of being clear on what real prophecy is.

Today we have far too many telling others, "I have a word from the
Lord for you... God asked me to tell you this..." Unless it is an
audible communication directly from God and we are saying it is on a
par with the Scriptures, and could be added to them, then what we have
are people entirely confusing others with the things of God. Good
intentions not withstanding, woe to those who say they have a "word
from the Lord" when what they really have is an impression or some
kind of inspired thought. "Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke
you and prove you a liar." Proverbs 30:6.

Just a few thoughts about prophecy as inspired by God's use of Moses
and Aaron to illustrate how real prophecy works. How fascinating God
has chosen to communicate with us through his prophets!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

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Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com