What do you imagine when you hear the word prophet? Moses with flowing beard atop Mount Sinai talking to God? John the revelator beholding the throne room of the Ruler of the universe? Jeremiah quietly dictating his book to Baruch?
All of these pictures and more fit the biblical concept of prophet. In the Bible, prophets were men and women whom God had selected for a unique mission. They were to be His spokespersons to both His people (Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New) and the world at large. Amos helps us begin to see the significance of these specially called individuals when he writes that “the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, NRSV1).
The description of the prophet’s role that the Lord delivered through Moses portrays that role in more concrete terms: “I will put my words in his [the prophet’s] mouth. He will tell [the people] everything I command him” (Deuteronomy 18:18). In short, the prophets functioned primarily as conduits of God’s messages.
Prophets fulfilled their commission in part by writing out those messages. Thus Peter could say that “no prophecy of Scripture” “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). Consequently, while the Bible comes through the prophets, it comes from God—so it is God’s Word, His instruction, rather than the ideas and burdens of merely human religious leaders.
messages from God
Of course, not all the writings of God’s prophets found their way into the Old and New Testaments. The Bible, for example, mentions prophets’ books that never became a part of Scripture—such as those written by Nathan and Gad (1 Chronicles 29:29). On the other hand, some of the greatest prophets—Elijah and Elisha, for example—were strictly oral prophets. But whether their presentations were written or oral or both, all true prophets had a message from God.
At this point we should clear up a confusing idea. Most people think of prophecy as consisting of predictions about the future, like the prophecies we find in the books of Daniel and Revelation. However, futuristic prophecy comprised but a small part of the prophets’ work. For the most part, their commission involved teaching righteousness, spirituality, and ethical conduct. As a result, they bore messages of instruction, counsel, admonition, and warning. We can deduce this fact by examining the prophetic books of the Bible, but Paul also specifically stated it in 2 Timothy 3:15–17. He noted there that the sacred writings instruct people in the way of salvation and that they are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The prophetic office played a central role in biblical history, especially from the time of Moses up through Malachi, who ministered about four hundred years before the birth of Christ. The Jews of the time of Christ were well aware that this office no longer functioned among them. Josephus—a Jewish historian of the latter half of the first century of the Christian Era—stated that the period of the prophets ended about the time of Artaxerxes, king of Persia (415–423 BC).2
But the Jews did not believe that God was finished with them. They believed that there would be a revival of prophecy during the Messianic age.3 Peter’s announcement on the Day of Pentecost that the age of prophecy had returned in fulfillment of Joel 2:28 elicited the enthusiastic response it did because of these very hopes. Peter was not only announcing the special work of the Holy Spirit on that day but also that the Holy Spirit’s work validated Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, or Christ. Consequently, beginning at Pentecost, the New Testament era saw a revival of the gift of prophecy. The whole New Testament speaks of prophets and their work in communicating God’s inspiration. In fact, the New Testament writings are one result of their work.
two kinds of prophets
The New Testament uses the word prophet in more than one way. On the one hand, it speaks of prophets in the Old Testament sense of people to whom God has revealed a special message in a supernatural way. From the time of his experience on the Damascus road onward, Paul functioned as such a prophet (Acts 9:1–9; 22:4–16). The Holy Spirit used him to write several books of the Bible.
Paul also termed “prophets” people who filled an entirely different role. In such passages as Romans 12:6 and 1 Corinthians 14 he used the designation to identify individuals who were not necessarily direct recipients of divine information but instead were called by God to expound on the Bible and to instruct God’s people much as gospel ministers do today. Paul did not originate this more limited use of the word prophet. The Old Testament used it in relation to the “schools of the prophets” and the preachers and teachers of righteousness (“the sons of the prophets” [2 Kings 2:3–5, NKJV; see also 1 Samuel 19:18–20]) whom those schools trained.
This two-level use of the word prophet in both Testaments has important implications for Christian living in our day. We’re expected to listen to and evaluate the teachings of those prophets who function on the level of preachers and to apply those teachings to our lives when they are truly in harmony with God’s Word.
In the case of divinely inspired prophets such as Paul and Moses, however, we’re not given the choice of whether or not to apply what they taught. As we noted earlier, they speak directly from God, and we reject such counsel at the peril of our spiritual health. Thus Peter wrote that we “do well to pay attention” to the Bible “as to a light shining in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19). Similarly, we find that God holds personally accountable those who fail to heed the words spoken by a prophet who was His messenger (Ezekiel 3:17–21; 33:1–9).
The message is clear. The words of God’s prophets are of utmost importance. We need to shape our lives by the counsel God gave through them. The Bible promises much to those who believe God’s counsel and apply it. Not the least of these promises is the second coming of Jesus in the clouds of heaven, at which time He will reward each person based on how he or she has responded to His prophetic word (Matthew 25:31–46; 16:27; 6:4, 6, 18; 7:13–27; 2 Chronicles 20:20).
George Knight is professor of church history, emeritus, in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.
