“What to know about prophets”

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Anyone who is familiar with the word of God knows that there were many prophets. People like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and scores of others are found in the Bible. Prophets were used by God to communicate His message to mankind (Heb. 1:1-2). Prophets are not exclusive to the Old Testament either – they were found in the first century as well.

Paul told the brethren at Ephesus that the Lord gave apostles and prophets, along with others, to help edify the church (Eph. 4:11-12). Obviously then, prophets existed during the time of the early church. The church we have today (the church that belongs to Jesus) is the same as the one described in the first century. Are there living prophets today then? To answer this, we are going to do a short study of spiritual gifts.

I Corinthians 12:7-11 describes the variety of spiritual gifts that were given to the saints through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8:18). One of the gifts mentioned was prophecy. Recipients of this gift were called prophets (I Cor. 12:28-31). This is a direct fulfillment of the promise given in Acts 2:17, which stated that God would pour out His Spirit on all flesh in the last days. The last days began when the gospel message was delivered (Heb. 1:2; John 16:13; Acts 2:1-4).

We must now divert and talk a little about the apostles. We already read how spiritual gifts could be given through the laying of the apostle’s hands. Are there living apostles today? Answering this question it will answer the question about prophets.

After Judas hanged himself, a replacement apostle was needed. This replacement process is described in Acts 1:15-26. One of the qualifications was to have witnessed the resurrection of Christ (verse 22). No one (other than Paul) has seen Jesus since His ascension, thus there have been no other apostles since Paul (Acts 9, 22, 26).

Without an apostle, there can be no laying on of hands to impart spiritual gifts. Since one of the spiritual gifts was prophecy, there can be no prophets since the time of the apostles. This means that people like Joseph Smith, Muhammad, Ellen G. White and scores of others who claimed to be prophets were not!

Saints were warned in the New Testament to beware of false prophets (I John 4:1; II Cor. 11:13; II Pet. 2:1). How could they determine who was a true prophet and who was fake? Through the inspired word of God (I Pet. 4:11)! Therefore, we cannot simply accept the words of every person who claims to be a prophet! False prophets are guilty of putting their words on par with the Lord’s. These false teachings should be rejected as we have the complete revelation from God today (Jude 3; II Tim. 3:16-17; Gal. 1:6-9).

To read Acts 2:17 and conclude that God continues to pour out His Spirit today is to abuse the scriptures. God has spoken unto us in these last days by His Son (Heb. 1:2). Should we to conclude that His message is not yet complete? This is exactly what modern “prophets” want us to believe. When you hear anyone say, “I have a message from God for you that was revealed just to me,” be WARY!

The role of prophets, like apostles, existed for a period. That time is over. God’s word has been fully delivered, so messengers are no longer needed to deliver additional revelation. We know this because 1) the apostles were guided into all truth (John 16:13), and 2) there is no mystery anymore thanks to the apostles and prophets (Eph. 3:1-5). Christians should reject any group that supports, endorses or promotes apostles and prophets after the first century. May we not be deceived into being man-followers.

                                                                                               Chuck

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