Zechariah 1:4 “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds." ‘But they did not hear nor heed Me," says the Lord.”
In order of importance, the second ministry gift which we will examine is that of the prophet. But before we look at the ministry of the New Testament prophet as it exists today, we first need to establish the difference between the prophet in the New Testament and the prophet in the Old Testament. The prophet of the New Testament does not enjoy the same status as the prophet of the Old Testament and there are two main reasons for that. The first reason is that the prophet of the Old Testament was the only ministry gift that was made available to the children of Israel. The main purpose of the Lord’s ministry gifts is to teach His word, and the above quoted passage of scripture is just one of many that confirm the truth that under the old covenant there was only one ministry gift that was anointed by the Lord to preach His word, i.e. the prophet. So what about the Levitical priests? There were many priests under the old covenant that also stood in the office of prophet, and so they would have been anointed by God to function both as priests and to teach His word. The vast majority of priests were not called as prophets however, and could therefore only read God’s law to the people and teach the people how to present their sacrifices to the Lord, but they did not have an anointing from the Holy Spirit to preach God’s word.
Ephesians 4:11-12 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, (12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”
We have seen that the prophet was the only ministry gift that was available to the children of Israel under the old covenant. Under the new covenant however things have changed, for as revealed in the above quoted passage of scripture there are now five ministry gifts that are made available to the church, i.e. apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. And so we see that the ministry of the prophet today is complemented by other ministries in the preaching of the gospel. Although each ministry gift is anointed to teach God’s word, they are used by the Lord to present different aspects of His word to His church. One way of understanding this concept is to view each ministry gift as being a specialist in their own field (just like medical doctors specialise in certain fields). For example the evangelist specialises in the message of salvation, whereas the prophet specialises in biblical prophecy. And so although both are preaching the same gospel, they are just more focused on certain truths in the gospel.
2 Kings 3:11 “But Jehoshaphat said, "Is there no prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of the Lord by him?" So, one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said, "Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah.”
The second reason why the prophet of the New Testament doesn’t enjoy the same status as the prophet of the Old Testament is because the prophet of the old covenant was mandated by the Lord to give guidance to the children of Israel. Under the old covenant only the prophet heard directly from God, and thus gave God’s direction for people’s lives as they went to inquire from God through him. There are many instances in the Old Testament of people going to the prophet to inquire from the Lord, which was completely scriptural, because under the old covenant no one was born-again and so no one had the Holy Spirit residing in their spirits. In other words no one had direct access to God, except the prophet who had the Holy Spirit upon him which enabled him to stand in that office. And so we see in the above quoted passage of scripture that even the king who was anointed by the Holy Spirit to be king, would go to the prophet to inquire of the Lord.
Romans 8:14-16 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God … (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”
Under the new covenant however, every believer has the Spirit of God residing in their spirits, and therefore every believer can inquire directly from God to show them His direction for their lives. The passage of scripture quoted above reveals that under the new covenant we are to be led by the Holy Spirit (not by prophets), and the primary way the Lord leads His children is by His Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirits as to what His will is for our lives. There is not one instance recorded in the New Testament where anyone went to a prophet to inquire from the Lord. The reason for that is because it is unscriptural under the New Testament to do so. And so we see that unlike the old covenant prophets, the New Testament prophet is not mandated by the Lord to give guidance to the church.
Acts 21:10-11 “And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (11) When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
Someone said, but Agabus gave guidance to Paul, for we can see in the example quoted above that the prophet Agabus came to Paul to give him the word of the Lord. There are two important truths that we can learn from this account. Firstly we see that Paul did not go to Agabus to ask for guidance, but rather it happened the other way around. Under the new covenant God does from time to time; send His prophets to confirm the guidance that He has already placed in the hearts of His children. That brings us to the second point, which is if you study this incident; you will see that Paul already knew that which Agabus prophesied to him. God just used Agabus to confirm to Paul that which he already knew in his own spirit. And so we see that to go to prophets under the New Testament to inquire from the Lord, is error. And new covenant prophets, who try to operate as prophets of the Old Testament, to give guidance to the church will open themselves to deceiving spirits and Satan will accommodate them. The Holy Spirit will not violate His word, which clearly teaches us that the sons of God are to be led by the Spirit of God, and not by the prophets of God.
Michael E.B. Maher
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