1 Kings 13:11-22 “Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. (12) And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. (13) Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So, they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, (14) and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?" And he said, "I am." (15) Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread." (16) And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. (17) For I have been told by the word of the Lord, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.' “(18) He said to him, "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.' “(He was lying to him.) (19) So, he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. (20) Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the Lord came to the prophet who had brought him back; (21) and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, (22) but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the Lord said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'”
There are very many instances recorded in the Old Testament, of prophets hearing the word of the Lord. And in each case, the Lord’s voice was audible only to that prophet. The reason I say it was audible to the prophet only, was because others standing in the presence of the prophet when he heard from God, would not hear anything. In the above quoted account in scripture, we see that one prophet heard the word of the Lord in the presence of another prophet, and he spoke out what God had said. He would not have had to speak out what the Lord had said, if it were audible to the other prophet sitting at the table with him. In this instance, these two prophets were sitting at the same table eating together, and God spoke to the older prophet, who then in turn told the younger prophet what the Lord had just said. Obviously, the younger prophet heard nothing when God spoke. Only the one to whom the Lord was speaking heard the Lord’s voice.
Deuteronomy 18:20-22 “But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' (21) And if you say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'-- (22) when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.”
And so we see that the audible voice of the Lord was common among His prophets as a way in which He would guide them. Obviously, this is also why God instructed the normal believers to go to the prophet for guidance, because God would speak audibly to the prophet, who in turn would inform the saint what God had said. Under the old covenant, many of the Lord’s prophets were martyred when they prophesied. They were quite willing to die for their prophecies, because they had clearly heard the audible voice of the Lord and were thus assured that they were doing the will of the Lord. In the light of what we have seen about God’s prophets hearing His audible voice, we can also more clearly understand why the Lord judged so harshly under the old covenant, those who presumed to speak a word in His name. For in the above quoted passage of scripture we see that the Lord’s judgement for the “prophet” who gave false words to the people was that they should be put to death. The prophetic guidance given by the prophets under the old covenant was always one hundred percent accurate, simply because they repeated what they heard the Lord say. I want you to note that I am referring to prophetic guidance given through the revelation gifts, such as the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. Prophetic utterance was different, in that very often the prophet would speak directly by the unction of the Holy Spirit, and not by repeating what he had heard audibly.
2 Chronicles 26:3-5 “Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. (4) And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. (5) He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.”
In order to guide the saints under the old covenant, God also used visions and dreams in the prophet’s ministry. However, unlike the audible voice of God which every prophet heard, not all prophets experienced visions and dreams from the Lord. You will recall earlier that we read that before God’s prophets were called prophets, that they we called seers. The reason that they were called seers was because they would not only know things supernaturally, but very often they would also see supernatural visions from the Lord. The Lord used Zechariah the prophet in this manner, and as revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture, Uzziah the king of Judah, made use of that prophet’s gift in seeking guidance from the Lord. There were numerous other prophets who also received visions from the Lord, such as Isaiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel.
Michael E.B. Maher
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