1 Corinthians 14:24-25 “But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. (25) And thus, the secrets of his heart are revealed; and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.”
In the previous section we discussed general prophecies that are addressed to the whole congregation. In this section we want to discuss prophecies that are addressed to specific individuals. In other words these are personal prophecies. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul speaks about the secrets of men’s hearts being revealed through the gift of prophecy. And so we see that prophecy can also be used to display an element of the gift of the word of knowledge, for it is through the gift of the word of knowledge that God reveals the secrets of men’s hearts. But I want you to notice in this passage that Paul is speaking about prophecies that are spoken out in the church. Paul is not talking about one on one ministry in this passage, for he says “If all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all”. In other words these are prophesies that convict an unbeliever or uninformed person that are in the meeting. The individuals prophesying however will not know that the words they are speaking are being directed at anyone specifically, for they will be speaking to the church as a whole. Nevertheless, there may be incidents when the Holy Spirit will impress upon the one prophesying, to say that God is addressing His message to one individual or even a group of individuals, but nevertheless the prophet will not know specifically who the individual is. And so we see that the Holy Spirit can speak directly to individuals in a meeting even through general prophecy spoken to the whole congregation.
1 Timothy 4:14 “Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership.”
We have seen in the previous passage of scripture that it is scriptural for the Holy Spirit to single out individuals in a meeting and speak directly to them through the gift of prophecy. And we saw that in those instances there is an element of the gift of the word of knowledge that is displayed in those prophecies. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see this same principle being applied, for in this example the apostle Paul informs us that when the elders laid their hands on Timothy that one of them prophesied over him. When that elder prophesied, he declared what spiritual gift the Holy Spirit was imparting to Timothy through the laying on of hands. In other words the gift of the word of knowledge was displayed through the elder’s prophetic word given. The only difference here is that this was a one on one prophecy that was given, and not a general prophecy given to the whole church. And so we see that it is scriptural for prophets to be led by the Lord to speak prophetic words directly to individuals in 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.'”
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture in an earlier section; nevertheless we will re-examine it in this section because this is a very clear account in scripture of one on one prophecy being used in the church. In this account the prophet Agabus had been led by the Holy Spirit to come to Paul and prophesy over him. In the prophetic word delivered Agabus gave the apostle Paul a very clear word of knowledge, for he revealed to Paul what would happen to him once he reached Jerusalem. We know that the prophetic word given was accurate, because that is exactly what transpired when Paul finally got to Jerusalem i.e. the Jews delivered Paul into the hands of the Gentiles. Something else of interest in this account is the way that Agabus delivered his prophecy, for the scripture says that he took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet. In another example of prophecy given by Agabus the scripture says that he “showed by the Spirit” (Acts 11:28). And so we see that Agabus was used by the Holy Spirit in a very demonstrative way when he prophesied. Because God used Agabus in this manner it is entirely possible that He will use prophets today in a similar fashion, but obviously not all prophets will be used in this same manner. Nevertheless, from the examples examined in this section it is very clear that personal prophecy is entirely scriptural.
Ministry gift prophecy
Acts 11:27-28 “And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.”
In this section we want to discuss prophecies that are given through the office of the prophet. Before we discuss this subject however, it is important for us to understand the difference between a disciple who has been given the simple gift of prophecy and a minister of the gospel who has been called to stand in the office of prophet. There are five main full time ministry gifts listed in the New Testament, i.e. apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher (Ephesians 4:11). The main function of each one of the ministry gifts is to preach the gospel. Nevertheless, each ministry gift also operates in certain spiritual gifts which qualify them to stand in their offices. Obviously the main spiritual gift in which the prophet operates is the gift of prophecy. Because the ministry gift of prophet carries a far greater anointing than a disciple who has the simple gift of prophecy, very often when the prophet prophesies, the prophetic word given will have a deeper dimension to it. For example, in the above quoted passage of scripture we have an account of a group of prophets that were visiting the church in Antioch. All of these men were in full-time ministry and they all stood in the office of prophet. In other words these were not ordinary disciples that operated in the simple gift of prophecy. This passage teaches us that one of the prophets, named Agabus, stood up and delivered a prophecy in which he showed that there was going to be a great famine throughout the whole world. The Holy Spirit only delivers prophecies at that level through one He has called to stand in the office of prophet, and not through ordinary disciples who have the simple gift of prophecy. The reason for that is because prophecy at this level impacts the whole church, and so God will use ministries that are recognized throughout the church in order to deliver this type of message. Obviously Agabus was a recognised prophet in the early church. So does that mean every time one who stands in the office of prophet prophesies, they will reveal global or national events that are about to take place? Obviously not, for the book of Acts was given to the church as a New Testament pattern, and in the whole of the book of Acts this is the only account of a prophecy given at this level. Undoubtedly other similar prophecies would have been given during that period but they have simply not been recorded. Clearly, if this level of prophecy was more common in the church then the Holy Spirit would have recorded more examples for us. The clear implication is that this level of prophecy did not occur very frequently and the vast majority of prophecies given by ministry gift prophets would have been similar to the general prophecies that we discussed in the earlier section. Something else that is revealed to us in this passage is that when a prophet prophesies, the prophecy will not always speak “edification and exhortation and comfort to men”. For notice that Agabus prophesied about God’s judgement that was about to fall, and although God let His church know about the event before the time so that they could prepare, it was nevertheless still a word of judgement. And so we see that when the prophet prophesies, that from time to time there will also be an element of judgement delivered through their prophecies, as the Lord deals with issues in the earth and in His church. It is important to note however, that this dimension of prophecy will always come through the ministry office of the prophet.
Revelation 10:8-11 “Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, "Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth." (9) So, I went to the angel and said to him, "Give me the little book." And he said to me, "Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth." (10) Then I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. (11) And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
In the above quoted passage of scripture the Lord’s angel instructed John to prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues and kings. In other words the Lord instructed John to prophesy about national and global events that are to take place in the earth. There are two implications from this passage; firstly, because John was instructed to prophesy again at this level, it implies that he had prophesied at this level in the past, and secondly, it implies that all of the Lord’s apostles and prophets are instructed to prophecy at this level in the future. In other words just as the Lord’s Old Testament prophets prophesied about national and global events that were to take place in the earth, until the end of the age the Lord’s New Testament apostles and prophets will be moved by the Holy Spirit to prophesy at this level as well.
Michael E.B. Maher
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