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 next example quoted above we see that the prophet Agabus was given a word of knowledge, that there was going to be a great famine throughout the whole world at that time. And so the Lord Jesus let His church know what was going to happen before the time, so that they could prepare for it and thus not incur the same level of suffering that the unbelievers would be subjected to. The word of knowledge given at this level would normally be given through the office of the prophet. The reason for that is because a word of knowledge 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. If the Lord Jesus was concerned about the welfare of His early church, then He is still concerned about His church today, and wants to warn us of impending national and global occurrences so that we can prepare for them. And so it is clearly evident that the church needs this gift displayed at this level today. Again we see that this word of knowledge was delivered through the spiritual gift of prophecy. As an aside, if you study scripture you will see that the prophet Agabus delivered his prophetic utterances along with some form of demonstration, for this passage declares that he “showed” by the Spirit. Not all are anointed to deliver prophecies in this manner, but some are. I know that I can become very animated when I deliver some of the prophecies that the Lord gives me, specifically when I do so through the gift of different kinds of tongues. It is the same gift but the scripture teaches us that there are diversities of activities (1 Corinthians 12:6).
Acts 20:22-23 “And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, (23) except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.”
The next example we will discuss is given to us in the above quoted passage of scripture. Although I included this example in the section dealing with the word of wisdom, this scripture actually refers to the gift of the word of knowledge being displayed in these churches. What I particularly wanted to point out in this passage is that in “every” church that Paul and his team visited this gift was manifested. And so we see that the gift of the word of knowledge was not uncommon in the early churches. This gift should be manifest in every church today just as it was in the early church, for this particular gift is of great blessing to the church. Some have erroneously thought that the church at Corinth was particularly open to the gifts of the Spirit because we have Paul’s letter to them, telling us that they came short in no gift (1 Corinthians 1:7). But the scripture that we have quoted above teaches us differently, for clearly all the churches operated in spiritual gifts at that time. All the churches that Paul planted operated in the gifts of the Spirit, because that’s what they knew right from the outset because that is what he taught them. Years after the churches had started in Galatia for example, the apostle Paul was commenting on the Holy Spirit’s working of miracles among them (Galatians 3:5). Clearly the gifts of the Spirit were operating in all of the churches back then, and they should be operating in all the churches today.
Acts 16:16-18 “Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. (17) This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." (18) And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And he came out that very hour.”
Not all displays of the word of knowledge are from the Holy Spirit. In the above quoted example this slave girl was possessed with a spirit of divination. And so the “word of knowledge” she gave was accurate, because what she said was true even though she personally knew nothing about Paul and his team. This woman was a fortune-teller however, and everyone in town knew that. God gets no glory from demons proclaiming that His ministers are in town, and so the Holy Spirit through Paul dealt with that demon. The point I wanted to make here however, is that there are spirits of divination in this world. And so we must not think that every word given is from God, even if the “message” that they are proclaiming is accurate.
Michael E.B. Maher
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