Understanding Prophecy through the Ministry Gift of Prophet
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.
To summarize; from our examination of the scriptures quoted in this section we have discussed the difference between the New Testament prophet and the disciple who has received the simple gift of prophecy. We have also established that the Lord uses His prophets to reveal global or national events that are about to take place. We have seen that prophecies at that level are not the norm but rather they are infrequent. We have seen that from time to time there is an element of judgement in prophecies delivered by the New Testament prophet.
Michael E.B. Maher
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