Date: April 2005 Series: - “I Want to be Left Behind” (VI) Title: Defining Prophecy

       What is "prophecy"? - On a number of occasions, I have encountered people that were excited about "studying prophecy."  However, they were not interested in really understanding what Biblical "prophecy" is as much as they wanted to know if I had any new details to add to what they already believed about "the signs of the times, antichrist, tribulation, the battle of Armageddon," etc.  When I asked them "where" the phrase "Battle of Armageddon" or the terms "antichrist" and "signs of the times" really appeared in Scripture, I got mumbled comments like "I know its in the book of Revelation or Ezekiel somewhere" and then some blank stares.  What did it matter where these terms actually appeared in Scripture, for LaHaye & Jenkins, Hal Lindsey, Jack van Impe, C. I. Scofield, and numerous boys on the same bandwagon had already taught them what to believe.

       "Prophecy" is NOT just "predictions of the future."  While an element of prophecy, prediction of future events is not the primary characteristic of "prophecy" and this is evident by how much of the material in the Old Testament prophetic books is ignored by modern day "prophecy buffs."  Let's begin with some definitions.

       What is a "prophet"?  Our culture thinks of prophets as “doom and gloom” weirdo’s on the fringe of society (and sanity), but this is not an accurate portrayal.  A "prophet" is one who speaks forth the words that another has put into his/her mouth.^[1]  The Hebrew term for “prophet” (nabi) refers to a spokesman, a speaker, a mouthpiece, one who speaks for another.^[2]  Another term, seer (roeh), was used in earlier times for "prophet" (1Samuel 9:9), possibly emphasizing the "seeing" element rather than the "speaking" element.  The English word "prophet" is a transliteration of the Greek word prophetes and it refers to one who makes known the purposes of God by reproving and admonishing the wicked, comforting the afflicted, and disclosing what was hidden/foretelling future events.^[3]  While usually a ministry of men, the prophetic role was also found in the prophetess, a female prophet, such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20), Deborah (Judges 5:2-31), Hannah (1Samuel 2:1-10), Huldah (2Kings 22:14), Anna (Luke 2:36-38), Elizabeth & Mary (Luke 1:41-55), and Philip's daughters (Acts 21:9).

      The “former Prophets" were those who spoke for God prior to the canonical "writing" Prophets, such as Noah (Genesis 9:25-27), Abraham (Genesis 20:7), Jacob (Genesis 37:6,7), Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), Joshua, the Judges, David (Acts 2:29,30), etc.  The "latter/ Writing/ Canonical Prophets" were those who wrote down their prophecies and have canonical, written books named after them.  The designation "Major Prophets" is made solely on the longer length of their written works (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel), the "Minor Prophets" are those twelve shorter books of the Prophets that follow the Major Prophets in the English arrangement of books.

      The "False Prophet" was one who claimed to speak "in the Name of the Lord" but had not been truly called, sent, or commissioned by God to speak for Him.^[4]  From the emphasis given the subject in their writings, it appears that false prophets were a major problem in the closing days of the Judean monarchy when Jeremiah^[5] and Ezekiel were prophesying (Ezekiel 13).  The problem continues into the current age.^[6]

      Understanding the Prophetic Message - Although some think the primary purpose of "prophecy" is to amaze us with 3,000 year old predictions of automobiles and jet planes as "signs" of Jesus' return, this seems far removed from the world and message of the prophets.  Foremost in the prophetic message is testimony of the coming Messiah (Revelation 19:10) and of primary importance was what we refer to as the "first coming."  This is how Jesus and His Apostles understood the prophets.  With reference to His approaching suffering,

And He took the twelve aside and said to them, "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.  "For He will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon, and after they have scourged Him, they will kill Him; and the third day He will rise again."  (Luke 18:31-33)

After His suffering, Jesus appeared to two men (who were wrestling with disappointment over what had just occurred) on the road to Emmaus and told them,

And He said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?"  And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.  (Luke 24:25-27)

On Pentecost, Peter had a good grip on what was going on - God had credentialed Jesus as Messiah, David had predicted Christ's resurrection and exaltation, and it was now a reality - Jesus was Lord and Christ - that was why the crowd was warned to heed and act (Acts 2:22-41).  Soon afterwards, Peter proclaimed the prediction of a "prophet like Moses" (Deuteronomy 18:15-19) to have been fulfilled in Jesus and summarized the message of "all of the prophets" as pointing to "these days" - what was occurring in Jesus' first coming and the beginning of the Church age (Acts 3:17-26).  Later, Peter summarized the message of all of the prophets as pointing to Jesus' suffering and the glorious things that followed from that (1Peter 1:10-12).  Paul saw the entire Old Testament Messianic hope as finding its fulfillment in the events of the first coming and the Gospel message that was spreading among the nations (Acts 13:16-41; Romans 16:25,26).  Thus, on the basis of how Jesus and His Apostles interpreted and summarized the Old Testament Prophets, I view the first coming of Jesus as the central major event in human history. (to be continued)