Articles
Word Of The Week: Prophet
A prophet is simply one who speaks an authoritative message from God by inspiration: “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (II Pet. 1:21).
Jesus was a prophet, but He was the Son of God as well (Acts 3:22-26). The apostles were prophets, but they were also a special class of ambassadors for Christ, chosen, trained and commissioned by Him (II Cor. 5:20).
The Bible clearly teaches that no new prophecies are being issued from heaven today. Jesus was sent as God’s final spokesman (Heb. 1:1-2), and Jesus authorized His apostles to complete the revelation cut short by His crucifixion (John 14:16-17, 26; 16:12-13). The spiritual gift of prophecy was bestowed on a limited basis by the apostles, but when the apostles died, so did the transmission of this gift (Acts 8:17-19).
We should beware of anyone claiming to have direct revelations from God. The Bible is the complete will of God revealed for all men for all time (II Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 3:3-5). If someone says he or she has a message directly from God, we should test that message by what is already revealed. It will be either contradictory or redundant.
