“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
This was the word that came to the prophet Jeremiah while he was imprisoned. In those days the Holy Spirit would come upon a person for a God given task. He would come upon the prophets with a word from God. Today it’s much different because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. And over and above the Holy Spirit indwelling each believer, God has appointed to the church body five ministries which have an anointing of the Holy Spirit to lead His church. These are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)
Some doubt that there are prophets which function like the prophets of old. But I assure you that they do exist because the Word of God tells us. There is a misunderstanding of their role today. There are churches which believe there are no more prophets. And the opposite extreme exists in other churches in which the prophets are called upon to prophesy to people personally. Both are extremes and both are false teachings of prophets. In the former, experiences have become their doctrine and in the other prophets have become mediums and there is a danger of practicing the occult. Believers do not need a prophet to prophesy about their personal lives. We have the Holy Spirit who leads us individually. (John 16:13)
What is the role of the prophet today? We must remember that as part of the five-fold ministry the prophet leads the church. He has a special unction from the Holy Spirit to announce to the church much like the prophets of old, what will happen in the church and where God is leading the church as a whole. I don’t believe that the prophets of today lead individual churches, but the universal church. One such prophet was David Wilkerson. He prophesied and warned the church of the apostasy to come in the church decades before it happened. He prophesied of the obvious and wide gap that would appear between the righteous and evil which we are seeing now. He also prophesied about the rebellion of the children and parents losing their authority over their children. David Wilkerson has been proven to be a prophet. He was a teacher and a prophet who didn’t proclaim himself to be a prophet, but merely spoke God’s Word and what the Holy Spirit was showing him.
Are there prophets today? I do believe there are prophets out there. They are teaching God’s Word to the church and speaking what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church as a whole. We need them today as much as they were needed in the Old Testament because we know that we are probably in the beginning of the end. The church is floundering. The buildings are empty. The believer is too comfortable and lackadaisical.
This is a very crucial time. This is the time to watch for “the groom.” He is coming for His church very soon. We don’t know the time. We only know that it’s close. The parable of the ten virgins who are waiting is a picture of the believers. (Matthew 25:1-13) Allow me to explain this parable. In old Jewish tradition, the wedding feast lasted days. The engagement was a year long. Through the engagement year the bride prepared her wedding dress and things for her marriage. The groom during this time prepared a place for them to live in. The groom and the bride didn’t know the exact time it would be ready, except the father of the groom who was helping the son to prepare the dwelling. When the father said it was time, the groom went for the bridal party. These are the bridesmaids who accompany the groom to the feast. In the parable there are five virgins who don’t have oil in their lamps. We clearly see that five virgins are not prepared. They don’t have oil in their lamps. They miss the groom and miss the feast.
Today there are believers who are not ready and watching. They will miss the coming of Jesus for His church and will have to go through the great Tribulation that is coming upon the earth. What a picture of the return of Jesus for His church. There will be some who are not prepared to go with Jesus. Yes, they are believers. But they are living for themselves, not for Christ. They are not watching and waiting for Jesus. Prophets are needed to confirm to the church what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church and to herald that Jesus is coming soon. They are needed to warn those who are not ready to prepare themselves, much like the prophets of old warned the Jews. Yes, prophets fill a very important role in the church (universal) today.
Comments