Deuteronomy 13:1-5

"You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul."

{Deuteronomy 13:16}  (NIV1984)

We love to ask why. 'Why God', is a common thought as we live our lives and as we read Scripture. We want reasons for everything, and in many cases, what we need is trust, not reasons. But here in this passage, we are given the reason that God ‘allows’ false prophets. God reveals to us the purpose behind the evil perpetuated by the devil. The devil wants us to die.

He lied to Eve. He told her, “you will not surely die” and he has been lying ever since. He sidles up to us and pretends he is here to help and all the time, he is deceiving us and leading us into death. We think to ourselves, why? Why doesn’t God get rid of the devil, why does He give him such freedom and power? The devil and his servants serve God; they achieve a purpose in revealing our hearts. Actually, if you think about it, they serve us as well. Have we ever believed a lie spoken by a supposed 'man of God'? When we realize we have been sucked in, does it not cause us to search our hearts and seek to discover how we could have been so deceived? 

Heart work is God’s work! He is working on our hearts constantly, bringing His grace to bear in our lives so that we would love Him with all our hearts. False prophets and Satan serve Him and His purposes. 

Test me, O Lord, and try me,
    examine my heart and my mind;
 for your love is ever before me,
    and I walk continually in your truth.

Psalm 26:2,3

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Deuteronomy 18:14-22

"For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die."

{Deuteronomy 18:16}  (NIV1984)

God is a gracious God. The eternal infinite God seeks to bring knowledge of Him to finite temporal humans. He does this by coming ‘down’ to our level and revealing Himself through Word and deed. We see this in Genesis with Him coming and walking in the garden with Adam and Eve. He came and warned Cain and urged him to repent. He walked with Enoch and took Enoch with Him. We see it again in the account of God meeting the Israelites at the mountain of God. 

The Bible records that the people begged God not to speak directly with them anymore, and this text tells us that day, was the day God instituted the prophet. From that day on, our gracious God makes allowances for our fear and ignorance and gives His Word to men, who then speak to us. His grace appeared in all its glory when God, Himself came and walked among us. He became human, dwelt among us, walked with us, healed us, taught us, showed us the way to God and then died for us, rose again and is at the right hand of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the last prophet (Heb.1:1,2). 

May we listen to Him this day! May we not hide in ignorance and fear, but may we seek our gracious Lord out. May we read His Words, may we fellowship with His Spirit, may we know our God this day!

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1 Kings 22

 "For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible."

 {Matthew 24:24} (NIV1984)

We wonder as we read this verse, why would a sovereign God allow false Christs and false prophets? In our human thinking, we would not allow liars and imposters to hang around our children because of the danger they pose. The real danger comes out the fact that these people can perform miracles and signs, they can do things that demonstrate that God is with them, but really they are servants of the devil, and they lead people into death and destruction. Yet our Lord seems to tell us that it is not possible for them to deceive the elect. The account in 1 Kings 22 backs this thought up. 

There are 400 prophets and yet Jehoshaphat knows somehow that none of them truly speak for the LORD, and so he asks for a prophet of the LORD. Friend, those of us who have the Holy Spirit within us, who know the testimony from God’s Spirit to our spirit, we can discern the falseness of these prophets. Maybe we can’t explain the signs away, but we know that something is wrong, we know that they are not from God. Trust the Holy Spirit, listen to His voice, examine the fruit of these prophets, and if there is something that grates within your spirit, something that gets your antennas up, keep away. Our Heavenly Father protects us even in the midst of evil and deceit! Praise His name.

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Numbers 12:1-9

"He said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams."

{Numbers 12:6} (NIV1984)

As God rebuked Miriam and Aaron for their sinful attitude towards Moses, He laid out His normal method of revelation. God would appear in dreams and visions to men of His choosing, who would then speak these visions and their meanings to the people of God. Moses was different, and of greater honour, because God spoke to him face to face. 

The apostle Peter tells us about the struggles these men faced, trying to discern what the visions and dreams meant, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.” 1 Peter 1:10-12  

As we consider these prophets and the personal cost to them and their families, as we read Isaiah or Jeremiah, do we realize what a blessing to us these prophets were? These men realized that they were serving us! Us! I am not worthy to talk with these men, and yet they serve us. What a glorious salvation we have! We live in the Day of grace. Friend, may we truly live in the grace of our Lord Jesus this day. May we live in the light of the precious promises of God through His prophets.

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Numbers 11:21-35

"But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”

{Numbers 11:29}  (NIV1984)

The people are hungry, there is no food anywhere around and a man named Moses tells the people that God will give them meat, enough meat to eat for a month!  This is the most common understanding of a prophet, a person who tells other people what will happen in the future, because God has revealed the future to them. 

Moses was a prophet. He spoke for God and told the Israelites and the Egyptians the plagues that would come, before they came. God would reveal the future things, and Moses would speak them to the people. Yet in this passage, a most wonderful thing happened; the elders of the community were given the Spirit and began to prophesy. This seems a little confusing. Did they speak of future things as well? What does it mean that they prophesied? Or is this a type of worship language (1 Sam 10:6)? 

What I would like to concentrate on, is the stated “wish” of Moses. He “wished” that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that they would have the LORD’s Spirit on them. Friend, we live in that glorious day! This is the Day, the Age of the Spirit. This is the time of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

‘In the last days, God says,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your young men will see visions,
    your old men will dream dreams.
 Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
    and they will prophesy. …

And everyone who calls
    on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ (Acts 2:17-21)

O friend, praise His Glorious Name for the gracious and powerful presence of His Spirit in each of us this day! An eternal deposit, guaranteeing our inheritance! Moses' "wish" came true; God's plan revealed.

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