“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 (NIV)
As we consider the place of prophets in the church of Christ, our minds go back to this passage which clearly describes the setting in which the gift of prophecy came about, the mission that the prophets had, and the responsibility of the people of God to those prophets.
The setting was one of great fear as the people realized that if they continued to hear God’s voice seek directly to them, that they would die. For those of us who speculate that the people’s imaginations overcame them - for how could any of God’s people believe God would kill them with His Words? - we have the record of God saying to Moses; “What they say is good.”
The mission of the prophets is clear - to speak the Words the LORD has put in their mouth- the prophet is to speak everything I command him, not part but everything.
The responsibility of God’s people is to listen to the prophet. That is they are to believe that the prophet speaks the Words of God, and obey those Words. God’s people are not to seek guidance in their lives apart from the prophets, but only from the prophets.
What we have in Deuteronomy is a record of God providing what God’s people need to exist in community - we need to hear God’s Words from human lips.
What we have in 1 Corinthians 12 is a record of that gift continuing from the people of Israel into the redeemed people of the church of Christ.
Thank you God for giving us prophets.
May they speak the Words of God, and only His Words.
May we listen to them and not to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment