Biblical Prophets by John

Everyone in the U.S.A. beyond childhood is familiar with the word “prophet.” Not too many adults are very familiar with the word itself, it’s origin, and really to what it refers. I believe the only true prophets are those called by God to deliver His message to the people He created. Most anyone would surmise that the job of a prophet would be to prophesy, but that adds nothing to our understanding of the word, or to the office of prophet. Since I used the word office, I must also immediately add that men do not choose to prophesy, but prophets are called by God and gifted by His Spirit.
The word “prophecy” is transliterated from the Greek language with very little change. In Greek, the word is phonetically pronounced, “pro-FAY-tase.” It is used to translate three Old Testament words, “ro-EH,” “na-BVI” and “cho-SEH.” Roeh comes from a verb which means “to see” or “vision.” It refers to seeing what others may not have the spiritual ability to see, and therefore, to a trancelike state in which God’s message is revealed. Nabvi is probably the most used word for prophet. It comes from a word which means to speak or sing by inspiration, or to speak God’s message simply.
Abraham, Aaron, Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, and all of the prophets of the Old Testament were called Nabvi.
Choseh was used less frequently. It also is derived from a word meaning “to see.” It deals with a person seeing and speaking out against the sinful actions of society in general, or an individual in particular. It is used in Isaiah 30:10. Isaiah gives the Lord’s message to the people telling them that they are rebellious and will not listen to God’s Law. The people told the prophets (choseh) not to prophesy, but to prophesy lies. I can’t think of another place that it is used.
According to 1 Samuel 9:9 Prophets (nabvi) were called seers (roeh) prior to that time, so it is natural that most of the usages in the Old Testament are nabvi.
Now let’s move to the New Testament for greater understanding. Some form of the word “prophet” is used 212 times in the New Testament, so it is a very important word to know well, and we should know some important truths about the person of a prophet. We have already said a generally accepted definition of a prophet is a person called by God to deliver a message to someone. Is that a good definition? Let’s examine it according to Scripture.
I see the end cycle of the Old Testament and the beginning cycle of the New Testament happens at the crucifixion of Jesus. Considered that way, most men and women called prophets and prophetesses in the Gospels were Old Testament prophets. They had either never seen Jesus, or they were seeing Him for the first time. In Matthew 1:20-23, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. (Angel is “angelos” in Greek and simply means “messenger.” There is little reason for us to attach wings, haloes, etc. to them). He reminded Joseph of God’s message from Isaiah 7:14, which says that a young woman would conceive and bear a child and his name would be Immanuel (God with us).
The Hebrew word used in Isaiah could mean either “virgin” or “young woman.” The angel specified that Joseph name that child “Jesus.” Jesus means “Savior.” The angel also assured Joseph that Jesus was a child of the Holy Spirit. The Isaiah prophecy originally referred to any naturally born child after Isaiah prophesied. The message that went with the prophecy originally concerned two kings who were enemies of Israel. They would be dead before any child could be born and weaned! That would be approximately three years. In that prophecy, the mothers were married. In the application by the angel to Joseph, Mary, a virgin, fit Isaiah’s prophecy precisely.
That Scripture tells us something important about God’s prophecies. The people to whom it was given understood it exactly as it applied to them. This prophecy was fulfilled a second time when Jesus was born, and those Jews of Isaiah’s day probably had no inkling that it would be. We must conclude that any of God’s prophecies may be fulfilled more than once! Beginning in Luke 2:25, Simeon and Anna meet the newborn baby Jesus. Simeon prophesied perhaps for the first time in his life, and it may have been a first time for Anna. Both of them are in the New Testament, but they were prophets under the Law before the crucifixion of Jesus. On the other hand, Philip’s four daughters in Acts 21:9 are stated to be prophetesses. Some believe this is a fulfillment of Joel 2:28, “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy.”
Paul deals with Spiritual Gifts in several of his epistles. Let’s consider I Corinthians 12 first. In verse 4, he tells us that the Holy Spirit is in charge of spiritual gifts, and in the next verses that God administers them! There may be some prophets who are not under God’s control, but they are not Christian, and they are not godly!
A good example of a lying prophet is in Jeremiah 28. Hananiah’s prophecies were lies. When the Lord gave Jeremiah a message with a wooden yoke on his neck as an object lesson, Hananiah took the yoke and broke it. He then prophesied victory over Nebuchadnezzar. That was opposite to God’s message, and God sent Jeremiah back to Hananiah with a message to him. He promised him that he would die before the year was finished. He died in the seventh month of that year.
A good example of a greedy prophet is Balaam in Numbers chapters 22-31. Balak followed the counsel of Balaam and caused the children of Israel to sin. The help he gave Balak caused him to be slain in 31:8.
2 Peter 2:1says, “But there were also false prophets among the people just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.” It is a dangerous thing to be a false prophet!
In verse 7, he tells us that the purpose of all of the Spirit’s gifts is the good of God’s people. Christian prophets cannot, and do not try, to call down curses on people. Nor do they judge people. Romans 2:1 applies to prophets just as much as it does to other people. When we judge, we are wrong because we are sinners ourselves.
Beginning in verse 8, the Spirit’s gifts are listed. In the order given, they are: Wisdom, Knowledge, faith, healings, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, different sorts of tongues and the interpretation of those tongues.
Hebrew writers and speakers always listed the most important things first and the others followed in their rank of importance. Tongues and interpretation of tongues comes last! Wisdom, knowledge and faith come first! Prophecy is fifth in the list! It is a wonderful thing to be a prophet, but wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing and miraculous powers rank higher as gifts of the Spirit. You will note that the order varies from this in the other lists as the importance of the gift changes according to the need.
Beginning in verse 12, Paul tells us that another important part of our knowledge about spiritual gifts, including prophecy, is that we are all part of the body of Christ, and spiritually we are just as closely connected as physical body parts are. Prophets do not stand alone! They are part of the body!
Since prophets are directed by God’s Spirit as they prophesy, prophets naturally have the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. Galatians 5:22-26 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Prophet’s characters will show these fruits in their lives.
Romans 11:29 says, “For God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.” When God calls a person to be a prophet, that person will always be a prophet! As a servant of God, Romans 12:1,2 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
In Romans 12:6, a person’s use as a prophet is in direct proportion to his faith, and prophesying is first in this list. I believe that it is first here because a pastor of a church spends a lot of time preaching, and most of his preaching is prophetic according to the Old Testament words for prophecy. He sees what is wrong. He looks into the needs of the future, and his messages are filled with the Good News of Jesus, the need for confession, contrition, and forgiveness, and the need for preparation to serve the Lord both now and in the future. Whatever he does should show forth the love of Christ for His people!
Ephesians 4:11-13 gives another listing of God’s gifts. Apostles heads the list, then prophets, then evangelists, and then pastors and teachers. The sentence construction indicates that the last two may be one person, and I believe that is usually the case. Verses 12,13 tell us that all of these are to prepare God’s people for the work of Christ, to take them from spiritual infants to spiritual adults. There is a second list in I Corinthians 12:28. It is very similar to the one in Ephesians.
Taken altogether, I think we can safely conclude that a prophet is: 1) Called of God. 2) Has Christian character showing the fruit of the Spirit. 3) Looking out for the good of God’s people. 4) Humble. 5) Ready to deliver God’s message to the people to whom God wants to speak! The calling to be an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher is irrevocable. God does not change His mind even though we sometimes may. Everything a prophet does must surely be done in the contagious love of Jesus.

Father's Day 2005, a week late. by John

Father’s Day 2005 a week late
Genesis 22:1-19

1. When our son John Mark was four, I preached on this Scripture. God laid a question on my heart: Would you give your son to God to die for the sins of the world?
2. My mind immediately turned to the cross: Would I be willing to send my beautiful, little redheaded son to the cross?
3. I knew in my heart that I could not humanly do such a thing!
4. Then the thought came into my mind: These three children are not yours! They already belong to God! He can and will take care of them. Still...I don’t think I could give my son to die as a sacrifice for mankind!
5. Abraham didn’t have the Bible, but he did have direct conversations with God.
6. He didn’t know about Jesus. He just knew that God was real! And he worshiped God, and he lived like God wanted him to live, not perfectly, but he was godly!
(1) We don’t have to be sinlessly perfect to be godly.
(2) It’s a relationship, not a legality!
7. I think Abraham knew that. I am sure he knew because Abraham knew he was a sinner!
(1) Abraham lied to Abimelech in Genesis 20. Isn’t a lie a sin? (Technically, he told the truth, but used an obscure truth to hide the truth. [Sarah was his sister. We would call her a “half-sister,” and Abraham told Abimelech only that she was his sister, not his wife.])
(2) He even allowed her to be taken into Abimelech’s harem!
(3) If we saw someone do such a thing in a movie, we would cry out, “You spineless creep!”

I. God recognized Abraham as godly.
And that’s important!
1. It’s one thing to see yourself as godly, and it is something else for God to see you as godly.
2. He was strong in many ways.
3. He was weak in some others.
4. If we feel compelled to condemn Abraham, we should compare him with ourselves. Don’t most of us have the same faults Abraham had?
5. Remember what happened when men came to arrest Jesus?
(1) The disciples were willing to fight for Jesus!
(2) When He told them not to resist, they ran for their lives.
(3) One who ran was John Mark, the author of the Gospel of Mark.
(4) He was a young man at that time clothed only in a linen garment.
(5) He fled! Someone grabbed his clothing, and he ran away naked! Mark 14:52.)
6. I think not many of us are any braver than these men.
7. The important thing for us to realize is that God knows everything about every person, and He saw Abraham as godly. If Abraham seems anything but godly to you, you don’t see things as God does!
8. Ask God to help you see others as He does.

II. Abraham in this instance was a prophecy of God offering His Son!

1. God honored Abraham by using him to show the world that He was going to give His One and only Son to die for the sins of mankind!
2. Isaac, Abraham’s son, became exhibit A for the world to see Christ!
(1) He went willingly because he loved, and respected his father.
(2) He always obeyed his father.
(3) He never complained.
(4) He trusted his father!
3. Aren’t those all true of Jesus.
(1) In John 3:35, 5:20 and 17:24, Jesus told us His Father loved Him and gave Him gifts to share with us.
(2) In John 8:29, Jesus said of His Father, “I always do what pleases Him.”
(3) Isaiah 53:7 says, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.”
(4) The whole 17th chapter of John shows how completely Jesus trusted His Father!
4. Isaac was an excellent example and prophecy of the coming, and the death of Jesus for our sins.

III. After the altar was built, Isaac shows the salvation of mankind.

1. As far as we know Isaac had committed no great sins, but all men are sinners, so he fits that category well.
2. Hebrews 9:27 citing a verse from the Old Testament says, “Just as a man is destined to die once, and that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people, and he will appear a second time not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
3. Isaac represented all of us! And just as God provided Christ to die for us, God provided a male, a ram, to die in Isaac’s place.
4. When Isaac asked Abraham where the lamb for the sacrifice was, Abraham told him God would provide a lamb! That became a prophecy of the coming of Jesus provided by God to take away the sins of the world!
5. People, not only is there no other way to be saved, but if you refuse to take God’s Gift in Jesus, you dishonor God by your refusal!

Conclusion:

1. God knew Abraham’s heart, and the Bible says that He counted Abraham righteous!
2. He knows your heart, too.
3. He allowed Abraham to represent our heavenly Father. He showed us ahead of time what He planned to do. He would send His Own Son to save us from our sins.
3. Isaac became a prophecy of the coming and dying of Jesus.
4. Then Isaac became a prophecy of the plight of sinful mankind!
5. Because of our sins, we are already condemned to death! We deserve to die! But even if we are at death’s door like Isaac was, with the knife raised to strike, God has already provided salvation for us in His Son Jesus.
6. Do you believe God? Then trust Jesus! He will give you eternal life! No one else can do that!

Emmanuel Community Church June 26, 2005

Jesus' Second Sign in John by John

Jesus’s Second Sign in John.
John 4:43-54

1. This is the climactic event in chapters 2-4.
2. There are 6 gifts for human beings that the coming of Jesus makes in these two chapters. They are:
(1) 2:1-12, A NEW Joy!
(2) 2:13--25, A NEW Worship.
(3) 3:1-21, A NEW Birth.
(4) 3:22-26, A NEW Master.
(5) 4:1-42, A NEW Fellowship.
(6) 4:43-54, A NEW Life.
3. When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, all of these become yours! You have NEW joy, NEW worship, the NEW Master, NEW Fellowship, and NEW LIFE!
4. This morning we are looking at the unique way Jesus introduced all of these gifts of God I’ve just listed.

I. In this section, Jesus changed directions.

1. He had been to Judah and Jerusalem in particular.
(1) This was His native land.
(2) He was born in Bethlehem due south of Jerusalem.
(3) He had performed his first miracle in Cana of Galilee which is far north of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is west of the northern tip of the Dead Sea, and Cana is west of the Lake of Geneseret, or the Sea of Galilee. They are about 80 miles apart as the crow flies.
2. In each of these six things Jesus did, He showed the Jews that they had been practicing their religion incorrectly all these hundreds of years.
3. It was time for them to make a change, and they would have to change or they could not accept Christ as their Messiah!
4. As John began to write, in 1:11,12, “ “He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.”
5. John knew when he wrote that they refused Him, and He turned toward Galilee and the Gentiles!

II. Let’s look at each of the instances we mentioned.

1. When He turned the water to wine in 2:1-12, it brought joy to the people.
(1) Joy was not unknown in Judaism.
A. In Psalms 98:4, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise and rejoice and sing praise.”
B. They had every reason to rejoice, but disobedience takes joy away. They disobeyed the Lord and lost their joy!
(2) By the time Jesus came, joy was largely unknown in Jewish religion.
(3) God’s first gift in Jesus was a new joy! He is the Savior of the whole world!
2. John 2:13-22, When He chased the money changers out of the temple, He showed them their worship practices were not God’s!
(1) God’s House is not a place to make money!
A. In Mt. 21:12, Jesus overthrew the money-changers tables and drove them out again at the end of His ministry. This time He quoted Isaiah 56:7, “My house shall be a house of prayer for all people,” and Jeremiah 7:11, “Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.”
B. Even hundreds of years before Christ came to earth, the Jews were already using worship as a means of making money!
(2) The coming of Jesus heralded the return to godly worship.
(3) In John 4:23,24, Jesus told the woman at the well, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
(4) The general churchgoer then and now do not please God. Jesus brought us the ability to worship God as He wants us to.
3. John 3:1-21 tells of the new birth every person needs.
(1) We live in a world that teaches us that we can change ourselves. Even psychologists and psychiatrists tell us that we can.
(2) Jesus told Nicodemus that he had to be born again or he could not even see the Kingdom of God.
(3) That was totally incomprehensible to Nicodemus.
(4) When Jesus told him, “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” I think Nicodemus got an inkling of the truth.
A. He is mentioned again in 7:50,51 asking, “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”
B. In John 19:39,40, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus buried the body of Jesus and anointed His body with a mixture of myrrh and aloes. That’s when I think Nicodemus was convinced that he needed to be born again.
(5) What was true for Nicodemus is true for us. We cannot even see the kingdom of God without being born again!
4. John 3:22-26, 30 relates that we must make Jesus our Lord.
(1) There have been, and always will be until Jesus comes again, religious leaders that people adore and worship!
(2) God gave us this account to show us that the foremost prophet of that time, John the Baptist, said that he was not the Christ, but Jesus was.
(3) He wanted his own disciples to understand that their loyalty should be in Jesus, not him.
(4) There are many charismatic leaders today, and people tend to worship them.
(5) People need to remember that when in Revelation when angels spoke to John he wanted to worship at their feet, and they commanded him not to do it!
(6) No man on earth is to be called your father meaning that our worship must be reserved for God!
(7) Jesus is Lord, and that was completely new to the Jews, and it must become a reality to each of us, or we have no place with Him!
5. John 4:1-42. The key verse here is 42.
(1) I can tell you a lot about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but I have never met any of them, and I certainly don’t worship them!
(2) The people in Samaria, Gentiles probably, half-Jew half-Gentile possibly reported to the woman, “Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world!”
(3) I grew up learning about Jesus, right and wrong, the rules of order and worship, and I belonged to the church, but that wasn’t enough.
(4) Myron Hayter introduced me to Jesus, and I found everything I ever wanted in Him!
(5) The new Fellowship we have is personal! So personal that Romans 8:16,17 says, ”The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are God’s children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
(6) I’ll admit, I can’t see that picture clearly enough to think I really understand it, but I have faith to believe my new relationship with my heavenly Father is that of a beloved son! And that is yours, too, if Jesus is your Lord!
6. John 4:43-54, tells us Jesus brought us a new life.
(1) The Galileans had seen the miraculous thing Jesus did at the Passover feast in Jerusalem.
(2) They wanted more! To them, Jesus was the “Greatest show on earth!
(3) There are so many today who want to hear people speak in tongues, see people healed, see someone walk on water, whatever is impossible, right?
(4) That’s not necessarily wrong. What is wrong is that so many of us are looking for such physical miracles, but we are not even interested in spiritual miracles.
(5) Look at how Jesus handled this situation.
(6) The man begged Jesus to come home with him to heal his son. That would have really thrilled the Galileans!
(7) Jesus was probably looking at them when he said, “Unless you people see miraculous signs, and wonders, ... you will never believe.”
(8) The father pleaded with Jesus to go with him. He was sure his son would die if He didn’t.
(9) Jesus answered him quietly, “You may go. Your son will live.”
A. There was no blare of trumpets, no beat of drums, no dramatic action, but that boy was immediately healed from a distance that required about seven hours of travel.
B. This nobleman’s faith was probably not made whole until the next day when he returned home, and his servants met him to tell him his son was
well!
C. People do get well without any outside help as far as we know, but this son was healed in a moment at one PM! The very moment Jesus spoke to his father! That’s when his faith became real and complete, and when he shared what had happened his whole household believed! Including his servants!
(10) Those Galileans who wanted a show went home without one!

Conclusion:

1. All of these gifts, Jesus came to give us, and to receive them, we have to change just like God expected the Jews to do.
2. But the Jews refused Him.
3. If you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, all of these gifts are already yours even to worshiping in Spirit and in Truth!
4. If you haven’t received Jesus as your Savior, He is the door into heaven. You pass through that door when you put your trust in Jesus, and you are born again.
5. You can trust Jesus, and you can tell Him you do, while we pray.

Emmanuel Community Church 6/5/2005