What is a Prophet?

Introduction

In this morning’s message, I referenced the spiritual gifts of prophecy and speaking in tongues. As I did, I alluded to the fact that many people often think of prophecy as the ability to tell the future. There is no doubt that God has used many as prophets throughout history. Additionally, many of them foretold events that, in some cases, came true and, in other cases, have to be fulfilled. So, I want to ponder with you this question for a few minutes tonight. Here is the question.

What do people outside of the Bible think a prophet is? But, more importantly, how does Scripture define a prophet?

So, before I get started, let me ask you. What is a prophet?

All of good answers. Let’s now look to Scripture. In our English Bible, there are sixteen books attributed as written by prophets. We often call them the “writing prophets.” They are men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and many others. There are also listed in the Bible men who were non-writing prophets. By that term, I mean they are listed in Scripture as prophets but did not pen books of the Bible like the “writing prophets.” They were men such as Elijah, Elisha, and others. Of the writing prophets, Bible scholars often list them into two divisions. There are Major Prophets and Minor Prophets. Books such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are grouped together as the Major Prophets. The rest of the writing prophets in the Old Testament are know as the Minor Prophets.

Yet, we are searching for the answer to our question. What is a prophet?

Well, for starters,

A Prophet is NOT...

Just a simple microphone through which God speaks

God did simply bypass each man’s mind, will, emotions, or character. Whenever God used men in the past, He did not utilize them as mindless robots. Instead, God, who wonderfully and fearfully made them, used their character and emotions as an essential element of relaying His message to men.

Superhuman

Each of these men were just as human as you and me. If anything superhuman was accomplished, it was because of God doing it through them. These men were filled with the same faults and frailties as many of us do today.

James 5:17 KJV 1900

17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Windbag

What is interesting is that Jeremiah, the prophet, did call other false prophets of his day windbags!

Jeremiah 5:13 KJV 1900

13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.

Why were they windbags and not Jeremiah? That is great question.

Note Jeremiah 5:13 again. “the word is not in them” = that is a key phrase. They were windbags because they were talking without any real authority. For a prophet to be a true prophet, they must be speaking from the authority of God’s Word.

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Matthew 7:15 KJV 1900

15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

There are a lot of pretenders out there today. So many people claim they are people of God. The come offering peace and prosperity with charming personalities filled with confidence that they are the only ones who know God’s Word and with great arrogance and pride suggest that you need only listen to them as they explain it to you. A true prophet always stands proclaiming God’s Word even when it is not comfortable to do so and will always challenge you to learn from God Himself.

Ok, so that is what a true prophet is not. Here is the qualification for a true prophet!

A True Prophet of God is...

Called and Commissioned by God

Jeremiah 1:5 KJV 1900

5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Amos 7:15 KJV 1900

15 And the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel.

Isaiah 6:1–8 KJV 1900

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. 2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: The whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

A Preacher

By preaching, I mean that he, the prophet, speaks only God’s Word. He cares not for how it falls upon the ears. Instead, he is committed to saying only what God has placed in his heart and mind. One of the telltales of a prophet today is this important point. A true prophet is a student of God’s Word and speaks only what God says from His Word.

A Mediator

Moses mediated on behalf of the children of Israel.

Exodus 32:31–32 KJV 1900

31 And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. 32 Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.

Amos also mediated on behalf of Israel.

Amos 7:2 KJV 1900

2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: By whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

In Micah, we find the prophet not only mediates on behalf of the people, but he also is willing to stand for the God warning them of their sin and transgression.

Micah 3:8 KJV 1900

8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, And of judgment, and of might, To declare unto Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.

Jeremiah 2:19 KJV 1900

19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.

Often Subjected to Scorn and Reproach

Hosea 9:7 KJV 1900

7 The days of visitation are come, The days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, For the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred.

Christ Himself, the greatest of all prophets, was ridiculed and scorned. On one such occasion, Scripture records this.

Mark 3:20–21 KJV 1900

20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread. 21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

In Acts 26, Paul was accused of being “mad” for preaching God’s Word.

Acts 26:24 KJV 1900

24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.

For a prophet, ridicule and scorn are the badges of honor in following and proclaiming the word of God.

1 Corinthians 4:10 KJV 1900

10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

Conclusion

If I were to sum up what is a prophet, I would say this. A prophet is one who speaks God Word without fear understanding the need of those who hear the message and the urgency to give them the message.