Prophets and Prophesying

Introduction: Clearing Up Confusion

I'd like to talk a little bit about prophets and prophesying. I think there's a lot of confusion about this, so I'd like to share just a little bit about it.

In Acts 21, reading from verse 8 down to 13, it says:

"On the next day we who were Paul's companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us, he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, 'Thus says the Holy Spirit, so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.' Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, 'What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'" -- Acts 21:8-13

Philip's Daughters Who Prophesied

The first thing that we see in this passage is that Philip had four daughters who prophesied. So the first question is: where did they prophesy? The obvious answer is that they would have prophesied when they were with the believers -- when they were in the assembly of the believers.

In 1 Corinthians 11, it talks about the women praying and prophesying. So women prayed and prophesied in the assembly. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says, "Let the women keep silent in the churches, for it is not permitted for them to speak." But what he's talking about there is when they were shouting out and asking their husbands, "What do you mean?" -- disrupting the service and disrupting the meeting. Paul is saying, "You wait until you get home and ask your husbands about it, and they can tell you all these things." But Paul was not forbidding women from praying and prophesying, because 1 Corinthians 11 tells us that's exactly what they did.

So we know that women were involved in the meetings, and we have Philip's daughters who prophesied. The next question is: what did they prophesy?

What Is Prophecy?

1 Corinthians 14 tells us that prophecy in this instance is for edification, exhortation, and comfort -- that means it is for building up, for strengthening, and for comforting. But a word of prophecy is a word that is in line with Scripture. In other words, these four young ladies -- these four virgin daughters of Philip -- would prophesy by giving a word that could be judged by Scripture, a word that was in line with Scripture, and a word that came just at the right time.

The thing about prophecy is that it's a word that the Holy Spirit lays upon someone's heart that comes just at the right time for somebody to hear. Even if it's for nobody in particular, even if they find they're just doing it out of their own mind, it's still good -- because what they are saying is Scripture. They're saying things that the Lord has said: "I will never leave you nor will I ever forsake you." They're saying things that you can find in the Scriptures -- words that will lift up.

Corrie ten Boom: Prophecy in Action

Corrie ten Boom, who was in a concentration camp in the Second World War, gives a beautiful illustration of this. Although she doesn't call it prophecy, I do -- because I believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit have always been evident in the church. It's just that people call them by a different name.

Corrie ten Boom says that when she was in the concentration camp in Ravensbruck, there were 250 young people going to be taken to the arms factory. It was very dangerous because when there was an air raid, they were not allowed to go to the shelter -- they had to carry on working.

Corrie ten Boom had a burden for these young people. She prayed to the Lord and said, "Lord, give me a word for every one of these young people going to the arms factory." She knew they were going at midnight, and so she climbed out of the window of the hut where she was. She had to avoid the spotlight to get around the huts, to get as close to the gate as she could. Then as these people walked past, she was there, and she said: "Jesus is Victor! Underneath are the everlasting arms! When all else fails, Jesus never fails!"

They looked at her in shock. They said, "You'll get shot!" But she didn't care. She had a word from the Lord for every one of them. And after that, 249 of those 250 survived the war. Just one did not survive.

She met a woman afterwards who said to Corrie, "We were in the arms factory and there was an air raid. Everybody was frightened." But then she prayed to the Lord and remembered the word that Corrie ten Boom had given her -- "Jesus is Victor! Underneath are the everlasting arms! When all else fails, Jesus never fails!" -- and the Lord kept her as she held on to that word.

That's prophecy. A word that comes from Scripture, a word that comes just at the right time, a word that you can hold on to. Sometimes it can be a word that comes directly from Scripture, but it's a word that God puts on your heart. Even though Corrie ten Boom would have never said that was the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as far as I'm concerned, that was the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Agabus: The Prophet's Ministry

Now Agabus is mentioned in this Scripture, and it says that he's a prophet. You also see him in Acts 11, when he prophesies that there will be a famine throughout the whole world -- and it happened during the time of Claudius Caesar. After that word was given, the church decided to send supplies down to the believers in Jerusalem who were not so well off. The church decided to take action because they heard the prophecy. The prophecy did not tell them what they should do -- it told them what was going to happen.

Here in the passage I have read, Agabus takes Paul's belt and says, "This is what's going to happen to the man whose belt this is -- you're going to be bound and delivered to the Gentiles," which is the Romans. In other words, "You're going to end up in prison."

They all then said, "Don't go! Don't go!" But Paul recognized that the Holy Spirit was not telling him what to do -- the Holy Spirit was telling him what was going to happen. And Paul said, "Of course I'm going to go. I'm ready not just to go to prison -- I'm ready also to die for the gospel." Paul knew that it was the will of God for him to go to Jerusalem, and nothing was going to stop him.

Beware of Directive Prophecy

This is what we have to be careful of, because often people will come and say they've got a word and give you some directive prophecy. God does not do that. God will speak to you directly. He will put it on your heart. You will know -- not somebody else coming along telling you that you should do this or that.

If you follow preachers who tell you what you should do, you're going to end up in trouble. This is where we get our guidance: through the Scriptures. We can have a witness in our own heart, and we know -- but it always has to be in line with the Scriptures. Always check things out. Always judge.

The Prophet as Preacher

If we go to Acts 15, we see that after the Council of Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas come back with the message that the Gentiles are to stay clear of immorality, to be considerate of others, and not to deliberately cause offense -- but they were free from the law and free from circumcision and all of those requirements. They should walk in holiness and righteousness.

When Paul and Barnabas came back with that message, others came with them from Jerusalem, and two of these were Judas and Silas.

"Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them." -- Acts 15:32

Being prophets, they preached. They exhorted the brethren with many words -- not just a single word, but many words -- and strengthened them. In other words, they preached. They preached the apostles' doctrine. They preached Scripture as we have it now. They preached the Word. That is the primary mission of the prophet in the New Testament: preaching.

Two or Three Prophets Speak

In 1 Corinthians 14:29, it says:

"Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge." -- 1 Corinthians 14:29

That's not just a word of prophecy, because Paul talks about wishing you would all prophesy -- that's everyone. But this is specifically two or three. Who are they? They are the preachers. They're preaching. I don't know how long their meetings were, but they would have two or three people preaching, and what were they preaching? They were preaching the apostles' doctrine. They were preaching Scripture.

Then it says, "Let the others judge." Others who could preach, others who knew the Scriptures, were to judge what they were saying. God does not expect us to just listen and soak everything in. There is so much false teaching going on today. I've heard preachers talk about having dominion over the courts of heaven, and that we're kings, and now we can decree this and decree that over our family. That's not in the Scripture. That's a false doctrine -- some new revelation which is a false revelation.

Others talk about us being little gods and we can decree this and decree that. It's false teaching. We should judge all of this according to Scripture. We live by the Scriptures. We live by the Word of God. When preachers preach, we should judge -- not just for the sake of being critical or because of the way somebody says it, but we should test it: if it is not in Scripture, we throw it out.

We live in a time now when people are emphasizing listening to the voice of Jesus or hearing His voice. No -- I hear His voice when I read His Word. If we think we can hear directly, we can end up hearing anything. It opens the door to crazy thoughts. We stand on the Word of God. That's what we do.

Silas: A Prophet Who Preached

When I go back to Silas being a prophet -- he preached many words. Then Silas ended up traveling with Paul. I never once read of him talking about anything that was going to happen in the future or prophesying in that manner. No -- he was a preacher alongside Paul.

So the prophet in the New Testament primarily was one who preached, and sometimes moved in the word of wisdom or a word of knowledge.

Summary: Prophecy and Prophets

One who prophesies is one who gives a word that is for building up, encouragement, strengthening, or comfort. It's a word that comes in season. That's what Philip's daughters did.

But a prophet is one who preaches the Word -- and sometimes will come with a word of wisdom, which is never directive prophecy, because direction comes from the Scriptures.

The Lord bless you. Amen.