Christian: Prophet

	Today, perhaps more than ever, we must consider a thought-provoking question: "What is a Christian?"   If we were to ask this question along the street, we would receive many answers.  Some would be interesting.  Some would sound good.  Some might even be right.  But, in spite of what our modern society tells us, Christianity is not a religion of consensus.  So we cannot find answers to biblical questions by examining the results of a survey.   It is possible that most people are wrong in their concepts of Christianity.  In fact, it is almost certain that the majority will be wrong.
	"Lord, are there {just} a few who are being saved?" someone asks Jesus in Luke 13:23.
	"Strive to enter by the narrow door;" the Lord replies in verses 24-28, "for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.'  Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets'; and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.'  There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out."
	So, how can we find the answer to our question?  What is a Christian?  During the next few weeks, Lord willing, let's open the Bible in search of the response.
	What is a Christian?  Well, a Christian is a prophet.  Although we often think of a prophet as someone who foretells the future, there is not necessarily anything miraculous about being a prophet.  The word simply refers to one who speaks for God.  When the Bible was being written, this did include people who were given unusual powers or who received special messages from God.  But this is no longer true.  A Christian needs neither unusual powers nor special messages in order to be a prophet.  All he or she has to do is say what God has said.
	To understand the concept of a prophet, we should consider some biblical background.  In the Old Testament, God places the Spirit upon those who prophesy.
	"Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him;" Numbers 11:25 says of Moses, "and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed {Him} upon the seventy elders. And it came about that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do {it} again."
	"Are you jealous for my sake?" Moses observes in verse 29.  "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!"
	Old Testament prophets are given the Spirit by God.  They are touched by the Spirit.  The Spirit rests upon them.  The same is true of Jesus in the New Testament.
	"And after being baptized," we read in Matthew 3:16, "Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, {and} coming upon Him."
	"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me," Jesus tells the people of Nazareth in Luke 4:18, "because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden."
	Old Testament prophets are given the Spirit.  The Spirit is upon Jesus, the greatest prophet of all time.  So, what about the Christian?
	"Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins;" Peter preaches in Acts 2:38, "and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
	A Christian receives the gift of the Holy Spirit upon immersion into Christ.  A Christian puts on the Spirit by putting on Christ.
	"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ," Paul urges in Romans 13:14.
	There is nothing miraculous about the gift of the Holy Spirit, any more than there is anything miraculous about putting on Christ.  But neither is it anything which is superficial.
	"Then the Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest," 2 Chronicles 24:20 states.  But the verse literally says that the prophet was clothed in the Spirit.  For us to be clothed in the Spirit, we must be clothed in Christ.
	"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ," Paul observes in Galatians 3:27.
	The Spirit is placed upon a prophet.  The prophet is clothed in the Spirit.  The Spirit is poured out upon the prophet.
	"And it will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;" God promises in Joel 2:28, "and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions."
	When does this take place?
	"For these men are not drunk, as you suppose," Peter states in Acts 2:15-17, "for it is {only} the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: '"And it shall be in the last days," God says, "That I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."'"
	This is the same occasion when Peter tells the people to repent and be baptized in order to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

	As a prophet of God, a Christian must operate with the same cautions given to Old Testament prophets.  A prophet must never speak his or her own ideas.
	"Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you," God commands in Jeremiah 23:16-18.  "They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord.  They keep saying to those who despise Me, 'The Lord has said, "You will have peace"'; and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, 'Calamity will not come upon you.' But who has stood in the council of the Lord, that he should see and hear His word? Who has given heed to His word and listened?"
	"Son of man," God instructs in Ezekiel 13:2-7, "prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, 'Listen to the word of the Lord!'  Thus says the Lord God, 'Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing.  O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.  You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. They see falsehood and lying divination who are saying, "The Lord declares," when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of {their} word.  Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, "The Lord declares," but it is not I who have spoken?'"
	Old Testament prophets are cautioned to not speak their own ideas.  The same is true in the New Testament.
	"But false prophets also arose among the people," 2 Peter 2:1-3 warns, "just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.  And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in {their} greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep."
	This entire chapter is a condemnation of false prophets.
	A prophet must not speak his or her own ideas.  What, then, must a prophet do?  We must speak the word of God.
	"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth," Jesus says in Matthew 28:18-20.  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
	Who is going to do it?  We must do it.  The commission is given to Christians.  WE must speak the word of God.  And we MUST speak the word of God.
	"A lion has roared!" Amos 3:8 notes.  "Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! Who can but prophesy?"
	Jeremiah suffers greatly as a prophet.  So he is tempted to argue with God about his task.
	"O Lord, Thou hast deceived me and I was deceived;" we read in Jeremiah 20:7-9, "Thou hast overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.  For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long.  But if I say, 'I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,' then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding {it} in, and I cannot endure {it.}"
	WE must speak the word of God.  We MUST speak the word of God.  And we must SPEAK the word of God.
	"How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed?" Romans 10:14-15 asks.  "And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things!'"
	"For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not {come to} know God," Paul points out in 1 Corinthians 1:21-25, "God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.  For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men."
	WE must speak the word of God.  We MUST speak the word of God.  We must SPEAK the word of God.  And we must speak the WORD of God.
	"The word which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem," Isaiah chapter two begins.
	"Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me," we read at the beginning of Ezekiel chapter seven.
	WE must speak the word of God.  We MUST speak the word of God.  We must SPEAK the word of God.  We must speak the WORD of God.  And we must speak the word of GOD.
	"But know this first of all," we learn from 2 Peter 1:20, "that no prophecy of Scripture is {a matter} of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
	If we are Christians, we are God's prophets.  As prophets, we must speak the word of God.  Let's make sure that we are God's prophets.  Let's make sure that we are speaking HIS word.
	"I did not send {these} prophets," God laments in Jeremiah 23:21, "but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds."
	"For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God;" John 3:34-36 reminds us, "for He gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
	A prophet speaks only the truth, for only the truth will set us free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."