God’s Prophetic Word: The Nature & Design of Prophecy

What is a Prophet? Exodus 4:15-16 – “I will be with thy mouth” “He (Aaron) shall be thy spokesman…he shall be to thee instead of a mouth.” Exodus 7:1 – “Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” Jeremiah 1:4-10 – “…and touched my mouth…I have put my words in thy mouth.”

A Prophet was an Inspired Teacher of God’s Word 2 Peter 1:20-21 – Did not give his own invention Was moved by the Holy Spirit

He was a Forthteller – a message for his immediate audience It might be to inform or to rebuke or to correct To explain the consequences of not obeying the Lord

He was a Foreteller – He looked to the future The Test of a True Prophet: Deuteronomy 18: “How shall we know…?” “If the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken…”

2 Peter 1:19 OT Prophecy “Light in a dark place” “Mystery” New Testament “Day dawns” “Day Star” Gospel Age Mystery Revealed

Near and Distant Fulfillment Prophet Remnant Shall Return Jeremiah 29:10 Ezra 1:1 Spiritual Remnant Of Grace Romans 11:5

Design of OT Prophesies about the Messianic Kingdom

Messianic Prophesies pointed to the First Coming of Christ and Events of the Gospel Age Acts 3:19-26 – v – Christ was that prophet v. 24 – “all the prophets…foretold these days” v. 26 – Days when God blesses all nations in turning them from sin – takes place through the Gospel

Acts 13 v. 25 – “John fulfilled his course” v. 27 – “they fulfilled them in condemning him” v. 29 – “when they had fulfilled all that was written of him” v. 32 – “promises made unto the fathers” v. 33 – “God hath fulfilled the same unto their children” v. 38 – “Through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. v – If you despise and reject him, “Beware lest that come upon you…spoken by the prophets” and YOU PERISH!

Romans 1:1-2 “The Gospel of God (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures)” Romans 16:25-26 “Mystery…now manifest…by the scriptures of the prophets…”

I Peter 1:10-12 v. 10 – Prophets spoke of “the grace that should come unto you” v. 11 – Spirit in them “testified beforehand, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow” v. 12 – They (prophets) ministering to us things now reported by those who “preached the gospel…with the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven”

To Postpone These Prophesies and Their Fulfillment: Bypasses the New Testament Falsifies the Prophets Deprives Us of Salvation thru the Gospel Minimizes the Gospel Age Means Christ is Not Now “the Fullness of God” (Col. 2:9) and The Church is Not Yet the “Fullness of Christ” (Eph 1:23)

God’s Prophetic Word: The Nature & Design of Prophecy