Your Sons & Daughters Shall Prophesy - Prophetic Gifts Today In The New Testament Church

A Profile of the Ancient Hebrew Prophet

sions as "the burden" of the Lord.The more modern translations call it simply "the message" (NLT, CEV, TEV), whereas the NIV and the NASB call it "the oracle." Perhaps the Amplified says it best: "The burden or ora cle, or that which is to be lifted up." The Hebrew word massa undoubtedly implies more than just another "messenger speech" (the term used by textual critics). 5 The underlying thought of "a burden" is too important to ignore. "Cognates of the Hebrew word ...have mostly the meaning of something lifted up." 6 The word is used both in the sense of a load and in that of an utterance or ora cle.Both are something "taken up" or "lifted" and can refer figuratively to "something taken up solemnly upon the lips (cf.Exodus 23:1, Psalm 15:3, 16:4, Ezekiel 36:3...." Such prophecies "were mainly of a threat ening character, the burden thus being the threats of punishment imposed upon the place or people concerned." 7 God did not pass judgment on His people lightly; it weighed on Him like a heavy load.The prophet, acutely conscious of the mind of the Lord through his times of prayer, bonded to the feelings of his sender.The servant not only delivered his master's mes sage but felt the hurt and anguish involved. 8 I have heard such prophetic burdens.One occurred at an Oregon Bible conference several months before the destruction of the wall separating East and West Germany.David Schoch prophesied the word of the Lord to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania-countries then under the iron hand of Communism.Freedom was declared for those countries as well as the penetration of the Gospel.The emotion or "burden" of the Lord was obvious and powerful, although at the time of the prophecy not everyone was fully persuaded of its authenticity-but it shortly came to pass. The prophets of the Bible were a mixed lot: scholastics, sheep-herders, wonder-workers, statesmen, preachers, farmers, priests.Their declara tions and writings display a great variety of personal idiosyncrasies and expressions.The bottom line, however, remains the same: They were all devoted to their God and to the faithful delivery of His word to the peo ple, and their authority lay in the authenticity of the revelation they shared. Various commentators have attempted to categorize these prophecies, but there is no established listing.9 I will mention some broad varieties, but my listing is only representative, not conclusive. Consider the objective of all this activity.The main driving force behind every prophet's expression was the revelation of God's nature to His peo ple and the will of God for His people in their temporal situation.Undoubt- ■ 100 Types of Expression