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

The Transition from Old to New

prophecy. The New Testament begins with the inception of heaven's rainy season. It was as though a long drought was over and refreshing rain drops had begun to sprinkle the land, a foretaste of the coming showers. The picture reminds me of the marvelous spectacle in the foothills sur rounding my home in the Santa Clara Valley of California. In the fall, when the rains start, dry, brown, thirsty hills are transformed almost overnight into beautiful green carpeting. So it was that the Holy Spirit ended the long, intertestamental spiritual drought. Soon green signs of prophetic activity were beginning to sprout among God's people. Jesus Christ, of course, is the very heart of the messianic age. We are not to exclude Him in our discussion of the Spirit. But we must not for get that all Jesus did was by the power of the Holy Spirit ( Christ means "the anointed one"). The teachings and works of Jesus are meaningful only in the light of the Spirit. He taught that the disciples would succeed only by the Spirit's empowerment (Luke 24:49). The revelation of God to mankind has followed a threefold, sequen tial manifestation: first, the impressive manifestations of God the Father in the Old Testament; second, the physical appearance of God in and through Jesus Christ, His Son; and now, our experience of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit. We live today in the era of the Holy Spirit, which is to be characterized by His prophetic activity. Contemporary with the birth and ministry of Jesus, outbursts of prophecy similar to that of the canonical prophets suddenly began to occur. God's voice was being heard again! The opening chapters of the New Tes tament give no indication that prophecy had been terminated, but rather that what was occurring was expected, natural and in continuity with the noble tradition of biblical prophetism. Everyone apparently believed that prophecy was to be an active part of such a spiritual season. Six individuals, three men and three women, are significant in the introduction of Jesus' ministry. Luke recorded their marvelous outbursts of prophetic poetry and music associated with the incarnation. In addi tion to the evangel sung by the angel of the Lord over the plains and the gloria of the angelic host, we are given the Beatitude of Elizabeth, the Magnificat of Mary, the Benedictus of Zacharias and the Nunc Dimit tis of Simeon. These four, plus Anna and John the Baptist, make up the six "prophets" who invite us across the threshold into the messianic age. Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-45) andMary (1:46-55). Two pregnant women, one an elderly woman and the other a teenager, met in a humble home in the Judean hills. Mary, the younger, had conceived her child by the Holy Spirit and then, having been informed of Elizabeth's six-month pregnancy, traveled hurriedly to her relative's abode. Mary needed all the insight and encouragement she could get at this unbelievable time in her life. ■ 132