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

A Profile of the Ancient Hebrew Prophet

Descriptive Terms

In the previous chapter we described the prophet as a spokesman for God (nabi) who often received his message by seeing visions (a "seer," hozeh and roeh). Six additional descriptions in Hebrew Scripture also apply to the prophets of the New Testament. 1. Friend of God. The first person in the Bible to be called a prophet was Abraham.The claim was made forcefully by God Himself, who told Abimelech in a dream that "[Abraham] is a prophet" (Genesis 20:7).The reasons for this title are not given, but Abraham's lifestyle-seven recorded encounters with God-bears it out. Abraham is the only man in the Bible called "the friend of God" (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23).This could well be the most important trait of the prophet.A friend is "one attached to another by affection or esteem; a favored companion." This, I believe, is why God would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah without bringing it to Abra ham's attention: "The LORD said, 'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do ...'?" (Genesis 18:17). In Numbers 12:8 God says of Moses (from Edward Young's literal translation), "Mouth unto mouth will I speak with him, and plainly. ..." The phrase mouth to mouth (only in this passage) and the expres sion face to face shows that God conversed with Moses as a friend, directly and without reserve.It was said of Moses after his death: "Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10; see Exodus 33:11).Moses was a friend of God. Amos 3:7 declares, "Surely the LORD God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets." Natural friends walk closely together, sharing personal issues.Rick Joyner says, "The Lord does not want to do anything without sharing it with the prophets, because the prophets are His friends....The essence of prophetic min istry is to be the special friend and confidant of the Lord." 8 In our time we have this wonderful saying of Jesus to apply to our lives: "No longer do I call you slaves; for the slave does not know what his mas ter is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you" (John 15:15).This available friendship should apply in a particular way to God's New Testament prophets. 2. Man of God. This much-used term illustrates a basic trait of a true prophet: "He is in direct communication with Yahweh." 9 He belonged to God; his passions and objectives were subordinated to those of God as he declared, followed and upheld the ways of God.He knew God in a ■ 56