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

A Profile of the Ancient Hebrew Prophet

In Hebrew thought in general, and the prophetic writers in particu lar, one finds a uniqueness in the concept of history that differs from the secular philosophy of history.This difference lies in the prophetic aware ness of the overruling divine providence directing all events of history toward one central purpose ...that God, as the Lord of history and providence, was controlling the issues and movements of history for a purpose.With one voice the prophets declare that his purpose, toward which all history is being directed, is the establishment of the kingdom of God-the sover eign reign and rule of God upon earth. 2 9 H.E.Freeman The priests had authority to perform ritual, the scribes had author ity to copy the law and even interpret it, but only the prophets had the authority to speak in the Name of God....They were expected to declare what God was saying to the nation in the circumstances of the day. 3 0 Clifford Hill When the nation turned its sail to the wind of prosperity, and the masses were being borne away on the downward drift of indifference to God's Voice, reckoning popularity as an evidence of truth, the prophets of God still held their ground, although denied, deserted, misused, and iso lated.The Word spoken through them made nations like Egypt, Syria, Assyria, Nineveh, Babylon, Persia, Canaan, Asia, Rome as boiling caul drons; dethroned kings, and turned princes to dust. 3 1 D.P.Williams Through the Spirit, ancient prophets bemoaned with tears in the most sorrow-smitten anguish, the tragic failure and fall of God's people in their day.Are there no prophets to take up lamentation in the Spirit for the lapse of God's people today and seek again this deeper moving of His presence? 32 Seeley D.Kinney

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