Lesson 2 for the 10th of January, 2009
“From the
beginning the
church of God has
had the gift of
prophecy in her
midst as a living
voice to counsel,
admonish, and
instruct”.
E.G.W. (Selected Messages, Book 3; page 83)
Enoch:
“See, the Lord is coming with
thousands upon thousands of his
holy ones” (Jude, 14-15)
Lamech: “He will comfort us in the labour
and painful toil of our hands
caused by the ground the Lord
has cursed” (Genesis, 5:29)
Noah:
“I am going to put an end to all
people, for the earth is filled with
violence because of them. I am
surely going to destroy both them
and the earth” (Genesis, 6: 13)
Abraham: He’s the first person who was
called prophet (Genesis, 20: 7)
He was called friend of God
(2 Chronicles, 20: 7; Isaiah, 41: 8; James, 2: 23)
Future events were revealed
to him (Genesis, 15: 13)
Joseph: He had dreams directly from
God and he received the gift of
dream interpretation. He was
prophet before the Pharaoh,
interpreting his dream
(Genesis, 37: 5-10; 41: 1-36)
Mariah:She was a prophetess with the music gift. “Then Miriam
the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her
hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines
and dancing” (Exodus, 15: 20)
Moses: “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like
Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face”
(Deuteronomy, 34: 10). Moses was the greatest prophet in
the old pact and he was a reference to all the
prophets who came after him. “The Lord your God
will raise up for you a prophet like me from among
your own brothers. You must listen to him”
(Deuteronomy, 18: 15)
Balaam: At first, he was a prophet of God, but he renounced
Him. His prophecy about the “Star of Jacob” guided
the wise men from the east to Jesus
(Numbers, 22: 8; 24: 17)
Deborah: Great prophetess, she was called mother in Israel.
“Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was
leading Israel at that time” (Judges, 4: 4)
Samuel: “The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he
revealed himself to Samuel through his word”
(1 Samuel, 3: 21)
Saul:
“And he stripped off his clothes also, and
prophesied before Samuel in like manner,
and lay down naked all that day and all
that night. Wherefore they say, Is Saul
also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel, 19: 23-24).
Despite he cannot be considered like a
prophet, he received twice the prophetic
gift (1 Samuel, 10: 10-13)
David:
“The sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel, 23: 1, 2)
was inspired by God to compose a huge
amount of Psalms; we can find messianic
prophecies among them (Acts, 2: 30)
Solomon:God inspired him to write three books
which are plenty of wisdom: Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.
Gad: David’s personal prophet, he went with David
since he was pursued by Saul. He is
considered like co-writer of Samuel books
(1 Samuel, 22: 5)
Nathan: David’s personal friend. He was
David’s and Solomon’s adviser,
and he helped organizing the
music in the temple (2 Samuel, 12: 1-14;
1 Kings, 1: 22; 2 Chronicles, 29: 25)
Ahijah: He prophesied the kingdom’s
division in the time of Jeroboam
(1 Kings, 11: 29) and he Jeroboam
consulted him (1 Kings, 14: 2)
Jehu: He prophesied during Baasha’s reign (1 Kings, 16: 1-4;
2 Chronicles, 19: 2; 20: 34)
Elijah: He prophesied during Acab’s, Ahaziah’s and Joram’s
reign. He provoked a great spiritual reform in the kingdom
of Israel and he reconstructed the schools of prophets
established by Samuel.
Micaiah: He prophesied during Acab’s reign. He
went to jail because of his prophetic
ministry (1 Kings, 22)
Elisha: He prophesied during Joram’s, Jehu’s, Jehoahaz’s and
Joash’s reign. He was a rich man (1 Kings, 19: 19). He was an
acclaimed prophet who asked for a double portion of
Elijah’s spirit. He had a huge political influence and his
miracles beat Elijah’s ones.
Jonah: He prophesied during Joash’s and
Jeroboam II’s reign. He was a
successful prophet.
Amos: He prophesied during Jeroboam II’s
reign. He was shepherd and harvester
of wild sycamores. He was from Judah,
and he was called to prophesy in the
kingdom of Israel.
Hosea: He prophesied during the reign of 6
kings, from Jeroboam II until the
kingdom’s deportation. He was an
educated person.
Oded: He prophesied during Pekah’s reign.
He made the king to free the captives
from Judah he had captured
(2 Chronicles, 28: 9)
Shemaiah and Iddo: They prophesied during Solomon’s,
Rehoboam’s and Abijah’s reign. Iddo is called seer
and prophet. They were chroniclers of the Kingdom
(2 Chronicles, 9: 29; 12: 15; 13: 22)
Isaiah: He prophesied during Uzziah’s,
Jotham’s, Ahaz’s, Hezequiah’s and
Manasseh’s reign. He was related to
royalty and he married a prophetess.
He accepted his prophetic ministry with
these words: “Here am I. Send me”
(Isaiah, 6: 8)
Micah:
He prophesied during Jotham’s, Nahum: He
prophesied
Ahaz’s and Hezequiah’s reign.
during
He was descended from a
Amon’s reign.
humble rural family.
Habakkuk, Zephaniah and Joel: They prophesied during Josiah’s reign.
Zephaniah was from royalty.
Jeremiah: He prophesied during Josiah’s,
Jehoahaz’s, Jehoiakim’s, Jehoiachin’s
and Zedekiah’s reign. He was a priest.
He was called to prophesy when he was
young, so he devoted 40 years to this
ministry. He was accused of treason,
being imprisoned and thrown to a
cistern. He wanted to stop prophesying
sometimes, but he felt like “a burning
fire” in his heart that encouraged him to
continue prophesying (Jeremiah, 20: 9)
Huldah: She was prophetess during Josiah’s reign. She
was consulted by the king about the book of the
Law that was found in the temple
(2 Kings, 22: 14-20; 2 Chronicles, 34: 22-28)
Obadiah: He prophesied during Zedekiah’s reign.
Ezekiel: He was a priest. He was brought up in
Jerusalem and he was deported to
Babylon in Jehoiakim’s time, where he
lived for the rest of his life. He began
his prophetic ministry when he was 30,
just when he had to begin his priestly
ministry. His wife died when
Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem,
but God banned him from being in
mourning.
Daniel: He was from royalty; he was
deported when he was young and
he was a great light in Babylon
and in Medo-Persia, where he
had political positions. He
influenced Cyrus to order the
return from captivity.
Haggai y Zechariah: They encouraged the people to rebuild
the temple in Zorobabel’s time.
Malachi: He prophesied in the interval between the two terms
of office of Nehemiah, while he was with Artaxerxes.
He is the last prophet in the Old Testament.
“Although not one of the prophets had a higher mission or greater work to
perform than had John, yet he was not to see even the result of his own
mission. He was not privileged to be with Christ and witness the divine power
attending the greater light, which was manifested in the recovery of health
to the sick, of sight to the blind, of hearing to the deaf. He did not see the
light which shone through every word of Christ, reflecting glory upon the
promises in prophecy. The world was illuminated with pure light from the
brightness of the Father's glory in the person of his Son; but John was
denied the privilege of seeing the display of wisdom and power of God in the
unsearchable riches of the knowledge of Christ.
Those who were privileged with being with Christ when he walked a man
among men, and listened to his divine teachings under a variety of
circumstances while preaching in the temple--walking in the streets, teaching
the multitudes by the way side, and in the open air by the sea-side, and
while an invited guest seated at the table, ever giving words of instruction to
meet the cases of all who needed his help; healing, comforting, and
reproving, as circumstances required--were more exalted than John the
Baptist”
E.G.W. (Review and Herald, April 8, 1873)
The prophetic gift continued in the New Testament with these prophets:
Zacharias (Luke, 1: 67) and his son John the Baptist (John, 1: 6-7)
Simeon and Anna. They were elderly prophets who had the privilege of seeing
Jesus on his presentation day(Luke, 2: 25-38)
Agabus. He predicted a big hunger in Claudius’ time (Acts, 11: 27-28)
Barnabas, Simeon that was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen which
had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. Prophets and teachers
at Antioch (Acts, 13: 1)
Philip’s daughters (Acts, 21: 8-9)
John. Apostle and prophet, he is the last canonical prophet (Revelation, 1: 1)
All these prophets were
common men as we are,
with faults and virtues.
They longed to serve God
and to be close to Him.
They received messages
and they were ready to
transmit them to the
people.
Despite this could lead
them to prison or to
death, they “let none of
His words fall to the
ground” (1 Samuel, 3: 19)
“And afterward, I
will pour out my
Spirit on all people.
Your sons and
daughters will
prophesy, your old
men will dream
dreams, your young
men will see visions”
(Joel, 2: 28 NVI)
Hebrews, 4: 7