Lesson 24 – When the Spirit is of Prophecy

Mark 12:36

For David himself said by the Holy Spirit: "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool."'

    Of course, this text refers to a prophecy of the coming Messiah, the crucified and risen Savior we now know as Jesus Christ. In Mark, Jesus asked those self-proclaimed protectors of the doctrines of God how David, the one whom many viewed as the king fulfilling Biblical promises for the Messiah, could refer to another person as Lord. Good question. Would the true God ever refer to someone else as God? Certainly not! So surely David was the not the promised Messiah, that position belongs to Jesus Christ!.

    Now that the question of Messiah-ship is cleared for us, notice it is was after through a touch of the Spirit that David would make his prophecy. It was only as God indwelled his life that he could be used to express God's will in history. Know for sure, that's what true prophecy is all about. As the Spirit moves, men and women rightly describe what God is do in history according to God's supreme will.

    It is only when a believer is filled full by the Holy Spirit of God in us can we utter prophecy.

    Prophecy is never solely of man's doing. It doesn't come from our wishes for the future, or from our hopes, or our plans for the church. We've got those, but simply put, real prophecy comes when the Spirit chooses to move us to speak. Note that history is not filled with many so moved by the Spirit, so we're rightly skeptical whenever one claims to be a prophet of God, no matter how religious they seem or ever power and popular they are in their sermons.

    No one becomes a prophet in their own eyes, but only as the Spirit chooses to speak through them.

    I'm afraid there are way too many charlatans out there claiming to be the voice of God in prophecy. Many of them are well-intended and some are even right in their theology, but unless the Spirit has touched them with a glimpse of God's will in history, their prophecies are of themselves and not of God.

    All I can say for sure is this. It only when God reaches out and touches our lips with the Spirit that can we know the will of God in history. My understanding of the Scriptures is that God has already sealed his plan for our salvation and the conquering of evil, so most of us would do well to limit our preaching to what God has already said!

LORD JESUS

I invite you to continue to speak to the world today, that we might hear and respond to your voice as you are at work in history. May my life never be so bold as to claim to be your prophet without a clear view of the touch of your Spirit upon me. Amen.