The Prophetic Voice, Mark Ledbetter February 16, 2024; 3:37 p.m.
Part One: Prophecy & Prophets in Israel and the Early Church
Prophecy is the Key unlocking the Message of the Bible. Prophetic themes weave themselves throughout the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. In the Books of the Kings and the Chronicles the rise and fall of Israel’s kingdoms rest upon the shoulders of the monarchs, but it is the Prophets who hold their feet to the fire, who denounce the perversion of justice, who champion the cause of the oppressed, and who peer into Israel’s future and foresee their restoration through the Expected One, the Messiah.
A 400-year prophetic silence fell over Israel when the last of The Twelve Minor Prophets closed out his prophecy. Yet it would be a silence that would be broken with the fulfillment of the promise of a day with the sending of “Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5). Israel awaited the emergence of the Prophetic Voice once again.
Reentering the Age of Prophecy and Prophets
The Gospels reveal that Malachi’s reference would be fulfilled in the labors of John the Baptist, who would be “filled with the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17), but it wasn’t John who pierced the Prophetic Silence. John’s father, the Priest Zechariah, who at John’s “naming day” “was filled with the Spirit and prophesied” a day of visitation and redemption approached and his son, John, is the forerunner of the Messiah. When he came of age, John, the Prophetic Voice, boomed in the wilderness, and it continued to sound in the voice of the One he proclaimed to be the Lamb of God, Jesus.
Jesus’ life was measured in terms of Prophetic fulfillment, with Matthew’s Gospel using a Hebraic literary device, Pesher (meaning fulfillment), extensively used to explain how Jesus fulfilled prophecy regarding His life and works.
Jesus was also regarded by the people to be a prophet. Some declared Him to be Elijah, “a prophet, like one of the prophets of old” (Mark 6:15). As the crowd observed Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, some asked “Who is this?” to which others replied, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee” (Matthew 21:8-11).
Further, Jesus through allegory and direct statements foretold events leading up to, and the fulfillment of promises of His return at the end of the age (See the Parables of the Kingdom, Matthew 13:36-43, 47-50). Matthew 24 and 25 includes the “Signs of the Times/Birth Pangs” leading up to the Abomination of Desolation, and the need to be prepared for His Return.
Pentecost and Beyond
Pentecost marked the shattering crescendo of the Prophetic Voice as “cloven tongues of fire” set upon each gathered, and “speaking in tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance;” proclaiming “the mighty deeds of God,” i.e., the saving acts of God.
With the outpouring of the Spirt it can be said the day inaugurated the Prophethood of All Believers. The prayer of Moses was answered (Numbers 11:29); fulfilled was Joel’s prophecy (2:28-29), and the Promise of the Father (Acts 1:4) was ushered in. Pentecost was the God’s Spirit being poured out on all flesh, and the mantle of the spirit of Prophecy rested upon all regardless of age, economic status, or gender – “and they all shall prophesy” (Acts 2:17-18), inaugurating the Prophetic Age, the Age of Messiah, the Age of Salvation, an era culminating in “the great and glorious day of the Lord” – the return of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:20).
Preserved beyond the Cross, Prophets were among the order of those called to serve and trained the Body of Christ and established to serve the Household of Faith “until we all attain to the unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:11-12), which is hardly a fact in this present time.
Prophets were an expected order within the ranks of Church gatherings, not only expected to address the congregation, but also to serve as judges for doctrinal error. (1 Corinthians 14:27-33). While there were Prophets mentioned by name – Agabus, Judas, and Silas, there were others who contributed to the work of the Church (Acts 21:9; 1 Corinthians 11:4-5; 14:29, 32, 37).
The Apostle Paul exhorted the Thessalonians, “Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances,” meaning do not treat prophecy as without value, useless (1 Thessalonians 5:19-20).
The Apostles James, Peter, Jude, and John included prophecy in their epistles, and the Apocalyptic-filled Prophecies of The Revelation of Jesus Christ anticipated Jesus’ Return and the circumstances marking His Second Coming. It is the Apostle Paul, however, who included extensive references to Jesus Return, calling for a passionate expectation of the Coming of the His coming.
Didache
The Didache, or “Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,” a 1st or early 2nd-century document, provides instructions regarding the Church’s attitude towards receiving a Prophet and assessing the legitimacy of his message.[1]
Recognized as itinerant “preachers,” Prophets were allowed certain latitudes when visiting the community. While his doctrine is scrutinized, if what he teaches is true, but his character is contrary to the ways of Christ, then he is deemed a false prophet.
If the prophet acts in a manner that seems eccentric but doesn’t teach others to follow his example, then the Church is not to judge him but let that be judged by God. Should the prophet solicit support for himself and not for charity, he is deemed a false prophet. The local Church was instructed that financial and material support was incumbent upon the congregation; especially should the prophet take up permanent residence in the community.
The Prophet could lead in worship and prayer, teach and/or reveal relevant revelations regarding the Body of Christ, engage in ecstatic worship, and concern himself for the needs of the poor and oppressed. The true Prophet was to be supported by the congregation’s material means.[2]
The Prophet continued to be recognized in the early church by men such as Irenaeus (2nd-century), Tertullian (2nd-century); and in The Shepherd of Hermas, we find a section regarding “true and false prophets” in which instructions are provided for testing true and false prophets; and as well as 4th-century churchmen and well-through the 15th-century, acknowledged spiritual gifts and prophetic utterances.[3]
Yet, generally, and by design, the Prophecy and the Prophet took on a diminishing role.
Part Two: A Prophetic Silence Falls over the Church and is Revived
Together with the Apostles, the Prophets anchored their teachings and efforts upon the teachings and works of Jesus Christ, who served as the Cornerstone of the Household of Faith, while Apostles and Prophets became its foundation (Ephesians 2:20). The Apostle Paul admonishes the Thessalonian congregation:
Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22
Regardless of the role Prophets played in the development of the Church, and the teachings and admonitions of the Apostles, a silence, or Cessation, fell over the Church.
Why Cessation?
Although there are no Scriptural or historical justification, there are those within the church who assert that, along with spiritual gifts, the prophets died out at the turn of the 1st-century, about the time the Apostle John died.[4] Their dating for cessation is arbitrary, their reasoning accommodating.
If there appeared to be a cessation of Prophets it was not because as cessationist suggest, their service was no longer needed, but when the Church took on a higher hierarchical form, their challenge to the status quo made it necessary to suppress the pointing finger, the alarming cry.
Abraham Heschel suggests the Prophet “alienates the wicked as well as the pious, the cynics as well as the believers, the priests and the princes, the judges and the false prophets. But to be a prophet means to challenge and to defy and to cast out fear.”[5] Justo Gonzalez seems to agree:
It is the vision of the individual, as the mouthpiece of God, standing alone or with the few, persecuted, but with the support of God, which is firmly embedded in Judaism and which is passed on into Christianity. With it went too, the glorification of martyrdom. Prophets, because they are individualists, are annoying to group authority and to administrators, whether in state or religious organization. In post-Christian Judaism they are seen only irregularly and infrequently. In Christianity more frequently than not ecclesiastical officials have frowned upon them and for centuries large Christian groups have not known them. Yet in Christianity prophetism in one form or another has continued to reappear. Especially in early Christianity and in Protestantism the recurrence of the divine voice to the individual has been striking and characteristic.[6]
John Wesley points to another reason why a prophetic silence fell over the Church. Citing prophetic silence fell over the church Wesley’s indictment against the Church was spiritual gifts all but ceased because “the love of many” Christians “was waxed cold.” “The Christians had no more of the Spirit of Christ than the other Heathens. The Son of Man, when he came to examine his Church, could hardly ‘find faith upon earth.’ This was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian Church; because the Christians were turned Heathens again and had only a dead form left.” [7]
As prime movers of the revival that swept England and emerged on the foreign shores of America, both Wesley and George Whitefield were accused of “pretending to extraordinary revelations and gifts of the Holy Ghost,” a claim the detractor stated to be “a horrid thing, a very horrid thing!” Wesley’s response is revealing: “I pretend to no extraordinary revelations or gifts of the Holy Ghost; none but what every Christian may receive, and ought to expect and pray for.”[8]
Wesley continues to make his case for a “post-apostolic” history of the continuation of spiritual gifts operating within the ranks of the Church by citing Clement (c. 150-215 AD) and Ignatius (c. 108-140 AD) attesting to their operation in their era.[9] He writes, “Yet I do not know that God hath anyway precluded himself from thus exerting his sovereign power, from working miracles in any kind or degree, in any age, to the end of the world. I do not recollect any scripture wherein we are taught, that miracles were to be confined within the limits either of the apostolic or the Cyprianic[10] age; or of any period of time, longer or shorter, even till the restitution of all things. I have not observed, either in the Old Testament or the New, any intimation at all of this kind.”[11]
In other words, Wesley offers legitimacy supporting the need, accessibility, and legitimate pursuit of Spiritual Gift and Prophecy, and insists they were available in the hour which he labored, the 18th-century. In 1896, a little over 100 years after Wesley’s death (1791), a group of hungry seekers gathered in the mountains along the Tennessee-North Carolina, Georgia borders experienced a general “outpouring” of the Holy Spirit and reflecting the original Pentecost and subsequent experiences (Acts 2:1-4; 10:44-45; 11:15; 19:1-6). Ten years later, in a former Methodist mission house, the Azusa Street outpouring was recorded, and the Pentecostal Revival spread initiating a revival of spiritual gifts and prophecy and thus producing a legacy that continues in the Post-Modern Era.
Part Three: Reclaiming the Prophetic Mantle in a Post-Modern Era
Elisha stood poised anticipating, watching his teacher, his mentor Elijah as the revered prophet was snatched away heavenward. Elisha had determined to witness the event, dismissing Elijah’s attempts to discourage his disciple from accompanying him. Having served as Elijah’s disciple, Elisah witnessed first-hand the work of the legendary Prophet who dared confront the apostasy that had crept over the northern kingdom of Israel.
It wasn’t Elijah’s desire to watch the spectacle of Elijah being driven to heaven in a fiery chariot pulled by fiery steeds that kept Elisha gazing up towards the clouds. There was something more at stake than witnessing the wondrous display of Elijah’s exit from this earth.
Elijah had anointed Elisha to replace him as the Prophet of Israel and having received the commission he quickly left family and friends to walk with the revered Prophet. When the day of Elijah’s expected departure, Elisha crossed over the Jorden River with Elijah while a company of the “sons of the prophets” stood on the western bank of the river.
Once on the eastern bank the two stopped and Elijah told Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you.” Without pause Elisha responded, “Please, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”
“You have asked a hard thing,” Elijah replied. “Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be for you; but if not, it shall not be so.” This exchange begs the question: If its Elijah’s prerogative to grant Elisha’s request – “Ask what I shall do for you,” why did Elijah say, “You have asked a hard thing?” All Elisha had to do is witness Elijah’s departure.
The two continued in their journey and conversation – The Father and his Son, the Master and his Servant, the Teacher and his Student. And as they continued their walk the two were suddenly separated:
"As they were going along and talking, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire which separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind to heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, ‘My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ And he saw Elijah no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces."[12]
Once Elijah was out of sight, Elisha picked up Elijah’s mantle, a simple piece of sheepskin, an outer garment not only worn by the Prophet but became an emblem of a calling, a responsibility, one that was perilous. Many prophets were ignored at best, on occasions imprisoned, then some executed.
No, it wasn’t a “hard thing” to convey the prophetic office, but it was a “hard thing” to pick up the mantle. It would be a “hard thing” to suffer reproach, isolation, rejection, and even death.[13] Accepting the gravity of the call, he would need a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit. Would there be Ahabs, Jezebels, and the presumptuous prophets to face? Would there be fiery encounters such as that Elijah faced at Mount Carmel? In Elisha’s eyes, a “double portion” would be necessary to accomplish the tasks he imagined laying before him.
As the storied Prophet was whisked away in dramatic fashion, Elijah’s mantle fell and Elisha “took up the mantle.” The mantle was more than a “keepsake,” more than prized reminder of the beloved Prophet. The mantle had a deeper, richer meaning.
The word “mantle” in Hebrew is ’adereth[14] and is derived from the root ’adar[15] which means “glory.” It is not the same “glory” used to describe God or His glory[16] but conveys the thought of that which is “majestic,” “splendid,” or “superior.” Where it may have been a very elaborate garment worn by nobles (see Joshua 7:21), it was no doubt a simple sheepskin, or as described by Zechariah as a “hairy robe” (13:4)[17] It wasn’t the mantle that made the man, however, but the man who made the mantle.
A mystery shrouds Malachi's prophecy of why Elijah will serve as the forerunner of the coming of a Messianic (3:1f). The Prophet’s closing words announce the “return” of Elijah:
“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers…” (4:5-6).
Some 400 years later, a Priest, Zechariah, was found burning incense before the Lord when he received the message from the angel Gabriel that he would become the father of a son he was to name John. Gabriel describes the prophetic nature of John’s life mission: “…he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:1-17). We know the story of John the Baptist.
John emerged from the wilderness announcing the approaching kingdom and called for the people to repent and be baptized in anticipation of the Messiah. He recognized his mission was to prepare the King’s Highway and when Jesus emerged from His baptism and launched His public mission, John knows his time has been well spent and begins to fade and eventually experiences the fate of prophets before him – he is arrested and executed.
If there was ever a need to reclaim Elijah’s mantle, for men and women to be endowed with the “spirit and power of Elijah,” it is in this Post-Modern Era, post-Christian Era. Without the presence and work of true prophets, doctrinal error finds a spiritual vacuum in which to flourish because of the Church’s failure to recognize the Prophet. Unchecked, false teachers, prophets, and their doctrines influence many in the pulpit and pew.
Often ignored or drowned out by the clamor of pseudo-prophets proclaiming smooth words to sooth itching ears, the Post-Modern Church fails to acknowledge or heed true Prophetic Voices.
Those proclaiming, “peace and safety” and all the pleasantries serving a humanistic, accommodating, idolatrous message of false hopes of personal prosperity and success receive notoriety in certain circles of the Church, while others lend their “prophetic” energy and rhetoric to the cause of Social Justice. Presumptuous prophets they are failing to heed the warning of Jesus, “I never knew you,” (Matthew 7:23) or when they announce peace and safety “sudden destruction will come upon them” (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Yet, there are True Prophets among us, men and women who have heard the voice of the Spirit, who have received the true anointing, and are unfazed by current events, political correctness, partisan politics, or religious fads and trends, men and women who have been raised up by God to serve in the traditions of Elijah, Hosea, Amos, John the Baptist, Judas, Silas, Agabus, and others, individuals who speak as the Oracles [Burdens] of God, crying out for repentance, return to the Word of God and reformation.
They stand outside the confines of religious and worldly order. Their inspiration and insight see beyond the obvious and penetrate the evil of darkness, not just in the world, but in the Church as well. Though rejected and repudiated their words will serve as a dividing line between the Remnant God is preparing for the return of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, and those who are either content or fearful.
If ever there was a need to reclaim the Prophetic Mantle, the return of the true Prophetic Voice, it is in uncertain times as these. If ever there was a time to give heed to their voices, their warnings, their cries for repentance and spiritual renewal in the Church it is now!
Mark Ledbetter
“I am a voice of one crying, ‘In the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord.’” - Isaiah 40:3f; John 1:19-23
[1] The Didache, section XI, cited by Henry Bettenson (ed.), Documents of the Christian Church (1963), Oxford University Press: London, 65.
[2] Summary of The Didache, section XI, Henry Bettenson (ed.), Documents of the Christian Church (1963), Oxford University Press: London, 65. Robert M. Grant, The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, Vol. 1, An Introduction (1964), Thomas Nelson & Sons: New York, 161-162.
[3] For other historical records attesting to prophets, prophecy, and spiritual gifts being recognized through the centuries see Wade H. Horton and others regarding the history of “tongues” manifested throughout the centuries: The Glossolalia Phenomenon, Wade H. Horton General Editor, Pathway Press: Cleveland, Tennessee (1966).
[4] This thought was espoused by 4th-century church man, Augustine, who taught gifts were intended for the early church and no longer needed when the apostles died, or after the canon of Scripture established.
[5] Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets, The Jewish Publication Society of America: New York, NY (1962), 18.
[6] Ibid., 34-35. Justo Gonzalez suggests that as difficulty arose “recognizing the authenticity of charismatic gifts” became an issue, and the role of the prophet gave way to the office of bishops and deacons, and the hierarchy of the church assumed the leadership of Church life. Justo L. Gonzalez, Volume I: A History of Christian Thought: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon, Abingdon Press: Nashville (1970), 71.
[7] Wesley, J. (1872) The Works of John Wesley. Third Edition. London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, pp. 26–27.
[8] Ibid., p. 500.
[9] Ibid., pp. 224–226.
[10] Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (c. 210-258 AD). Wesley shares these thoughts in “Principles of a Methodist Farther Explained,” “The Works of John Wesley,” Vol 8.
[11] Wesley, J. (1872) The Works of John Wesley. Third Edition. London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, p. 465.
[12] 2 Kings 2:11-12. The story is taken from 2 Kings 2:1-14 and subsequent verses.
[13] See Jeremiah’s lamentation, Jeremiah 20:7f.
[14] אַדֶּרֶת
[15] אָדַר
[16] kavod [כָבוֹד]; from the root kaved [כָבֵד], meaning “heavy”.
[17] Perhaps of camel hair as worn by John the Baptist, "Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey." Matthew 3:4
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