2 Chronicles 20:20 (ASV)
20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
1 Samuel 9:9 (ASV)
9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer; for he that is now called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.)
a [Prophet] Hebrew: nabiy, one who spoke for God or was moved upon by Him to give a message. See Over Seventy-Eight Prophets and Prophetesses in Introduction to Prophecy
.b [Seer] Hebrew: raah, a seer of visions. Another word for seer was chozeh, which referred more to the spiritual comprehension of what was seen. All three words — nabiy, raah, and chozeh — are used together in 1Chr. 29:29. All seers were prophets but not all prophets were seers. One who saw what he predicted in a vision was a seer; whereas a prophet would sometimes speak as the Holy Spirit moved him, without seeing anything (1Sam. 9:15
Notes For Verse 11
a [Is the seer here?] Question 27. Next, 1Sam. 9:20
Notes For Verse 12
a [he came to day to the city] God was preparing Samuel and Saul at the same time. See note, 1Sam. 9:17
Notes For Verse 15
a [in his ear
] One way God gave messages was with an audible voice or a whisper in the ear, so the prophet would hear in the same sense he would hear any other voice. This is no doubt the way many prophets received revelation from God.
Notes For Verse 16
a [To morrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shalt anoint him to be captain over my people Israel, that he may save my people out of the hand of the Philistines: for I have looked upon my people, because their cry is come unto me] The 4th prophecy in 1Samuel (1Sam. 9:16-17, fulfilled). Next, 1Sam. 9:19
.
Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible: Containing the Old and New Testaments of the Authorized or King James Version Text.
Ephesians 2:19-22:
19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Excerpted from Vine’s Expository Dictionary: “FOUNDATION (TO LAY), FOUNDED 1. themelios, or themelion is properly an adjective denoting “belonging to a foundation” (connected with tithemi, “to place”). It is used” … “ metaphorically, (a) of “the ministry of the gospel and the doctrines of the faith,” (Rom. 15:20; 1 Cor. 3:10,11,12; Eph. 2:20), where the “of” is not subjective (i. e., consisting of the apostles and prophets), but objective, (i. e., laid by the apostles, etc.); so in (2 Tim. 2:19), where “the foundation of God” is “the foundation laid by God,”—not the Church (which is not a “foundation”), but Christ Himself, upon whom the saints are built; (Heb. 6:1); (b) “of good works, (1 Tim. 6:19).”
Paul states that Jesus Christ is the only foundation to be laid: 1 Corinthians 3:11: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
We find the same thought expressed by Paul in Romans 15:20-21: “Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.”
Paul’s thought is consistent: where someone has laid the foundation of Christ, be it apostle or prophet or another servant of God, then that is all sufficient. No other foundation can be or should be laid.
The sense of the meaning of Ephesians 2:20 then is: ‘You were once aliens from the commonwealth of Israel (in the time of her Old Testament prophets), but now you are members of the household of faith of the true Israel having been built up upon the foundation, which is Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, laid by the New Testament apostles and Old Testament prophets.’
Question: “What is prophetic ministry?”
Answer: Prophetic ministry, as understood by Charismatic groups today, is any ministry that relies on the gift of prophecy and new revelation from God to guide the church to maturity. Those involved in prophetic ministry sometimes refer to it as a five-fold ministry
and believe that the offices of apostle and prophet are being restored to the modern-day church.
We see prophetic ministry often in the Old Testament, as God raised up prophets to encourage and rebuke the nation of Israel in times of trouble or rebellion. During King David’s reign (2 Samuel), the prophet Nathan, among others, spoke the word of the Lord to David, giving him guidance and direction as well as confronting him concerning his sin with Bathsheba. Of course, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, Micah, Zechariah, etc., also had a prophetic ministry—they were prophets, after all. The calling of a prophet was to speak for God. A prophet would teach, give guidance, counsel, or rebuke as necessary.
In the New Testament, we find others who had a prophetic ministry. Certain people were gifted as prophets to give guidance, direction, counsel, etc., to God’s people. The
gift of prophecy is specifically mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:10 and Ephesians 4:11. Please note that this gift was given for the building up of the church (Ephesians 4:12
). Thus, prophets were to speak the Word of God to the church so that believers would know the mind of the Lord and how the church should function.
We believe that true prophetic ministry today is simply the preaching of the Bible accurately and clearly. The gift of prophecy today is the “speaking forth” of the written Word, not the relaying of new information from heaven. The purpose of the sign gifts in the early church was to provide direction until the New Testament was completed and to validate the ministry of the apostles. Once the Bible was completed and the apostles died, the miraculous gifts
ceased being of use in the church. We can see this in the New Testament in that the early books such as 1 Corinthians and Ephesians mention the miraculous gifts, whereas the later books such as 1 and 2 Timothy don’t mention them. The completed Bible is sufficient for us to follow the Lord faithfully. Second Peter 1:3 and 2 Timothy 3:16–17
are clear on this. Additional words from the Lord are unnecessary.
There are many Christians today who claim to be involved in prophetic ministry, who believe that prophecy is ongoing, and who present themselves as conduits of new revelation from heaven. Churches who believe in prophetic ministry typically attempt to interpret dreams, predict the future, and speak in tongues—although the New Testament gift of tongues (the supernatural ability to speak in unlearned foreign languages for the purpose of sharing the gospel) is not the type of tongues being practiced today.
The bottom line on prophetic ministry is that the Bible is complete. Scripture even warns against adding to the Word of God (
Revelation 22:18
). The Bible is all we need to live a life of godliness. Thus, prophecy, in the sense of a “new” word from God, is no longer needed.
