Most people think prophecy means predicting the future. In Scripture it mostly meant something harder: telling God's people the truth about their present, and calling them home.
What is prophecy in the Bible? It is God speaking through a person to real people in a real moment, mostly to confront, correct and comfort them, and only sometimes to predict.
The Old Testament prophets prosecuted Israel's covenant with God. Their predictions landed in Jesus and in the first century. And the gift itself did not retire. It is still active in the church today, for building people up, and it is always tested.
That last part matters, because a lot of damage has been done by people who said "thus says the Lord" when the Lord had said no such thing.
If you grew up around prophecy charts, you probably picture a prophet as a man with a calendar. Read the prophets straight through and you find something else. Amos spends most of his book on how Israel treated the poor. Nathan tells David a story about a stolen lamb. Jeremiah stands in the temple gate and says religion will not save people who oppress widows and orphans.
That is forthtelling: speaking God's mind into the present. Foretelling shows up too, usually as the consequence of the present. Keep going this way, and here is where the road ends.
The ordinary Hebrew word for prophet. Its root is debated; many scholars connect it to an older Semitic word for calling. Either way the job is speech.
An older title. 1 Samuel 9:9 says the one now called a prophet used to be called a seer.
The Greek word, built from pro and a verb for speaking. Pro can mean before, but it also means on behalf of. The core picture is a spokesperson, one who speaks for another.
Moses is the pattern: God's spokesman to Pharaoh and to Israel. For more, see what a prophet is in the Bible and how many prophets are in the Bible.
A prophet is first a mouth, not a crystal ball. The question a prophet answers is usually "what is God saying about us right now," not "what happens next year."
Here is the key to most of the prophetic books, and it is a legal one. At Sinai God bound Himself to Israel in a covenant, with blessings for faithfulness and consequences for breaking it, spelled out in Deuteronomy 28. The prophets were the officers of that covenant. When Israel broke it, they showed up with a case.
“Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.”
Micah 6:2 (ESV)Hosea opens the same way: the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. The Hebrew word behind both is rîv, a dispute or lawsuit, and the mountains are the witnesses. For background, see what a covenant is.
Idolatry, bribed courts, the poor sold for a pair of sandals. The prophets name the breach.
God recounts what He did for them: Egypt, the wilderness, the land. The case is personal.
Drought, invasion, exile. These "predictions" are really a verdict read out in advance.
Jeremiah 18:7 to 8 says that if a warned nation turns from its evil, God will relent. Nineveh did exactly that in Jonah 3.
A judgment prophecy was often meant to fail. It was a warning shot, and it worked when people turned. Jeremiah wept because Judah would not.
Prediction is real in Scripture. The prophets warned that Samaria and then Jerusalem would fall, and both did. They promised a son of David, a new covenant and a poured out Spirit, and all of it arrived in Jesus. We walk through the messianic prophecies in how many prophecies Jesus fulfilled.
Notice where the predictions point: at covenant events. And the last great covenant event in the Bible is the one Jesus Himself predicted.
Northern Israel is warned while it is still prosperous.
The northern kingdom goes into exile. The covenant warning came true.
The temple burns, as Jeremiah warned.
Not one stone will be left on another, and all these things will come upon this generation.
Rome destroys Jerusalem and the temple within a generation. The old covenant order comes to its close.
“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near.”
Luke 21:20 (ESV)Jesus stood in Jeremiah's line. He brought a covenant case against a generation and told them what was coming. When He said "this generation," He meant the people in front of Him. We unpack that in Matthew 24 explained and the dating of Revelation in when Revelation was written.
So we do not read the prophets as a coded forecast of our century. The modern prediction culture of charts and blood moons grew out of a system we cover in what dispensationalism is. It keeps setting dates and missing them, and it teaches people to read the Bible with fear instead of with Jesus.
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Manage My Giving"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."2 Corinthians 9:7
“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.”
Hebrews 1:1 to 2 (ESV)The writer of Hebrews says those were his last days, the closing days of the old covenant age, and the final word had already been spoken. The prophets gave partial pictures. Jesus is the full picture of what the Father looks like.
So when a prophet's picture of God looks nothing like Jesus, we let Jesus correct it, because the prophets were real people seeing in part. And Revelation 19:10 says the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Real prophecy points back to Him and sounds like Him.
At Sound of Heaven we believe the predictive prophecy of Scripture has been fulfilled. The promises landed in Jesus, and the warnings about the end of the age landed in the first century, with AD 70 as the covenantal climax. We are not waiting for a countdown. The Kingdom is here now.
We also believe the gift of prophecy is active today, and those two convictions do not cancel out. Joel promised that sons and daughters would prophesy, and Peter said that began at Pentecost. The covenant age that began then has not ended. What ended was the old order. Scripture's predictions are finished, and the Spirit still speaks to His church.
The gift today does not add to Scripture, set dates, or contradict Jesus. If it does, it is wrong.
Paul lists prophecy among the gifts of the Spirit, tells the Corinthians to desire it, and says exactly what it is for.
“On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”
1 Corinthians 14:3 (ESV)Upbuilding. A word that strengthens someone's faith and helps them stand.
Encouragement with a push in it, to keep going or to turn around.
Consolation. God meeting a person in their grief or fear and reminding them who they are.
In our church that usually looks quiet. Someone senses a word of encouragement during prayer, offers it humbly, and lets it be tested. No pressure. Prophecy is a function the whole body can share, not a title. We explain that in the fivefold ministry, and the question of whether there are prophets now in are there prophets today.
The strongest case against us deserves a fair hearing. Cessationists point to Ephesians 2:20, where the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and argue that a foundation is laid once and any new revelation competes with Scripture. We agree nothing competes with Scripture. But Paul never describes congregational prophecy as writing Scripture. He describes it as building people up, which the church still needs.
Humble, tested, submitted to others. Sounds like Jesus. Leaves people freer and closer to God.
A private word you must obey: marry, move, give, stay. Questioning it is called rebellion. That is manipulation in God's name.
We name that directly because it hurts people. It gets used on new believers, on young women told whom to marry, on grieving families, and on congregations pressured to give. Jeremiah 23:16 calls it speaking visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.
According to 1 Corinthians 14:3, what is the gift of prophecy mainly for?
Paul says prophecy is for upbuilding, encouragement and consolation, and in verse 29 he says others must weigh it.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.”
1 Thessalonians 5:19 to 21 (ESV)That verse cuts both ways. Some churches have seen prophecy abused and shut it down. Others swallow every word without chewing. Paul refuses both.
Testing was never easy, even in the Bible. When Hananiah contradicted Jeremiah in Jeremiah 28, both men spoke in the Lord's name and both used the same prophetic language. Writing at TheTorah.com, Professor James A. Diamond of the University of Waterloo observes that Jeremiah “may be certain that he rather than Hananiah is telling the truth, but he is unable to best Hananiah in their competitive drama.” Confidence was not the test. Time and faithfulness were.
A word that is harsh, fearful or proud has failed before anything else is checked.
Read through Christ. A word that contradicts the gospel or adds a new requirement for belonging is out.
You will recognize them by their fruit, Jesus said in Matthew 7:16. Look at the life and at what the word produces.
The Didache, an early church manual, warned that a traveling prophet who asks for money is a false prophet. Still good advice. For more, see what the Bible says about false prophets and discernment in the Bible.
Maybe you were told whom to marry, or that you were out of God's will for leaving a church. If a word left you ashamed or afraid of God, hear this: God is not like that, and you are not in trouble for questioning it.
You are allowed to set it down. Jesus is kind, and He does not need to manipulate you. If you want someone to pray with you about it, you can reach us through our prayer page.
Do not despise prophecy and do not swallow it whole. Welcome it, weigh it by Jesus, and keep what is good.
Every prophet was reaching for something. Moses spoke for God. Jeremiah felt God's grief. Isaiah glimpsed a servant who would suffer for others. Then the Word itself became flesh and lived among us.
So prophecy in the Bible is not a chart to fear. It is God refusing to be silent toward the people He loves. He kept every promise in His Son, and He still speaks to His church, gently, to build people up.
You do not need to decode the news to know where you stand. Know Jesus, listen for His voice, and let your church help you test what you hear.
For related reading, see the still small voice, what the Holy Spirit does, sermons on prophecy and what we believe. And if you are on Long Island, come see what it looks like on a Sunday.
Prophecy is God speaking through people into their present, which in the Old Testament meant prosecuting the covenant, in history meant predictions fulfilled in Jesus and in the first century, and in the church today means a tested gift that builds people up.
Send it in. Someone at Sound of Heaven will pray with you and help you weigh it calmly, by Jesus and by Scripture.
Prophecy in the Bible is God speaking through a person to real people in their own moment. Most of it is forthtelling, confronting sin, calling for justice and offering comfort, rather than foretelling. The Old Testament prophets acted as covenant prosecutors, warning Israel of the consequences of breaking covenant and inviting them to return. Their predictions were fulfilled in Jesus and in the first century. Prophecy is also a gift of the Spirit that still builds up the church, and it is always tested.
Foretelling means predicting the future. Forthtelling means speaking God's word into the present situation. The biblical prophets did both, but forthtelling was the main work. Amos confronted injustice, Nathan confronted David, and Jeremiah confronted empty temple worship. Their predictions usually came as the consequence of the present. Many judgment prophecies were conditional, and Jeremiah 18 says God relents when a warned nation turns, as Nineveh did.
Yes. At Sound of Heaven we believe all the gifts of the Spirit are active, including prophecy. Joel promised that sons and daughters would prophesy in the new covenant age, and Peter said that began at Pentecost. Paul says prophecy is for upbuilding, encouragement and consolation in 1 Corinthians 14:3. It does not add to Scripture, set dates or override Jesus. Today it usually looks humble: a word of encouragement offered in prayer and weighed by others.
Paul says do not despise prophecies, but test everything and hold fast what is good. Start with Jesus: does the word sound like Him and point to Him? Check it against Scripture read through Christ. Look at the fruit. Let mature believers weigh it, as 1 Corinthians 14:29 instructs. Be very cautious of any word that demands obedience, money or loyalty, or forbids questions. That is control, not prophecy.
We believe they have. Jesus said all these things would come upon this generation, and He described Jerusalem surrounded by armies. That happened when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in AD 70, the end of the old covenant age. Revelation was written to seven real churches about things that would soon take place. The Kingdom is here now, and we live in it.