UNDERSTANDING THE TRUE MEANING OF PROPHECY
Most people think they can identify evil when they see it. But, the problem is that they do not see evil as God sees it. Nor do they see idols and idolatry like God sees them.

For man, evil is associated with all kinds of immoral, malevolent behavior perpetrated by evil spirits (i.e. satan, demons) who work their will in and through godless people. And idols are typically thought of as physical creations of wood and stone. But for God, evil is a general term used to describe the sin of religion, and idols are human religious teachers who function as false prophets in their own little kingdoms. He has simply borrowed the term to communicate how he feels about religion so that we can begin to understand how objectionable religion is to him.

God has done the same thing regarding prophecy. Prophecy has a culturally accepted meaning in human terms but a different, spiritual meaning for God. Again, he has borrowed the human word to represent a spiritual concept. He uses the human term/word to symbolically represent the spiritual term. Interpreted in human terms, a Biblical word is profane, but interpreted in spiritual terms, it is holy.

It is a challenge to know what is holy and what is profane. That is why God has given us warnings about discerning between good and evil which the Bible also calls clean and unclean food.

STUDY TIP: See Bread, Food and Wine for an extensive discussion of clean and unclean food.

This challenge is especially sensitive with respect to the challenge to know the difference between true prophets and false prophets. One is holy and the other is evil. Training and discernment is necessary to know which is which. Failure to make such distinctions results in serious consequences for both the false prophets and people who idolize them for their teaching.

We can learn from the U. S. Department of the Treasury which has resources to train people to identify counterfeit cash by first exposing them to legal cash. These principles may also be applied in Bible study and in identification of a true prophet. If we do not know the characteristics of a true prophet, we will not be able to identify a false, counterfeit prophet.

Just like in banks, there is a cost to not knowing the real thing. We have discussed the characteristics of false prophets in Religion is the Kingdom of False Prophets. In this series of pages we will discuss the characteristics of true prophets, true Priests, true shepherds and true servants.

Since prophets are mentioned so many times (454) in the Bible, we will begin with these characters which are well represented in both the old and new testaments. As always, we begin by looking at the definitions of prophets and what they do.

Old Testament			New Testament
Hebrew word	Definition	English translation	Greek word	Definition	English translation
Nabiy’	spokesman speaker prophet false prophet heathen prophet	prophet	Prophetes	interpreter of oracles or of other hidden things one who speaks about the coming of the kingdom of God	prophet
Ro’eh	seer prophet (prophetic) vision	vision	Prophetikos	proceeding from a prophet prophetic	of the prophets of prophecy
Ra’ah	to see to have vision look at inspect perceive consider	see look behold show	Prophetis	a prophetess a woman to whom future events or things hidden from others are at times revealed a female who declares or interprets oracles	prophetess
Chozeh	seer vision	seer see	Propheteuo	to prophesy to be a prophet, speak forth foretelling future events pertaining to the kingdom of God to utter forth and declare, teach, refute, reprove, admonish, comfort others to act as a prophet, discharge the prophetic office	prophesy
Naba’	to prophesy	prophesy prophesying	Propheteia	prophecy a discourse declaring the purposes of God, whether by reproving and admonishing the wicked, or comforting the afflicted prediction of events relating to the kingdom of God	prophecy prophesying

These definitions of the functions of true prophets can be summarized as follows:

True prophets are  spokespersons who speak for God. True prophets interpret the hidden words of God for people who cannot hear God’s voice themselves. True prophets interpret the Mysteries of God (i.e. Symbols, Signs, Types, Allegories and Parables). True prophets speak about the coming of the kingdom of God (i.e. the place where he places his name) to people who live in the kingdom of false prophets.

 

The basic function of a prophet in the Bible is to be a spokesman and speaker for God. This was what Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Jesus and all other prophets did. More to the point this is what true prophets of today do. In Biblical terms, true prophets are Messiahs who are anointed by God with the authority and power to speak for God. They interpret, teach, and report the spiritual meaning of the literal Bible. In religion, this function emphasizes interpreting and reporting what God has said in the literal words of the Bible.

Applying these understandings of the prophetic function, it must be said that all religious leaders in both Judaism and Christianity are prophets in the true Biblical sense. If they set themselves apart from others as authorities on Biblical interpretation, they are prophets. It does not matter if they preach, write, or sing songs about God. They are all prophets in the Biblical sense. But the real question is this: Are they true prophets or false prophets.

Most religious leaders will not self-identify as prophets, but that does not change the fact that they function as prophets in God’s view. The significance of this, of course, is that all religious leaders (e.g. pastors, priests, bishops, teachers, writers, rabbis, musicians, etc.) who presume to interpret the Bible and report their findings to followers/listeners/readers satisfy the Biblical definition of prophet — even if they never presume to make a prophetic, “thus saith the Lord”  pronouncement/prediction regarding the near or far future. And because they are prophets in God’s eyes, all of God’s many warnings to prophets apply to them. This fact should be a caution to anyone who presumes to speak/preach/teach/sing about who God is and how he conducts his business in the world.