The Holy Ghost Witnesseth – Acts 20-22-23

These verses bring me to a subject that I’d rather not preach if I could avoid it.

The reason is not because I know that I’ll offend people and drive them away.

I’d rather not preach this message because the theme is one that I feel that I don’t understand very well.

How can I properly teach something which I don’t fully understand?

On the other hand, I can share with you what I have observed in the Word God.

And I have enough confidence in you to entrust this information to you and that you will handle it wisely.

I suppose that my problem is essentially that I AM NOT THE SUBJECT of my theme.

Paul testified to the elders from Ephesus that during the previous several months,

in every church that he visited the Holy Spirit was saying

that he would soon be experiencing bonds and afflictions,

and it appeared that these things would befall him in Jerusalem.

The language that Paul used here indicates that this divine message was not being given directly to Paul, but to various people in those churches from Achaia to Macedonia and Asia.

And although he doesn’t specifically say, we should probably assume that the Lord was speaking through people considered to be “prophets of the Lord.”

Herein is my reticence to attack this theme:

To the best of my knowledge, I have never heard a message on the subject of New Testament prophets.

They have only come up briefly in some Bible studies in which I’ve sat.

And I have referred to them from time to time, but usually limiting myself only to those things contained in the specific scripture under consideration.

I have a book or two on theology and Pneumatology which mention New Testament prophets, but those studies are rarely longer than a couple of pages.

So, once again, we basically on our own, and I ask that you really stay alert for any potential mis-interpretations that I might make.

Someone might suggest: “Why don’t you just skip over this subject, like most other pastors?”

There are a couple of reasons:

First, it’s in this very passage that Paul indirectly rebukes all of us preachers by saying, “I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.”

And then secondly, just because orthodox preachers don’t preach on this subject, that doesn’t mean that the heretics don’t.

The Bible has a great deal to say about false prophets.

And one of the ways to begin to recognize a false prophet is to be able to recognize the true prophet.

And thus, we come to the subject of the prophets of God.

We have to say that their EXISTENCE is UNDENIABLE.

The ministry of the Old Testament prophets was huge, with a major portion of those scriptures coming from the pen and speeches of preachers and prognosticators like Moses, Jeremiah, Isaiah and Daniel.

On thousands of occasions the Lord spoke directly to those men,

and it was their task to pass the Lord’s revelation on to the people of Israel and others.

Finding prophets in the Old Testament, we shouldn’t be surprised to also find them in the Book of Acts.

But do we find the SAME SORT of prophets in the New Testament that we find in the Old?

Well, yes and no.

For example, many of the great prophets of the Old Testament were national leaders of some sort.

Moses, Isaiah, Samuel, Ezekiel, and potentially Jeremiah and so on.

But in the New Testament we don’t have any national prophets, except for the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is called THE prophet of God.

“For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.

And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.

Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.”

But it’s not Christ the Prophet Who we are considering this afternoon.

In the Book of Acts, all the prophets that we see were ministers of the Lord within their various churches.

Once in a while they would leave their home church, and visit other congregations,

But they were ministers of the Lord to the Lord’s churches.

Acts 13:1 – “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.”

Acts 11:27-29 – “And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.

Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judaea.”

I believe that we could honestly say “And in these days came prophets from the church in Jerusalem unto the church in Antioch.”

I think that it is impossible to deny the existence of New Testament prophets.

BUT we find them overshadowed by the Apostles.

I Corinthians 12:28 – “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”

I think that it is quite clear that Paul and Barnabas and Silas were prophets as well as teachers and preachers, and it is quite likely that all of the Apostles were.

It is impossible to deny the existence of New Testament prophets.

Listen to Romans 12:4-8 – “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.”

I Corinthians 12 – “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.”

Besides these there are many other references to prophets in the Book of Acts and the letters of Paul.

Their existence is undeniable,

But their MINISTRIES are INSCRUTABLE.

That means that they are difficult to fathom, understand and explain.

There seem to be several ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS to the gift of prophesy in any age.

First, the true prophet must have received his message from God in some sort of special revelation.

Second, he should have Divine guidance in the declaration of that revelation,

and many times that meant that it was in conjunction with the inspiration of the Word of God.

Third, the message should somehow demonstrate a stamp of the authority of God.

And fourth, it has to be absolutely accurate.

This kind of prophecy should be distinguished from the prophecy which is just sharing existing revelation.

There is a sense in which the God-authorized preaching of the Word of God is prophecy.

But this afternoon we’re talking about special revelation,

And keeping that in mind, it doesn’t necessarily have to involve future events.

God at times revealed to prophets an explanation of what was taking place at that moment.

In those cases, other terms were often used like “the word of wisdom” and “the word of knowledge,” but they were still cases of special revelation.

But getting back to Acts 20, HOW did the Holy Spirit witness that Paul was facing bonds and affliction?

I can’t honestly tell you.

But apparently when the Spirit was conveying this message there was something unusual which took place which lead those churches to believe that this was SPECIAL revelation.

I already referred to the visit of Agabus to the church in Antioch.

Listen once again to Acts 11:27 – “In these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.

And there stood up one of them named Agabus,

and SIGNIFIED BY THE SPIRIT that there should be great dearth throughout all the world.”

I can’t tell you if Agabus spoke in another tongue,

Of if perhaps his face began to glow with the glory of Heaven.

I can’t tell you if his prophecy was preceded with some of the weird and wicked things that are seen in the radical Holiness and Pentecostal churches today.

I don’t know how the Spirit signified that this was special revelation.

But clearly there was something which did give that indication.

This Agabus is a special and wonderful Bible character.

If he had been only mentioned once in Acts 11 then we might skip right over him.

But the fact is that as Paul continues on his journey to Jerusalem he will run into Agabus again.

In the next chapter Paul and his friends will reach Caesarea.

“And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus.

And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.

And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.”

This man named Agabus had a special ministry of prophesy,

and the Lord apparently sent him out on short trips to convey the special revelation of God.

But I have to wonder: what was the purpose of THIS specific revelation about Paul?

I believe that the general purpose of the gift of prophecy was similar to that of miracles in general.

There was a great need in the early days of the New Testament to make sure that everyone, Christian and non-Christian, knew that this was the ministry of God.

The pages of the New Testament were not immediately written,

and there was need for some sort of divine authentication of these various men’s ministries.

But what specific purpose could there have been to tell Paul that he was headed into the jaws of bonds and affliction?

In every city the message was the same.

And it’s unlikely that the Holy Spirit revealed this only to other prophets and not to Paul himself.

Paul may have had more information than what we are being told,

But this message didn’t deter Paul or detour Paul.

Was Paul sinning against God and against the gracious revelation of God to continue on in his journey?

I don’t believe so.

The prophecies may have foretold what was going to transpire, but apparently none of those prophets conveyed a message which forbade Paul from going.

He had a work to do in Jerusalem, and a nice long trip to Rome after that.

It’s not for you and me to criticize God’s plan.

And I don’t think that you and I are in a position to say that Paul was in sin by not changing his plans.

Nevertheless, all of this IS confusing.

The ministry of prophecy generally speaking IS inscrutable.

And in APPLICATION it is CORRUPTIBLE.

Can you imagine the power that some one might have over gullible souls, if he could convince them that he was a prophet of God?

He could start a new religion.

He could bilk those people out of their wealth.

He could essentially damn their souls to hell.

“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

I don’t know what you think about that old movie “The Wizard of Oz,” but I’ve never really liked it.

Despite some catchy tunes and a few loveable characters, it is disturbing.

The first time that I saw it I was just a kid, and although my perspective has changed over the years, my affection for that story hasn’t improved.

If I am not mistaken there is a lot of allegory and illustrations of life in “The Wizard of Oz.”

And one involves the wizard himself.

Does he represent the Lord? Does he illustrate the average preacher?

Whether he does or doesn’t, he was a fraud; he was a false prophet.

He pretended to want to do good, but the good that he would he didn’t.

His primary concern was himself.

And his “ministry” was all smoke and mirrors, microphones and intimidation.

The Bible is full of warnings and illustrations about false prophets.

The Antichrist himself will have the assistance of a false prophet.

The founder of every false religion has been a false prophet of sorts, and that means thousands of them.

And even in churches which have only been corrupted from the truth, there have been false prophets involved.

Perhaps for every true prophet of God there have been a dozen charlatans and imitations.

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ” – Colossians 2:8.

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness” – II Peter 3:17.

Lastly, in DURATION, this kind of New Testament prophecy was TEMPORARY.

I think that I Corinthians 13 is very clear: “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”

I Corinthians 13 clearly says that the gifts of prophecies and tongues would eventually come to an end.

What is not really clear is WHEN.

It says, “But whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”

I am of the opinion that THAT WHICH IS PERFECT, refers to the WORD OF GOD.

I know that there are some who say that it is referring to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But when we take the purpose of miracles, including special revelation, and add it to this verse;

When we add prophecy to this verse, and then to what we see in Biblical and church history,

It is reasonable to assume “that which is perfect” IS the Word of God.

The gift of special revelation and the ministry of prophets was important in its day – extremely important.

But when the Word of God was put into the hands of the saints of God, the necessity of tongues, prophecies, divine healings and other miracles changed.

For the most part they came to an end.

It will take a miracle of God to make me believe that any prophet today isn’t a false prophet.

It will take more than speaking in tongues to convince me that those tongues are not directly from Satan.

This Bible is all the revelation of God that we need today.

The ministry of prophecy was important and undeniable in its day.

And from our perspective today it may be hard to fully understand.

But was temporary and today it is, generally speaking, no longer necessary.

Beware of the false prophets of the 21^st century.