-- A Commentary on modern-day prophets, prophetic people, and what they say they are seeing

Jesus was the Messiah, the true Anointed One of Israel and the Church.

But his accusers saw it differently. One of their strongest accusations against Him was this: "IF HE WAS REALLY A PROPHET, HE WOULD KNOW WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THAT PERSON AND ABOUT THOSE PEOPLE."

In this particular case from Scripture, they were speaking of the woman who had lived a life of sin,"

Luke 7:37-50 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is-- that she is a sinner."

FUNNY THING ABOUT TRUE PROPHETS

Not only was Jesus the Messiah, but He was THE TRUE PROPHET (and the True Apostle, the True Evangelist, the True Pastor, etc.). If anyone was a prophet, Jesus was. Yet the argument against Him was His love for KNOWN sinners.

Their question, by the way, was their answer. He WAS a prophet, and what he SAW and what He did, proved it. He saw what others believed to be not only unlikely . . . BUT IMPOSSIBLE---That God loves the VERY PEOPLE who many believe have become-- or who simple ARE ---UNREACHABLE!!!

There's something else beyond the obvious also. Not only will today's truly prophetic people be seen for their love of KNOWN sinners, but they will be observed as KNOWING the impossible things God is doing and planning to do--the things many believe just CAN'T happen. Pharisees had no belief or expectation that Jesus could do anything or make anything pure out of this sinful woman. The same is true today.

Prophets are speaking things that some are just saying, "CAN'T HAPPEN!" "I should know," they say.

Over the years, I've received quite a lot of correspondence from people who tell me (about a given prophetic word), "That can't be. I know this person can't be truly prophetic, because we are intimately familiar with this person or group of people he is prophesying about and if what he is saying was true, WE WOULD KNOW IT!

NOT JUDGING BY WHAT THE EYE SEES OR THE EAR HEARS

Isaiah, prophesying of the Messiah said it this way:

Isa 11:1-4 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD--and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. HE WILL NOT JUDGE BY WHAT HE SEES WITH HIS EYES, OR DECIDE BY WHAT HE HEARS WITH HIS EARS; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.

It's the oddest thing to me. A prophetic word comes forth and then come many letters and articles saying, in so many words, "That can't be. I'm familiar with that situation and I'd know it if it was true. I'm in a place to know. And I'm saying it can't be true."

SITTING IN THE SEAT OF THE SCORNFUL

We must not find ourselves sitting in the seat of the scornful:

Ps 1:1 1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the SEAT OF SCOFFERS!

As fellow Believers, how very careful we must be not to "scoff" at what some are saying the Lord is about to do. A fairly common email I receive says, "I'm so tired of hearing what the Lord is "about to do." Yet God expected Israel to not only believe-- but to be ready and knowledgeable about their day--HIS DAY-- of visitation, even though the prophets had been "silent" for over 400 years.

We get frustrated when a prophetic word that comes forth isn't fulfilled within two years. That might appear humorous to the New Testament Believers who finally saw the fulfillment of the cross. It would sound odd to them that we are tired of waiting for these two years (or twenty years) for God's promise to come true for us.

GOD LAUGHS AT OUR FEELINGS OF HIS INABILITY TO ACT

The very next Psalm, Psalm 2--- says that the Lord LAUGHS AT THOSE WHO THINK THEY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE LORD'S INABILITY TO INTERVENE ON BEHALF OF HIS OWN.

Ps 2:1-6

"Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. 'Let us break their chains, they say, 'and throw off their fetters.' The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, 'I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill.'"

While the context is slightly different than about prophetic words today, the principle is the same--some people, and yes, even Believers, find themselves in the seat of scoffers, saying, "Everything continues as it has from the beginning. Where is His coming," they say, "or even a sign of His coming?"

APPEALING TO THE LORD TO COME QUICKLY

Did you know that when we are instructed in the book of Revelation to pray, "Even so Lord, come quickly!"---(the second to the last verse in the Bible}---that we are to pray this about everything? Come quickly to heal us, LORD. Come quickly to save our relatives! Come quickly to help us in our financial need. Come quickly to Israel! Come quickly to bring Your Presence into the Church today, LORD!

DOESN'T GOD TELL HIS PROPHETS EVERYTHING?

Now we come to what prophets today DON'T KNOW. Having said all the above, that is--having proclaimed all the things that prophetic people know and prophesy--that many don't believe is possible-- we must necessarily visit what prophets DON'T know.

What, you ask? Didn't the Lord say: Amos 3:7 "Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets?"

Answer: Yes he did.

Question: "Then don't God's Servants, His prophets know everything?

Answer: Well, no, not each prophet or prophetic person. Because prophets and prophetic people know that they only see and know IN PART. Most are familiar with this Scripture:

1 Cor 13:9 "For we know in part and we prophesy in part . . . "

The implications are clear. God tells His prophets everything---- But He only tells a given prophet or prophetic voice IN PART--- and He only tells each person when it's TIME to tell them. We see that in the life of Jesus. He revealed certain things to His disciples when it was time to reveal it --and then He "OPENED THEIR EYES" when it was time for them to have them opened--to the very things he has ALREADY TOLD THEM.

Luke 24:27 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He EXPLAINED TO THEM what was said [and what He had of course already told them] in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

WHAT THINGS DO HIS PROPHETS NOT KNOW?

When Jesus appeared on the "Mount of Transfiguration,"-- only two others appeared with him. Moses, the great Lawgiver, and Elijah, perhaps the greatest prophet known to man. It was even proclaimed by Jesus that John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah. The point is--among prophets, ELIJAH WAS GREAT!

Didn't Elijah Know everything?

Well, there was a famous incident that proved the answer to that to be, "No!"

At the time of his greatest success, we find ELIJAH MORE OR LESS "CLUELESS."

He's run from Jezebel. He's hiding out in a cave and the Lord comes to Him and asks him the obvious question, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?

I King 19:9-19 9 There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: "What are you doing here, Elijah?" 10 He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT, and now they are trying to kill me too."

"BUT LORD, I'M THE ONLY ONE LEFT--I'VE LOOKED AROUND!"

Elijah didn't get it. He was the greatest prophet of all times. If anyone should know who was who--- and who was serving the Lord in Israel, wouldn't it have been Elijah?

So the Lord gives Elijah some experimental homework:

Verse 11 "The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave."

Now get this. The Lord had already asked the great prophet this question once. Now He asks it again to the fearful ELIJAH,

Vs. 12 "Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

Elijah lists the complaint again:

Verse: 14 "He replied, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, broken down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT, and now they are trying to kill me too." Elijah wanted to make sure the LORD understood that he was IT, the last one!!

Prophets back then, just like prophets today, need fresh instructions from the Lord---sometimes, right in the middle of great confusion:

Verse: 15 "The LORD said to him, "Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu."

HERE'S WHAT ELIJAH DIDN'T KNOW---EVEN THOUGH HE WAS A PROPHET!

Now we see exactly what Elijah Didn't know. And this gives us a clue of what some modern day prophets and prophetic people also don't know--at times.

18 "Yet I [GOD] reserve seven thousand in Israel-- all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him. So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. . . "

ELIJAH'S EMBARRASSMENT

I just see Elijah's face turning red at this point. Shouldn't he have known? Well, maybe yes, and maybe no. Either he wasn't listening carefully, or the Lord just hadn't told him this fact.

Meanwhile, all throughout Jerusalem, Israeli's are meeting in houses--- IN SECRET, not allowing the corrupt Jezebel to know they were serving the Living God. And God was reserving and preserving them, amidst this secrecy. Their lives were spared because of this and not even ELIJAH knew about them.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PROPHETS TODAY?

The same is true in the modern-day world. All over the earth, literally hundreds of thousands are receiving revelation from the Lord. Some are being told about nations. Others about cities. Some know names of people about to come into the Kingdom and when they will come. Some know who have committed which crimes. Some know where apostles and evangelists are to go next. Others know about what's going on in Jerusalem, Israel. Still others know what World Wars the enemy is up to, and they are told by God to discreetly intercede against a premature war. The list goes on and on.

All of God's prophetic voices know only in part. And they all DON'T KNOW things that other prophets DO KNOW.

"IF HE OR SHE WAS A PROPHET THEY WOULD KNOW THIS!"

There are tremendous things going on behind the scenes by the Lord and guess what? He's not telling EVERY prophet about them. And every person who SHOULD KNOW about these things--because they live in the area, or because they are specialists in this type of knowledge---DON'T' IN FACT KNOW about many of these things HAPPENING RIGHT UNDER THEIR NOSES. God loves secrets and He loves to reveal them at the most unusual and inopportune times.

How many prophets proclaimed the date and time of the fall of the iron curtain? Who prophesied in advance the public repentance to the church by the Worldwide Church of God. Who is now prophesying the great things that God is doing within the Mormon Church and Jehovah's Witnesses Church. Which prophet now knows the day when public repentance will come forth from people "at the top" of these organizations.

IT'S HAPPENING RIGHT NOW! WILL YOU BELIEVE IT?

I'm telling you, among the Mormons, among the Jehovah's Witnesses, among the Jewish people, and among those who are unsaved members of all denominations, ---It's going to happen---Sudden intervention by GOD (that's been going on all along.) We know because a number of prophets have "seen it" and proclaimed it. But few know exactly when. Few know how many.

But will YOU believe that God is doing the impossible, right now, almost under your nose?

Will you believe that God is working in the hearts of your most atheistic family members? Will you believe that God has slated for upcoming-salvation ---that very person for salvation that is acting in hatred toward you right now?

THE QUESTION THEY SHOULD BE ASKING ABOUT PROPHET'S TODAY

There is one thing we do understand about what prophetic people KNOW FOR SURE today. Just as they did with Jesus, We prophetic people should be seen with sinners, IN PUBLIC, and our accusers should be saying about us, "IF HE (OR SHE) was a prophet, they would know what kind of sinner those people are."

And our answer should be, "Yes, we know what kind of sinners these people are. The kind of sinners Jesus loves. The kind of sinners Jesus died for. And the kind of sinners very few people believe that Jesus can EASILY save on this very day.

Jesus is about to suddenly come TO HIS TEMPLE, His people, the most unlikely and unlovely--or the most beautiful and unexpected---and He's going to just suddenly SAVE THEM!

Do you believe this? Will you believe this?