Alleged Discrepancies in the Prophetic Ministry
Welcome back my faithful Allies!
The prophetic ministry, unlike the other ministries, has faced a lot of contention and controversies over the past centuries. As a result, people who are called to this ministry as prophets have become targets of humiliation and persecution. This is chiefly as a result of gross misunderstanding associated with this ministry. Read along as I shed more light on the prophetic ministry.
Beware of false prophets
The prophetic ministry is one of Jesus’ ministry extensions. Ephesians 4:11 says “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers”. This ministry, sadly, can be misunderstood because of the way it operates. Therefore, a lot of prophets have been tagged as ‘false prophets’, and their message trashed. I don’t intent to glamorise or endorse the activities of false prophets. Jesus Christ Himself cautioned us when He said “beware of false prophets(Mathew 7:15)”, therefore we definitely need to be vigilant and not to be caught in their web. However, we should not be too quick to jump into conclusion and judge prophets as ‘false’ because of a particular message they conveyed.
He who you love is sick
In John 11, we see Jesus in a very interesting situation. He had two friends in Bethany, Mary and Martha, who apparently were much of a blessing to His ministry. Their only brother Lazarus was sick, and they sent a message to be told Jesus that “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick (John 11:3).” Jesus at this time was busy going about His ministry work. One would have thought that because of the deep love He had for Mary, Martha and their only brother Lazarus, He would rush to check on Lazarus and possibly heal him. But Jesus after hearing the message simply prophesied and said “this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it (John 11:4).”. Notice that they intentionally said to Jesus “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick (John 11:3)”, just to touch on His emotions, to have Him act quickly. But the Lord is not moved by emotions, no human being can force Him to do something outside His will and time. From a casual look, it seems as though Jesus did not answer their prayer.
Did Jesus give a wrong prophesy?
Two days later, Jesus said to His disciples “let us go to Judea again, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up”. His disciples after hearing this said to Him, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” Jesus, knowing that His disciples misunderstood what He meant, said in plain terms “Lazarus is dead (John 11:14).” This was undoubtedly a big blow to the disciples as they were already struggling to believe that Jesus was really the long awaited Messiah, and trying to ignore the claims of the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Scribes. For Jesus to say Lazarus wouldn’t die, only to tell them two days later that he was dead wasn’t something easy to grasp. They presumably started murmuring among themselves “is this really the Messiah?”; “What if the Pharisees are right?”. Thomas even made a very sarcastic statement and said ‘let us also go, that we may die with Him (Luke 11:16).’
He knows the end from the beginning
The truth of the matter is that Jesus did not give a wrong prediction about Lazarus. The Bible says that He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), hence He knew that Lazarus would die, but wouldn’t remain in the grave, because He would raise him up (Luke 11:43). Therefore, He simply said, “this sickness is not unto death”. He told them about the end, but didn’t tell them the process. Many prophetic words are like that, God tells us the end of the situation, without necessarily telling us the events or the processes that will happen before the prophetic word is fulfilled. This is why the Bible says “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).” It might look awful, but really if it is something God has said, He shall surely perfect it. What we ought to do is to pray, and wait.
Watch out for part 2 of this blog.
Thank you for stopping by. Subscribe to my newsletter below and get notified of new posts. You may also drop a comment or question in the comment section below.
Awura
“no human being can force Him to do something outside His will and time.” That’s encouraging! Thank you Proph.