N1 to Micah 7.7, p951. “  Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.” (Mic 7:7-20 is, primarily, the confession and intercession of the prophet, who identifies himself with Israel. Cf. Da 9:3-19. Intercession was a test of the prophetic office (Jer 27:18: “But if they be prophets, and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.; Ge 20:7: “Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.) But Micah’s prayer voices also the heart exercise of the remnant in the last days. Such is prophecy, an intermingling of the near and the far. (Cf) Ps 22:1; Mt 27:46.)

Ezekiel 22:23-31: “And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.  Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.  And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.”

Amos 3:7 “Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

De. 13.1-5. The test of false prophets. Deuteronomy 13:1-5 “If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.

De. 18.20-22. “  But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

1917 Scofield Reference Bible: “The Four Gospels,” p989-991: … V. The Gospels present Christ in His three offices of Prophet, Priest and King. Prophet His ministry does not differ in kind from that of the Old Testament prophets. It is the dignity of His person that which makes him the unique Prophet. Of old, God spoke through the prophets; now He speaks in the Son. Heb 1:1-2. The old prophet was a voice from God; the Son is God himself. De 18:18-19.

“The prophet in any dispensation is God’s messenger to His people, first to establish truth, and secondly, when they are in declension and apostasy to call them back to truth. His message, therefore, is, usually, one of rebuke and appeal. Only when these fall on deaf ears does he become a foreteller of things to come. In this, too, Christ is at one with the other prophets. His predictive ministry follows His rejection as King.

“The sphere and character of Christ’s Kingly Office are defined in the Davidic Covenant 2Sa 7:8-16 and refs, as interpreted by the prophets, and confirmed by the New Testament. The latter in no way abrogates or modifies either the Davidic Covenant or its prophetic interpretation. It adds details which were not in the prophet’s vision. The Sermon on the Mount is an elaboration of the idea of “righteousness” as the predominant characteristic of the Messianic kingdom. Isa 11:2-5; Jer 23:5; 33:14-16 The Old Testament prophet was perplexed by seeing in one horizon, so to speak, the suffering and glory of Messiah. 1Pe 1:10-11 The New Testament shows that these are separated by the present church-age, and points forward to the Lord’s return as the time when the Davidic Covenant of blessing through power will be fulfilled Lu 1:30-33; Ac 2:29-36; 15:14-17 just as the Abrahamic Covenant of blessing through suffering was fulfilled at His first coming. Ac 3:25; Ga 3:6-14.

“Christ is never called King of the Church. “The King” is indeed one of the divine titles, and the Church in her worship joins Israel in exalting “the king, eternal, immortal, invisible.” Ps 10:16; 1Ti 1:17. But the church is to reign with Him. The Holy Spirit is now calling out, not the subjects, but the co-heirs and co-rulers of the kingdom 2Ti 2:11-12; Re 1:6; 3:21; 5:10; Ro 8:15-18; 1Co 6:2-3

Christ’s priestly office is the complement of His prophetic office. The prophet is God’s representative with the people; the priest is the people’s representative with God. Because they are sinful he must be a sacrificer; because they are needy he must be a compassionate intercessor. Heb 5:1; 8:1-3

So Christ, on the cross, entered upon his high-priestly work, offering Himself without spot unto God Heb 9:14 as now He compassionates His people in an ever-living intercession Heb 7:23. Of that intercession, John 17 is the pattern. Joh 17:1-26….”

Generally, if not at first, later, good prophets and preachers were and are relegated and dishonored, whereas, bad ones find favor, especially among leaders of civil governments.

[I started this in Jeremiah 35 on 2/13/08]

Ez. 13 (The message against the lying prophet)

Ez. 14:7-11 (The Lord deceives the prophet). “For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to enquire of him concerning me; I the LORD will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.”

Good prophets and preachers

See Jeremiah 35. Jeremiah 35:15-16: “I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me:”

Je. 36: The king burns the book Jeremiah dictated to Baruch from the Lord after hearing part of it read. The king commanded that Jeremiah and Baruch be taken, but the Lord hid them. God commanded that Baruch take dictation from Jeremiah of the former words onto a roll.

Je. 37. Jeremiah’s imprisonment & why in the days of Zedekiah. N1 p814 summarizes all Jeremiah’s imprisonments.

Bad prophets and preachers

Jeremiah 14:14-16  “14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart. 15 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed. 16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.”

Jeremiah 23.9-40. Bad prophets.

Ez. 13. The message against the lying prophets.

Ez. 14.9-11 “Ezekiel 14:9-11  And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.”

Ez. 22.23-31 “23 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.  30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.”

New Testament Prophets

See John McArthur (an heretic in many things, but correct about this), Charismatic Chaos, pp. 78-100.

N1 to 1 Co. 12.10, p1223 “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:” (The N.T. prophet is not ordinarily a foreteller, but rather a forth-teller, one whose gift enabled him to speak “to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” 1Co 14:3.)

1 Corinthians 13:8 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.

N1 to 1 Co. 14.1, p1224 “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” (The subject is still the pneumatika. Chapter 12, described the gifts and the Body; Chapter 13. the love which alone gives ministry of gift any value; Chapter 14. regulates the ministry of gift in the primitive, apostolic assembly of saints. (1) The important gift is that of prophecy (1C.o 1:1)). The N.T. prophet was not merely a preacher, but an inspired preacher, through whom, until the N.T. was written, new revelations suited to the new dispensation were given 1Co 14:29-30. (2) Tongues and the sign gifts are to cease, and meantime must be used with restraint, and only if an interpreter be present 1 Co. 14:1-19,27-28. (3) In the primitive church there was liberty for the ministry of all the gifts which might be present, but for prophecy more especially 1. Co 14:23-26,31,39. (4) In such meetings, when “the whole church” came together “in one place,” women were required to keep silence 1 Co. 14:34; 11:3-16; 1 Ti. 2:11-14. (5) These injunctions are declared to be “the commandments of the Lord” 1 Co. 14:36-37.)

1 Co. 14.3, p1224 “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.”