The prophet, however, is on the Lord’s side.
Sometimes he is on the Lord’s side against most or all the Lord’s people. He stands with God against the people. We see this in the ministries of Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, and especially Jeremiah.
In our day many ministries are far too people-oriented. We attempt to please the people, being bound by the fear of man. We term the fear of man "peer pressure" or "group pressure."
Group pressure is a snare to the man of God. The true prophet of God remains free from group pressure. He spends much time alone with God and enjoys his close fellowship with God and his visions and revelations. He often leaves the company of people because he desires to be alone with God.
The prophet of the Lord is prepared to stand against the whole Church—against the whole world.
God must have such men and women today. He must have people who are on the Lord’s side. He must have spokesmen who are ready to rebuke the Church and the world.
God’s people are prone to murder God’s prophets, as Jesus taught us. Why is this? It is because the churches rapidly and easily fall into the trap of fighting against God. They fight against God because of the self-will and self-centeredness that are in them. The Sanhedrin and the chief priests and elders fought against the Lord Jesus and Stephen because these leaders of the Jews did not pray and seek the mind of the Spirit of God. Instead they employed their fleshly reasonings.
The Pharisees, supposedly the devoted servants of the Lord, murdered the Lord’s Christ when they found Him.
Perhaps the Christian churches of today will murder Christ when they find Him. We know what the churches will do to Christ when we witness what they do to Christ’s prophets.
The Church of Christ has many men and women today who express concern for the needs of people. But prophets are in short supply. We have some who are able to give specific words or prophecies to the believers. But prophets are more concerned with God’s desires than they are with the desires and needs of people.
The Church must have prophets today. Will you stand in the gap before the Lord and build up the wall that separates the holy from the unholy? Will you stand in the Presence of the Lord and proclaim His Word without compromise or hesitation whether people enjoy it or whether they do not?
God always has a present truth, a prophetic word, that is directed toward specific people during specific periods of time. It is the task, the responsibility, the joy, the glory of God’s true servants, His elect, to declare that prophetic Word faithfully and accurately to their generation.
Notice how clearly and specifically the Word of God came to Jeremiah: "in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign." Again: "in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah"; and so forth (Jeremiah 1:2,3).
Jeremiah’s testimony was a specific, accountable word from God. It was not the vague, double-meaning of a fortune teller.
The office of prophet serves until each of us is able to proclaim the Lord's thoughts. There is a word, a burden of the Lord to our generation. The elect, all of whom are "prophets" of Christ in that every member of the Body of Christ is anointed by the Holy Spirit to know the mind of God, are privileged to bear the burden of the Divine Word and to declare it, according to the gift of grace that has been given the individual.
. . . for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)
The words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah apply in one way or another to every member of the elect, to every true Christian. Details of application may vary with the unique calling of the believer, but we share many aspects in common.
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; . . . . (Jeremiah 1:5)
Notice that God forms each member of the elect in the womb of the mother. God’s saints, His elect, His prophets, were known to God before He founded the world. God knew everything about each of us before we saw the light of day (Romans 8:28-30; II Timothy 1:9).
Being a saint, a member of God’s elect, is a full-time calling. There are several billion people in the world. Of this number a mere handful are called to be saints (holy ones). To be a saint is a very demanding calling. Our jobs, our interests, our plans and ambitions are all secondary to our purpose for being on the earth. Our calling is to reveal in ourselves the Glory of God.
But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (I Peter 2:9)
Our calling is to glorify God and serve Him in the earth. It is to be a prophet: not in the sense of the office of a prophet in the Body of Christ but in the sense of being God’s representative on earth, of being the light of the world.
Christ and the members of His Body always are the Prophet of God among men. The Christian Church is the Lampstand of God because Christ dwells in the Church. There is no other light of the world, no other prophet of God among mankind.
. . . before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)
Next Part Each of God’s elect is set apart before being born.