The prophets are a gift mainly for the local church (Acts 13:1; 1 Cor. 14:23-24). In the churches today there should be prophets receiving the divine revelation and the light, prophets who know the truth, who have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and who speak for God and speak God forth into others. The more such prophets speak for God and even speak God, the more the Triune God is dispensed into others.
The prophets are not only a gift mainly for the local church but also for all the local churches. If the prophets can speak the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, dispensing God into others, in a particular locality, they can do the same thing in every locality (Acts 11:27-28; 21:8-11; 15:22, 30, 32).
On the one hand, the prophets mainly speak for God and speak forth God spiritually (Rom. 12:6; 1 Cor. 14:1); on the other hand, occasionally the prophets predict for God miraculously (Acts 11:28; 21:11). In the Bible as a whole and in the New Testament in particular, the word “prophesy” does not mainly mean to predict. In both the Old and New Testaments to prophesy is to tell for, that is, to speak for others; to tell forth, that is, to speak things forth; and to foretell, that is, to predict, to speak things before they happen. Mainly prophesying is a matter of speaking for the Lord and of speaking the Lord forth. Hence, the main idea of prophecy in the New Testament is not prediction but speaking for the Lord and speaking forth the Lord under His direct inspiration, that is, speaking according to the revelation the Lord has imparted.
To prophesy in the sense of telling for and telling forth requires much growth in life. For this, we need to know God and experience Christ. If we do not have the adequate knowledge of God and experience of Christ, we do not have anything to say for Him, and we cannot speak Him forth.
To prophesy in the sense of foretelling, of predicting something before it happens, is miraculous and does not require the growth in life. The Spirit is the means by which the prophets foretell in this way. Acts 11:28 says that a prophet “named Agabus rose up and signified through the Spirit that there was about to be a great famine over the whole inhabited earth, which occurred at the time of Claudius.” Another instance of such miraculous foretelling by a prophet is in Acts 21:10 and 11.
Whenever a prophet speaks for God, speaks forth God, or speaks in the way of foretelling, he must speak by the Spirit of God. If we speak for God or try to speak forth God without the Spirit of life, our speaking will be ordinary human speaking, not prophesying. To prophesy, either to predict something for God or to speak for God and to speak forth God, must be a speaking by the Spirit of God.
The prophets are the second of the four special gifts placed by God in the church. In 1 Corinthians 12:28 Paul says that God has placed some in the church “secondly prophets.”
The third category of special gifts to the church mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 is the evangelists. The evangelists are experts in preaching the gospel, and all the saints need to learn of them. An outstanding example of an evangelist is Philip in chapter eight of Acts. This Philip was not the Philip among the apostles (Acts 1:13) but the Philip among the seven appointed by the apostles to serve tables (6:5). Through his ministry and preaching the gospel as recorded in Acts 8, he was manifested to be an evangelist. Because he had an outstanding gift of gospel preaching, he was eventually called “Philip the evangelist” (Acts 21:8).
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