Chapter 5
1Thess 5:20
Despise not prophesyings.
“Despise not” means exactly what it says, I do not think there is any problem with understanding that phrase. However, when we get to “prophesyings” we sort of start looking bewildered and perplexed and not sure where to go with it
[much like the “greet all the brethren with a holy kiss” (Rom 16:16; 1Cor 16:20; 2Cor 13:12; 1Th 5:26)…I gotta do wha?].
Prophesying usually accompanies prophets and we immediately/usually think of the foretelling of future events; that is just how we have been conditioned. And it is an important proof God uses to prove he is who he says he is. So if that is the case, who are our prophets? And what are they prophesying? There are enough false prophet charlatans out there to fill two Grand Canyons, who hoodwink large masses of people into donating money that they do not have in bogus ‘prophet-izational’ efforts – which things I do – I say: I do - DESPISE.(!)
So, what do we do? In our efforts to exegete the previous verse, we determined that the Spirit and scripture might tell us what we need to know; so that shall be our method here. But first, let us look at the Webster’s 1828 for his definition:
PROPH'ESY, verb intransitive
1. To utter predictions; to make declaration of events to come. (Jeremiah 11:21.);
2. In Scripture, to preach; to instruct in religious doctrines; to interpret or explain Scripture or religious subjects; to exhort. (1 Corinthians 13:9. Ezekiel 37:4.)
Hmmmmm, let us take him to task on this to see if it holds shall we? Yes, we shall. I know the first definition about ‘predictions’ is what we usually think of, and that is true – let’s hone in on the second definition about speaking the inspired words of God, because that is the meaning that usually goes forgotten, unnoticed or unknown.
Let us look at his verse references on that definition:
Eze 37:4
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
So in this reference, the prophet Ezekiel is communicating the words from the LORD to the dry bones.
1Cor 13:9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Again it seems as though it is about the same context, but I would not say these are the greatest examples.
Let’s dig deeper.
Here is an example where “prophesying” is associated with giving thanks and praise:
1Chr 25:1-3
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:
Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.
Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD.
Here is a reference where the seer (the old word for prophet) is to speak the law to the people, to speak right things (of which the Jews do not want to hear at this point in their rebellion against God):
Isa 30:9-10
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
This is one of my favorites:
Mic 2:6, 11
Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. ...
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
So this is more or less the same, communicating the words of the LORD, giving instruction from God, that they do not want to hear – because it is convicting, and human nature does not want to hear things that convict when we are basking in wrong.
Lastly let us look at a spot in Exodus when referencing God, Moses and his brother Aaron:
Exo 6:28-30
And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,
That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.
And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?
[...Here Moses does not want the role of the spokesman, because of his “uncircumcised lips”, which is taken to be of slow speech or stammering; continuing on…]
Exo 7:1-2
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
So we see in this group of verses, Exodus 6:28-7:2, that the role of the prophet was to speak what God has said at hat time – Aaron was to be “prophet” to Moses’ “god” position; in reality Moses was the “prophet” to the LORD God. God spoke to Moses, then Moses speaks those very words to Aaron, and Aaron speaks those very words to Pharaoh. Now the prophet, or the office of the prophet, was to convey the words, and the message, that God wanted delivered to whom it was to be delivered to. The “prophesying” is the words of the “prophet” and could include warning, instruction or foretelling of future events, etc., however, it was all from the LORD and it was the message and words that the LORD wanted to be used.
I hope that helped. : ) I know I enjoyed it.
So coming back to our verse in First Thessalonians, “Despise not prophesyings” hits a bit more different, now that we know we are dealing with the word of God (So Webster’s definition was aligned biblically). So when we see “prophesying” or “prophet” or “prophesying” in New Testament letters/epistles/books it does not necessarily always mean someone “forth telling” of future events. That is a dangerous game to play today if people are going to stand up today and claim they have a new revelation or prophecy from God these days, and it is even more dangerous for the foolish listener (who are not “...more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11)
One thing that is being discussed here is that “the words of God”, the preaching, the scripture being spoken, is not to be despised. It couples right up to the previous verse about ‘quenching’ the Spirit.
Another thing, historically referring to the writing of this epistle to the Thessalonians (First Thessalonians being either the first or second letter written by Paul to be included in the New Testament (NT) canon of scripture, i.e. the NT Bible), is that at this point in history there is no physical 27 New Testament books yet collected and circulating as a NT Bible. Therefore, the office of the prophet was in need and useful and fulfilled a purpose because the newness of the NT church. The office of the prophet was given as a spiritual “gift”, but it was not to be a lasting permanent thing for the body of Christ, it was going to be done away with at a point in time.
1Cor 12:27-30
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Cor 13:8-10
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.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
Eph 4:8, 11-1
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. ...
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;…
So part of that office (of a prophet) is that we, the body of Christ, get a “perfecting”, that we get an “edifying”, until we come “in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God”; it was to have an accomplishment of providing the substance of “faith” and “knowledge” for us the body of Christ to grow into and by. Now, I will say, that this is when the canon of scripture was completed, and recognized as such, and copied out, and started being collected together for the body of Christ to learn, grow, understand, be edified, and to study and rightly divide. But he says “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”(1Cor 13:8-9). So it has a point on which it is to stop. And your modern day deceiver and twister of scripture (the false prophet) will play on the biblically ignorant just as the serpent did on Eve in the garden. Tis sad, however but true.
But the body of Christ is not to “despise” “prophesyings”. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2Tim 4:2); because “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2Tim 3:16-17). Also:
1 Cor 14:3
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
Now there are prophecies all through the Bible, and a multitude which are yet to come to fruition. There is a whole end time scenario to be played out, that has references from Genesis all the way through Revelation. We do not despise those, but we also know that they will not happen while we are on this earth prior to the rapture. The next event to happen as concerning the body of Christ is the catching up, but until then, God does not see fit to continue to have the office of the prophet for the body of Christ in this current time – everything we need for us to know past, present and future is in that printed word of scripture contained in the 39 OT books and 27 NT books.
(I hope that was clear – sometimes I know what I want to say, but when I go to type it, my hands cannot keep up with my thoughts; plus I never really learned how to type.)
Grace and Peace James. Despise not prophesyings, just my incoherent ramblings.
Prophesying usually accompanies prophets and we immediately/usually think of the foretelling of future events; that is just how we have been conditioned. And it is an important proof God uses to prove he is who he says he is. So if that is the case, who are our prophets? And what are they prophesying? There are enough false prophet charlatans out there to fill two Grand Canyons, who hoodwink large masses of people into donating money that they do not have in bogus ‘prophet-izational’ efforts – which things I do – I say: I do - DESPISE.(!)
So, what do we do? In our efforts to exegete the previous verse, we determined that the Spirit and scripture might tell us what we need to know; so that shall be our method here. But first, let us look at the Webster’s 1828 for his definition:
PROPH'ESY, verb intransitive
1. To utter predictions; to make declaration of events to come. (Jeremiah 11:21.);
2. In Scripture, to preach; to instruct in religious doctrines; to interpret or explain Scripture or religious subjects; to exhort. (1 Corinthians 13:9. Ezekiel 37:4.)
Hmmmmm, let us take him to task on this to see if it holds shall we? Yes, we shall. I know the first definition about ‘predictions’ is what we usually think of, and that is true – let’s hone in on the second definition about speaking the inspired words of God, because that is the meaning that usually goes forgotten, unnoticed or unknown.
Let us look at his verse references on that definition:
Eze 37:4
Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
So in this reference, the prophet Ezekiel is communicating the words from the LORD to the dry bones.
1Cor 13:9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
Again it seems as though it is about the same context, but I would not say these are the greatest examples.
Let’s dig deeper.
Here is an example where “prophesying” is associated with giving thanks and praise:
1Chr 25:1-3
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:
Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.
Of Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun; Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with a harp, to give thanks and to praise the LORD.
Here is a reference where the seer (the old word for prophet) is to speak the law to the people, to speak right things (of which the Jews do not want to hear at this point in their rebellion against God):
Isa 30:9-10
That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
This is one of my favorites:
Mic 2:6, 11
Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame. ...
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
So this is more or less the same, communicating the words of the LORD, giving instruction from God, that they do not want to hear – because it is convicting, and human nature does not want to hear things that convict when we are basking in wrong.
Lastly let us look at a spot in Exodus when referencing God, Moses and his brother Aaron:
Exo 6:28-30
And it came to pass on the day when the LORD spake unto Moses in the land of Egypt,
That the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, I am the LORD: speak thou unto Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say unto thee.
And Moses said before the LORD, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken unto me?
[...Here Moses does not want the role of the spokesman, because of his “uncircumcised lips”, which is taken to be of slow speech or stammering; continuing on…]
Exo 7:1-2
And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.
So we see in this group of verses, Exodus 6:28-7:2, that the role of the prophet was to speak what God has said at hat time – Aaron was to be “prophet” to Moses’ “god” position; in reality Moses was the “prophet” to the LORD God. God spoke to Moses, then Moses speaks those very words to Aaron, and Aaron speaks those very words to Pharaoh. Now the prophet, or the office of the prophet, was to convey the words, and the message, that God wanted delivered to whom it was to be delivered to. The “prophesying” is the words of the “prophet” and could include warning, instruction or foretelling of future events, etc., however, it was all from the LORD and it was the message and words that the LORD wanted to be used.
I hope that helped. : ) I know I enjoyed it.
So coming back to our verse in First Thessalonians, “Despise not prophesyings” hits a bit more different, now that we know we are dealing with the word of God (So Webster’s definition was aligned biblically). So when we see “prophesying” or “prophet” or “prophesying” in New Testament letters/epistles/books it does not necessarily always mean someone “forth telling” of future events. That is a dangerous game to play today if people are going to stand up today and claim they have a new revelation or prophecy from God these days, and it is even more dangerous for the foolish listener (who are not “...more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts 17:11)
One thing that is being discussed here is that “the words of God”, the preaching, the scripture being spoken, is not to be despised. It couples right up to the previous verse about ‘quenching’ the Spirit.
Another thing, historically referring to the writing of this epistle to the Thessalonians (First Thessalonians being either the first or second letter written by Paul to be included in the New Testament (NT) canon of scripture, i.e. the NT Bible), is that at this point in history there is no physical 27 New Testament books yet collected and circulating as a NT Bible. Therefore, the office of the prophet was in need and useful and fulfilled a purpose because the newness of the NT church. The office of the prophet was given as a spiritual “gift”, but it was not to be a lasting permanent thing for the body of Christ, it was going to be done away with at a point in time.
1Cor 12:27-30
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
1Cor 13:8-10
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.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
Eph 4:8, 11-1
Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. ...
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;…
So part of that office (of a prophet) is that we, the body of Christ, get a “perfecting”, that we get an “edifying”, until we come “in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God”; it was to have an accomplishment of providing the substance of “faith” and “knowledge” for us the body of Christ to grow into and by. Now, I will say, that this is when the canon of scripture was completed, and recognized as such, and copied out, and started being collected together for the body of Christ to learn, grow, understand, be edified, and to study and rightly divide. But he says “For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”(1Cor 13:8-9). So it has a point on which it is to stop. And your modern day deceiver and twister of scripture (the false prophet) will play on the biblically ignorant just as the serpent did on Eve in the garden. Tis sad, however but true.
But the body of Christ is not to “despise” “prophesyings”. “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” (2Tim 4:2); because “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2Tim 3:16-17). Also:
1 Cor 14:3
But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.
Now there are prophecies all through the Bible, and a multitude which are yet to come to fruition. There is a whole end time scenario to be played out, that has references from Genesis all the way through Revelation. We do not despise those, but we also know that they will not happen while we are on this earth prior to the rapture. The next event to happen as concerning the body of Christ is the catching up, but until then, God does not see fit to continue to have the office of the prophet for the body of Christ in this current time – everything we need for us to know past, present and future is in that printed word of scripture contained in the 39 OT books and 27 NT books.
(I hope that was clear – sometimes I know what I want to say, but when I go to type it, my hands cannot keep up with my thoughts; plus I never really learned how to type.)
Grace and Peace James. Despise not prophesyings, just my incoherent ramblings.
No comments:
Post a Comment