Where is the space for prophecy in the church today? Is it very common in the Presbyterian church?
I think is helpful to recognise, that in the bible there seems to be different kinds of prophecy:
The prophecy that we are most familiar with are the words of people like Moses, or Elijah who heard God speak to them, and said: “Thus says the LORD!” Let’s called this Prophecy (with a capital P). The last and greatest Prophet (with a capital P) was Jesus himself – and He gave his apostles authority to pass on his teaching. Today, I don’t expect any more prophets with a “capital P”; how can God reveal himself any more clearly than he did through Jesus, his own Son? Today, we do have preachers, but my job is not to bring anything new, just to deliver this same message that the apostles left for us in the bible.
However, in the bible, there seems to another kind of prophecy. I’ll call it prophecy (with a small “p.”) For example, there’s this story in the Old Testament, in Numbers chapter 11, God’s Holy Spirit comes on two guys called Eldad and Medad, they start prophesying, and someone comes up to Moses and says: “Hey Moses shouldn’t you stop those guys?” And Moses says: “What, you think I should be jealous? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” And then, in Numbers chapter 12, God says: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles.” There seems to be a difference between a “capital-P” Prophet like Moses, and “small-p” prophets. And there seems to be prophecy with a small p in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 14, where it says: “the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort.” And I think it’s small-p, because there’s instructions about how these prophets need to be not just believed but evaluated.
You know, there’s been times when I’ve sat in church and listened to people give testimonies, or give an encouragement during a mission spot… and I’ve felt like: “wow God really encouraged us, and strengthened us through that person.” It’s not the kind of authoritative speech that means we are have to obey everything they say. But it is God’s Spirit at work. Interestingly, in the 1500s there was a practise where church Ministers would get together preach to each other midweek, and then give feedback or critique, and they called these gatherings “prophesyings”… until Queen Elizabeth I banned them because she suspected these meeting of spreading Presbyterianism.
And so what about in the Presbyterian church today? Generally we are cautious about prophecy with a small “p” because we want our focus to be on prophecy with capital “p”, that is, we want to focus on God’s authoritative word, because the bible is sufficient for us to live godly lives. Anyway, come and chat to me later if you want to talk more about prophecy. We’re going to sing about how good it is that Christ’s work is finished; it’s complete.
This question was originally answered in our evening service on 23 March 2025. I’ll aim to post another question and answer next week. You can read about how our question box works here.
