SS Lesson 2 for January 10, 2009The Prophetic Gift

SS Lesson 2 for January 10, 2009The Prophetic Gift

What is the meaning of gift? Present, reward, endowment, incentive, prize, remuneration,

contribution

What is the meaning of gift? Present, reward, endowment, incentive, prize, remuneration,

contribution

A prophet is a gift for us in these modern times. "We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.” CET 204.1

Memory Text: Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Numbers 12:6God would make his will to be known through prophets and patriarchs—Sunday

Sunday Patriarch and Prophet

What does patriarchs mean? Hebrew leader. In the Hebrew Scriptures, especially the book of Genesis, an ancestor or religious leader of the Hebrew people, e.g. Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. Biblical ancestor. In the Bible, a figure mentioned as the ancestor of the whole human race, e.g. Adam or Noah. A respected senior. A respected and experienced senior man within a group or family. Head of family. A man who is the head of a family or group.

In Genesis 20:7 we find the first mention of the word

prophet (Heb. nabi’) in the Bible. "Now therefore,

restore the man's wife; for he is a prophet, and he will

pray for you and you shall live. But if you do not

restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all

who are yours." Prophets were not only

spokespersons for God but on occasion were also

intermediaries between God and the people.

During the time of the Judges the word seer appears to have come into use; then, later, the usage reverted to the older term again.1 Samuel 9:9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: "Come, let us go to the seer"; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)

1 Samuel 9:11 As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, "Is the seer here?" 1 Samuel 9:18-19 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, "Please tell me, where is the seer's house?" And Samuel answered Saul and said, "I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.

1 Samuel 9:11 As they went up the hill to the city, they met some young women going out to draw water, and said to them, "Is the seer here?" 1 Samuel 9:18-19 Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, "Please tell me, where is the seer's house?" And Samuel answered Saul and said, "I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for you shall eat with me today; and tomorrow I will let you go and will tell you all that is in your heart.

Who was the first named prophet of Israel?--Monday Monday The First Named Prophet of Israel Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Deuteronomy 34:10 But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face…

Who was the first named prophet of Israel?--Monday Monday The First Named Prophet of Israel Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Deuteronomy 34:10 But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face…

Hebrews 11:24-26 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.

Exodus 34:28-35 So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses' hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.

2 Corinthians 3:7 The children of Israel could not

look steadily at the face of Moses

because of the glory of his

countenance, which glory was passing away..

Moses was a type of Christ. As Israel's intercessor veiled his countenance, because the people could not endure to look upon its

glory, so Christ, the divine Mediator, veiled His divinity with humanity when He came to earth. Had He come clothed with the brightness of heaven, he could not have found access to men in their sinful state.

They could not have endured the glory of His presence. Therefore He humbled Himself, and was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh", that

He might reach the fallen race, and lift them up. PP 330.4

Exodus 32:11-13 Then Moses pleaded with the LORD his God, and said: "LORD, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? "Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people.

"Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'" Exodus 32:32 "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."

Numbers 16:46-50 So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for

wrath has gone out from the LORD. The plague has begun."

Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and already the plague had begun among the people. So he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. And he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.

Now those who died in the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the Korah incident. So Aaron returned to Moses at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, for the plague had stopped.

Name some prophets in Israel—Tuesday.

Tuesday Prophets in Israel

The prophets from Joshua to Malachi were partial fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy. ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear’ ” Deut. 18:15, Christ, however, only fully could meet the conditions set forth in Moses’ prediction. He came as the second Moses, not to free His people from the power of earthly rulers but, to free them from the power of sin.

The writings of the prophets of the Old Testament from Isaiah to Malachi are well-known. In addition, there were many other prophets in the history of Israel. Samuel lived during the period of the judges (1 Sam. 3:20). Gad and Nathan continued his work (2 Sam. 12:1, 24:13). After the division of the kingdom in 931 B.C. we find the prophets Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29), Elijah (1 Kings 18:1), and Elisha (2 Kings 2:9–14) ministering to the people of God.

Prophets came from all walks of life: Jeremiah and Ezekiel were priests; Isaiah and Zephaniah were of royal blood; Daniel was prime minister of Babylon; Samuel was a judge; Elisha was a farmer, and Amos a shepherd. Whatever their backgrounds, all of them were God’s messengers through whom God tried to keep Israel from falling into sin.

Some prophets wrote books,

others did not; some were

counselors to kings (Jer. 38:14), others preached

to the people (Ezek. 3:17). After four centuries of

prophetic silence, John the Baptist appeared as the

last of the prophets of the old- covenant period (Matt.

3:1).

All through the sacred Scriptures we see the Lord speaking to His

people through His servants, the prophets. The whole Bible itself is

the work of these prophets, delivering the messages that God

gave them. No matter how diverse their backgrounds,

education, temperaments; no matter some of the flaws in their characters , these human beings,

flesh and blood like us, were used by the Lord to proclaim His

messages, messages that still are being proclaimed today in almost

every country in the world and will continue until the close of

time.

Who were the prophetesses in Israel?---WednesdayWednesday

Prophetesses in Israel Miriam, the sister of Moses, is called a prophetess. She is described as leading the women in the Song of Moses. Moses was the appointed leader of the people of Israel, but his dealings would have been primarily with the men, who were considered the heads of their families. Miriam’s task was, perhaps, with the Israelite women.

She was several years older than Moses , and according to Josephus she married Hur, who together with Aaron had held up the arms of Moses in the battle with the Amalekites—Antiquities, III, p. 98. That she was an important person in Israel is seen in the fact that all Israel had to wait seven days until God took away her leprosy after the unfortunate incident with her brother Moses and his wife.

Deborah (Judg. 5) was an extraordinary person. In a society dominated by men, she became a political and spiritual leader, something few women achieved in those days. Deeply spiritual, she ascribed all praise for the victory over the Canaanites to God (vss. 3–5, 13); she did not take any glory for herself or Barak. As a “mother in Israel” (vs. 7) she watched over the people with maternal care, counseling and aiding them in procuring justice.

Another prophetess in Israel was Huldah. When King Josiah asked her concerning God’s will, she prophesied judgment and disaster upon Jerusalem and its people but not in Josiah’s day; his eyes were not to see the evil because he humbled himself before the Lord. It is interesting that Huldah was consulted although both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were living at the same time.Who were the main New Testament prophets?—Thursday.

Thursday New Testament Prophets

Some of the apostles, such as John and Paul, were also prophets, but not all apostles were prophets. According to Ephesians 2:20, apostles and prophets together provided the foundational interpretation of what God had done in Christ for humanity.

John the Baptist was the greatest prophet in the sense that it was his privilege to announce the coming of Christ, to whom all the prophets had borne witness . The Old Testament prophets looked forward to the day the Messiah would come , but John saw Him in the flesh.

The prophetic office in the Old Testament reached its climax in John. At the same time, John the Baptist was only at the door of the kingdom of grace, looking in, while the least follower of Jesus can look back and rejoice in the fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies through Christ.

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities

of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6. This will be Lesson 3 memory text. Next week we

will be studying about Spiritual Gifts and Prophecy. May God always enlighten our path with truth. AMEN