That I may Know HIM - A Devotional

Day 6: PROPHETIC INVESTIGATIONS

Day 6: PROPHETIC INVESTIGATIONS

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10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:

11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.

12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

1 Peter 1:10-12.

1. Reducing the Omnipotent?

Is that prophet not carnal who searches the pages of the newspaper for the voice of God?

Was it not an acknowledgment of his own spiritual malnutrition that the prophet Daniel should read the writings of another prophet, a predecessor prophet, to be able to identify the season of Restoration into which he and all his people still in captivity in Medo-Persia, had entered into (Daniel 9:2)? Since his source, on this matter, was the writings of Jeremiah, should his proclamations about that season still be described as “prophecy,” or as mere “news”? Does prophecy not mean a revelation that comes from God, without the input of the recipient? Could a word or action inspired by external stimulus still be divine in its origin? What business has any true prophet investigating anything, when he should rather have been watching in prayer and fasting from the mountain top, like the prophet Habakkuk (2:1), to see what the Lord would say? Do we not reduce the Omnipotent to the level of mortals when His “prophets” have to “enquire” and “search,” and that very “diligently”? Has their God gone to sleep, that they should go about searching?

2. Inspired by the News

Some years ago, where we had been having regular payer meetings which the Lord had called, to intercede for our nation and city, an issue arose, which should make sense here. Profound and spectacular things often happened during those weekly and sometimes sporadic meetings. There were specific words of prophecy, accurate dreams and revelations, protracted burdened intercessions, words of knowledge and words of wisdom about personal, national and global matters, and above all, the presence of God. It often reminded us of Acts 13:1-3:

1 Now there were in the church in Antioch prophets and teachers; Barnabas and Symeon, surnamed “the Black,” Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, the foster-brother of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul.

2 And as they were worshiping the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said to them, “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

3 So after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them, and let them go (Montgomery’s New Testament).

On a certain day, I felt led of the Lord to share with the group about the experience of Nehemiah, whose prophetic mandate to go from Persia to rebuild the reproachfully ruined walls and gates of Jerusalem was kick-started merely from the evening news, broadcast by one of his kinsmen, who did not seem as touched himself by the news he told (Nehemiah 1:1-5). Nehemiah saw no vision, like Isaiah; had no dream, like Joseph; had no angelic visitation, like Daniel and Zechariah; he had no experience in his entire career so dramatic as to endorse the divine authenticity of his mission; yet he was no less called to do his kind of job than any of those mighty names. I went on to say that sometimes our prayer efforts could be enhanced by useful information about the world, procured from the news and other media. Jesus, for example, asked, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am” (Matthew 16:13)? Why did He need to find out the newspaper reports about Himself? Was He not connected enough to Heaven to get His information from above rather than seek it from below? In fact, had He not heard God speak loudly to Him in the River Jordan about who He was (Matthew 3:17)?