The Prophet’s Message — Excursus

The first entry in this series can be found here.
The previous entry can be found here.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1 ‭HCSB‬‬

Prophecy.

It’s a word that everyone has defined in some way or another. Some Christians would claim that the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 12:28) ceased when the Apostles passed away. Others would claim that the gift continues to this day. Some define the gift as foretelling; others specify that it is better understood as forthtelling. I wrote a blogpost about prophecy back in 2020. And even in secular circles we hear about self-fulfilling prophecies.

As the Puritan, William Perkins defines it:

Prophecy (or prophesying) is a solemn public utterance by the prophet, related to the worship of God and the salvation of our neighbours.

Preaching the Word is prophesying in the name and on behalf of Christ. Through preaching those who hear are called into the state of grace, and preserved in it.

William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, ???.

This leads directly to John’s comment in Revelation 19:10b. And it is worth pausing in our exposition to pay attention to how the angel who related Revelation 17:1-19:10 defines prophecy for John:

Worship God, because the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭10b ‭HCSB‬‬

The Greek New Testament punctuates this a bit better (though admittedly the punctuation was lacking in the original manuscripts): “Worship God! For the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

In other words, the angel commands John to worship God, and then he tells him why.

The angel orders John to worship God because John had fallen down to worship the angel at the conclusion of the amazing vision that comprised 17:1-19:9. The angel explains:

Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭10 ‭HCSB‬‬

There are four things to note about this text.

• Jesus is the subject of correct prophecy
• If we want to test those who claim to preach and teach (and especially prophesy) we must ask how much they make of Jesus
• Prophecy should lead us to worship God
• Saint worship is unbiblical

Jesus is the subject of true prophecy

First, Jesus is the subject of correct prophecy. The book of Revelation has already made this clear. In Revelation 1:1-2, John introduced the book:

The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John, who testified to God’s word and to the testimony about Jesus Christ, in all he saw.

In Revelation 1:9, John explains that he was exiled on Patmos was for the same reason:

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of God’s word and the testimony about Jesus.

Revelation 12:17 identifies the agent responsible for John’s exile on Patmos:

So the dragon was furious with the woman and left to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and have the testimony about Jesus.

And then we find Revelation 20:4 (we’ll get to this text in two weeks), which explains that the dragon’s war will ultimately be unsuccessful:

the people who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of God’s word . . . They came to life and reigned with the Messiah for 1,000 years.

When we put all of these references together, everything hinges on “the testimony about Jesus” for Christians.

The book of Revelation is literally “the Revelation of Jesus Christ,” and throughout the book, John testifies about Jesus Christ. John was exiled to the island of Patmos for his previous pattern of testifying about Jesus Christ. John explains that the Dragon’s (Satan’s) goal is to destroy those who testify about Jesus. And then John clarifies that those the Dragon kills will not remain dead. As such, when we read in Revelation 19:10b,

the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,

it means that true prophecy reveals Jesus.

This naturally leads to the second point.

Bible teachers should be evaluated by their talk about Jesus

Second, Bible teachers should be evaluated by their talk about Jesus. The Dragon targets those with “the testimony about Jesus” (Revelation 12:17). As such, a way in which some people might try to avoid the Dragon’s fangs is to water down their talk about Jesus. Sermons might turn into self-help or to-do lists, leaving out the beautiful gospel truths that make much of Jesus. His death and resurrection, his sinless life, his compassion for the hurting and outcast.

The easiest way to find out if a teacher is walking in a direction you want to follow–can safely follow–is to determine if Jesus is a main topic of theirs. Beyond this basic question, you should also ask if they are presenting Jesus biblically (e.g. a Jesus who doesn’t speak against modern understandings of marriage is not the biblical Jesus; cf. Matthew 19:1-12). Many these days speak of Jesus, but he is not the Jesus of the Bible; it is true that Jesus loves those of the LGBTQIA+ identity, but his desire is that they–like the rest of humanity–would trade their current identity for the name he will give them (Revelation 2:17; 3:12). And Jesus will get what he desires.

This also goes back to the text that introduced this post: 1 John 4:1. False prophets can be known by their failure to testify about–or their twisting of the testimony about–Jesus. (We will start looking at 1 John in more detail soon, but I’m inclined to say that more than being a “true Christian test,” 1 John would be better understood as a “true Church- or true prophet/teacher-test.”)

Biblical prophecy should result in worship

Third, biblical prophecy should result in worship. The angel speaks these words to John after John had bowed down to worship the angel (19:10a), and the angel corrects him by telling him to “worship God.” This happens again in Revelation 22:9 after seeing the beautiful picture of the consummation of all things (which implies a unified section from 19:10-22:9 or thereabouts). Biblical prophecy should result in worship!

In fact, if we look closely at Revelation, more than a timeline of the end of the world, it is a portrait of Jesus Christ.

• This comes out clearly in his self-revelation to John in chapter 1
• In chapters 2-3, Jesus’ attributes are specifically geared toward the needs of the churches he is addressing
• In chapters 4-5, Jesus is the Lamb of God, the only one allowed to approach the throne of God, the one in control of everything
• In chapters 6-18, while Jesus passes into the background, the trials and tribulation of the world should force our attention toward the one seated on the throne
• In chapter 19 (as I will discuss more clearly next time), Jesus comes back into focus and is shown to be active throughout all of the tribulation

All of this–including the awe-inducing portrait of Jesus in Revelation 20-22–should cause us to worship and adore Christ.

And this is the point of prophecy. Prophecy should result in worship. Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians 14:1-5, 20-25.

Pursue love and desire spiritual gifts, and above all that you may prophesy. For the person who speaks in another language is not speaking to men but to God, since no one understands him; however, he speaks mysteries in the Spirit. But the person who prophesies speaks to people for edification, encouragement, and consolation. The person who speaks in another language builds himself up, but he who prophesies builds up the church. I wish all of you spoke in other languages, but even more that you prophesied. The person who prophesies is greater than the person who speaks in languages, unless he interprets so that the church may be built up. . . .

. . . Brothers, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking. It is written in the law:

I will speak to these people
by people of other languages
and by the lips of foreigners,
and even then, they will not listen to Me,

says the Lord. It follows that speaking in other languages is intended as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers. But prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers. Therefore, if the whole church assembles together and all are speaking in other languages and people who are uninformed or unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all are prophesying and some unbeliever or uninformed person comes in, he is convicted by all and is judged by all. The secrets of his heart will be revealed, and as a result he will fall facedown and worship God, proclaiming, “God is really among you” (emphasis added).

The reason why prophesy builds up the church is because “the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10b), and results in worship of Jesus for the one who hears.

Our churches today are weak because of a lack of biblical prophecy. Our worship is misplaced because we testify about the wrong things. But that leads to the last point John wants to make in this text.

Saint worship is unbiblical

Fourth, saint worship is unbiblical. I emphasize the word worship because I don’t believe it is a fair accusation to our Catholic brothers and sisters when we argue that they worship Saints or Mary. This would be like saying you worship your favorite athlete or your Christian friend you went and got coffee with this week (but this is a topic for another time).

Revelation 19:10 makes it crystal clear that the only one who deserves our worship is God:

Don’t do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, because the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

John had started to worship the angel. The angel tells him not to do that because he is “a fellow slave with you and your brothers who have the testimony about Jesus.” In other words, the angel is on equal footing with Christians: creatures of God who owe worship to no one but God alone.

The Greek word for worship here implies “kneeling down before someone” (προσκυνέω). With this in mind, we must all (Catholics included) be extremely careful that our adoration of Mary or the Saints doesn’t turn into worship.¹

This angel points John back to God, and we must also return to God. Prophecy points to Jesus. Prophecy should lead to worship of Jesus. Worship-inducing prophecy about Jesus is how we can know if a pastor-teacher is legit.

Prophecy is nothing to discount. Every sermon is a prophecy. The only question is: Are you a false prophet or true? Is your favorite teacher a false prophet or true?

Do you/they make much of Jesus? Is Jesus being accurately presented? Does it result in worship of Jesus? Does it point to Christ alone?

If the answers to those questions is yes, then you can count yourself/your favorite teacher one of God’s prophets. As John elsewhere continues:

This is how you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. But every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist; you have heard that he is coming, and he is already in the world now.

1 John 4:2-3 ‭HCSB‬‬

If your life is not focused on Christ, and you’ve fallen off to worship lesser things, I plead with you today to turn back to Christ. He died on the cross to draw us from lesser things to himself. He died on the cross so that we would die to ourselves and live for him. He died on the cross to save us from our self-preservation techniques.

Give him your life and plead with him to use your voice to declare the excellencies of Christ. This is the spirit of prophecy!

In this with you.

Thanks for reading.

The next entry can be found here.

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Note

1. This could be done by bowing toward God in Christ, but remembering that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (including Mary and the Saints; Hebrews 12:1-2), all indwelt by the Holy Spirit, with whom we can talk in our prayer time like we talk to living humans when we gather together in a prayer meeting. ↩︎