Prophet
A prophet is a mouthpiece for God or someone through whom God decides to speak to others. For our purpose in this book, prophets shall include everyone in the fivefold ministry of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher spelt out in Ephesians 4:11-15 thus:
“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 fullness 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;
But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
From our text of scripture here, it is very clear that prophets are given by God to men. For example, the Apostle is a messenger of God assigned with the task of pioneering God’s work. They thus enjoy such grace that enables them to flow in all the fivefold ministry offices depending on the need God wants to use them to meet.
Next to Apostles are Prophets and they, like the Apostles, are foundation layers but they do not flow in all fivefold ministry gifts like Apostles do. In Ephesians 2:20, while describing the place of the Gentile converts in the covenant of grace, Apostle Paul said in verse 19 that they are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and of the Household of God. Then he describes the household of God or the Church as being built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets: Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone.
Next to the Prophets are the Evangelists whose main assignment is to preach to save the lost. God usually grants them grace to work signs and wonders to enable them carry out this task with ease.
The next in line are the Pastors. Their task is to gather the young converts and nurture them to maturity to the point that when mature, these converts can be used of God to raise others.
Finally we have the Teachers. Their main mission is to rightly divide the word bringing clarity and understanding of scriptures in such a way that others can be instructed and know how to live. Their ministry guarantees the continuity of any work of God because without the teaching ministry, no work has a future.
For our purpose, prophets represent all these. One thing we must know about prophets is that they are called by God into that office. In Jeremiah 1:4-5 where the prophet was recalling how he was called to that office, he said:
“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
This truth that Prophets are called by God was also emphasized by the call of John the Baptist. We are told of the spectacular miracle that surrounded his birth and divine assignment. In fact, his ministry was prophesied about eight hundred years earlier by Isaiah – an Old Testament Prophet. This is why when John was told to identify himself; he identified himself from the prophecy of Isaiah in Isa.40:3. In Jn.1:23, he said:
“… I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.”
All the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ were called by Him into the ministry as the Holy Spirit led him. After His glorification, all those who claimed Apostleship were also called by him. An example of this could be seen in Acts 9 when He called Saul who later became Apostle Paul.
Another distinguishing characteristic of Prophets is that they are led by the Holy Spirit and as such they bear the fruit of the spirit as shown in Gal.5:22-23. They also direct people to God and the Lord Jesus Christ and not to themselves. In Jn.16:13-14, Jesus Christ describes the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us thus:
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
In light of this text of Scripture, anyone who is led by the Holy Spirit would therefore not direct people to themselves but to God the Father and Jesus Christ. This was clearly exemplified by Paul and Barnabas when after God worked a miracle through Paul to heal a lame man in Iconium, the people attempted to worship them. They rent their clothes and discouraged the people from worshipping them as gods and took the time to direct them to the living God who they were representing. You will find this story in Acts 14:8-18.
In summation here therefore, Prophets are God’s agents called of God to represent His interest on earth. They speak and act on behalf of God to bring help to mankind and God anoints them with power confirming what they say and do with signs following. They also bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit and direct the heart of people to God and not to themselves because they are led by the Spirit of God.
Christ
The suffering of humanity today and the various atrocities perpetrated among the human race leaves one in no doubt of the need of a Saviour or Messiah. Clearly, the foundation of man’s problem is sin and anyone who will liberate man from sin, would have taken care of the foundation of man’s problem effectively. Only one sacrifice was required for this and this must be a sinless man who must bear the sin of the whole human race on himself even though He has not sinned.
The word “Christ” means the anointed one or the Messiah. This anointed one or Messiah; for our purpose, refers to the only person whose mission it is to liberate the whole world from their sin. There is only one person who was found worthy to do this and this is the man Jesus Christ who also is God. The bible refers to Him as the word of God and God in John 1:1 and the word which became flesh in Jn.1:14. Then He is also described as the only begotten Son of God in whom we must believe and be saved in Jn.3:16.
The importance of recognizing only Jesus Christ as the Messiah or Christ cannot be overemphasized as it is the foundation of the faith of God that guarantees eternal life. This is clearly seen in Matthew 16:13-19 where Jesus exclaimed that Peter could only have known Him by a divine revelation when Peter told Him that He was the Christ. The text reads thus:
“When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?
And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
In His response, Jesus made it very clear here that He would build His Church and the gates of hell will attempt to stop Him but will not prevail. One of the means by which the gates of hell will attempt to do this is through the ministry of false Prophets and false Christs.
This truth that Jesus is the Christ; the Son of the Living God is what the early Church fathers lived and died for. This is the truth Jesus proved by His death on the Cross, His burial and resurrection on the third day. This is the truth Jesus Christ confirmed on the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2 when He sent the Holy Spirit to birth the Church. This truth is what the devil seeks to attack through the ministry of false Prophets and Christs. This is the truth that made Apostle John raise an alarm that the spirit of the anti-Christ was in their midst when he saw many deceivers entering among the brethren to deceive them. In 1Jn.4:1-4, we read:
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
False prophets as we can see from this text; are controlled by the spirit of the anti-Christ. The word anti-Christ means against Christ. More will be said on this in a later chapter.
The Christ therefore refers to Jesus the son of the living God who came by blood and water and through whom eternal life is delivered to mankind after a confession of faith in Him (see Jn.17:3; Rm.10:8-11 and 1Jn.5:6).
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