The School of Prophets

....The phenomenon of prophecy, and how it operates, has been described in detail through the earlier modules of this discipleship course. God desires all of His people to be prophets in the sense of them hearing His voice and walking with Him in the Spirit (Numbers 11:29), therefore He imparts the spiritual gift of prophecy to bless us with edification, exhortation and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3; John 10:27; Galatians 5:25), and He allows all Spirit-filled Christians to operate in this gift for such a purpose (1 Corinthians 14:31). But beyond those basic applications, there is the actual office of a prophet, having a much broader scope and purpose, to which only some of us will be called (Ephesians 4:11). Since God promotes us on the basis of proven faithfulness, what is the path of promotion that will lead us to this ministry?

.... In the Old Testament days, prophets were actually trained through a school of prophets, begun by Samuel, which continued through the days of Elisha and perhaps beyond. These students, known as ‘the sons of the prophets’, were young men who gathered around an older prophet to learn from him. And a similar practice continued through New Testament times:

.... "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today."

(Acts 22:3)

.... To understand this path, we must understand how the School of Prophets nurtured and prepared young men for this ministry. Through the lessons that the older prophets gave, the sons of the prophets were essentially attending a Bible college or seminary. Like Paul, they were being deeply schooled in God’s word; or to put it another way, they were deeply schooled in the revelations that were known to have previously come from Him. Through this they learned God's way of thinking and learned to discern His voice; it gave them a solid, reliable bases of Scriptural knowledge to compare with any 'new' prophecy they might receive, to insure that it matched what had already been revealed:

.... "And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."

(2 Peter 1:19)

.... As a natural expression of this concept, let us consider the learning that Paul himself had received. We have just seen that he was tutored by a wise teacher, Gamaliel himself, and we have previously noted that he went on to become a teacher as well, before becoming a prophet. This demonstrates his ability to understand God's earlier revelations and to rightly apply them, and eventually to discern new applications of the same basic truths:

.... "But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

(Hebrews 5:14)

.... Especially in the New Testament sense, we might expect teachers, who are on their way to becoming prophets, to be acquainted with the Messianic prophecy and how it was fulfilled in the life of Jesus (Acts 9:22). This would give them a very real sense of what was intended through the heart of God in offering prophecy, as compared to the eventual fulfillment when Jesus acted upon those intentions -- which is the most spiritually living and pertinent context of them all:

.... ". . . For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

(Revelation 19:10)

.... Furthermore, and for the same reason, learning the Messianic prophecy would equip the prophet-to-be with a proper focus, to guide him in the revelations he would yet receive. It is always about knowing Jesus, trusting and relating to Him, which is the greatest edification, exhortation and comfort there could possibly be.

To proceed to the next lesson, click here

Daily Bible Reading: Ephesians 5