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The Spirit of Prophecy

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 13, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 37.

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The Spirit of Prophecy

By R. C. PORTER

R. C. PORTER
Since the days of Moses the Lord has spoken to his people through the spirit of prophecy. When Moses was called of God to stand in the church as one through whom God would speak to direct his work, he at first made the mistake of manifesting violence against the enemies of Israel. This was shown by his killing an Egyptian who was striving with an Israelite. The Lord did not deprive him of the gift of the Spirit, by which he had called him to the position of leader of Israel under himself; but he was placed in training in the desert in preparation for his work. The care of sheep in the barren land of Midian, where straying ones would need to be searched out and restored to the fold, and tender lambs would be objects of pity in their helplessness, was the school in which Moses was educated for the work for which he had been chosen.
When this preparation was finished, fitting Moses for his work, it was with feelings of deep humility and great reluctance that he accepted the call of God to the work. His deep sense of responsibility is expressed in his earnest plea that the Lord would send some one else to do this work, and release him from this high calling which he felt was too sacred for his hands to touch. The thought of his past failure so grieved him that, not until the assurance of the accompanying presence of Christ, the invisible leader of his people, was urged upon him as his evidence of divine guidance, could he be induced to again take up the work. Although he was “meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth,” yet at the waters of strife, by taking the glory to himself, he went made another mistake which marred his work. The Lord did not leave it with the people to correct his servant upon whom he had placed so great a responsibility, but he took the matter of correcting him into his own hands.
God’s care for those upon whom he has placed the responsibility of the special work of the gift of prophecy is further seen in the case of David. Human hands were not to steady the ark. God would show by these examples that he reserves to himself the right, eitherdirectly or through another prophet, to correct the mistakes of his servants the prophets.
Though Moses erred at the waters of strife, the people had grievously erred and provoked his spirit. The tenderness with which God dealt with the error of his faithful servant when he gave him a view of the land of promise and reminded him of his mistake, is in marked contrast with the spirit of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, who were so ready to reprove Moses and Aaron, declaring that they took too much upon themselves. In defiance of the testimony of Moses, they declared that every one of the congregation whom Moses was reproving was holy, and that the Lord was among them. God’s dealing with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram should be a warning to those who, when reproved, are tempted to criticize the instrument through whom the reproof is sent, rather than repent of the sins that, unless repented of, must forever separate them from God. “He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” God corrected Moses when he erred, but he did not deprive him of the gift of prophecy, and through Moses he pointed out Joshua, through whom the Lord would continue to lead Israel after his decease.
David accepted the reproof the Lord sent to him through the prophet Nathan, and became a more spiritual channel through which the Lord could send out his word to the people.
When Joshua entered upon his work, the Lord instructed him to “observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.”
God has not changed. He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”
The spirit of prophecy has not changed. It still is manifest in reproof, rebuke, exhortation, and instruction in righteousness, “with all long-suffering and doctrine.” The Testimonies borne to this people for the past fifty years have not changed. The same faithfulness in reproof, without respect of persons, is manifested. The same tender solicitude for the individuals reproved is seen. The same mercy and hope for the penitent is presented with all the clearness of former years. First the appeal is made to the individual through the Testimonies. When the individual so far apostatizes that in place of the message sent being used for personal correction and encouragement, it is used to create a spirit of distrust of the instrument through which the message is sent, the Lord forbids that the messages be sent to the individual, and directs that future Testimonies concerning that individual be sent to the church.
This is no new thing. It was the same in the days of Jeremiah. “And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I can not go into the house of the Lord: therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people.”
This message was not carried first to the king, but taken directly to the people. It was afterward called for by the king, and read in part before him. “So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.”
The way in which Jehoiakim was regarded by the Lord for such treatment of the messages sent to the church in that time is plainly stated in Jer. 22:13-19: “Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by wrong; that useth his neighbor’s service without wages, and giveth him not for his work; that saith, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion. Shalt thou reign, because thou closest thyself in cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice, and then it was well with him? He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well with him: was not this to know me? saith the Lord. But thine eyes and thine heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah; They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
The first verses of this chapter show that the Lord had first sent his messages to the king. When he had so apostatized as to treat disrespectfully the warnings and entreaties sent, the Lord no longer sent the messages to him, but gave them directly to the church.
This sad illustration of God’s manner of dealing with individuals who mistreat the messages he sends should be a warning to those in our time who have reached a point in their treatment of God’s messages where they are being passed by and the message given directly to the church.
The cry that God’s messenger is growing old will not avail anything before God, who gives the messages to his people. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when his work closed, and the angels of God bore him tenderly to his burial. Was the word of the Lord through Moses any less the word of the Lord because of his having grown old? John was banished to the Isle of Patmos about A. D. 95. He probably wrote the book of Revelation soon after, and the Gospel of John still later. Was his testimony worthless because he was nearing a hundred years old when he wrote the remarkable unfolding of events given in the book of Revelation or the wonderful testimony of the love of Christ recorded in his Gospel? It was not the revelation of John. It was “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.” To this agree the words of Peter: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”
The Testimonies sent are God’s word, and God is not affected by old age. How we love to linger and meditate upon the last words of Moses, the last words of David, and the last words of John! Why should we slight the last words of God’s messenger to his people in our day? Christ said of one whom God had sent in his day with his message to the people, “Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist.” The Jews clung to Moses of old, and rejected both John the Baptist and Christ.
The Testimonies to this people have not changed. Individuals have surrounded themselves with worldly influences and departed from God. The messages of reproof that have come to them have not been received. Great will be their loss if they continue in such a course. The spirit of prophecy still does its appointed work. The test is plain. All can apply it and be assured of the fruit it bears.
Hamilton, Mo.