The Mark of a True Prophet
By L. A. S.
The aim of the true gospel worker is to exalt Jesus Christ as the world's Redeemer. As the gospel exalts Christ, it necessarily lays in the dust the glory and pride of humanity. It points to Christ alone, and forbids men to trust for salvation in anything else. Opposed to the true work of God is a counterfeit work which exalts the human in the place of the divine. It calls attention to the human agent. The leader in such a movement makes claims for himself. Some of this class are described in Gamaliel's talk to the Pharisees: “Before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.” Acts 5:35-37. The false prophet always boasts himself to be somebody, and seeks to draw people not to Christ, but to himself. The true servant of God, on the other hand, makes no claims for himself. Note the example of one of the greatest servants of God, John the Baptist. “The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.” John 1:19-23. John the Baptist might have made some claims for himself without being untruthful; for the Saviour said of him, “Among them that are born of woman there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist;” and “This is Elias, which was for to come.” Matt. 11:14. John went forth “in the spirit and power of Elias,” “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17. But his fulfilment of the prophecy of the sending of Elijah the prophet (Mal. 4:5) was to be made known not by his assertion of it, but by the manifestation of “the spirit and power of Elias” in his work. There was no setting forth of himself; no calling attention to himself. The human agent was to be kept entirely out of sight; Christ alone was to be revealed. In our own generation a number of men have arisen each setting himself forth as being the prophet Elijah. It is necessary, from their standpoint, that they should assert the claim, for without their own assertion of it the people would never be aware of it. There is nothing in their lives or work which reveals it. Their claim rests upon their own assertion wholly. It is as true to-day as in the days of John the Baptist that the true servant of God makes no claims for himself, but only says, as did John, that he is an individual with a message. The message is the important thing; the individual is kept entirely in the background, lest the attention of the people should be drawn to a human being rather than to Christ. But the very fact that such a one will make no claims for himself is itself an evidence that his work is of the Lord.