LET us ever remember that God gives freely His mighty, blessed Spirit to all those who ask Him in faith; to those who are emptied of self to receive it; to those who will yield to do His service. And through the Spirit are the gifts of the Spirit, or spiritual gifts, bestowed. Too, let us never forget that we should not be ignorant concerning these gifts; for thus writes the apostle “to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord”— “Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant . . . Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. . . . Dividing to each one severally even as He will.” 1 Cor. 12:1–11. God would have these gifts which He has “set in the church” known and recognized by all His children. In fact, these gifts must be known and recognized before the church reaches that preparation which fits her for translation, because it is by these gifts that she is perfected. Christ gave them “for the perfecting of the saints, unto the work of ministering, unto the building up of the body [the church] of Christ; till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” See Eph. 4:11–13. Just as truly as the church has not reached that condition yet (and it is evident to all she has not) so truly are the gifts of the Spirit necessary that she may reach it. And as Christ “set” no unnecessary thing in His church “when He ascended on high,” so surely are all the gifts necessary still. The unbelieving and pleasure-loving professor of religion may repudiate and ridicule them; the formulist may reject them; the overcautious may be fearful on account of many counterfeits; but the true child of God, the loyal soldier of the Lord, will follow where the Word leads, and will be content with nothing short of all that God has promised. And the true church will be content with nothing less than all the gifts that God has “set” in her, nothing less than all the “members” He has given her, that she may “come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;” that she may be indeed a “glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” See 1 Cor. 1:4–9; Eph. 5:27. With these preliminary considerations and elementary truths in mind, let us consider another important gift of the Spirit which God has placed in the church. “God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets.” A prophet is one who speaks for another. In the Hebrew it comes from nabi, from naba, to bubble forth as a fountain, as in Ps. 45:1: “My heart is bubbling up a good matter.” In the Greek it means the interpreter, from pro, phemi, to speak forth for another. Thus Aaron was the prophet, or spokesman, of Moses. Ex. 7:1. God’s prophets are spokesmen for God, filled with His Spirit, speaking His words to the people. David said, “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His Word was upon my tongue.” 2 Sam. 23:2. And so we read of the words spoken by David, “As the Holy Ghost saith.” Heb. 3:7; Acts 4:16. And Peter declares: “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.” 2 Peter 1:21. We have in the Hebrew Scriptures, besides the word nabi, the words roeh, “seer,” from raah, “to see;” chazeh, “seer,” from chazeh, “see.” The seer, one who saw the revelations of God; the prophet, he who proclaims and interprets God’s will. Prophecy, therefore, does not always mean to predict, or foretell future events, but is the proclamation of divine truth, which may have reference to the past, present, or future, with present practical lessons. God did not always reveal Himself or His will in the same way to “His servants, the prophets.” Sometimes it was by vision or dream. Sometimes the Spirit came upon them as they opened their mouth to bear God’s message. Sometimes God talked with the prophet face to face, as with Moses and Jesus. Thus the Lord speaks: “If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude [form] of the Lord shall he behold.” Num. 12:5–8.7 The prophet of God was not uncertain of his message. He spoke the word of God, and knew that he did. Read in the records of the prophets: “The Lord hath spoken,” “Hear the word of the Lord” (Isa. 1:2, 10); “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord” (Jer. 7:1); “The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel” (Eze. 1:1), and similarly in many other places. “Which things also we speak,” declares the apostle Paul, “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth.” 1 Cor. 2:13. The infallible interpreter of God’s will is, therefore, the Spirit of God speaking through His prophets and servants. This does not mean that the instrument is perfect, or the judgment of that instrument infallible; but it does mean that God sends infallible messages by His infallible Spirit through imperfect instruments who are perfectly submitted to Him. His Word is the infallible Word, inspired of the Spirit of God. The prophet is the human instrument through whom God sends His message to other humans. The importance of the gift of prophecy is therefore evident. It is, so to speak, the eye of the church, seeing the hidden snares, the invisible dangers, the unseen foes which menace the Christian, beholding the land that is far off, and the ever-present forces of God which enable the child of God to reach it, despite the foes and dangers. It is the voice of the Spirit, warning, reproving, instructing, admonishing, cheering, encouraging, building up the children of God in their pilgrimage through the enemy’s land. It draws lessons from the past; it lightens the dark future with the radiance of divine certitude, and makes the living present pregnant with the importance of God’s work. He who rejected the prophet’s word rejected the message of God. God is identified with the messenger He sends. He may be the patriarch Enoch or Noah, the learned Moses, the priestly Ezekiel, the royal Daniel, the herdman Amos; he is God’s messenger, and speaks the word of God. “Are there prophets in the church of God now?”—If not, there ought to be. Who has ever said that the gift of prophecy should cease to be operative in the church of Christ? Surely if the church ever needed eyes, she needs them now in this time of unparalleled darkness. If she ever needed to be instructed in the way, warned, reproved, encouraged, it is now. If she ever needed uniting, it is now. But the most efficient agent in these things is the spirit of prophecy. That it has not always been in exercise proves nothing. If the people of the world should for a hundred years fail to use their right hand or eye, that would not prove that it should not be used. Rather, it would show that the people were foolish, and living below their privilege. Even so the non-use of the gift of prophecy is not evidence of its non-existence. When Jesus Christ ascended, He “gave gifts unto men,” “set” them in the church, and this gift of prophecy is among them, waiting for the church to receive it, use it, and profit by its teaching. More than this: the Lord has expressly declared that in the closing days of the Christian dispensation the gifts will be especially manifest, among them that of prophecy. “Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you; so that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor. 1:6, 7. “And the dragon [the devil] was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed [the last of the church], which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Rev. 12:17. “Worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Rev. 19:10. Note, too, that those who are said to have the spirit of prophecy in Rev. 19:10 are called prophets in Rev. 22:9. All of which demonstrates that the people who compose the “remnant” church, who are found “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” have among other gifts the gift of prophecy; and it is in part the knowledge given by this gift that arouses against the remnant church the wrath of the dragon. “But there are false prophets as well as true; how may we discriminate between them?” This will be considered in our next issue.