"Despise not Prophesyings."
By W. N. Glenn
THIS exhortation of the apostle Paul, in closing his first letter to the Thessalonians, has lost none of its importance. It is as necessary to the church at large to-day as it was to that particular company when it was written. The apostle did not say, as many would construe the language, "Despise not the prophecies," referring to those of the past, which all Christians, as well as Jews, recognized as of divine origin. Such an exhortation would hardly have been necessary. It has ever been a characteristic of the Jews, as well as of Christians, to "build tombs" for the prophets of old, and "garnish the sepulchers" of the reformers centuries after their decease; while the same classes have been equally prone to reject and "despise" the "prophesyings" of their own time. Prophesying is an important part of the machinery of the church, given for the guidance and encouragement of believers, and for the furtherance of the gospel work. Prophets are "set in the church" after apostles (1 Cor. 12:28); and "he that prophesieth edifieth the church." Chap. 14:4. "Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy." Verse 39. That the gift of prophecy was to continue in the church until the end, is taught by the apostle Peter, as he quotes from the prophet Joel: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy." Acts 2:17, 18. And this doctrine is further supported by the prophetic vision of John. Rev. 12:17: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman [the church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus." The Angel testified to John (chap. 19:10) that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." As a "remnant" is always understood to be the last of a quantity, we understand that the remnant of the church will be that part which exists till the coming of the Lord, and will, up to that time, be sustained by the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy. There is no doubt that the church will experience the wrath of her "dragon" adversary as long as he exists, and surely nothing could invoke that wrath but her obedience to God and his communion with her. But there is great danger of the modern church failing to recognize or appreciate the gift of prophecy because of an erroneous idea concerning the meaning of the term. The definition of prophecy is quite generally limited to the sense of foretelling events. This narrow construction, like all narrow-mindedness, leads not only to a misconception of the Scriptures, but to a loss of the present truth, or present will of the Lord concerning his people. Prediction of the future has not always been the most important feature of prophecy. John the Baptist was a most prominent prophet (Luke 1:17); he was "more than a prophet" (Matt. 11:9); among them that were born of women there had not risen a greater than he (verse 11); yet his special mission and teaching had direct reference to his own day and generation. In addition to their predictive powers, the Old Testament prophets were, in the language of Dr. Smith, "specially illumined revelers of God's will." They were "preachers of morals and of spiritual religion," being "extraordinary, yet authorized exponents of the law." The same authority, in his "Dictionary of the Bible," says: "That predictive powers did occasionally exist in the New Testament prophets, is proved by the case of Agabus (Acts 11:28), but this was not their characteristic. The prophets of the New Testament were supernaturally illuminated expounders and preachers." This is evidently the special character of the "prophesyings" which Paul exhorted the Thessalonian brethren not to "despise." And if they were anything like their Jewish predecessors, or like the generality of Christians since their day, that is just the feature of prophecy which they would be most likely to despise, and which would be most needful to them. It is that which is comprehended in the same apostle's last charge to Timothy,—"reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine; for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." Verily, there is need of often repeating to the church in these times the solemn, earnest caution of the apostle to the Gentiles, "Despise not prophesyings."