Unveiling the Secrets of the Sanctuary
"The Truth About Prophets and Psychics"
This evening we are going to study what I consider to be an extremely important subject. We’re going to deal with what the Bible has to say about prophets—true and false prophets. And we’ll find in Scripture not only the characteristics which identify a true prophet but also where to look for a true prophet in the course of history. Let me just mention as I begin this evening that some of the information I’m going to present to you tonight I heard in a sermon that was preached by our associate pastor, Elder James Finn. Some of the material he presented was so outstanding that I felt I needed to include it in my presentation tonight. I believe we should give credit where credit is due and I don’t want to get sued in court for plagiarizing that which belongs to others! I encourage you to get acquainted with Elder Finn. He’s one of the two associate pastors on our staff. It’s a real blessing having Elder Finn and his wife in our church. They add a special spice, a special touch, to our ministerial staff.
Let’s bow our heads. Father in Heaven, we thank You for the privilege of being here this evening to study what the Bible has to say about the gift of prophecy. We ask that as we study this subject tonight,Your Holy Spirit will do as it has done before—open our minds and hearts so that we might hear Your voice and, more importantly, receive what You have for us. We ask, Lord, that as we study this subject, You will give us clarity of mind which will allow us to concentrate on what we’re studying; that we might be able to see the tremendous importance of knowing when a true prophet was to arise within the church. We thank You, Lord, beforehand, for answering our prayers, because we ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.
In the world today there are many individuals who claim to be prophets. In fact, I could mention the names of certain individuals—and I probably will mention one or two—and I’m sure most of those who are here have heard of these individuals. For example, if I mention Jeane Dixon —who has heard of Jeane Dixon? Well, who hasn’t heard of Jeane Dixon? I could mention other individuals who claim to be prophets. But my purpose tonight is not to identify all of those individuals in modern times who claim to be prophets. My purpose is for us to study from Scripture when and where in the course of time we could expect a prophet to arise within the Christian church.
Let me say, as we begin this evening, that the Bible speaks about false prophets in the last days of the history of this world; and many Christians assume that because the Bible speaks of false prophets, these must be false prophets of the Jeane Dixon type—secular prophets who predict events in world history in the political arena or in the economic arena, or in the Hollywood arena, or wherever it is—who predict these things that don’t come true. Therefore they are false prophets. But as we examine the testimony of the Bible, we discover that in the last days false prophets will arise primarily within the Christian church. And they will not predict curiosities like where the next earthquake is going to be or when the next eclipse is going to happen, or where the next natural disaster is going to occur, but they will arise within the church and teach false doctrines. That is the biblical perspective of a false prophet.
This evening we’re going to study this from a different perspective than I covered last spring in the series, "Decoding the Secrets of Genesis." In that series I presented a subject titled "Prophets, False and True," and I encourage you to get that presentation (it’s available on video tape and audio tape), because it covers this subject from a different perspective than the one we’re going to pursue tonight. It actually goes through the Bible and shows us how we can distinguish a false prophet from a true prophet, and how in the last days the false prophets are characterized by teaching false doctrinal concepts—teaching error and passing it off as the truth.
Let’s begin by reading a very significant verse, Revelation 12:17 (and of course, as with all other verses, this verse has a context; you should never read a verse out of its context, but check to see what comes before and after). This comes at the end of chapter 12, after several stages of history have been referred to. You remember, for example, when we studied the Antichrist we noticed that following each other in succession we have Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, then Rome sprouts ten kingdoms, ten horns; and then there is a Little Horn that governs for 1,260 years; and finally there is the judgment. In Revelation 12 we have something very similar. It begins with Rome, with the time period during which Jesus was born, when the dragon stands next to the woman to devour her Child when it is born (obviously, that’s Rome). Then chapter 12 goes on to describe the 1,260 years.
I’m jumping over a lot of material, but I want you to catch the concept of where to place Revelation 12:17 in its historical context; and that historical context is after the 1,260 years. Notice with me Revelation 12:13,14: "Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman [the woman represents the church, of course] who gave birth to the male Child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent." Have we seen that period before? What period is this describing? This is speaking about the period of the dominion of the Roman Catholic papacy, according to what we’ve studied— which is 538 to 1798. Now, after this period the events in verse 17 take place. In other words, the events in verse 17 happen after the period of dominion of the Little Horn—the 1,260 years.
Now let’s read verse 17: "And the dragon [Satan] was enraged with the woman [the church], and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring [it says in the New King James; the old King James says "with the remnant of her seed"—in other words, what’s left over of her descendants] . . ." And now I want you to notice what characteristics these people have, this "remnant of her seed." They have two characteristics. It says in the last part of verse 17: "who keep the commandments of God . . ."
Now before we read the last part of the verse, let me say that there are two ways in which you can make God a liar. How’s that? Let’s notice the first way—1 John 1:8: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." And continuing in verse 10: "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." So if we say that we haven’t sinned, who are we making a liar? We’re making God a liar, because God says in Romans 3, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." So if you say you haven’t sinned, you’re making God a liar; He says that all have sinned.
But there’s another way you can make God a liar, and that is by saying that even with the help of Jesus it is impossible to keep the commandments of God. You’ll find all kinds of Christian churches today who say that it’s not possible for people to keep God’s Ten-Commandment Law. My question, then, is this: If it’s not possible to keep God’s Law, why does Revelation 12:17 say the Devil is angry with those who keep the commandments of God? If you say that we can’t keep the commandments, why would the dragon be enraged against those who keep the commandments of God? God says that He’s going to have a group who keep the commandments, and the Devil hates those, because the Devil hates the commandments; he is sin from the beginning.
Notice what it says in Revelation 14:12, speaking about this end-time "remnant," this end-time people who will live on the earth: "Here is the patience of the saints [So will there be some saints in the last days? I’m not talking about the Roman Catholic type—saints, intermediaries between Heaven and Earth—no. These are real earthlings, people who live on Earth but who reflect the character of God]; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Is God going to have a group who keep the commandments? So if you say no one can keep the commandments, you’re making God a liar. My Bible says that there will be a group who keep the commandments. Let me make it clear that we do not keep the commandments in our strength; we do it in Christ’s strength. By contemplating Him, by depending on Him, by spending time with Him, we become more and more like Him and less and less like the world. It’s through Him, through contemplating Him and having the power flow from the cross of Calvary that our characters are transformed and made like His. It’s not us; it’s Jesus.
But God will have a people who keep His commandments, out of love for Him. Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." (John 14:15) In fact, do you know the Bible says that all of those who enter the New Jerusalem will be keepers of God’s Ten Commandments? Notice what it says in Revelation 22:14: "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city."
Will all of those in the city be commandment-keepers? How about those outside the city? Let’s go back to Revelation 22 and read verse 15: "But outside . . ." How many groups do we have? the insiders and the outsiders. What do the insiders do? They keep God’s commandments. What about the outsiders? Notice: "But outside are dogs [it’s not talking about the wag-the-tail kind, about French poodles and chihuahuas; "dogs" in the Bible are unbelievers] and sorcerers and sexually immoral [are all of these infringements of the Ten Commandments? yes] and murderers [sixth commandment, right], idolaters [second commandment], and whoever loves and practices a lie ["Thou shalt not bear false witness"]." So inside are the commandment-keepers; and outside are the commandment-breakers—because if God took commandment-breakers into the city, we’d have the same mess that we have now, and the sin problem would never be solved.
I want you to notice that in Revelation 12:17 we have another expression that characterizes the end-time remnant. Let’s review that text: "And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God . . ." [They keep something and they have something. They "keep the commandments of God"—in fact, the Greek word there is tereo, which means scrupulously keep; they meticulously, carefully keep the commandments of God] ". . . And have the testimony of Jesus Christ." So in other words, God’s end-time remnant, the remnant of the offspring of the woman, the remnant church, if you please, will first of all keep the commandments of God (the Ten Commandments) and second will have the "testimony of Jesus Christ."
Immediately we ask the question, What is the "testimony of Jesus Christ"? We need to let the book of Revelation itself explain what this expression means. If you find an expression in the Bible that is not explained in the verse you are reading, go to other verses that use the same expression to find the explanation of the meaning. That’s comparing Scripture with Scripture; that is the methodology we have been using here in this seminar—we compare verse with verse, here a little and there a little. We compare verses that speak about the same things, about the same issues, and that way we get explanations. The best way is to try to find in the same author’s writings a duplication of the expression. And the good thing is that this expression, "the testimony of Jesus Christ," is found later on in the book of Revelation—which means that John himself is going to explain what it means.
Look at Revelation 19:10. Try to keep all the details in mind, because we’re going to another verse in just a moment that follows the same sequence. Let me give you a little context before we read verse 10. An angel appears to John. John is so overwhelmed by this glorious angel that he kneels at the feet of the angel to worship him. Not let’s see what it says: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus . . .’" Let me ask you—What is the angel? He is a "fellow servant" and he is of the "brethren who have the testimony of Jesus." What do the brethren of John have? The "testimony of Jesus." Is that the same expression we found in Revelation 12:17? Yes. So we have found that John has "fellow servants," and those fellow servants have "the testimony of Jesus."
Now what is "the testimony of Jesus"? Let’s continue reading the last part of Revelation 19:10: "’Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’" What is the testimony of Jesus? It is the spirit of prophecy. Do we have an explanation, then, in Revelation as to what the "testimony of Jesus" is? Yes. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." John and his fellow brethren, then, have the testimony of Jesus, which is the spirit of prophecy.
Now let’s go to Revelation 22:8,9 for more corroborating evidence—same scene again; the angel appears to John; evidently John hasn’t learned the lesson, so he bows before the angel again, and notice the slight variation in what it says here: "Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. [Same context as Revelation 19:10? Yes] Then he said to me, ‘See that you do not do that, for I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets . . .’" Let’s compare Revelation 19:10 and 22:9. Verse 19:10 says that John has fellow brethren, right? And the fellow brethren have the testimony of Jesus. Verse 22:9 says that John has fellow brethren, but those fellow brethren are identified as prophets. Let me ask, then: Who are those who have the testimony of Jesus in 19:10? They are identified in 22:9 as "the prophets."
So in other words, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy; and those who have the spirit of prophecy are the prophets. God’s end-time church was to be a church that would keep the commandments of God—all of them—and would possess or have in their midst the gift of prophecy. Let me ask you, then: If this is describing the end-time church—which it is, because it’s after the 1,260 years; we noticed this in the context—would we expect God’s end-time remnant church to have the gift of prophecy in its midst? There’s no doubt about it.
Let me explain at this point why the "testimony of Jesus" is called the testimony of Jesus. If you read 1 Peter 1:10,11, you’ll find that Jesus as He spoke through the prophets testified of Himself. When the prophet received the message, he was imparting testimony about Jesus. The prophet imparted the testimony Jesus was giving—"the testimony of Jesus," if you please. In fact, this reference in Peter says that the spirit of Christ was in the prophets. And of whom did the prophets speak? Of Jesus. Do you remember that Jesus once was speaking with the Jewish leaders and He said to them, "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for Moses wrote about Me." Do you remember that after the resurrection, described in Luke 24:25-27, it says, "Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." To whom do the prophets give witness? They give witness to Jesus. That’s why it’s called "the testimony of Jesus."
But it’s also called "the spirit of prophecy." Why is it called the "spirit of prophecy"? Go to 1 Corinthians 12:4-9. Here it says that prophecy is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And that’s why it’s called "the spirit of prophecy," because it’s the Spirit that gives the gift of prophecy. It is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the gift of prophecy you have the spirit of prophecy; and in the fact that in prophecy Jesus gives witness to Himself through the prophets, you have the testimony of Jesus.
I would like us to look at this subject tonight from a perspective that I believe is absolutely foolproof. I don’t think there’s any way around what we’re going to study tonight, in terms of where and when we would expect the gift of prophecy to arise. The Bible is clear on that point— and I’m talking about post-canonical Christianity. After the canon of Scripture was closed, after the Scriptures were closed, could we expect another prophet or prophets to arise within the Christian church? Many Christians say, "No; when John died, that was it." In fact, they say, "When John the Baptist died," because Jesus said "the law and the prophets" were until John, referring to John the Baptist. And so they say, "See, the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist; after John the Baptist, no more prophets." The only problem with that interpretation is the fact that John the apostle wrote the book of Revelation long after John the Baptist was dead. So if the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist, and John the apostle writes sixty years after that, John the apostle must have been a false prophet! Are you following me?