Speaking What is Right in the Sight of God

Bible prophecy is God’s amazing gifts to us. God uses prophecy to shape His people as an artist uses His hands to create a work of art. God gives prophets to equip the saints for works of service and to help us mature into Christ’s image. [1] God gives visions, revelations and prophecies to help us better understand Him. God’s gift of prophecy helps us to navigate from where we are to arrive at the heavenly Promised Land where He is.

The Scripture speaks of King David as, “being a prophet.” David professed, “The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; His Word is on my tongue.” God helped David to write about the crucifixion of Christ centuries before it came to pass. What did David say about his tight relationship with God? He wrote, “Blessed is the man You choose, and cause to approach You, that he may dwell in Your courts.” [2]

A life without direction and destiny is difficult. Especially in times, when there are major political upheavals and catastrophic disasters happening.

When the Israelites returned from Babylon, they experienced stormy seas as they rebuilt Jerusalem. Their enemies used abusive words and threats to try to thwart their progress. The Lord gifted His servants Haggai and Zechariah with prophetic words that helped His people to keep working and to complete their mission. [3]

The Lord is the author and source of prophetic speech. Some prophets in the Bible bring a personal message from God to people but never compose a Biblical book. Elijah, Elisha and John the Baptist are examples of great prophets that never composed a book of the Bible.

The Book of Acts speaks of people with the prophetic gift. “Prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. Then one of them [the prophets], named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.” God’s prophetic word via Agabus moved the Christians in Antioch to prepare and send provisions to the Christians in Jerusalem before a famine happened. [4]

The Holy Spirit helped Church leaders to know who to send on missions via the prophetic gift. “In the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers... As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” [5]

God blessed His Church via men and women with the prophetic gift. “Now Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words.” “...Paul’s companions... entered the house of Philip the evangelist... Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.” [6]

Prophets are called seers, servants, and watchmen in the Bible. God gives them vision to see what others cannot see. The Bible says, “God does nothing unless He reveals His secret counsel to His servants the prophets.” Prophets are a gift from God. [7]

“Once, Joshua saw two men prophesying and he said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” But Moses replied, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” The Lord wants His people to pursue this gift. “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” [8]

Satan hates and maligns God’s prophets. He depicts them as crazy people with poor hygiene. God, on the other hand, speaks to kings and religious leaders through them. God foretold of His Son Jesus Christ through them. God seeks to save people through them. Jesus said of them, “Great is their reward.” [9]

God appoints prophets. He determines with whom they should speak and what they should say. The Prophet Jeremiah told the false prophet Hananiah, “The prophets who have been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms—of war and disaster and pestilence. As for the prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent.” Hananiah had urged people to let their guards down. He spoke of “Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Hananiah and his ministry died that year as God predicted via Jeremiah. [10]

In Revelation 10, a mighty angel hands a book to John and tells him that he must still prophesy to many people. In Revelation 11, we have two witnesses who prophesy for 1,160 days which is equivalent to three and half years. Prophets appear when God is about to intervene for His faithful servants in a big way such as He did in the days of Moses and Elijah.

“I saw still another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He had a little book open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.’” [11]

John sees a mighty angel. He is clothed with a cloud. Clouds represent God’s presence. God appeared to the people of Moses in a cloud. Christ comes on a cloud. The mighty angel’s face shines like the sun. His feet are like pillars of fire. Some suggest that this mighty angel is Jesus. Jesus is described as having a face that shines like the sun and feet of burning brass in Revelation 1:15-16. There is a rainbow around his head. The rainbow is a reminder of God’s gracious promise to Noah NOT to destroy the earth by a flood again.

This mighty angel is most likely Michael. Michael announced the end time tribulation and the rescue of God’s people to the Prophet Daniel: “He held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.” [12] The name Michael literally means “Like God.” He is a reflection of Christ.

The angel cries with a voice as loud as a lion’s roar. As he roars, John hears seven thunders utter words. John wants to write down these words, but is told to seal them up, and not to write them. The Holy Spirit will reveal these words to God’s people when the time is right to do so.

“The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets. Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth. So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little book.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’” [13]

The mighty angel stands with his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land. His stance projects authority over land and sea. He gives a little book to John to eat. The little book is sweet to his mouth, but bitter to his stomach. The angel tells John, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

It is sweet to receive words from God, but bitter to speak His Word to unwillingly listeners. Stephen told the religious leaders of his day, “You received the Law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Those religious leaders stoned Stephen to death. [14]

Even so, the Word of the Lord and the testimony of Jesus must be declared to the nations.

“When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.” The standard that Spirit of the Lord lifts up is the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. When Satan met Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responded to the evil temptations of the devil by quoting God’s Word to him. As God’s servants, we quote God’s Word, the Bible, and we urge people to believe in Jesus Christ. “The testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy.” [15]

The mighty angel declared to John that in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel (which happens in Revelation 11:15) “the mystery of God would be finished as He declared to His servants the prophets.”

In Biblical vocabulary, a mystery is something no one could know a part from a revelation from God. We need the Author’s help. Jesus reveals the answers of unanswered mysteries of God.

The Apostle Paul’s perspective about the prophetic ministry is this: “Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the Word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” [16]

I have experienced ups and downs as I proclaim the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus to people. The ups are when people gladly receive the Word of the Lord and act on it. Glory to God! The fragrance of Christ is pleasant to those who love Him. The downs for me are when people, especially church people, reject God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus. Yes, Paul, “who is sufficient for these things?” Not I! But Christ in me is! By His grace, I can preach without peddling. By the power of His Holy Spirit in me I can speak what is right in the sight of God.

[1] Ephesians 4:11-13
[2] Acts 2:30; 2 Samuel 23:2; Psalm 22:16-18; 65:4
[3] Ezra 6:14
[4] Acts 11:27-30
[5] Acts 13:1-2
[6] Acts 15:32, 21:8-10
[7] 1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Kings 18:36; Ezekiel 33:7; Amos 3:7
[8] Numbers 11:26-29; 1 Corinthians 14:1
[9] Matthew 5:11-12
[10] Jeremiah 1:5, 28:8-9, 16-17
[11] Revelation 10:1-4
[12] Daniel 12:1, 7
[13] Revelation 10:5-11
[14] Acts 7:53, 59-60
[15] Isaiah 59:19; Matthew 4:3-10; Revelation 19:10
[16] 2 Corinthians 2:14-16