To Encourage You

1 Samuel 19:20-21 “Then Saul sent messengers to take David, and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied.”

Have you noticed how many people claim to speak for God these days? Turn on your TV and watch the majority of the preachers that have found their way onto the screen and you’ll hear them say that God told them this or that.  Often their “prophecy” is about how much money you should give them.  Much of what they say God said to them is directly opposite the words of Scripture, but sometimes even these speakers get things right. It’s like they say about a broken clock that gives the true time twice every day.  So, is there any benefit in this for such men and women? Is the fact that they sometimes say things that are consistent with God’s Word proof that they are representatives of the true God? Hardly!  You see, God can speak through a donkey if He so desires. In fact, He did just that in the case of the Old Testament “prophet” Balaam.  In Numbers 22-24 we read about Balak, King of Moab, and his attempt to pay Balaam so that he would curse the nation of Israel.  Interestingly, every time Balaam tried, God intervened and he ended up blessing Israel instead.  Yet Balaam kept testing God by entertaining Balak’s continued appeals, and in 2 Peter 2:16 we are reminded that Balaam “was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.”

A somewhat related account is shown in the passage above from 1 Samuel 19.  Here we have the story of messengers that had been sent by King Saul to track down and kill David. However, time after time when they did this, God’s power came upon these murderers and they prophesied God’s Word instead. Later, when Saul went to do the dirty deed himself, He was likewise overpowered by God’s Holy Spirit, and he also prophesied. Such speech was so inconsistent with Saul’s true nature that those who heard him said, likely with incredulity, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” (1 Samuel 19:24)

Another instance; this one from the New Testament.  Here we have the case of the high priest Caiaphas, as he plotted with other Jewish leaders to put Jesus to death. He said this to justify his efforts: “You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” (John 11:59). What he was actually talking about was his concern that because of the miracles Jesus was performing their own followers would turn from them to Jesus. As a result, they would lose their influence and the “Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation” (John 11:48). They were feeling threatened that they might lose the prestige, power, and wealth they had acquired through their perversion of Judaism.  However, it was actually of God that Caiaphas spoke the words that he did, for we are told, “He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:51-52).  It’s just one more example of God overpowering the work and will of the ungodly to accomplish His will instead. And this will continue until the end. 

Jesus prophesied this concerning what it will be like in the final judgment: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23).  And so we are warned that not everyone who purports to speak for God is of God, even though sometimes they may very well speak things that are consistent with His Word. 

You see, there is coming a time when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). That means every knee, including those of the most ungodly men and women, every world leader (including Hitler, Mao Zedong, and Kim Jung Un), every atheist, every Muslim terrorist, everyone. Some will confess Jesus as Lord because they are His true servants. Others will acknowledge Him as Lord, but as His enemies who are made “a footstool for (his) feet” (Hebrews 1:13).

So, who are you listening to? Who are you following? Are you sure the preachers you listen to are truly speaking the Word of God, or are you gullibly following those who just say they are, when their lives betray the truth they claim to teach? Be careful who you are following, for even Paul said this of his own ministry, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:8). Be careful who you are following. Be sure to study the Word of God for yourself.