Theological Commentary: Click Here
Discipleship Focus: Prophet
- Prophet: A prophet is one of the fivefold ministry categories that is used throughout the Bible and especially lifted up in Ephesians 4:11. The prophet is primarily concerned with whether or not the people are hearing the voice of God. The prophet is also concerned about whether or not the people are responding to God’s voice.
There is
a really neat theological understanding that I speak about in my post from
three years ago and I continue on into today.
It is an understanding of the word “oracle.” The word oracle is a word that comes from an
agricultural context. It is a word that
is derived from the word that describes the burden placed upon an ox.
So often
we like to think about oracles from God in happy contexts. We like to think that if God would just come
and speak to us personally we would have a better life. We like to think that if we could just see
God face to face that our life would be holier.
But I
really have to question this line of thinking.
Are we really ready to experience the true presence of God? How does God feel about humanity? How does God feel about the way that we treat
His creation? How does God feel about
our choices and the way that we experience community?
If we
were truly in the presence of God, wouldn’t we get to know Him and His position
better? The closer we are to God,
doesn’t it make sense to think that we would know both His joy and His misery?
Don’t get
me wrong. It would be neat for us to
hear more personally from God. But it is
a mixed bag. The closer we are to God,
the more we’ll understand His ways. The
more we understand His ways, the less we’ll understand the world around
us. The less we understand the world
around us the more we’ll have a burden upon our chest to do something about
it. This is what the oracle of God
brings quite often. This is what being a
prophet is often all about.
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