Oh..yes! I would definitely say ‘yes.’ Matthew 10:41 “He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward.” Christ spoke those words in this dispensation… while He was present in the flesh. If those words are not for today, other words He spoke at the same time…e.g. ‘whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven’……are not for today. But who are these prophets and how can we know they are from God?
1 Corinthians 14: 3 says that true prophets speak to edify, encourage, and comfort the people of God. Remember Isaiah who prophesied through the reigns of four kings. He shared with Israel events both before and after the captivity. In each..his prophecies gave predictions, warnings, and hope of divine restoration for God’s covenant people. His prophecies reach all the way to our dispensation…the age of Grace. His main message was ‘salvation.’ Isaiah means ‘Salvation of Jehovah.”
Remember Jeremiah…the weeping prophet? He was with God’s chosen people during the dark days in the Kingdom of Judah…under Josiah…until years beyond the captivity. He identified their backsliding, their seventy-year captivity, and their future divine restoration (Jeremiah chapters 30-33).
Then there was Ezekiel who, held captive with his brethren in Babylon, too, warned of judgement due to the guilt of the people of Israel….specifically as it related to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. But again, like those true prophets before him, he ended with sharing God’s plans for restoration.
Daniel, also a Jewish captive in Babylon, trained for the courts of King Nebuchadnezzar. He was promoted to the highest office there (lot like Joseph), but quietly served his God smack dab in the middle of a heathen court. He ‘lived’ the sovereignty of God over the affairs of men. His safe keeping during his night with the hungry lions…spoke volumes to the people of his day. His interpretation from God of the dream Nebuchadnezzar had of the image of a man showed God’s people that deliverance was sure. The image of a man seen by Nebuchadnezzar was a glorious picture of the coming reign of Messiah with His people….after all rule of man has been demolished. Daniel’s prophesy reaches all the way to ‘the time of the end’ and connects perfectly with the book of Revelations. Are ya beginning to see a pattern of how God always communicates with His people….through His prophets….through His Word. The prophet is by no means a medium through which one goes to hear from God. Not at all! But the prophet continues to be a spokesman of God….like the teacher, preacher, and others endowed with spiritual gifts from God for the edification of the saints.
Please know, though, there is no new Word. A prophet of today, will speak only things already spoken in scripture. The prophet will warn, predict, and comfort God’s people during times of trouble. And he will comfort them with the Word of God. He will be a servant of God….and not of himself. If a prophet speaks anything contrary to the Word, he is not of God.
1 John 4:1 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God….” Pretty simple! So DON’T reject those people God has sent to prepare you for coming troubles, to comfort you during those troubles….and to be a most BOLD reminder of the coming end of those troubles…by proclaiming the victory of God over evil.
