Again the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, what is this proverb you people have about the land of Israel, which goes: The days keep passing by, and every vision fails?
"Therefore say to them: This is what the LORD God says: I will put a stop to this proverb, and they will not use it again in Israel. But say to them:
"The days draw near,
as well as the fulfillment of every vision. …
"But I, the LORD, will speak whatever message I will speak, and it will be done. …” – Ezekiel 12:22-25
It used to be a big thing among certain flavors of Spirit-filled Christians to prophesy over people. I’ve had it happen to me. I was sitting in the back of a church in Keller, Texas one Sunday night when the preacher came all the way from the front to me, slapped me in the chest with his big, red Bible and began to prophesy over me. I don’t remember what was said. I was in another church in – well, let’s just say somewhere close to Dallas – where the speaker for the evening was a cute little blonde woman. It was a decent crowd of probably four or five hundred people. My wife and I were off to the side, several rows back from the stage. After the service, the blonde rushed off the platform and up to my wife to ask her for permission to give me a hug, which my slightly bemused wife graciously granted. She apparently did not make the all too common error of mistaking me for George Clooney. Instead, she thought I was sad and discouraged, which I was, and she wanted to encourage me – spiritually, of course. Another time, I was in church in Oklahoma where prophesying was going on. I learned afterward that the lady playing the keyboard (not a blonde) had a word for me, but I looked so mean, she, lacking the courage of the woman in Dallas, was afraid to approach me. Once up in Columbia, Missouri, a minister called for me to come up so he could prophesy over me. When I shook my head, he just nodded and said, “That’s wisdom” – whether he meant on my part or his, I’m not sure. I don’t think he was blonde, either.
There were some other occasions, but I never paid too much attention. Even a charismatic dancing on the back of the pew will admit that a “word” is never something wholly new but rather a confirmation of what we have already heard or sensed at some level. I’m not denying or questioning the validity or value of words of knowledge, words of wisdom, or personal prophecy. I’m just a little uncomfortable being singled out and prefer to pick up my insights wholesale from the pulpit or the Bible, as has happened many times, including an instance or two where I thought the entire church service was orchestrated solely for my benefit.
It may be that the closest I have ever gotten to an honest-to-goodness personal prophetic utterance came from my sixth-grade teacher who said, “You should be an engineer.” Wherever you are Mrs. Mickelson, I owe these eighty-hour weeks and 3:00AM hotline calls all to you. Of course, she was probably thinking of a reasonably sane kind of engineering, like civil or mechanical. No one had heard of software, let alone software engineers, back in those days. The only thing I knew about engineering was that you got to wear cool boots. Nevertheless, despite my best efforts to go in a completely different direction, this is where I wound up. It could be worse; she could have said, “You should be a mime,” which is what the music teacher said, but it came too late to alter destiny.
Most of the time, God speaks to most of us through our circumstances. I’m not sure if that’s His preferred method or simply the most expedient means of getting our attention. Nothing says you’re walking on thin ice like falling into the creek. And, like ice water in your jock, a prophetic word is not only a wake-up call but an often disturbing revelation. It only seems that it is about the future and predictive because everything needs time to happen. By revealing Jesus, prophecy shows us who we are. As He is revealed in us and through us – that’s really the only way He can be revealed to us, we begin to understand who and what we are, why we’re here and where we are going.
I like the way God put it to the people of Ezekiel’s day – whatever I say, that’s what’s going to happen. We can believe and live it out, or we can reject it and find life getting out of our control. What we can’t do is claim the word of the Lord has failed or will fail. The enemy was at the gates of Jerusalem. The prophets had foretold the destruction of the city and the temple and the death or captivity of the inhabitants. Ezekiel’s listeners did not want to believe that the day of reckoning was upon them. They were like the man who fell off the skyscraper saying as he passed each floor, “So far, so good.” It hasn’t happened yet; therefore, it is never going to happen, though reality looms, ever larger. That’s the negative side.
Through the Cross, there is a positive side. The Lord says that He has chosen us to be holy and blameless in His sight (Ephesians 1:4). There are plenty of people around to tell us He didn’t really mean us or that it will never happen, and they might even have some evidence to back it up. Whose report will you believe? You and I are holy and blameless -- not in the far-off future, in heaven or the sweet bye-and-bye. Now. It is the fulfillment of every vision, with nothing missing, nothing lacking. Every prophecy about Christ and about His Body – about all of us holy and blameless believers is accomplished. What God says it is, it is.
4 comments:
I had pretty well finished this post last night when my wife called for me to come and see what was on her television. "Your girlfriend is on TV," she said.
Thinking she meant Emmylou Harris, I hurried into the house. Instead of a silver-haired angel singing, I saw a blonde bimbo pitching some kind of cosmetics. I didn't recognize her but I did recognize the name when it flashed up on the screen. It was the woman who had chased us down to give me a hug.
My wife doesn't know there is such a thing as the FJ, and she has no idea that I do this blogging stuff -- which is why I had such a trying time when the firewall locked me out last summer. The meeting with the woman happened probably about 1992, maybe as late as 1993. I hadn't seen her or even thought about her since then. Yet, I compose a post that mentions her, and she appears on the television. Edgar Rice Burroughs could not make that up. Does God have a sense of humor or what?
It also proves a wife never forgets anything.
By the way, I don't know if it's the cosmetics she's pushing or some good plastic surgery, but the gal still looks good. She has to be in her mid to late fifties. Doesn't look it.
Does God have a sense of humor or what?
Hah - yes, he certainly does, since what you wrote last night was just the kick in the pants I needed today.
Re. Charismatics, I think there may be some true ones out there, but I'm awfully suspicious in general. Too much of it smacks of cold reading techniques. In fact, it was TV psychics that helped turn me toward atheism, a while back when they were on tv all the time. Which isn't to say God doesn't work through them anyway, since for some people that's undoubtedly the best way for them to hear. But in my experience, the real stuff is just as you said - usually both subtle and startling all at once. Like your post today ;)
Thanks, Mushroom.
My two best, most dependable friends outside of my nephew Marty are both Pentecostal preachers. The majority of my meat-friends are Pentecostals and Charismatics along with a smattering of Catholics, some Baptists, an Anglican, and a few Trekkies.
You have a good, perceptive point. I have seen guys do the cold reading thing as if it were a word of knowledge, and it is annoying. I suspect some know what they are doing; others think they have a divine gift -- I suppose, in a way, they might be right. Sometimes it is hard to discern the genuine, but it doesn't cultivate drama or stoke self-importance.
Yeah, well, a smattering a' Catholics sounds like a covey a' quail. An' that'd be purt near a gossip a' Baptists 'er a glutton 'a Pentecostals.
Post a Comment