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Lesson 2: The Prophetic Gift *

Introduction: Why are the Ten Commandments the only message directly written by God in stone ( Deuteronomy 10:1-4)? If God wanted to give precise rules, you would think He would always hand the prophet instructions written on stone. Does the fact that God communicates in many ways, some of them pretty unreliable, tell us something about the nature of God's message? Could it be that the prophets are part of the message? If so, what, exactly, is the role of a prophet? Are they perfect people? Let's leap into our study of Bible prophets and find out!

  1. Moses, Aaron and Miriam: Old Testament Prophets


    1. Read Exodus 3:1-3. What do you know about the background of Moses? (Read Acts 7:20-22. Moses was someone special. At the time of his birth God intervened to save his life. God then directed circumstances so that Moses was raised and educated in the house of Pharaoh.)


      1. Given what we know about God's goals for His people, what do you think God had in mind for Moses? (Logically, Moses would become Pharaoh and then let the Hebrews go free.)


    2. Read Acts 7:23-25. Did Moses think he was doing God's will? Was Moses doing God's will?(If Moses was raised up to be the one to save his people, this "intervention" made perfect sense.)


    3. Read Acts 7:26-29. Who failed, Moses or the Hebrews?


    4. Let's get back to the burning bush. Moses walks over to it and God speaks to him. Read Exodus 3:9-11. Was the question in Acts 7:27 still ringing in Moses' mind forty years later? (Moses challenged God with essentially the same challenge put to Moses when he killed the Egyptian to start the liberation of the Hebrews.)


      1. What is God's answer to this? (Read Exodus 3:12. God tells Moses that this will be a joint project.)


        1. Is this "joint project" idea a reason why God gives prophets verbal messages as opposed to giving them instructions written in stone?


      2. Other than the passage of forty years, and a serious decline in his job status, how is Moses' situation different now than it was when he killed the Egyptian? (Moses has learned two things. First, the Hebrews are unreliable when it comes to their liberation. Second, moving ahead of God is a bad idea. This time God is specifically authorizing the details of the rescue mission.)


    5. Given the forty year delay in his life goal, you might expect Moses to say, "It's about time! Let's do it! Let's rock and roll!" Does he?(Read Exodus 6:30. No. Moses tries to decline the mission.)


      1. Is God asking Moses to be a prophet? (God is asking Moses to speak for Him. Acts 7:37-38 confirms that Moses was a prophet.)


    6. What would you say about Moses' qualifications to be a prophet? If you were on a "prophet committee" how would you evaluate Moses at this point of time? (He was given wonderful opportunities in his youth. By being impulsive he wasted his opportunity to do great things for God and his people. He has an anger management problem. He has a moral problem (he killed someone). He has not done much with his life since fleeing Egypt. Now he has a confidence problem, if not an actual inability to speak clearly and well.)


    7. Exodus 7:1-2. What role is being given to Moses here? Who is the prophet? (God says that Aaron is the prophet and Moses is "like God to Pharaoh.")


      1. This is an extraordinarily interesting insight into the work of a prophet. What role does Aaron play? What is his purpose for being in the communication loop? (Read Exodus 4:14-16 for the background on this. Aaron is a good speaker. God says that He will give the message to Moses, who will then give it to Aaron. Aaron will act as Moses' mouthpiece.)


        1. Does Aaron have an independent role in this? (Yes and no. Moses is to "put words in his mouth," but since Aaron is chosen for the job because of his eloquence, Aaron is choosing the way the words are presented.)


        2. What does this teach us about the "joint project" idea? (God allows another human, with certain needed talents, into the project. The trade-off is hearsay twice removed.)


          1. Why didn't God just heal Moses' speaking abilities - or tell Moses to stop whining and just do it?


    8. Is Aaron a perfect person? (No. Not only is there the matter of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32), there is the problem of Aaron's jealousy of Moses.)


    9. Let's read about this jealousy because it gives further light on the prophetic gift. Read Numbers 12:1-2. What point are Aaron and Miriam making? What does Moses' wife have to do with anything? (Have you ever complained about a pastor because of his wife? Aaron and Miriam thought Moses showed poor judgment in his marriage. Moses not only failed to marry a Hebrew, he married into a family with a tarnished history. You remember that Ham got in trouble with his father Noah ( Genesis 9:20-24). Ham was the father of Cush ( Genesis 10:6), from which the Cushites descended. God Himself referred in a disparaging manner to the Cushites ( Amos 9:7). Moses' marriage was not sinful. However, Moses was not forbidden to marry a Cushite ( Exodus 34:11-16).


    10. Read Numbers 12:3. Why is this point made here? (Moses was not responding to this criticism. Moses probably thought: "You think I could have married better? So what? Why is that important?")


    11. Read Numbers 12:4-8. Does the criticism matter to God? (Yes!)


      1. Let's get to the important point: how does God's typical communication with prophets differ from His communication with Moses? (It is less personal. It also seems to be less clear.)


      2. Based on God's statement here, does the normal prophet act as a "penman" or a "word-by-word repeater" for God? (It seems not.)


      3. Consider the logic of what God just said: the better the character of the prophet, the more clearly God speaks. Shouldn't that be just the reverse? The most imperfect should get a stone tablet and the most perfect a riddle, right?


        1. I think God is telling us something very important about prophets here - what is it? (The quality of the message varies with the quality of the messenger! This makes this even more of a "joint project." Now the listener is involved in deciphering the message.)


    12. Notice that in Numbers 12:1-2 both Aaron and Miriam claim to be prophets. We know this is true for Aaron, could it also be true for a woman? (Yes. Read Exodus 15:20-21. Miriam was a prophetess.)


      1. In Exodus we see that Miriam is leading the women in contemporary praise and worship - is a female prophet limited to speaking to females? (No. Read 2 Kings 22:14-16. A female prophet spoke God's message to a group of men who included the High Priest!)


  2. Zechariah: New Testament Prophet


    1. Read Luke 1:8-13. Was Zechariah asking God for a son? (Yes.)


    2. Read Luke 1:18-20. Is Gabriel offended? If so, why? (Yes, Gabriel is offended because Zechariah does not believe him. Gabriel lists his credentials (standing in the presence of God, for one)to bolster his credibility.)


    3. Scan the rest of the story found in Luke 1:57-80, but read Luke 1:67. How is it possible that unbelieving Zechariah, who offended Gabriel by questioning his honesty, gets to be a prophet? (He must have had something going for him because he was raising John the Baptist.)


    4. Read Joel 2:28-29. How widespread is the prophetic gift in this "afterward" period of time? (All sorts of people are prophets - the gift is widespread.)


      1. Why would God change His approach?


      2. What does this suggest about the quality of the character of these prophets? (Generally, when quantity goes up, quality goes down.)


        1. With many prophets, would the accuracy of the message increase or decrease?


    5. Friend, isn't it clear that God's message to humans has an emphasis on His partnership with us? Will you choose to day to be God's partner? Will you invite Him to share His message with you?


  3. Next week: Spiritual Gifts and Prophecy.


* Copr. 2009, Bruce N. Cameron, J.D. All scripture references are to the New International Version (NIV), copr. 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society, unless otherwise noted. Quotations from the NIV are used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. Suggested answers are found within parentheses. The lesson assumes the teacher uses a blackboard or some other visual aid.

Discussion

We welcome discussion of this lesson. To contribute your thoughts, click here or scroll down to the bottom of the page.

The comments below are the opinions of our readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bruce N. Cameron or SabbathSchoolLessons.com.

the prophet were inspired by god to do what they did
Posted by abalas daniel on Saturday, January 3, 2009 at 09:52 AM
For sure we only know to know that God really communicates with us for several reasons and in different circumstances.

Just imagining that God communicates to us is wonderfull and really makes us very happy and very hopefull as we do have one ready to listen to us.

I jus wish all christians would be ready to give God time to share with him their thoughts, dreams and visions of life.

Let us share with God all that worries us, all that concerns us, all that perplexes us , all that troubles us and all that makes us happy.

Let us always accept God final authority, which is the Holy Bible in all our communications with God. Before we act let us ask ourselves that, what does the Bible say.

Thanks so much as we wish to learn more about the prophetic gift this week.

Just to know, when is the last day one needs to five his commnet to enable it timely inclusion?
Posted by Dickens Otieno Odira on Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 10:29 PM
thanks for your help I
studied the lesson via internet and I
was to a large extent blessed. I would advic you to
send more lessons via my e-mail, I'm still
young of faith in this religion. you will be of
great help to me.
GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!
Posted by emmanuel kaduma on Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 06:38 AM
Reading point 1.11 I couldn't stop remembering last week's point 1.4.

How can we concile Exodus 33:20 ((...)"you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.") with Numbers 12:8 (With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. (...)).

Thank you.

Pedro
Posted by Pedro Ribeiro on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 12:50 PM
most of the time, God uses ordinary people to do his job. if God will use extraordinary people, many of us will not participate in His work, co'z we feel that we don't have the qualities to become His workers. God urges each one of us to participate in His work, inorder that for Him to come back and we could live in that heavenly home prepared for each one of us, that who will be faithful and participate in His work.
Posted by eldridge roy b. mandalupa on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 04:42 AM
Heaven's mean of Communication (it is a wonderful lesson that helps us look beyond our limited knowledge in making us understand about's Gods' Grace).

Communication is the best laid plan by God; even though we christian understand the fall to sin ... God still used communication in various forms for us to understand the truth.

This chapter helps us look at God as an artist and a planner...giving personal touch to every theme and words translated in the word.

Posted by Nemdeikim on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 07:26 AM
THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
General characteristics of prophets and prophecies
1.1. Prophets: women and men called by God that fulfil the god’s will, character, word and creative presence by Christ’s faith inside by his life and outside by his testimony for organizing a people for meeting God, considering the causes and consequences of choices in Christ or against God, and their advantages or disadvantages. From the God’s word fulfilling in time, the prophets give the names of the causes, for to possibility the choice to live inside (God’s character) and outside (God’s presence and creative action) the events with God.
1.2. Prophecies: Events in the universe and for the humankind from God’s word, character, action and will fulfilling in time.
1.3. In essence the prophets know the spiritual responsible, and the relation with him and neighbours by his commandments or his faith for to join everybody en Christ in eternity, or spiritual time.
Patriarchs and prophets
1.4. Abraham answered positively to the choice of God’s people for to prepare itself for the first coming of Christ and the same time influenced by his example the choice of the people for living as God’s people too. The great problem was the relations between the people or the singular life style with God.
1.5. The relation between the familiar institution, the tribe and the gift of prophecy.
1.6. The message of god’s patient, the fulfilling of God’s orientation, and the providence for to fulfil. God doesn’t need the human’s help.
Prophet Moses and the exodus
1.7. The message formed the nation, according the God’s plan for to Israel’s freedom, after to accept the god’s plan for its inside.
1.8. The preparation of the prophet is based in faith and not in the power of the human knowledge or experience.
1.9. There are not prophets “à la “minute.
1.10. The beginning of the institutions. The notion of people and the intercession by Christ’s faith.
Prophets in Israel
4.1. They tried calling the attention for the results of the sin, and the same time evidencing the way to correct the separation against God. In the essence the Israel by his prophets was deciding what did for Christ. In essence the nation was accumulating the final decision to God.
Prophecies in the feminine
1.11. The God’s choice for a prophet is for to be a model in each class of differents persons, and for to join the diversity.
1.12. The essence is the Christ’s faith developing his faith in the time for the future time to meet Jesus Christ in visible person.
1.13. The men and women’s problems were and are the loyalty in theirs believes.
Prophets in new testament
1.14. The prophets gave and give the direction of the preach: the world
1.15. Continues to be the great God’s characteristic of prophecy its essence: reveal the future which is part of God’s eternity..
1.16. The prophecy is a state for the man coming from Christ where the time don’t have limits.
Posted by João Cavaco (Lisbon Central adventist church in Portugal) on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 12:42 PM
Pedro,

Good question! I wondered if others would pick this up. I think the answer is in the rest of the verse:
Num 12:8
8 With him I speak face to face,
clearly and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the LORD.

The Lord seems to be saying that "face to face" means a close distance, but claries it to say Moses only sees God's "form."

That is how I reconcile the two.

Bruce

Dickens,

You can post your comments any time.

Posted by Bruce N. Cameron on Friday, January 9, 2009 at 09:43 PM
Isnt it wonderful to know that, no matter who you are and how far you have gone in this sinful world, God can still use you if you make yourself available for His work.Moses killed someone, Aaron and Miriam sin against God but God still used them for His work. We should not make our sins puts us down and think that we can't do anything for God. God is ever ready to forgive us of our sins whenever we came to Him. So make yourself available for God's work and He will bless you. Thank you.
Posted by Rebecca A Anokye on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 04:37 AM
God did not choose extraordinary people for they will tend to depend on their own ability. instead, God uses ordinary people who would do the work extra ordinarily. People who aren't capable but teachable, who would make themselves available and who will depend on His power.
Posted by chance on Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 10:18 AM
prophets is a unique gift that God has given to the body of christ & the world to bring and spk forth GODS manfestation
Posted by kelvincain on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 06:34 AM

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