(By Eddie Hyatt) New Testament prophecy has its roots in Old Testament prophetic ministry. In the Old Testament, God raised up certain individuals to be His mouthpiece and speak His heart and mind to the people of Israel. These individuals were known by the Hebrew word nabi, which the Greek Septuagint translated as prophetes, and our English Bibles translates as “prophet.” They were not fortune tellers. Their purpose was not to satisfy human curiosity to know the future. Their purpose was to speak the heart and mind of God to the people. In carrying out their assignments of speaking God’s word, their prophecies at times revealed future events, but that was not their purpose.
The nabi did not choose this prophetic vocation, but it was given to them by God. This is obvious in the answer of Amos to King Amaziah, who had ordered him out of Bethel and commanded him to never prophesy there again. To emphasize that his prophetic calling was not of his own choosing, Amos replied: “I am no prophet, and I am no prophet’s disciple. Rather, I am a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees. But the Lord took me away from the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel'” (Amos 7:14-15). READ MORE
