Then Jesus said unto them, “Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. “
These things -said he- in the synagogue(!), as he taught in Capernaum.
Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, “This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them,
”Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: —-the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.—— But there are some of you that believe not. “
For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. And he said,
“Therefore said I unto you, -that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.-“
—-From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.—- Then said Jesus unto the twelve, “Will ye also go away?”
Then Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.”
- John 6:53–69 (KJV 1900)
.... In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, ”If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, “Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ.” - John 7:37–41 (KJV 1900)
“Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. “
- 1 Corinthians 12:3 (KJV 1900)
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Biblical Living 101 - The Holy Spirit - Part 4 - Prophecy
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Prophecy is usually generally understood as, spoken or written statements, that predict future events - and the one pronouncing is called a prophet.
Last weeks study also showed us that the gift of Prophecy was given to edify and encourage the church, it is a gift earnestly to be coveted, and it is available to all believers! Also, speaking in tongues and prophesying seem to go together (at least they are almost always mentioned together..) ... how can we make sense of all of this?
This weeks takeaway : --- Predicting the future is just ONE of the manifestations of prophecy, the parent/great-grand-daddy of all of them is — speaking TRUTH!..... because..... as a Spiritual Gift, prophecy is best understood when we think of it as utterances proceeding from the Spirit of Truth!
Not just speaking the truth ( aka not lying ) , or about THE TRUTH ( the “I AM” ), or speaking what is CORRECT & RIGHT ( lines up with experience, can be proven intellectually, logically , is morally and ethically right), but what is TRUE....
.... something that you can hang your hat on, something that is in alignment with the way things REALLY are in this universe of ours. It could be the real reason they manifest or produce the effects they do, (and we observe/are affected by) -our it could be insights into our own/human experience (edification,comfort) or even the unseen world!
It may be helpful to think of prophetic utterances as being of the following kinds:
1. Predicting future events - Edification via direct revelation, visions, dreams
2. Delivering a message/truth - from God - tongues, direct revelation, visions, dreams
3. Teaching/Making wiser - discovering truth - parables, proverbs, life experiences
4. Comforting/encouraging - speaking the truth about God's love for us, the Gospel!
5. Speaking the truth about who Jesus is.
Lets look at each of them as exemplified in our texts this week.
1. PREDICTING FUTURE EVENTS
Prophecy .. as in predicting the future... is just —telling the truth—- about what’s -going to- happen. A true prophecy, and prophet, will be validated by their track record in Real Life!
J. Barton Payne’s Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy lists 1,239 prophecies in the Old Testament and 578 prophecies in the New Testament, for a total of 1,817. These encompass 8,352 verses! A few of them of them have yet to be fulfulled yet, but the record of the fulfilled ones so far is 100%... and we don’t think thats going to change... Hallelujah!!!
In our text this week we see Christ speaking of His Ascension,and foreshadowing the Last Supper, which physically occurred in the hearers lifetime (approx a year later).
It’s interesting to note that the text says Christ “knew in himself” that His disciples were unhappy. Thats a demonstration of Knowledge -a different gift - we see here - He gives us of His omniscience ! He also "knows" who will betray Him, and who will walk away... His question to His disciples is rhetorical... He has chosen every one of them, including Judas! We will speak more of this later...
2. DELIVERING A MESSAGE
Prophecy is related to tongues in that tongues are “how” a truth is “said” ( AND how it is “heard” & perceived too! ), but prophecy is the “what” - what is the truth being communicated in that tongue? That is why speaking in tongues AND prophesying are always mentioned together (and why the Spirit through Paul is telling us that we NEED to be able to interpret)!
It's really simple... if the Holy Spirit is indeed speaking through you in a language, He IS going to say something in it!!! It may just be praise for God and Jesus, or it could be something else.
In the OT, we see messages delivered in a variety of ways by the prophets. Some went around naked (Isaiah), one was asked to marry a prostitute and have children by her (Hosea), some used props (Ezekiel etc.) to illustrate their point, others, like Jeremiah or Elijah, simply spoke. In all these cases, there were no tongues --- or rather, the Hebrew/Aramaic/Semitic tongues were used to deliver messages, which most of the time, took the form of warnings. Messages/truths are also delivered via visions, imagery, and dreams. A tender plant out of dry ground (Isaiah, about Christ), a valley filled with dry bones (Ezekiel), a terrible looking image of a man (Daniel), a beast with 7 heads (John).
If you experience a dream or a vision that is prophetic, you will not be able to get it out of your mind, it will disturb you until you see it confirmed/resolved. Journaling is a good practice to make sure you are testing the spirits and dreams against cold and sober, daylight , real truth! Now before you think this is a great gift to have.....
......All the prophets were rejected, killed/martyred, lived really solitary lifestyles - and apart from their gifts - showed us that they were ALL fallible human beings (Samson, Saul, David, Solomon...etc.). Prophecy will not make you Mr/Mrs Popularity....especially if the message is one of repentance (change)!.
Christ delivers 3 messages to the congregation/disciples at Capernaum - He paints a very stark picture, that just BEGS the question... "what do you mean by this Sir?????"
a. The Prediction of Christs Death & Resurrection, and the Last Supper, not understood by the Capernaum congregation or the majority of the other disciples.... (actually offending them!).
b. Christ's own interpretation of His prophecy for the disciples, ("the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life") was(& is) itself not understood till later(.. and even now). Remember, this is in the year before the Last Supper & Crucifixion, and even then, the disciples did not "get it" at the time it occurred! He is the Word, abiding in Us!
Christ's sermon here was in his final year of ministry,and the next Passover would be His last... He was a well known figure by now in Capernaum, in whose synagogue He was speaking these words, a stones throw from His hometown of Nazareth.... the unpalatable truth here ,is that Christ seems to be encouraging people to “eat” His flesh and drink His blood (!), in a JEWISH synagogue! ..... His message there wasn’t really received well at all!
It is not recorded that anyone called Him out - to explain what He was saying.... (they were probably in SHOCK).. which was unfortunate for them ... by not asking Him to clarify, they left - offended. The crowd and disciples following Him all this time must have thought stress had finally caught up with Him, or they might have been desperately trying to parse the meaning of His words themselves! Even the 12 would not know till that Last evening... when the cup and the bread were given, but even ..then..., they wouldn’t understand it till later.
c. A very (to this day) un-palatable truth... - “ no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.”
This is the doctrine of election. Plainly taught in the Word, but a stumbling block for those who do not understand it.
Simply put, unless God saves us, we are -incapable- of saving ourselves.
So God has to “elect” to save some, but may elect to not save others - and that is where most people have a problem - because that seems unfair! Actually, this view, reflects a lack of faith and trust in God to make the right call! He is the righteous judge of all the universe and WILL do the right thing! Check out our “Are you Saved” video on this page for a more detailed, and simple to understand, explanation for why this is TRUE!
Even without that, just consider that disciples who HAD BEEN walking with, hearing, and seeing Jesus do amazing things with their own eyes - LEFT HIM! Which is why He says, true believers are born of the Father... no --earthly means--- (seeing, hearing, touching, feeling, tasting, thinking,miracles!) will EVER persuade a person that Christ is Lord, and our second text this week underlines it. It is only by the grace of the Spirit that we can “profess” Jesus as Lord
.
If it is the Holy Spirit speaking through you, you CANNOT call Jesus accursed under any circumstances whatsoever. Conversely, and the EXACT OPPOSITE... UNLESS THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVE YOU, you cannot confess that Christ is the Lord of your life!
The Logic is perfect and cuts both ways!
And that is why we are given Peter's prophetic and inspired utterance here for confirmation - "Lord to whom shall we go, only you have the Words of Life! And we believe that you are the Christ... etc." - You see???!!! Confirmation!
3. TEACHING 4. EDIFYING 5. COMFORTING
He that lives in Christ, out of him/her is going to flow, not a drop, trickle, stream, or shower, but RIVERS ( plural ! ) of living water!!!! Hallelujah!!!
This the gift of prophecy for every believer ("He that lives in Christ"..... that is YOU & ME, ALL of us) ! If we scared you into thinking that prophecy was going to make you an outcast, we apologize. This is the stream of water that is mirrored for us in the book of Revelation - the River of Life, flowing from the throne of God, through the streets of the city, with the trees on each side, and fruits, and leaves for the HEALING of the NATIONS.
His words have the power to cast down, bind up, loosen, everything and anything in Heaven or Earth. You are His co-heir and fellow-laborer in this endeavor of Love... to reach your fellow man with the good news of the Gospel, but most importantly, by loving them!!! His words, through your mouth, can teach, comfort, console, encourage, lift up, make to laugh, rejoice.... !!!
We have His Word for us in Proverb,Song, Story, Teaching, Picture format, so we can share these truths with others! That is why the gift of Prophecy (from the greek Prophetes -- to tell forth) is one to be most earnestly coveted....
The way is easy. Eat & Drink of the sacrament of Communion - the true Communion - the Words of Christ, and esteem them more than your daily bread. That manna that gives you eternal life will also transform your mind and body.
Partaking of the Lords supper is not a weekly cleansing from sin. The blood of bulls and goats sufficed to atone for Israel for a year. Christ's blood, has already been shed for you - ONCE and FOR ALL TIME. You do not need communion for absolution. You need communion for healing in your body, for healing in your mind, to partake of the Lord with all 5 senses (taste, touch, smell, feel, sight) and to know that you and HE are UNITED through the Spirit to eternal Life - through the witness of this sacrament!
It is this truth, and Love for the truth, that makes you a "prophetic" disciple. "Sanctify them with thy truth, thy Word is Truth"! Yes, speaking the truth in Love is a GIFT most earnestly to be desired!!!!!!
Hallelujah!