Some Fundamental Topics

The Gift of Prophecy

Now, among all the spiritual gifts, the Scripture is precise to point one of them out: The gift of prophecy. This is becomes entirely certain upon reading the first few verses from 1 Corinthians 14:

1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.

We feel glad and rejoice in the Lord because we enjoy the presence and, if we may say so, the abundance of the gift of prophecy in the midst of the Church, whose validity becomes permanently evident not only due to the fulfillment of the promises that God makes through this spiritual gift, but also due to the good fruits that believers bear to prove that the Maker is manifesting Himself in their lives.

It is very meaningful to see the way in which the teaching or description from Jesus of Nazareth regarding the work of the Holy Spirit—when He stated that God the Father and God the Son speak and think about it—is shown through the gift of prophecy to the Church.

We specifically refer to the words He uttered in John chapter 16:

13 However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.

Nonetheless, though the glorious work of the Holy Spirit through the spiritual gifts is well registered throughout the New Testament, it is widely unknown by some who deny its existence in our days.

It is therefore necessary to ask as to why the Lord Jesus stated that His followers would perform greater works than He did. If God is the same and His Church remains to be the same, and if we are congregating at the place where He manifests Himself, and if our heart remains sincere and truly love Him, it is only logical that what the Bible states is completely applicable today in His Church.

There are others who quote the Scripture in Matthew 11 to reject the fact that the Holy Spirit can manifest Himself today through the gift of prophecy:

13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

By interpreting this verse as they do, they do not acknowledge two things: First, this verse refers to the prophecies given regarding the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God but took flesh and walked among us. It means  that there would be no further prophecies about this event with John the Baptist as the last one to prophecy about this matter.

Second, the Bible does in fact bear account in multiple passages about the existence of the gift of prophecy in the church of the first apostles, which came after John the Baptist.

One of them, in 1 Corinthians, as we previously referenced it, but also Acts of the Apostles in its chapter 21.

8 On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. 9 Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

Or in 1 Timothy 1:

18 This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare,

Or in 1 Thessalonians 5:

20 Do not despise prophecies.

In the light of the Scripture, it is real, valid and clear that the gift of prophecy exists for our present time in the midst of the Church.

Introduction
The Existence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
The Bible as the Written Word of God
Existence and Value of the Ministry Called and Chosen by God
The Role of Women in the Church
A Universal Church for All
Baptism in Water
Baptism with the Holy Spirit
Spiritual Gifts and Laying on of Hands
The Gift of Prophecy
The Change of Life
Resurrection, not Reincarnation
The Blessing of Eternal Life