The Prophetic. An introduction

Genesis 20:7 is the first appearance of the word prophet in Scripture. In its first appearance, the prophet is linked to prayer—“he is a prophet and he will pray.” 

Prophets pray. It’s what they do. It’s who they are. 

The Law of First Mention in Bible Study is a hermeneutical interpretative principle that suggests the first time a word or concept appears in the Bible establishes its fundamental meaning. 

Additionally, prophets speak. Because they see, hear, know, and receive revelation, they are correspondingly expected to speak, declare, prophesy, preach, warn, call to repentance, edify, encourage. 

As Moses was receiving revelation, encounters with God, and mandates from the Lord, he worried that his oratory abilities were lacking and requested an assistant for this matter. God allowed him to have Aaron, his older brother, as a mouthpiece. Exodus 7:1 refers to Aaron as Moses’ prophet. It means that Aaron was the appointed speaker, in lieu of Moses. 

Furthermore, it should be understood that prophets are distinct because of their heart to know God, His ways, and His will. In this regard, we should all aspire to be prophetic…to know God, to hear God’s voice, to have encounters with the Lord.

Numbers 12:6 And he said, Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

Prophets dream. Prophets have visions. And these experiences are from God. They reveal God, God’s mind, God’s heart, God’s perspective, God’s answers, God’s feelings. 

In Joel 2 God promises a great deluge, an outpouring of His Spirit that will make all believers (old, young, men, women, all flesh) prophetic with the ability to see visions, have dreams, and prophesy. This started in Acts 2. However, it didn’t culminate in Acts 2. As a matter of fact, Jesus’ first miracle was a parabolic metaphor alluding to the last days outpouring that would be best at the last (John 2:1-11). 

If God wants to give something, it’s right for us to want, desire, ask for that thing. Therefore, we should ask for dreams, visions, revelations that are truly from God and not of our own imaginations. Just because there is a false does not mean there is not an authentic. Let’s not allow the devil to win in the battle for the prophetic. Let’s press into the Lord and ask for the pure waters that freely flow from Him.