New Covenant Prophecy (3) Describing Consequences

Instead of announcing judgments, Christians prophets should be explaining what is happening in the spiritual realms and warning of the consequences amongst the nations of the earth. They should not take delight in this task, but should be sad about the avoidable pain and suffering that will eventuate if hearts don’t change.

Prophets who are called to speak to their city or nations should be discerning the seasons and warning about the decisions that people and their leaders are making.

• They should explain what is happening in the nation.

• They should describe the choices that the people have.

• They should be describing what will occur if the city or nation continues on its current path.

• They should be describing the change of season if that is occurring.

• They should be describing what the spiritual powers of evil are planning to do.

• They should be telling the leaders what they need to do to bring a change of direction.

• They should be speaking to the people of God and telling them what they can do to help their city or nation turn back to the right path.

• They should be teaching the people of God how they can survive as a remnant if their city or nation continues down the wrong path.

At times, their message will not be positive and encouraging. Sometimes it will be scary, but they should always be providing hope by explaining what God wants his people to do to restore the situation.

New Covenant Prophecy (2) Three-Agent Universe

The new covenant changes the nature of prophecy, but it is not a change from “judgment prophecy” to “reconciliation prophecy”. God always wanted reconciliation. The transition comes from a change in perspective on events in the world.

The main role of prophets under both the old covenant and the new covenant is to explain what is happening in the spiritual realms and how it is affecting events on earth. Prophecy under the old covenant was different because the Old Testament, prophets did not fully understand the working of the spiritual realms. They saw God and humans as the main actors on earth. They lived in a two-agent universe. Job got a glimpse into the work of Satan, and Daniel, towards the end of OT age got a glimpse of the Prince of Persia, but Old Testament prophets did not fully comprehend the role of the spiritual powers of evil in events on earth.

Accordingly, when warning of bad things coming, prophets said that God was sending judgement against rebellious people. They portrayed God as the agent of the things that were going to happen. This is how they saw the world, but their vision was incomplete.

Most of the judgments announced by the OT prophets were not initiated by God, but were the work of the spiritual powers of evil attacking people who had lost their spiritual protection. The warnings of the Old Testament prophets were not God’s intention. They describe what would occur when cities and nations reject God and lose his protection.

God did not initiate these consequences directly, but he created a world in which it would be possible for the spiritual powers of evil to gain a foothold. He does not shirk from that responsibility. That is why the scriptures often describe these events as God’s judgment.

Since the coming of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have a fuller understanding of the relationship between the spiritual and physical realms. We understand that we live in a three-agent universe. The three actors on earth are God, humans and the spiritual powers of evil.

When modern prophets warn about bad stuff that is coming, they should not usually be declaring God’s judgment. Instead, they should describe what the spiritual powers of evil are planning to do because the people have lost God’s protection.

When the people of the world turn away from God, they give greater authority to the spiritual powers of evil, often without being unaware of it. The inevitable outcome for a society that forgets God is more frequent evil events as the powers of evil exercise their increased freedom to act.

Prophets to the nations should still be warning the nations about what will happen if they continue on their current path. They should not be saying that God will destroy them. They should be saying that they have opened themselves to the spiritual powers of evil and the consequences will not be good. Rather than announcing judgments, the events that they are warning about can be more accurately described as “consequences of forgetfulness” or "a negative feedback loop".

New Covenant Prophecy (1) Transition

Some teachers in the prophetic stream of the church are advocating a transition from old covenant (judgment-based) to new covenant (reconciliation-based) prophecy (See my previous series called New Covenant Prophecy).

They claim that old covenant prophets focussed on exposing sin and announcing judgment, which is not appropriate in the new covenant age. Instead, prophets should focus on reconciliation and restoration. The goal is not to point out what is wrong with the earth, but to fix what is wrong on the earth through the answer of the Lord Jesus Christ and the treasures of wisdom that are hidden for such a time as this.

These teachers say that new covenant prophecy should impart encouragement strengthening, encouragement, and consolation (1 Cor 14:3). We have a message of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:17-19) so our ministry must be a ministry of reconciliation that releases grace that transforms the earth. They say that prophets are no longer called to announce the judgments of God.

I have some sympathy with this view, because there are some terribly judgmental people active in the prophetic movement. They seem to delight in declaring God’s wrath and announcing terrible judgments on the world. The nastier the events being announced, the happier they seem to be. Unfortunately, their anger and harshness is hard to reconcile with the message and character of Jesus.

This type of prophecy needs to die, but it is incorrect to call this Old Covenant prophecy. Prophets like Jeremiah and Ezekiel did not enjoy bringing some of the messages that God asked them to deliver. They wept as they told the people what was going to happen, and they always gave hope for the future. Their heart was more like Jesus than many “modern wrath prophets”.

Wrath prophecy is incorrect, but it is not because only positive words are allowed under the new covenant. The reason why these harsh and wrathful prophecies are inappropriate is that they give a confusing view of what is happening in the world.