Protective Judgments (9) - New Testament

The rainbow covenant was eternal (Gen 9:12), so God continues to determine the rising and falling of the nations during the New Testament age.

He made all the nations…; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26).

When nations go sour and begin to magnify evil, God causes them to collapse and die. Sometimes they just collapse in on themselves, but often they destroyed by the armies of other nations.
The big difference in New Testament times is that protective judgment has become Plan B. God’s Plan A for dealing with evil nations and empires is the gospel and the Spirit. If Christians take the gospel to the evil nation, the hearts of the people can be changed. If these Christians are willing to suffer in the face of persecution, they can change the direction of the evil nation. If enough people come to faith in Jesus, the leaders of the nation will have to change too. If the church heeds his call, the Holy Spirit can use the gospel to transform an evil nation.

During the gospel age, God only sends protective judgments when the gospel fails. This should be very rare. If the church is doing its job, most evil nations will be transformed by the gospel. Situations where evil gets so entrenched that it begins to threat to the world should not really occur. Unfortunately, the church sometimes gets sluggish and does not fulfil its role, which allows evil nations to expand and grow.

Rome is an example. For two or three hundred years, the church was very effective and nearly transformed the Rome empire. However, after the conversion of Constantine, the church was seduced by political power, which compromised its witness. This left God with no option, but to send protective judgment to destroy the power of Rome. After being invaded by marauding armies, the Roman empire collapsed and disappeared.

During the New Testament age, God is still committed to the rainbow covenant, so he continues to use protective judgements when this is necessary. However, he prefers to work thought gospel and the Spirit to transform evil nations. This is more effective way of dealing with evil, because it gets to the root cause of the problem.

Statements that God has stopped using judgments during the age of grace are wrong.

God’s role is clearer, if prophets warn the collapsing nation why it is falling apart. When God is about to send a protective judgment, he needs New Testament prophets to speak to the nations effective. John demonstrated the role of prophet to the nations with his prophesy of the fall of Babylon the Great (Rev 18).

New Testament Prophets (5) - Great Divide

Prophets are the people most like to get a revelation of God’s purposes and plans, but most pastors do not have relationship with a reliable prophet who can shed light on the current darkness. We have a huge divide between the prophetic and the pastoral in this city that prevents the church from functioning at full capacity.

Most churches are led by pastors who see intercessors and prophetic people as problem and not a blessing. The fiasco over 28 September has confirmed their belief that these people are a nuisance who will do more harm than good, if given too much freedom. Pastors prefer to limit the prophetic to personal words to encourage individual believers given in a church meeting where the process can be controlled.

This truncation of the prophetic role means that church leaders do not know how to handle a prophetic warning to a church, a city or a nation. When prophecy goes beyond the personal, they want to control the process. Some leaders have suggested that all words should be submitted to them for testing before they are released.

I think it is unfortunate the way the prophecy has been distributed. It would have been a lot more beneficial of bring it to some of the church leaders and for them to pray as to an appropriate response and its distribution.

I believe that such a word should have been submitted to significant, recognised, godly leaders in the city.

Yet, the same leaders say that they tend to ignore most of the prophecies given to them, because they are rubbish. That might be true, but it is hard to see how the prophetic role can emerge when the process is controlled by people who are ambivalent about prophecy.

The other side of this problem is that people with a prophetic calling have mostly been squeezed out of the centre of church life and tend to live on the fringes where the battle is tougher and isolation leaves them vulnerable to deception. Many have experienced rejection, leaving a residue of frustration and bitterness. When prophetic people gather together without a pastoral influence, they tend to become hard and judgmental, which tinges their words with a harshness which grates on the pastors. This isolation and neglect leaves the church without a clear prophetic voice.

The biblical model for the leadership of the church is diversity of ministries submitted to each other. When evangelists gain control a church becomes a revolving door. When prophets gain control, the church skinks to a rigid righteous remnant. When pastors gain control, the church become soft and flabby. A healthy church needs each of these ministries operating in unity, by submitting to each other in love.

In the current tragedy in Christchurch, the church needed a clear trumpet call. Because the prophets are largely missing from the church, it got clatter and confusion. Every church needs both pastors and prophets to function effectively (see Pastors and Prophets). Until the prophetic role is integrated into the church, and the pastors and prophets come to unity, through submission to each other, confusions will continue to occur.

New Testament Prophets (4) - Confusion produces Fear

We have a serious problem in Christchurch. We have just gone through a huge calamity, but Christians do not know what is going. They have been taught that life has meaning and purpose, so they expect their leaders to be able to explain the meaning of the earthquake.

The problem is that most church leaders ducked for cover when they earthquake struck and quoted the dean who said that the earthquake was not an act of God, but just the earth doing what the earth does. This explanation let them off the hook for explaining why God had allowed an earthquake, but if left people confused. The earth doing its thing argument was helpful for some of the pastoral problems, as leaders did not have to explain why some Christians were killed and injured. It was just bad luck. The people who died were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Another problem made this worse. In the September earthquake, when no one was killed and only a few injured, Christian leaders called it as a miracle. But when nearly two hundred people were killed in the February earthquake, there was no explanation of why we did get another miracle. Only silence.

The lack of credible Christian explanations left a huge void of unanswered questions. Where was God? Why did he warn some people, but not others? If we could some warn people, why could he not prevent people from being killed? If he knew in advance that the earthquake was coming, why could he not prevent it from happening. Or did he choose to let it happen anyway? These are hard questions, but Christians expect the leaders who bring a word from God each week to provide some answers.

Without a clear trumpet call, the people get confused. The silence of Christian leaders meant that their people were left to look to find their own answers. When the message is unclear, the people get muddled and grab what they can. The dreams and voices circulating in Christchurch came from the fringes of the church where people have gone for insight, but they produced only fear and confusion.

New Testament Prophets (3) - Everyone Can Prophecy

The cross and resurrection brought another major change. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was poured on everyone who believes. This changed everything, because now every Christian can hear the Holy Spirit speak. We no longer need a special group of people to tell us what God is saying. This shrinks the role of the prophets, because I do not need a prophet to tell me where to find my donkeys. If I need guidance about what to do, I should be able to hear the voice of the Spirit myself.

The other effect of the outpouring of the Spirit is that every Christian can prophesy. Peter explained this on the day of Pentecost.

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy (Acts 2:17).

This general ability to prophesy manifests in the gift of prophecy (1 Cor 12:10). With prophecy becoming more prevalent and widespread, the risk of poor quality prophecy is increased. This is why Paul gave clear guidance to the Corinthians about how this gift can be managed in away that minimises harm. 1 Corinthians 14 is not a re-definition of the role of the prophet as some writers have claimed. It provides guidelines on how prophecy should be managed in a situation where everyone, including young people, can prophesy. He suggests that people should take turns in prophesying to keep the process orderly. He also encourages the church prophecies to test all prophecies, and discard those that are faulty (1 Thes 5:19-22).

Paul’s letters focus on testing prophecies, not testing the people. There is no test that has to be met before someone can exercise the gift of prophecy, because this gift is available to everyone. On the other hand, because the gift is so open, it is necessary to test the prophetic words that are spoken to sort the chaff from the wheat.

The gift of prophecy is for edification and encouragement to build up the church (1 Cor 14:3). The gift of prophecy is not for admonition and correction. That is the responsibility of the prophets, because it is much tougher to speak challenging words without being harsh or proud.

Only those who have the appropriate character should be recognised in the ministry of the prophet. Jesus said that we would not the true prophets by the fruit of their service in their church. It takes time for fruit to emerge (Matt 7:15-20). Prophets are subject a tough character test, because they are in a role that can do great harm, if they are insecure or weak.

Every church will need admonition and correction from time to time. Therefore every church should have at least one person who is recognized and established in this role. These prophets must not be constrained to comfort prophecies by 1 Corinthians 14:3. They must be free to say whatever God wants said to the church, with the only constraint being to speak the truth in love.

New Testament Prophets (2) - New Covenant

The cross and resurrection of Jesus did not cause the role of the prophet to cease. Agabus, Judas and Silas are referred to as a prophets, so the ministry continued (Acts 11:28; Acts 15:31). There is nothing in the New Testament to say that any aspect of the role has ceased.

Several things have changed. In Old Testament times, Israel was the people of the covenant. In New Testament times, the church is the people of the new covenant. The prophetic role of watching over the covenant continued, but their focus shifted to the new covenant and the church. The prophets are still responsible for watching over the church and warning it if it breaks the covenant of Jesus. This is not a doom and gloom ministry, because in contrast to OT Israel, the victory of the cross and the spirit means that the church mostly walks in blessing. However, there will be times when a church leaves God’s path and needs to be challenged by a prophet. John’s letters to the seven churches are examples of a prophetic challenge to a church that has lost the plot. This is still the responsibility of the prophets, but it should not be required too often, if the church is walking in the Spirit and seeking to serve Jesus.

One of the greatest threats to the NT church is persecution. The role of the NT prophets includes responsibility for encouraging the church through times of persecution and suffering. John’s letters to the seven churches are an example of this (Rev 3:21).

The role of prophesying to the people of the old covenant has been curtailed by the cross. Jesus himself gave the final prophesy to Israel warning of the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt 23:33-24:2). He warned that they would not get a prophetic word again for a long, long time.

Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord (Matt 23:38-39).

Being left without prophets is part of their desolation. All future prophets will be Christians, so if the Jews will not accept those who come in the name of Jesus, they will have no prophets (Micah 3:6). NT prophets will only get to speak freely to Israel when the Times of the Gentiles are coming to an end.

The role of prophesying to the other nations continues in NT times. God continues to determine the rising and falling of the nations.

He made all the nations…; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands (Acts 17:26).

When nations go sour, God often lets them collapse and die. Rome is an example. It eventually collapsed and disappeared. God’s role in this is clearer, if there are prophets warning the collapsing nation why things are falling apart. This role has been lacking for much of the New Testament age, so it needs to be restored.

Prophetic proclamation is the best way to remove a bad government. The OT prophets brought downs kings and rulers who had lost the plot. For example, Elijah's prophetic work led to the destruction of Ahab. Daniel prophesied the fall of Belshazzar of Babylon. John continued this role in the New Testament with his prophesy of the fall of Babylon the Great. We need to see more of the ministry from prophets in the New Testament age. If a Christian prophet had pronounced judgement against Saddam Hussein, releasing the power of God to remove him from office, this would probably have been far less painful for the Iraqi people than a ten year war.

Speaking to the nations is only a minor aspect of the prophetic role, so only a few of the more mature prophets will be called to the role of prophet to the nations. Most NT prophets will function within the church. Some will grow to be a prophet to their own nation, and a few of these will emerge as prophets to the nations.