The Daily Word of Righteousness

A Prophet to the Nations, #3

And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. (Ezekiel 22:30)

The Pharisees, supposedly the devoted servants of the Lord, murdered the Lord's Christ when they found Him.

Perhaps the Christian churches of today will murder Christ when they find Him. We know what the churches will do to Christ when we witness what they do to Christ's prophets.

The Church of Christ has many men and women today who express concern for the needs of people. But prophets are in short supply. We have some who are able to give specific words or prophecies to the believers. But prophets are more concerned with God's desires than they are with the desires and needs of people.

The Church must have prophets today. Will you stand in the gap before the Lord and build up the wall that separates the holy from the unholy? Will you stand in the Presence of the Lord and proclaim His Word without compromise or hesitation whether people enjoy it or whether they do not?

God always has a present truth, a prophetic word, that is directed toward specific people during specific periods of time. It is the task, the responsibility, the joy, the glory of God's true servants, His elect, to declare that prophetic Word faithfully and accurately to their generation.

Notice how clearly and specifically the Word of God came to Jeremiah: "in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign." Again: "in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah"; and so forth (Jeremiah 1:2,3).

Jeremiah's testimony was a specific, accountable word from God. It was not the vague, double-meaning of a fortune teller.

The office of prophet serves until each of us is able to proclaim the Lord's thoughts. There is a word, a burden of the Lord to our generation. The elect, all of whom are "prophets" of Christ in that every member of the Body of Christ is anointed by the Holy Spirit to know the mind of God, are privileged to bear the burden of the Divine Word and to declare it, according to the gift of grace that has been given the individual.

. . . for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)

The words that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah apply in one way or another to every member of the elect, to every true Christian. Details of application may vary with the unique calling of the believer, but we share many aspects in common.

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; . . . . (Jeremiah 1:5)

Notice that God forms each member of the elect in the womb of the mother. God's saints, His elect, His prophets, were known to God before He founded the world. God knew everything about each of us before we saw the light of day (Romans 8:28-30; II Timothy 1:9).

To be continued.