The Daily Word of Righteousness

A Prophet to the Nations, #7

The word that the LORD spake against Babylon and against the land of the Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. (Jeremiah 50:1)

A true prophet is never popular.

Did Jeremiah actually pull down and build and plant nations and kingdoms? Yes, he did.

As we read his prophecies we can find the Word of God to Israel, to Egypt, to the Philistines, to Moab, to the Ammonites, to Babylon.

What was Jeremiah's responsibility? It was to prophesy clearly what God had said to him. What was God's responsibility? It was to bring to pass what was spoken.

What was Ezekiel's responsibility to the dry bones? It was to prophesy to them.

What was the responsibility of Haggai and Zechariah at the time of the restoration of the Temple of Solomon? It was to reveal the mind of the Lord to the builders.

The responsibility of the prophet of God is to declare plainly the mind of the Lord. Ordinarily, that is where his responsibility ends. It is important that the task of proclaiming the Lord's mind be performed well, that it be taken seriously.

Often there are many people who are glad to do what God has commanded. But first there must be a person who will seek God until he is abiding in the Divine Presence. Then he is able to speak as the oracle of the Lord (I Peter 4:11) and a number of willing workers will arise and build.

The prophetic anointing that rests on the true Christian saints, the members of the Body of Christ, is a high and holy calling. When God's witnesses hold back from telling the whole truth or are seeking their own glory and gain, the will and work of God are thrown off course.

In some instances the churches of Christ are attempting to do what they assume to be good and proper when in fact their actual God-assigned responsibility is to prophesy what God will do. This is not always the case, but sometimes it is. We must be in touch with the Lord in order to know when to prophesy and when to act.

We may be ready and willing to attempt to attach the bones together when God is commanding us to restrict ourselves to prophesying to the bones.

After we stick the bones together according to our own plan we are unable to breathe into them the breath of life. What we have before us is a dead, manmade structure. Then we are obliged to prop up our creature and make it sing and dance by our own inventions.

Let us rather prophesy to the Church and to the nations what the Lord God is speaking today. It appears that God has determined to move in the greatest revival in world history, and interpreters (prophets) are needed who can explain clearly to people what is taking place around them and happening to them.

The purpose and way of God must be announced for all to hear and understand. Those who have been charged with ministering what is being revealed today must be extremely diligent to preserve and communicate the vision; otherwise the corn of the Word of the Lord that is being given, which will be necessary for our survival in the future, will end up wasted and rotting on the ground.

To be continued.