The New Testament mentions the work of prophets and apostles. The apostles were “messengers,” or “ones sent forth” from God, as defined by the Greek word apostolos. Throughout the Gospels, the word “apostle” refers to the 12 disciples. The rest of the New Testament supports this idea and includes other individuals who were not among Christ’s original disciples.

Paul calls himself an apostle 12 times in his epistles. In Romans 1:1-2, he connects his apostolic calling, and the content of his preaching, with the message of the Old Testament prophets. Paul presents himself as an apostle to the Gentiles (Romans 11:13). He was appointed “through the will of God” (1 Corinthians 1:1).

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Unlike the priests who followed a familial line from fathers to sons, God appointed prophets and apostles according to His will. When Paul’s apostleship was in dispute, he defended his calling (1 Corinthians 9:1-2). Paul saw his apostleship as building upon the work of Christ, the Foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20). As recipients of God’s revelation, the apostles therefore possess the same level of inspiration as the prophets (Ephesians 3:1-5).

In 2 Peter 3:1-2, Peter makes reference to prophets as those who came before and whose words were important, but now the apostles are presented as carrying the same authority. In these verses, reference is made to Old and New Testament times. While prophets may seem to be God’s messengers of the Old Testament era and apostles God’s messengers of the New Testament era, there were also people who prophesied or exercised the prophetic gift but who were not apostles. The gift of prophecy was not limited to the apostles in New Testament times. And not all prophets were apostles (Acts 15:32).

And as we also know from reading what the apostles in the New Testament wrote, Jesus was the center of almost all that they wrote. In one way or another, His life, death, resurrection, high-priestly ministry, and return were their central focus.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

Moses predicted that “ ‘the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear’ ” (Deuteronomy 18:15, NKJV). Who was the prophet? Scripture itself makes it clear: it was pointing to Jesus Himself. “ ‘For Moses truly said to the fathers, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you” ’ ” (Acts 3:22, NKJV; see also John 6:14).

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Jesus, as the Christ, the Messiah, is the One to whom all the Old Testament prophets pointed. In the New Testament, Jesus is recognized as the fulfillment of their Messianic prophecies. In Luke 24:13-35, He presents Himself as the One to whom the Messianic prophecies pointed.

In fact, in John 1:1-5, the description given of the Word here does not fit any human being or mere human prophet. The Word is identified as the Creator, for “all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3, NKJV). That is, He created all that was created, which is the entire cosmos, now estimated to be 93 billion light-years wide.

In every “and God said” of Genesis 1:1-31, we hear Jesus speaking. He who said, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) is also the “light of men” (John 1:4), and through the plan of salvation (John 1:4-5), He was dispelling earth’s darkness.

God’s prophetic words are certain and confirmed. When heeded, they are “a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19, NKJV). Prophecy will continue to bring light to our sinful world until Jesus, “the Morning Star,” and Source of that prophetic light, will usher in His eternal kingdom.

Until then, through His life, death, and resurrection, Christ offers us all eternal life. The only question is whether or not we will accept it.

<–Sabbath Monday–>

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Read for This Week’s Study

Matthew 16:13-16, Ephesians 2:20, Revelation 22:6, Luke 2:36-38, Acts 21:9, Ephesians 6:10-18.

Memory Text:

“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6, NKJV).

As a father was driving, his son scanned the cars passing by in order to spot those that were the same as his dad’s. The father then pointed to a car and exclaimed, “Son, that was the same as my first car!” When they got home, the father pulled out the owner’s manual to his first car, along with the manual to the current car. He carefully showed his son the features of each vehicle, highlighting things that were alike and what had been changed. However, when the father compared the two engines, everything was identical. Much had changed, but not the engine.

God spoke through prophets in the Old and New Testaments, and the continuity and harmony in their messages is because the Holy Spirit—the Source, or “Engine,” of divine inspiration—has remained the same. The Holy Spirit always empowers true prophets through the gift of prophecy. He also places Christ at the center of the prophets’ messages, as Hebrews makes clear (Hebrews 1:1-3).

This week we will examine the gift of prophecy in the New Testament, looking at who functioned as prophets, what prophets did, how prophets compared to apostles, and the danger of false prophets, as well.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 24.

Sunday–>

By Mission Editor

Marek’s life began to change as he read The Great Controversy in Poland. He decided to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. He wanted to quit smoking but couldn’t.

One Saturday, he passed a street poster offering a five-day stop smoking class. The address was a Seventh-day Adventist church. Marek had never heard of the denomination before, even after reading The Great Controversy and visiting the Adventist bookstore where he had bought the book.

Marek went straight to the church. He saw a poster for The Great Controversy on the church bulletin board and knew he had found the right place. It was 2 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, and the church normally would have been empty after worship services, but a group of literature evangelists were there, and they invited Marek to return the next Sabbath morning to worship.

Marek returned the next Sabbath and enjoyed the sermon. He was amazed at the kindness of the churchgoers. They told him that a large group of young people would meet in a nearby city the next Sabbath and invited him to go with them.

The next Sabbath morning, Marek waited by a road for the Adventists to pick him up. It was a hot day, and he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt. As he waited, he sensed two voices speaking to him. One said, “Stay outside, and enjoy the nice weather.” The other urged, “Wait here because it’s really important that you go to this meeting.”

The Adventists arrived and took him to the meeting. The worship service amazed Marek. Every word was meaningful to him. The preacher, a British pastor from London, spoke until noon. Then he said, “I know I am supposed to end now, but I know there is somebody here who needs Jesus.”

Marek thought, Who told him about me?

The pastor then shared his personal story. He was born into a religious family but had left the church. He had used drugs and drank. His church and even his mother had stopped praying for him.

“Then I met Jesus,” he said. “He took me up from the bottom where I was, and now I’m here to tell you about His power. And He can change your life. “

Then the pastor made his appeal. “If you want Jesus to change your life, just come here to the front,” he said.

Marek saw 1,000 people in the crowd and cringed at the thought of standing in front of them. With the very next sentence, the pastor addressed his doubts.

“Don’t think about others looking at you,” he said. “Just come to the front. It’s between you and God.”

Marek stood up. He couldn’t sit anymore. His heart beat wildly as he went to the front. As the pastor prayed, Marek understood the plan of salvation for the first time. He had lived a bad life, and Jesus had taken his place. Marek began to cry, and nobody could stop him. The tears flowed freely. But Marek also was excited and joyful.

“I really feel that God saved my life not only for His kingdom but also from physical death,” Marek said later.

While studying at the Adventist seminary, he learned that his childhood friend Matthew was found dead with a knife in his heart. He had been using a lot of drugs, and no one knows what happened. He was only 23. His other childhood friend, Martin, ended up in prison.

“I really want to help young people find their purpose in life sooner than I did,” he said. “Maybe they will live better lives after hearing my story. I’m really thankful to God. He saved me from everything, and He gave me everything. So, I have given everything to Him.”

Today, Marek has no regrets. He serves as a church leader in Poland and continues to share his faith.

Not Perfect But Willing

As we have seen, the lives of Old Testament prophets make clear that it has never been easy to be God’s messenger. Ellen G. White experienced the same anxieties that biblical prophets felt. As we learned last Friday, she was young, shy, and in poor health when she received God’s call. While a second vision confirmed her call, Ellen Harmon (White) remained apprehensive about God’s call, writing:

“About one week after this the Lord gave me another view, and showed me the trials I must pass through; that I must go and relate to others what he had revealed to me; that I should meet with great opposition, and suffer anguish of spirit. . . .

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This vision troubled me exceedingly. My health was very poor, and I was only seventeen years old. . . . I earnestly prayed that the burden might be laid on some other one. But all the light I could get was, ‘Make known to others what I have revealed to you.’ I was unreconciled to go out into the world. I had naturally but little confidence. . . . I looked with desire into the grave. Death appeared to me preferable to the responsibilities I should have to bear.”—Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, pp. 35, 36.

Did you notice that Ellen Harmon (White) would rather die than to accept her call? After much prayer and encouragement by fellow believers, she acquiesced and devoted the remainder of her life to following “[H]is bidding.”—Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, vol. 2, p. 38.

She would become the most influential voice to—and even of—the future Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nevertheless, Ellen Harmon (White) was human and had her own personal faults and physical trials, family challenges, and interpersonal struggles. Yet amid her humanity, we see a great lesson: God chooses imperfect people who are willing to serve Him.

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Ellen G. White’s prophetic ministry would encourage believers and connect them to Bible truths. By 1860, she had played a leading role in the development of the fledgling Seventh-day Adventist denomination and its mission to proclaim the three angels’ messages to the world. God would lead these believers to organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. In later decades, Ellen G. White’s prophetic voice was influential in establishing the global Adventist health and educational systems. However, the most important contribution of her ministry is her writings, totaling approximately 100,000 pages. Ellen G. White’s inspired writings continue to speak throughout the world today.

Further Study Click Here.

<–Thursday

No matter what God does, Satan has his counterfeits. It’s the same with prophets. Israel faced true and false prophets. The key was to know the difference.

In Jeremiah 14:1-22, God gave Jeremiah a message of judgment for Judah, a judgment that would come in the form of a sword (war), famine, and pestilence. False prophets at the time contradicted Jeremiah’s message. Jeremiah describes them in very clear terms: “And the Lord said to me, ‘The prophets prophesy lies in My name. I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them; they prophesy to you a false vision, divination, a worthless thing, and the deceit of their heart’ ” (Jeremiah 14:14, NKJV).

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False prophets are corrupt because their source of prophetic claims is often the false “gods” whom they worship (Jeremiah 23:13-14). God warns, “ ‘I have not sent them, commanded them, nor spoken to them’ ” (Jeremiah 14:14, NKJV). They are “ ‘prophets of the deceit of their own heart’ ” (Jeremiah 23:26, NKJV). Ezekiel was instructed to prophesy against “ ‘the prophets . . . who prophesy out of their own heart’ ” (Ezekiel 13:2, NKJV).

False prophets often follow popular views. This was the case in 1 Kings 22:1-53, when a group of 400 “prophets” gathered at the command of King Ahab (1 Kings 22:6). With one voice they advised the king to fight against Ramoth-Gilead. Ahab counseled with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, after they heard the prophetic counsel from the prophets of Asherah. Jehoshaphat urged Ahab to consult the prophet Micaiah as to whether they should go to battle or not. “Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, ‘Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement’ ” (1 Kings 22:13, NKJV).

The pressure Micaiah experienced to lie was likely the same pressure felt by the false prophets of Asherah, but Micaiah did not follow this popular view; instead, he waited for God to tell him what to say (1 Kings 22:14).

<–Wednesday Friday–>