The purpose of prophesy

Prophesy is speaking on behalf of God.  We talked about the three levels of prophesy in a past post so we won’t get deep into it here.

However, it is so important to understand the purpose… or purposes of prophesy to the body…

 “But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men [to] edification, and exhortation, and comfort.” 1 Corinthians 14:3

I like to compare these to the following: Direction, Correction, Affection.  And in each of these we learn about our Lord.  His word reveals Who He Is.

Direction is as edification.  It is not confrontational, doesn’t imply that we can done something wrong, only that there is a “right” that we are to do.  This is representative of God the Father.  He gave the Law.  The Law directs us.  In following the law we are edified, or built up.  Direction reveals God’s wisdom and His standard.  The LAW reveals His Love And Willingness toward us.  We learn of His righteousness, of His holiness, and of His love through direction.  He desires that we would find Him.

Correction is as exhortation.  In the Body of Christ we are to live by example.  Jesus’ example.  He served, though He was Master of all.  He lived in perfect obedience and submission to the will of the Father.  By doing so He gave us a standard to live by.  We are His followers.  And by His example we know what is “Correct.”  Therefore exhortation is a means of being able to lift Christ and challenge each other to live by that standard.  Correction reveals our need for Him.  Correction is something we must receive… or we are fools (says so in Proverbs). Correction represents Jesus and how God sent the Son to be the Firstfruits to demonstrate what a life in total obedience and submission looked like.  The Lord corrects those He loves.  Correction demonstrates God’s love because He sent the Son to die for us while we were yet sinners.

Affection is as comfort.  What could comfort you more than knowing the love and affection… the desire that He has toward you.  We are our Beloved’s, and His desire (His affection) is toward us.  God desires to demonstrate His love for us through His Word.  Affection, or comfort represents the Holy Spirit.  Because the Son came and died… because Jesus “corrected” everything by taking the punishment upon Himself for all of our “wrong”, because He returned to the Father… the Holy Spirit came.  The Comforter.  And by the Holy Spirit we can cry out “Abba, Father!”  We can know the affection of the Lord… His love, which is an all-consuming fire… because the Spirit has come and convicted the world of sin.

So prophesy… or speaking on behalf of God… has a purpose… to reveal the Love of God toward us by showing us the way (direction), keeping us in the way (correction), and loving us all the way (affection)!

SDG