Pastor John Wright

Prophecy has a bad name amidst "sophisticated Protestants" such as myself. Once someone had a prophecy that the person was to wed one of my associate pastors. The problem was that my associate pastor had not had the same vision. "Prophecy" seems to be ways of personal subjectivity being projected upon God and thus given a legitimacy it would not otherwise have.

The passage at the end of Acts 11 speaks of prophets. We've just read a section involving visions. Strange stuff indeed. What we see here, however, is in no way trivial or contrary to the workings of God in Jesus Christ. Prophecy becomes an "extra-rational" (not irrational or arational) perception of reality in light of Jesus Christ and the Spirit of Jesus. The prophets exhortations help the church stay true to their mission in Jesus.

V. 27: What is the significance that these prophets come from Jerusalem? What does it tell you that they are coming to Antioch? Who might these people be?

V. 28: What is the message of the prophecy? The famine will be on "the whole of the household economies" -- every one would feel it. Obviously the account is written after the fact of the prophecy. Why would this be necessary and important to add that it had happened?

V. 29: What is the response of those in Antioch? To whom do they send their goods? In what action does the prophecy result? If the famine is to happen in "all household economies", what does this tell you? Why would they send goods to Jerusalem? What is the purpose of the prophecy?

V. 30: What is the role of Barnabas and Saul? What is the significance of Saul here? What has happened to Saul? When was he last in Jerusalem? What would the church, the elders, in Jerusalem see as a result?

The whole of the event becomes very interesting at multiple levels. One can understand how different this is from so much of contemporary prophecy. What does it tell us about the church here? What does it tell us about our life together in a local congregation in relationship to our congregations throughout the world?

May God send us prophets!