The Prophetic Voice

"Above all, the prophets remind us of the moral state of a people: Few are guilty, but all are responsible." -- Abraham Joshua Heschel

So the subject of this post started for me about 2 or 3 months ago.

As I was reading through a passage of the apostle Paul’s writing in the book of I Corinthians, I came to this: “Follow the way of love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy.” (NIV)

For reference, the rest of the chapter is mostly a discussion of why prophecy is such a better thing to pray for than speaking in tongues. Then later in the chapter, we get this:

“Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers;

prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers… But if an

unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is

prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged

by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down

and worship God…”

As so often happens when I’m reading the Bible, part of this passage got stuck in my mind – why the emphasis on prophecy here? Growing up evangelical (the title of my new autobiography? Hmm…) I can’t ever remember a sermon being preached that really talked much about what prophets were and what they did.

We see Paul’s instructions about multiple people taking turns in church services, giving instruction and encouragement for everyone to hear. He talks about lay people openly being engaged to speak truth to other members. (What exactly would happen if we opened up services like this today? Do any denominations do this? I suppose some do…and what do we think about this? What does that say about us?)

Yet I'm seeing the picture of prophecy, as it's laid out in the Old Testament at least, as a pretty radical one.

The Old Testament prophets are perhaps what come to mind first when the word ‘prophecy’ is mentioned…the extreme radicals of Judaism, wandering the deserts.

Jeremiah, the ‘Weeping Prophet’: “…Sovereign Lord…I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” (Jer 1:6 NIV) Born in the 7th century B.C. – a time of dramatic upheaval according to my study Bible notes, when western Asian countries were in constant power plays against each other and against the larger kingdoms of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. Jeremiah hears the call of God, and though reluctant at first, eventually finds the courage to be a voice of truth, eventually delivering the unwelcome message of destruction for the kingdom of Judah.

The longest book in the Bible, Jeremiah is disturbing in its imagery; “Look, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth…they sound like the roaring sea…we have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp…” This was the Babylonian empire, that according to our pastor, would overtake their enemies, pierce the noses of the survivors, feed a chain through the nose rings, and lead them away to become slave labor.

Other Old Testament prophets, too, give us this imagery; and maybe because of the dire nature of the call placed on their lives, they behave in the strangest of ways, demonstrating in the most shocking and stark ways possible the seriousness of what they’re trying to convey...

Isaiah, going naked for three years, as a sign of what the Assyrians would do to Egypt.

Or Ezekiel, instructed by God to pack up his belongings like he was an exile, for everyone to watch what he was doing as a representation of what Israel would go through. And later, being instructed not to mourn at the death of his wife, not to “lament or weep or shed any tears.” (Ez. 24:16)

So how does any of this translate into the modern day church?

I had previously heard that the ‘prophetic voice’ isn’t always like the one portrayed in the Old Testament, where guidelines were laid out for the standard the prophets were held to – truth was spoken, and if a prophet’s word was found false, he was put to death. So then this newer idea of “the prophetic voice”, rather than the “Voice of the Prophet”, becomes less clear.

If we live in an “Age of Grace” so to speak, where we no longer put people to death for anything other than capital murder, what standards do we hold to determine what is and isn’t the prophetic voice? Do we even need prophets in our modern day world, and if so, what should their role be?

As it turns out, I have a friend who is getting ready to publish a book on this very topic. I bounced a bunch of these questions off him, as well as my ideas for what I thought were probable answers.

I definitely don’t know as much as I’d like to yet, but he did give me some great insights. Our discussion covered a number of aspects in all this, and I’m going to do my best to put down from memory what I think I’ve come to understand over time. What I’ve come up with so far:

--In defining the prophetic voice, we're talking about a voice of truth that is spoken to a group of people to communicate truths that need to be heard; the truth isn’t scientific truth or rational truth, but spiritual truth, a truth of motivation, of values, of soul. And by necessity and by definition, then, it must be truth given to someone who holds some position of power – not just a ‘Pastor’ or ‘Preacher’, though that is a necessity as well; but to the Church itself, because the power the Church holds is the power of possessing a message of healing and love that it should be delivering to a world of people that don’t have that healing and love, but need it; in possessing that message, the Church possesses power. And because the Church does its job imperfectly, the need and relevance of the prophetic voice are apparent-- to propel it, by encouragement and also criticism, to excellence.

--The prophetic voice is often most powerful when spoken by someone from within its own ranks. To speak the voice of truth, you have to be part of the tribe being spoken to. People will most often hear your voice when you’re a member.

The question then becomes, what if no one within that group is speaking? Where does the prophetic voice come from? How is Truth discovered? “Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, rebuke your disciples!’ ‘I tell you’, he replied, ‘if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.’” (Luke 19-39-40) And my study Bible, interestingly enough, has no commentary or explanation to add. But don’t we have this now, rocks crying out?

A police officer in Oakland, CA abuses his power and shoots an unarmed man lying face down on the ground. Is this event lost? Is it swept under the rug? Not at all –instead, because it’s captured by cell phone video, the outcry from the community of Oakland – the black community, who justifiably feel they’ve seen proof positive of how their police department treats minorities -- is heard around the United States.

Is this the rocks crying out? Is this the truth being seen when it would otherwise have been hidden? The prophetic voice isn’t delivered by a human voice; no human voice was available in Oakland at the place and time of the shooting, or at least, no voice that would have been listened to; but isn’t the truth of these events seen around the world anyway?

You could go on…dozens of other incidents captured on video; the outcry over Catholic priests sexually abusing hundreds of children, and the Catholic Church trying to cover it up; Wall Street firms doling out million-dollar bonuses to the heads of companies that lost billions of dollars, etc.


--The challenge as I see it, then, is twofold for the Church:

First, this prophetic voice is painful, so how do we foster it? If it’s necessary (as I think it is), if our current Church is supposed to model what was shown in the Old and New Testaments – then how do we get individual churches and whole denominations to buy into the idea of its necessity?

And second, if you’re a member, how do you know you’re not as blind as everyone else? But this only seems to highlight the necessity for encouraging as many people as possible to speak truth. It’s why Paul encouraged this voice, multiple voices, to come forward, to mold the Church into what it should be.

Institutionally, we’ve lost this voice. And we need it badly.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets," Jesus said in the Book of Matthew, but unfortunately, that is exactly what we seem to have done.

So how do we get that voice back? And who is out there waiting to speak?