The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

135/326

Section Three: The Apostolic Period

Chapter 16—In the Apostolic Age

We have traced the history and the operations of the prophetic gift through the patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations,—a period of some four thousand years. We now enter the Christian dispensation, and find that it opened with the most remarkable manifestation of the prophetic gift in the record of the Scriptures. This gift was revealed in its clearest meaning and its greatest degree of efficiency in the opening century of this new era. Jesus, the source of this gift, then appeared among men in the fullness of divine wisdom and power, and possessing all the spiritual gifts. AGP 163.1

It is worthy of note that the final words of Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, foretell the appearance of the first prophet in the New Testament. Following Malachi comes John the Baptist. We have no record of any prophet between them. Here are the last words of the prophet Malachi: AGP 163.2

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” Malachi 4:5, 6.

Here is the appearance of the first prophet in the Christian dispensation: AGP 163.3

“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:1, 2. This was the opening statement of the first sermon given in the new dispensation. That this preacher, John, was a prophet, we know: for of him Jesus said: AGP 163.4

“What went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.” “And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.” Matthew 11:9, 14.

John the Baptist was brought into the world by the special providence of God, and the angel Gabriel clearly indicates his AGP 163.5

work in the very words of Malachi. While “a certain priest named Zacharias” was ministering in the temple of the Lord, “there appeared unto him an angel,” who said unto him, “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John…. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord; … and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost…. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before Him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just.” Luke 1:5-17. AGP 164.1