Revelation 19:10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow-servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

This verse is rightly used to teach that we must never worship angels, no matter how impressive they might be, but it is the very last part of the verse that caught my attention just now. People tend to make a great deal over prophecy. We tend to place people who have that gift on a special plane, and in the process we miss the fact that Paul said he would like it if all believers prophesied, (1 Corinthians 14:5, 39) and we even miss the whole point of New Testament prophecy. It would be hard to find a Bible scholar who would not say that we are all supposed to testify of Jesus. The angel here is telling us that such testimony is the spirit of prophecy! The thing is, New Testament prophecy is occasionally a matter of speaking of coming events, but in general it is simply speaking out what God is saying, in encouragement, comfort, or whatever, and the Father is always talking about the Son, just as Jesus was always pointing people to the Father. The angel’s point was that yes, he was speaking the words of God, but John and his brothers in faith could and would to the same thing. There are certainly different levels of prophetic anointing, among individuals and even in the same individual at different times, but any time we open our mouths to tell others of God’s great love and grace through His Son Jesus we are prophesying. The thing is, we tend to focus on the container rather than the contents. We idolize people with a demonstrated prophetic anointing (even though the angel here said don’t do it) and we disqualify ourselves as unworthy and think we could never speak for God. As Paul said, “We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” (2 Corinthians 4:7) The vessel must be yielded, but otherwise it is remarkably insignificant.

I had the immense blessing of being raised in an environment of anything being possible for me. My parents set boundaries for me, but they never told me I didn’t have the ability to do anything it crossed my mind to try. That may have had an influence on my delay in receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, because I was trying to “get the gift of tongues,” instead of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit with faith and gratitude. The thing is, prophecy and all the other gifts must be empowered by the Holy Spirit or they are counterfeit. (The devil is eager to do that, by the way, if we keep pursuing the gift instead of the Giver.) It is significant, and a great blessing, that the way I knew God had indeed poured His Spirit into me was when I abruptly realized that for the first time in my life I was testifying of Jesus to a total stranger. I remembered Acts 1:8 and was filled with joy and gratitude. The gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12 came later, but I knew then, and know now, that without question Jesus pours His Spirit out on us so that we may be His witnesses. As a pastor it is my prayer and my goal that everyone in my flock would be active as witnesses, with whatever gifts God knows they need to do the task at hand, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this very clear exposition. I’ve got another sermon, and I haven’t preached the last one You gave me! Help me be faithful as a vessel, a steward, of all You’ve placed in me, so that it may accomplish Your purposes for it, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!