The heatwaves have passed, and I can think again! During the hottest days my brain shut down, but it feels like it has defragged and started up again.
There is an idea that has been at the back of my mind for a while, and my conclusion is we may be handling prophetic revelation with a map that is too small.
Andy Burnham stepped up to the mark today, taking over the reins from Keir Starmer. Typically, with any handover comes change. A new cabinet, new priorities, a few things done differently. That’s how it goes when one man builds on the work of another. Now, I am not taking over from my friend John Paul Jackson. Nobody could. But I like to think he would welcome a little tweaking of the well-known framework he left us.
John Paul gave the prophetic bods a real gift with his idea of revelation, interpretation and application. It taught believers that were eagerly desiring the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophesy (isn’t that meant to be all believers?)that receiving a word from God is only the first step. A word can be genuine and still be misunderstood, or mishandled.
The idea has been, and continues to be helpful but it carries a quiet assumption, and assumptions are where the wheels come off and fail us. It assumes the revelation came from God in the first place. It moves straight from receiving to interpreting, with no moment to test the source. And once the word has been applied, the framework is finished. There is no place in it where the body of Christ weighs what was said. No accountability. The three stages describe what happens inside the prophet. They say nothing about what should happen among the people of God. I’m not being picky. It’s important.
It matters to me, because I am a reformed charismatic. I want to do it right. I expect God to speak today and also know my own heart, and Scripture’s sober assessment of it. So I want a pattern that carries both convictions at once: full expectation that the Spirit is speaking, and full submission of every word to Scripture and to the church. The longer I sit with the Bible, the more I believe that pattern is already there. Not three stages. Five.
Reception. Discernment. Interpretation. Stewardship. Weighing & outworking.
I know it’s not as easy to remember as John Paul’s but it’s worth the work. It starts where it must. God speaks; Samuel heard his name in the night, Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, Peter fell into a trance on a rooftop in Joppa and John received the Revelation of Jesus Christ in exile on Patmos. None of them initiated the encounter or experience. They received what God chose to reveal. Prophecy always begins with his initiative, never ours. It’s never been a gift on demand. Perhaps that is wrapped up in that phrase, “Eagerly desire” not ‘just do it!’
Obviously, receiving a revelation is not the same as understanding it. It is not even the same as knowing where it came from, and for that reason Scripture keeps calling us to discernment. ‘Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Test everything; hold fast what is good.’ Before we ask what a word means, it’s useful to ask or be mindful of where it has come from. As believers it’s important to us that every revelation is in keeping with Scripture or it goes no further.
Only then do we interpret. Even the prophets found this humbling! Daniel confessed, “I heard, but I did not understand”. Peter tells us the prophets of old searched and inquired carefully into the very things the Spirit had shown them. The revelation was perfect and amazing, but their grasp of it wasn’t. I can relate!
Then comes stewardship, and I think this is where many prophetic words are lost. Paul says it’s required of stewards that they be found faithful. A revelation is not information. It is a trust – what are we to do with what we have been shown? Think of Mary. She didn’t rush to explain what God was doing around the birth of her son, instead she treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. Some words are for declaring today. Others are for carrying in prayer for months, even years, until God’s timing comes clear.
Then weighing. The New Testament never places prophecy beyond question. There is something healthy about the encouragement of scripture, ”let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.” Healthy prophetic ministry welcomes that weighing, because truth matters more than reputation. We are not called to defend our words. We are called to submit them to the wisdom of the body of Christ. It’s our safety net, both for the Church and for the one prophesying!
A small aside – sometimes we are carrying a word, and someone comes to the front with something similar. The temptation is to say, it confirms what we have, and take the platform but it is better the other way round. Let our word confirm theirs, and let them share it. Generosity of spirit.
And finally, outworking. God doesn’t speak to entertain our curiosity. He speaks to produce faith and obedience. Noah built. Joseph stored grain. Agabus warned of famine, and the churches prepared. James tells us to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, and though he is speaking of God’s word broadly, the principle holds. Revelation has not reached its goal until it becomes faith and obedience.
The prophetic is never measured by how dramatic the revelation was. It is measured by how faithfully God’s people receive it, discern it, interpret it, steward it, weigh it, and live it out.
Maybe that is the pattern Scripture has been pointing us towards all along?