於2011-10-25發佈

 當異教徒看見先知性話語應驗時

正如我們先前曾談論過的,主賜下預言絕不是為了建立教義,聖經是教義的唯一來源。預言有可能是為了顯明主的策略或戰略旨意,卻絕不是為了建立教義。因此,我們對一些事情的基本瞭解,例如神的審判,一定要來自聖經,而非來自預言,更不是來自我們個人意見、渴望或偏見。 

有些人認為若他們正確預測一件事,懷疑者便會相信神,事實上卻很少如此。當耶穌行一些最大的神蹟時,只不過使律法主義者更加憤怒,使他們想要殺掉耶穌。最好的方式就是不要去猜想人們會如何回應先知性的話語,而是讓我們單單順服,讓主使用這些話語如同祂的旨意。通常當人接待我們如先知的同時,也會有許多人抵擋我們,在先知領域中容不下自我野心,其只會扭曲我們的事奉。 

我們也很少看見人們轉向主是因為預言蒙應驗;是有一些例子,在聖經中也有一些很棒的例子,如拿但業和井邊的婦人受到主耶穌知識的言語折服。即便如此,用預言或說服力不太能帶人信主;要信主需要聖靈在我們裡面工作,讓我們認自己的罪,然後再彰顯出耶穌和十字架是我們罪孽的唯一解藥。神蹟、蒙應驗的預言,或最具說服力的爭論有其角色,但要來到耶穌面前,這人必須藉由聖靈來被天父吸引。 

在啟示錄裡我們也看到,當神的審判臨到地上時,大部分人會咒詛神而非轉向祂。在這些時候,當邪惡完全彰顯出來,以致於『黑暗遮蓋大地,幽暗遮蓋萬民』(以賽亞書60:2人變得越來越冷酷無情,使我們無法期待合理或講道理的人。主與新約使徒和先知早就預言,末後會有無法的事與人心冷淡;因此,我們可以預期會有更多的狂怒而非更多的悔改。我不是想要使人灰心喪膽,而是當我們因順服先知性話語而成為出口時,我們需要除去我們的期待。

 (摘自喬納 word for the week, Week 40, 2011)

 

The Judgments of God, Part 3

When Unbelievers See Prophetic Words Fulfilled

Week 40, 2011

As we have covered, prophecy is never given to establish doctrine. The Bible is the only source of doctrine. Prophecy may be given to reveal the strategic or tactical will of the Lord but never for establishing doctrine. Therefore, our basic understanding of things such as God’s judgments must come from the Scriptures, not prophecies, and certainly not from our own opinions, desires, or prejudices. 

Some also think that if they accurately predict an event, then the doubters will believe. This seems to rarely be the case. When Jesus performed some of His greatest miracles, it only enraged the legalists more, so that they wanted to kill Him. It is good to not speculate about how people will respond to the prophetic, but rather keep our devotion to simple obedience, and let the Lord use them as He will. Usually for everyone who receives us as a prophet there will be many who reject us, so selfish ambition has no place in the prophetic and will only distort our ministry to the degree that it gets in.

We also rarely see people coming to the Lord because of prophecies being fulfilled. There are cases, and we have some great biblical examples with the way Nathanael and the woman at the well were persuaded concerning Jesus by words of knowledge. Even so, convincing people through prophecy or intellectual persuasion is not what usually brings people to Jesus. To come to Jesus requires the Holy Spirit to move on us to convict us of our sins, and then to reveal Jesus and the cross, the only remedy for our sins. Miracles, fulfilled prophecies, or the most persuasive arguments have their place, but to come to Jesus, one must be drawn by the Father through the Holy Spirit. 

We also see in the Book of Revelation that when the judgments of God come upon the earth, most will curse God instead of turn to Him. In these times, when evil is coming to its full maturity so that “darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples,” (see Isaiah 60:2), there is such a hardness growing that we cannot expect reason or reasonable people. The Lord and the New Testament apostles and prophets predicted such lawlessness and hardness of heart. Therefore, we can expect increasing rage rather than repentance. I am not trying to be discouraging, but rather to remove our expectations from being a factor in our obedience with the prophetic.