It was their duty to protest against mere formalism, to stress moral duty, to urge the necessity of spiritual service, and to promote the interests of truth and righteousness. If the people departed from the path of duty, they had to call them back to the law and to the testimony, and to announce the coming terror of the LORD upon the wicked. But their work was also intimately related to the promise, the gracious promises of God for the future (Systematic Theology, 1938).

God speaks words. God speaks his words through his spokesmen the prophets. Christianity rests upon these two facts. It stands or falls by them.

It is crucial, then, to be clear about what prophecy is. And to take great care to distinguish true prophecy from false. Confused ideas will make God’s words, as bright and sharp as a katana, dull and blunt to us. They will white-ant the framework of our faith.

General and Special Revelation

God has revealed himself to humanity in two ways. He has revealed himself generally – to all peoples at all times – in his creation:

The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;

night after night they reveal knowledge (Psalm 19:1–2).

This is God’s general revelation.

He has also revealed himself to particular people at particular times in special ways: by signs and wonders, and by words.

This is God’s special revelation.

Exodus 4:1–9 shows God’s special revelation by signs and wonders; verses 10 to 17 show his special revelation by words. Verses 1 to 9 define the nature and purpose of miracles; verses 10 to 17 do exactly that for prophecy. Verses 1 to 9 forewarn us against false miracles; verses 10 to 17 forewarn us against false prophets.

When I was examining the Christian faith in the early nineties charismatic self-styled prophets like (the later-disgraced) Paul Cain visited Australia and sowed enormous confusion about prophecy. The supposed New Apostolic Reformation stirs up even more misunderstanding today.

We must return again and again to the Bible to learn precisely how God himself defines prophets and prophecy.

Exodus 4:10–17

I have modified the NIV to draw out the gritty hebraisms of the original:

Exodus 4:10 Moses said to Yahweh, “Please, my Lord. I have never been a man of words, neither in the past nor since the day before yesterday [literally “three days ago”] from when you have spoken to your servant. I am slow/heavy of mouth/speech and slow/heavy of tongue.”

Aged forty Moses had tried – boldly, pre-emptively – to detonate a Hebrew insurrection. God had since humbled him.

How can he represent God before Pharaoh and Israel with such a “heavy” mouth and tongue, if words do not trip lightly from his mouth? Walter Kaiser explains that Moses’ worry was not a stutter, but proper communication in Hebrew and Late Egyptian.

Exodus 4:11–12 Yahweh said to him, “Who has made a mouth for the man (אדם, ādām)? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12Now go; I will be with your mouth and will help/throw to you/direct you/teach you what to say.”

God made Moses and his mouth. He can help Moses say what he has commanded him to say. Help translates yārāh (ירה), which is related to the noun torah (תורה), “instruction.” Calvin soberly observes that though God’s servants “are in themselves good for nothing, he forms and prepares them for his work.” It is God’s way to work through jars of clay to make his all-surpassing power seen. He would make Balaam’s donkey speak and he could do the same for Moses. (On many an early Sunday morning I have prayed: “LORD, you spoke through a donkey once . . . .”)

Centuries later Jesus comforted his disciples as they faced hostile interrogation: “Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say” (Mat 10:19–20).

Human limitations do not limit God.

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