Prophets

"Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again. But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp. So a young man ran and told Moses and said, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.' Then Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, 'Moses, my lord, restrain them.' But Moses said to him, 'Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!'" -Numbers 11.25-29

The people are complaining, and God is going to give Moses some help in dealing with them. He will take from the Spirit that is upon Moses, and place Him upon seventy elders of Israel. When that happens the elders begin to prophesy because of the Spirit upon them. Two of the elders had not been present, but still received the Spirit and were out prophesying. When they are heard Joshua is concerned and tells Moses that he should put an end to it. But Moses doesn't do that. He tells Joshua not be jealous for him, but to hope that all of God's people would be prophets, because that would mean the Spirit of God was upon them.

Moses did not have the desire to be God's only spokesman. He didn't have a complex that made him upset when others shared messages from God. It is important to note that Moses is not concerned about the message they are sharing because he knows that it is coming from the Spirit of the Lord. You can bet that if it had been from anything else he would have ended it immediately. Remember his actions with the Golden Calf? Had this been false prophecy the two men sharing it would most likely have been put to death. But that isn't what happens here, because these prophecies are from God.

Men, there are a few things to see from this passage. One, whose message are you proclaiming? Are you full of God's Spirit and proclaiming His messages to the people around you, or are the words you share coming from somewhere else? Two, do you rejoice when, and encourage, others to share the messages they get from God? Do you want others to share what God is teaching them? Are you ok when their message bears more fruit than your's? Third, do you know the Spirit of God well enough to be able to distinguish what is from God and what isn't? Do you know God enough to know what is from Him and what is false?

Let us be filled with the Spirit so that we may share the messages of God that the world desperately needs to share. Let us rejoice when others do the same, and let us long for others to be filled with the Spirit so that they can share the truth. Let us know the truth so that we can distinguish what is false. Let us be filled with the Spirit so that we can communicate what God has said to the world. Let us be prophets.

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor