The New Testament lists, along with the evangelist, pastor and teacher, the ministry of the prophet. It is extremely difficult to find anything being said or written nowadays on that ministry. The work of the New Testament prophet is shrouded in indefiniteness and lost in a fog of haziness. We know the old definition, "A forthteller rather than a foreteller." We apply the term generally to preachers as spokesmen for God. But here is a distinctive calling separate from that of evangelist, pastor, or teacher. There have never been many prophets, and the supply is low today. Never was the need greater and the supply smaller than today.
The prophet is a voice in the wilderness. It is his business to sound the trumpet, proclaim the ideal, not work on details or set up a program. He does not devise ways and means. Others are gifted along that line. He does not belong on boards and committees. He is a solitary soul and does his best work alone. He is no parrot, puppet or promoter. He is nothing but a prophet, and if he tries to be anything else he is an embarrassment to himself and to everybody else. He is not popular with politicians either in state or church. He is not cowed by dignitaries, and will call Herod a fox if occasion demands. He is an unreconstructed rebel, an odd number in a day of regimentation. He has no more patience with mere religion than Isaiah had when he thundered or Amos when he called on Israel to come to Bethel. It is his business to say what others can not, will not, or at least do not say. The politician has his eye on the next election instead of the nations welfare. It is possible for a preacher to get his mind on promotion, the next rung of the ladder, a high seat in the synagogue, and being called a rabbi. The prophet has no axe to grind. For him the grass is no greener in the next pasture, nor does he seek any man's office.
We are looking for scholars, specialists, socializers, showmen. We need some seers who, like Isaiah, have seen God in His holiness, themselves in their sinfulness, and the land in its uncleanness. The prophet does not pack the house, nor produce impressive statistics. He may get but poor response, but whether they hear or not, his listeners will know that a prophet hath been among them. People do not crowd churches to hear prophets. An age of ear-itch seeks not troublers of Israel.
The Prophet is not popular with the pharisees. "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" "Ye are the children of them that killed the prophets" . . . so said the greatest of the prophets to the pharisees of His day. From Abel to Zacharias, He said, prophets have been stoned while living and honored when dead. Be not misled by monuments; they may be the gesture of one generation to cover up the crimes of their fathers.
The Prophet is not popular at home. In all four gospels we read our Lord's pronouncement, "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country and in his own house." Strange that any modern prophet should expect to fare better than his Lord.
But prophets do have their reward, and so do those who befriend them, even with a cup of cool water. God will not overlook the "prophets chamber," where his unpopular servants have been made to feel at home. There have not been many candidates for Elijah's mantle. His path is not easy. There are many ways of getting rid of prophets. John the Baptist's head is not brought in on a charger these days, there are smoother and more adroit ways of hushing up lone dissenters like Micaiah these days. Some can even be promoted into silence. Success has stopped some mouths when persecution failed.
Like John the Baptist the prophet is out to pull down the high places, build up low places and make a way for the Lord. His business is not interpretation but application. He does not lecture on mustard, he makes a mustard poultice and lays it next to the trouble. Others may comfort when afflicted, but he must afflict the comfortable. We are trying to accomplish now by pep, publicity, propaganda, and promotion what once was done by preaching. The woods are full of trained personnel, but none of these things can save us if the prophets disappear.
Any young Elisha in line for Elijah's mantle will need the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinocerous. He may irk those who like to preserve the status quo, for he is a distributer of Israel, but no one else can take his place in the divine economy.
May these lines fall under the eyes of some Samuel who will hear what the Lord says and who will speak what he hears. There is not much prospect as to pay, promotion, or prestige. But there has always been "yet one man" who will scorn the hatred of Ahab and seek the honor of God.