Secrets Unsealed

What Jesus Said

Stephen Bohr

1. The Word of God

2. The Unconditional Love of God

3. How Jesus Understood His Self Identity

4. Good and Evil

5. Moses and Jesus

6. Overcoming Life’s Mistakes

7. How to Pray

8. Family Values

9. Relief From Stress

10. History’s Greatest Hoax

11. Holy Spirit Baptism

12. Life and Death

13. Peace in the Middle East

14. The Rapture of the Saints

15. The Final Judgment

16. The End of Evil

17. The Secrets of Health and Wealth

18. The Return of Elijah

19. Religion and Politics

20. The Abomination of Desolation

21. The Unpardonable Sin

22. Prophets and Psychics

Now, tonight we're going to study, as you've seen in the list of topics, about prophets and psychics.

And what I would like to do is go back to right before the times of Christ, actually about 400 years before the coming of Christ.

The last prophet of the Old Testament was Malachi.

Malachi wrote approximately 425 years before Jesus Christ.

And after Malachi passed, Israel entered a period of her history which is known as the intertestamental period.

It was a period in which there was no prophetic voice.

It was a period during which the Jewish people were in great turmoil.

Many false writings appeared during this time.

In fact, you've probably heard the word apocrypha, books that were attributed to Abraham, to Enoch, to Moses, et cetera, but they were really forgeries.

People that just wrote the name of these heroes in the Old Testament to make people think that they were written by these great heroes of Hebrew history.

It was a period when the children of Israel more and more fell away from the truth as it's found in the Old Testament or as it was found in the Old Testament in those days.

So I think it's very important that we realize that when John the Baptist arises to fulfill his mission He does so after Israel has been in great turmoil.

They have been without a profit for over 400 years.

Errors have come into Judaism, like the idea of the immortality of the soul, among other things.

And so it was necessary for them to experience a revival and a reformation in preparation for the coming of the Messiah.

Now tonight what we want to do is study the mission and the message of John the Baptist.

We're going to discover something very interesting in our study tonight.

We're going to see that as John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Jesus, God has raised up in the world a prophet which has been called to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus.

It stands to reason that if God felt that it was necessary to raise up a prophet to prepare the world for the first coming of Jesus that God would raise up a prophet to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus.

So first of all, let's study about John the Baptist.

And those of you who are Seventh-day Adventists, you're going to find some amazing similarities.

I'm going to start seeing your heads nod like this.

You're going to say, wow, that's amazing.

You know, when I prepared for this presentation, I was amazed myself because I had never really seen the parallel between John the Baptist and the end time prophet that God was going to raise up in the world.

Now some of these texts that you have on your list, we are not going to read, I'm just going to refer to them.

Because basically, the text sometimes only mentions 1 very small characteristic that I want to underline, and it doesn't justify reading the whole text just for that 1 point.

But that's the reason why we give you the list of Bible texts, and that's the reason why we give you a copy of the lecture at the end of the meeting, so that You can go home and you can go through this list of Bible verses, you can compare it with what you have in the material that is handed out at the end, and you can catch an even clearer and more complete picture of what we studied than even sitting through the lecture here Now the first point that I would like to emphasize, besides the idea that much apostasy had entered Israel, besides the idea that there were a lot of apocryphal books and false prophets that came into the world before Jesus came, before John the Baptist was raised up by God.

Another point which I would like to emphasize is that the Bible tells us that John the Baptist did not perform any signs.

Now that's important because today many people think that in order for a prophet to be a prophet he has to perform great signs and wonders and miracles.

John the Baptist did not perform a single miracle or a single sign.

Let's notice that as it's found in the Gospel of John, chapter 10, John chapter 10, and verses 41 and 42.

It says here in John chapter 10 verse 41, Then many came to him and said, John performed No sign, but all the things that John spoke about this man were true, and many believed in him there.

So John the Baptist was a prophet, but he did not perform any supernatural sign.

Another important characteristic that we notice about John the Baptist is that John the Baptist did not write any book that is included in the Bible, interestingly enough.

And let me say that the Lord Jesus once said that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets.

In fact, let's notice that in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11.

Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11, Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets.

Here it says the following, Assuredly, I say to you, Among those who are born of women, There has not risen 1 greater than John the Baptist.

And then The Bible author Matthew says, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And the reason why he says that is because John the Baptist was not able to experience the ministry of Jesus Christ because he was in prison.

But the least in the kingdom saw the miracles of Jesus and heard the words of Jesus.

And so John the Baptist was the greatest of the prophets, but at the same time, the person who saw the whole ministry of Jesus and heard the teachings of Jesus was greater than he.

So I want you to notice that John the Baptist, even though according to Jesus he was the greatest of all the prophets, he never wrote a book that is included as part of the canon of Holy Scripture.

Another interesting characteristic which we notice about John the Baptist is that John the Baptist felt very uncomfortable when people called him a prophet.

Notice what it says in the Gospel of John chapter 1, John chapter 1 and let's read verses 19 through 24.

We're going to notice a few texts, very interesting texts in a few moments.

It says in verse 19, Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they asked him, what then, are you Elijah?

That we may give you an answer to those who sent us.

He says, I am the voice of 1 crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.

So John says, I'm not the Christ, I'm not Elijah, and I'm not the prophet to come.

Now this is kind of strange because Jesus said that he was Elijah.

The Lord Jesus says, and if you are willing, speaking about John, and if you are willing to receive it, he is what he is, Elijah, who is to come.

By the way, do you know which designation John the Baptist liked to call himself by?

He liked to call himself first, the voice of 1 crying in the wilderness, as we read.

But there's another name that John the Baptist had and which he enjoyed using.

Notice Matthew chapter 11 and verses 9 through 11.

Matthew chapter 11 and verses 9 through 11.

And by the way, Jesus is here speaking and he's going to say who John the Baptist is what his name is what his function is it says in verse 9 Jesus asking the multitudes but what did you go out to see a prophet yes I say to you and more than a prophet let me ask you was John the Baptist merely a prophet?

No, he was more than a prophet, according to this.

Now, notice what it continues saying, verse 10.

For this is he of whom it is written, behold I send my messenger.

Don't forget that word because it's very important.

Behold I send my messenger before your face.

That is to prepare the way for the Messiah who will prepare your way before you.

And he also wanted to be called a voice crying in the wilderness, according to Matthew chapter 3 and verses 1 through 3.

And we've noticed that he was more than a prophet.

His function was far greater than the function of 1 of the prophets of the Old Testament.

Now, why did John not want himself to be called a prophet?

I think 1 of the reasons is because there were many false prophets roaming around those days, and the designation prophet had a bad reputation.

A second reason is because, according to what we read, the role of John the Baptist was far greater than the role of an ordinary prophet, because his role was to prepare a people for the coming of the Lord.

But there was a third reason why John the Baptist did not want to be called a prophet, and that is because John the Baptist was a very humble man.

It says, it is he who coming after me is preferred before me whose sandal strap I am not worthy to what I am not worthy to lose in other words John the Baptist for 3 reasons did not want to be designated a prophet even though Jesus said he was the greatest of the prophets.

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Series

What Jesus Said

22. Prophets and Psychics

Transcript

Parent Series

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Recorded

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17. Prophetic Movement at End Time

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Prophetic Movement at End Time

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The Spirit of Prophecy Matters

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When Stones Cry Out

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Fundamentally Flawed? Considering Challenges to Truth

Trinity

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Ellen G. White Exposed (Prophet or Pretender)

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Restoration 2006: Prepare Me

Griping Over God’s Gifts: A Prophet or a Loss

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Ellen White Under Fire

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Ellen White and New Believers

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EGW vs WWW

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Why am I a Seventh-Day Adventist?

04 What Makes the Devil Angry?

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Sound Doctrine