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Characteristics and functions of the prophetic office

1) Ministry of foundation
(Ephesians 2:20).

Prophets, together with apostles, are those charged with laying a correct foundation, that which is Christ. They are NOT the foundation, but rather “lay” the foundation, bringing believers to a clearer comprehension of the person of Christ.

Thanks to the authority received from the mantle of Christ, the prophets have been called to lay an adequate foundation for the Church. There is no more important function among their duties than this, since the Church based on the truth of the Word revealed by the Spirit is a church that will achieve a greater dimension and authority on the face of the Earth.

2) Perfecting the saints
(Ephesians 4:12).

This is the integral work of the prophetic ministry that's realized in conjunction with the other four ministries. “Perfecting” has to do with: making adequate, preparing, training and fully qualifying for service. The original idea of the word has two meanings:

a) To recuperate integrity, such as what happens to a fractured bone when it fuses back together after the limb is placed in a cast.

b) To compete the function of a member as it presently is.

3) To have governmental authority over demonic realms and the Church of Christ 
(Jeremiah 1:10)

The prophetic ministry has been blessed by God with a special authority that encompasses the earth (nations) and the celestial realms (kingdoms).

Frequently the battle is between the things of the flesh that war against the spirit; other times, it's against demonic spirits that govern over celestial regions.

The first four actions mentioned in the verse have to do with that which has erred and been twisted contrary to the will and lordship of Christ.

Without exercising these first four actions, it's not possible to complete the last two, which involve all that originates with the Holy Spirit and is based on the person of Jesus Christ.

This facet of the prophetic ministry is not well received at times by the Body of Christ since it affects all the religious and deteriorated structures of the Church. There are forms and methods within the Church that possibly were useful at one time, but now have simply become traditions of men that impede the flow of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible says in Hebrews 8:13
It's not possible to maintain traditions and structures that are contrary to the Spirit of God. It's imperative that we live permanently in “the newness of life,” as the scripture says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

The word “new” in the original Greek literally means “unused” “fresh” or “novel.” The word designates something new as far as its form or quality rather than its relationship with age.

That's the reason that a prophet has been given the authority by God to uproot, destroy, ruin and tear down all that the Church has been doing in contrary to the Spirit: that which is old and needs to disappear. These things are that which has become the misplaced foundation of the modern-day Church.

Only when all this is undone by the prophetic authority will it be possible for the Church to have the only foundation that it should have never built beyond: Christ. From that moment on, the Church “can be in Christ” in order to enjoy the newness of life brought by the Holy Spirit and His government.

4) Bringing revelation
(Amos 3:7; Ephesians 3:5):

The Lord holds his prophets in such esteem that the Bible declares that He does nothing without first revealing it to them.

Revelation has a two-fold purpose:

a) Making known the plans and purposes of God to a person, family, congregation, people or a nation.

b) Providing a special understanding of the Holy Scriptures for the comprehension of the Church.

Both aspects are interrelated and one without the other cannot thrive. Believers frequently want to know the purposes and plans that God has for them, but without a clear comprehension of the Scriptures, they tend to try and fulfill the will of God by their own efforts.

The Lord will never fulfill a specific prophetic word in a way that's contrary to His Word.

5) Moving in the spiritual gifts

The gift of prophecy is implicit in the prophetic ministry, and through a prophet one can receive edification, exhortation and consolation.

It's also normal to see other spiritual gifts operating in the prophetic ministry such as words of knowledge, words of wisdom, words of faith, gifts of healing, etc.

6) Prophetic confirmation
(Acts 15:32):

To confirm signifies: to strengthen, establish and build a foundation over something.

When a prophet ministers, believers will feel steady and firm, growing in the works of the Lord (1st Corinthians 15:58).
One of the results of confirmation is that believers are established in their faith and in their firm beliefs in the Lord and his doctrine.

Confirmation also dispels doubts and indecisiveness, etc.
And lastly, confirmation is an additional testimony of what the Lord's will is for his plans and purposes.

7) Foretelling the future
(Acts 11:28, 21:10-11, 33):

This is the “seer” (RO'EH) characteristic of the prophet, since he or she can “see” the future of something or someone by Holy Spirit revelation.

8) Well preparing a people for the Lord
(Luke 1:13-17):

The prophetic ministry prepares the Church for its encounter with the Lord, denouncing sin, proclaiming justice, bringing restoration and true conversion.

Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of Jesus, God is raising up a company of prophets to prepare the way for the second coming of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

9) Prophetic impartation
(1st Timothy 1:18, 4:14; Romans 1:11):

The word impart implies “giving, sharing, conceding.”

Thanks to its anointing, the prophetic ministry has the capacity to impart gifts and anointing to the people of God in order to confirm the work and the function of the saints within the Body of Christ.

This impartation is done via prophecy and the laying on of hands.

10) Prophetic activation
(Ezekiel 37:10; Acts 13:1-3):

A prophet has the anointing to minister the supernatural breath of the Holy Spirit on the gifts and ministries of believers, as well as the life of the Spirit over all the Body of Christ.

Through the prophetic ministry, the Church can take its true place and correct position in order to implant the Kingdom of Heaven on the Earth.

The prophetic ministry also activates the ministerial gifts in the Body of Christ and then sends the ministers out into the field.

It's important to note that the laying on of hands is done by a Presbytery; that is, by a group of elders, of mature men, whose characteristics are dignity, wisdom and maturity.




How prophets must act within the local church

The presence of prophets in the local church doesn't mean that they can do whatever they want and in any manner of their choosing. The Word establishes an order of ministry for the prophets within the local church, in agreement with 1st Corinthians 14:29-33:

• Vs 29: “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said.” The prophets who are listening to the people prophesying have the capacity to discern the spirit behind the prophecies.

• Vs 30: When the revelation is flowing, all the prophets can receive it and then speak about what the Holy Spirit is saying.

• Vs 31: All prophecies should be given one at a time, and in that way everyone can learn and be exhorted (not just the prophets, but all the believers present as well).

• Vs 32: It's not true that a prophet cannot control or contain the prophecy within; the spirit is always subject to the prophet. He or she can wait, speak or stop whenever necessary. If not, those who prophesy will create disorder.

• Vs 33: This behavior on the part of the prophets (or those who prophesy) demonstrates that God is a God of peace and not of confusion.

How to recognize false prophets

This topic is discussed frequently in the Body of Christ because most of the time we use erroneous parameters to judge whether a prophet is true or false. Due to this very error, there are many confused believers who don't even want to talk about prophets. Nevertheless, the Bible offers a clear and precise teaching in respect to them.
We'll begin with the words of Jesus, who spoke of prophets and how to recognize them.

In the passage of Mathew 7:15-20, we can find certain characteristics of false prophets, such as:

•   They dress up like sheep; in other words, they have an external appearance of piety and friendliness.
•   But on the inside, they're like ferocious wolves; on the inside, they're looking for whom they can devour by their falsehood and trickery.

If these are characteristics then, how will we be able to recognize them? The answer is clear: “by their fruit.”

In the original Greek, that expression means “the visible manifestation of the power that works internally or invisibly, with the character of the fruit serving as the evidence of the character of the power that produced it” (An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, W.E. Vine).

This clarification of the meaning of this expression shows that if the power that moves a prophet is bad in essence, then the fruit will also be bad. That's what makes him or her a false prophet.

All aspects of a prophet's life need to be evaluated, for example: personal, marital, familiar and ministerial aspects. It's necessary to observe the prophet's level of maturity, the message, his or her motivation or objectives, interdependence, morality and handling of finances. These are all things that demonstrate the class of the prophet who is ministering.

Another very revealing passage that concurs with the teachings of Jesus is that of Deuteronomy 13:1-5. Here, it says that a prophet can rise up and give a prophetic word or dream and demonstrate signs and wonders, which can all come to pass.

We could try and use that criterion to decide if a prophet is true or false. But the evaluation doesn't need to be made only on the fact that his or her words come true, but rather on what the prophet's ministry produces in the lives of the recipients.

In this particular case, the prophet is leading the hearts of the people astray towards foreign gods, when his or her true purpose should be leading people towards Jesus Christ and giving all the glory to God.

It's very important to notice that God allows the intervention of this false prophet because he has an objective: “The LORD your God is testing you…” The inclination of the human heart is twisted, as far as the desire to exclusively know about the future. But we need to be willing to receive all of the ministry of a prophet because the Lord always wants to bless his children.

Deuteronomy 18: 18-22 reveals once again that a false prophet doesn't necessarily have to give a prophecy that doesn't come true in order to be categorized as such. Rather, he or she must have guided people towards false gods.

Yes, a prophet can speak in the name of the Lord, but his prophetic word not come to pass because the Lord did not speak that particular word. If this is the case, the prophet has spoken presumptuously (with pride or arrogance), but it doesn't necessarily mean that he or she is a false prophet.

To bring this crucial topic to a close, it's necessary to analyze 1 John 4:1, which says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

A mature attitude on the part of the Body of Christ is needed to be able to test the spirits that motivate the prophets—whether true or false—to act.

The word test has to do with: knowing how to distinguish, to examine or to prove. In this way, spirit-filled believers will be able to distinguish what kind of spirit is directing a prophet.

The ultimate purpose of this teaching is so that we'll be able to evaluate a prophet as true or false, not just by what he or she says, but rather “is.”




Types of apostles and prophets in the Old Testament

In the Old Testament, there are various references of the apostolic and prophetic functions that can guide us as examples. We will analyze just one in order to understand the cooperative work of these ministries and how both have been called by God to lay the foundation of the Church.

In Zechariah 4: 1-9, we see the prophet receiving a revelation from the Lord for the life of Zerubbabel. As a prophet, Zechariah needed to encourage Zerubbabel, showing him the plans and purposes the Lord had for his life: to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Zerubbabel must begin laying the foundation, which represents a clear apostolic work. Just like with modern-day prophets, the work cannot be done with human effort or personal ability alone; it requires the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the first two verses of chapter five of the Book of Ezrah, we see a fulfillment of the previous passage. This time we see Zechariah working in conjunction with the prophet Haggai, bringing the word of the Lord to the people. This word encouraged the Jews to finish the work of reconstruction. What's noteworthy is that Zerubbabel, along with Jesus or Joshua, began the apostolic labor of laying the foundation, and once begun, the prophets helped in the same work of rebuilding.

The apostolic and prophetic ministries are what make profound changes in the life of the Church, causing it to have a solid foundation and recognize its position before the Lord.




The powerful union of apostles and prophets

The Holy Spirit is now restoring in these last days that which was in the heart of God when he initiated the Church. There's no greater blessing for the Church than to understand and be subject to its theocratic government. In this way, the union of apostles and prophets will take the Church to a higher dimension, allowing it to represent, as a whole, the Lord in all the Earth.

First Corinthians 12:28 says: “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets,…” Here we see the order put in place by God.

The apostles first, and the prophets secondly, are the highest ministerial gifts in the hierarchy of the Church. They both exercise great authority in the spiritual realm.

The work of laying the foundation referred to in Ephesians 2:20 carries the underlying meaning of fighting against a system of beliefs and patterns of thinking. The apostles and prophets must always challenge the previously established ways of society, culture, education, the family, religion and mediocrity, etc.

With this authority delegated by God, the apostles and prophets can challenge all the erroneous foundations laid by man and the demonic forces that sustain them, in order to undo what's of mankind and establish the divine.

Due to the fact that they are foundational ministries, the apostles and prophets need a special anointing in order to bring the church to a higher spiritual level.

Ephesians 3:5 says:
It's interesting to note that the apostles and prophets in perfect unity bring a supernatural revelation of the Spirit to the Church: making known the mysteries of God and giving believers a clear understanding of the plans and purposes of God.

Without this revelation, the vision of believers would be very limited, causing them to miss the chance of attaining to all the fullness that the Spirit desires for them to walk in.

This is a blessed time for the Church, in which its members will be challenged to break away from all the traditions of men and mount up with wings as eagles to soar to new spiritual heights, and be filled with the “fullness of him who fills everything in every way (Ephesians 1:23).