What does prophecy in Scripture mean exactly?

Student's Question..."Can I know what Prophecy exactly mean, It is said Saul Prophesied with a company of prophets , It is also said King David appointed Prophets( Can somebody appoint Prophets ?),It is also said that the spirit of Moses was poured on 70 elders who prophesied (What did they prophesise about) Kindly give me some detailed description of what is prophecy and what they mean in different passages of the Bible."

You have asked a general question and many specific questions. As you probably are aware by now, Becker Bible Studies Teachers start with big concepts and work down to very specific explanations; in fact, our studies bring focus to the smallest points of Scripture to reach deep understanding and mysteries that is normally overlooked in the study of general Scripture.

As tempted as I am to explain the specific instances that you bring up, I would be doing you a disservice. Because your questions begin with a lack of knowledge of what a Prophet really is, lets start there. This will be a large lesson in itself. Then if you are still interested in going deeper, write me another letter, and we will take it from there. By the way...welcome to Guided Bible Studies for Hungry Christians!

Definition of Prophecy

The word "prophet" derives from the Greek word "to announce." A prophet of the LORD God spoke His words. The prophet spoke the words of God, not his own. He was a mouthpiece which God declared His message to men.

Now prophecy has both a broad and a narrow meaning. The broad meaning can be defined as to "forth-tell", and the narrow meaning means to "fore-tell."

Often in today's spiritual gatherings, especially in the Pentecostal churches, the broad meaning of prophecy is common, as they "forth-tell" the messages they believe the Holy Spirit is revealing to them. A good way of understanding the general from the specific is to realize that forth-telling involves knowing the Will of God, and "fore-telling" contains insight into the future plans of God. Forth-telling challenges and exhorts men to accomplish the Will of God, fore-telling predicts the future and prepares the believer for the things to come.

The specific meaning of prophecy as used in Old Testament times, is much more limited in nature...it actually meant that the LORD God was speaking through certain men prophets, and giving them special words to deliver that would "fore-tell" things that were going to happen in the future. It is these supernatural predictions that both strongly prove that the Bible is the Word of God, and also provide the framework for the things to come that Christians must watch for.

Old Testament Prophets

There are 17 "writing" Prophets books in the Old Testament.

The five major prophecy books are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentation, Daniel, and Ezekiel.

The twelve minor prophets include Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Most of the writing prophets fit into II Kings, Jeremiah’s Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel, however, come during the seventy-year captivity; Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi prophesied after the captivity during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The Purpose of Old Testament Prophecy

The books of prophecy stress the future messianic life of Israel. They proclaim the coming of Jesus Christ as the coming King (Zech 9;9), the "Anointed One" (Daniel 9:26) the "Prince of Peace" (Isa 9:6) and the "Son of Righteousness" (Mal 4:2.) They tell about Jesus Christ dying (Isa 53, and reigning forever (Isa 9:7.) Old Testament Prophets announce Christ's birth by a virgin (Isa 7:14), in the city of Bethlehem (Mic 5:2), His Crucifixion (Zech 12:10), and His coming kingdom (Dan 2:44; 7:13-14)

The books of prophecy look forward to Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah. Old Testament prophecy accurately predicts the unfolding Will of the LORD God, because it is His words given to His chosen prophets to reveal. Jesus Christ is the center and the spirit of every prophecy spoken by the LORD God through His prophets. The anticipation of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament through prophecy became the realization of Christ in the New Testament through witness.

Four hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, prophecy stopped. This period of quiet is known as the "silent years" when God did not speak through the Prophets of Israel, but rather began the work on the Gentiles to prepare them “when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son.” (Gal 4:4)

The rest of the story becomes Prophecy fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of the LORD God, whom was existent before the creation of the world. (John 1:1.) Prophecy is the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Kathy L. McFarland