02.08 - Results of the Prophets Inspiration

(8) Results of the Prophet’s Inspiration The action of the Spirit being enlightening, vital, and spiritual, must result in spiritual insight and foresight; or in deeper, larger views of moral and spiritual truth. Hence one result is the fuller knowledge and experience of “ ethico-religious truths.” The truth made known, the nature of the message received from God, the purposes contemplated and the ends furthered, are ethical and religious. This ethicoreligious insight, as the outcome of divine inspiration, was not the mere quickening of the moral and reli gious consciousness of the prophet into activity, but there was the apprehension, the appropriating and communicating of moral and religious truth before unknown, and which, apart from this inspiration could not have been known. The prophet not only received and apprehended the truth, but had an insight into its meaning and bearing upon the nation, the kingdom and purpose of God in the world, that enabled him to declare it as the mind and purpose of God for the race.

Another result was the stirring of the emotions and feelings of the prophet, which resulted in considerable mental agitation and emotional excitement.

It was to be expected that as the mental and spir itual nature of the prophet was stirred and actuated by the Spirit of God, and new and enlarged views of truth possessed his mind, and he saw into their present and future bearings, there would be great emotional excitement. The prophet must have entered into a sympathetic relation with the truth as it concerned God and man, and as being the message of the Eternal to the people, so when he uttered threatenings of divine wrath and judgment upon their idolatries and sins, or pronounced the divine favour and promise of reward upon their repentance and obedience, or shared in the gracious purposes of divine revelation and redemption, he could but have his emotions greatly stirred. The feelings of awe, reverence, and godly fear, that came of contact with God; the burden of the message of the Eternal that was heavy upon him; the shrinking of the soul from the awful presence of the divine holiness, and the profound sympathy and affection the prophet felt for his own nation and people under chastisement; the joy with which he would deliver the promise o reward and the assurance of victory over their enemies, and the sorrow and dread with which he would declare the judgments of God upon their idolatries and sins, would necessarily fill his mind and soul with strangest excitement.

There was not only mental and emotional excitement, but at times the strongest physical agitation was associated with divine inspiration. Whether this excitement was largely a reflection of the heathen mantic, of the times in which the prophet lived or not, it was a marked feature in the earlier stages of prophecy, and with the lower orders of prophets. Hence the conduct of Saul and of his servants at Naioth, when the Spirit came upon them and they prophesied “ they stripped themselves naked and fell prostrate to the ground.” Balaam in his vision of the Lord “ fell down before Him having his eyes open.” Other of the prophets when they saw the Lord and heard His voice “ fell upon their faces,” while at other times great physical excitement and agitation possessed them, until their “ bones shook,” and “ rottenness entered their bones,” “trembling took hold upon them,” “the hair of their flesh stood up,” they “reeled and staggered like drunken men,” were affrighted, frenzied, and fainted. From these expressions it will be seen how strong was the physical agitation that came upon the prophets, how overpowering and arbitrary was the impulse that seized them, and how real was the involuntary action associated with divine inspiration. How much of it is attributable to the age, to habit, character, and temperament, we affect not to say; but we must not conclude that Hebrew prophecy was nothing better than heathen mantic, or was little else than a state of frenzy and madness. The differences between heathen mantic and Hebrew prophecy were great, while the resemblances were only slight. The condition and action of the Hebrew prophet were involuntary, those of the heathen prophet were voluntary and simulated. The latter used external means for the purpose of producing the excitement, and so worked himself into a state of frenzy, in which condition he claimed to receive special revelations, after the fashion of the Hebrew prophets when borne along by the Holy Ghost. The physical excitement of the heathen prophet was not only self-produced, but it was marked by the wildest extravagance and frantic asseveration and shouting, that it had the appearance of mere raving; but not so with the Hebrew prophet.

There was a divine manifestation, an objective presence, a spiritual force that possessed him, while a voice spake to him and a message was given him which he was constrained to declare. The heathen prophet was not only frenzied and lost self-control, but he attained to no prophetic truth, and received no revelation which he could communicate; while the prophet of the Lord retained his senses and received communications of truth which he understood and declared to the people. With the heathen prophet mantic and ecstasy were essential conditions of prophecy, but not so with the Hebrew prophet. It was no essential condition of divine inspiration and revelation, but merely incidental and occasional; and, in the case of the latter and greater prophets, was exceedingly rare. To them God spake face to face; the word of the Lord was heard by them and openly and consciously received. Sometimes the message came while praying and waiting upon God, and was revealed to the inner consciousness and thought of the prophet.