CHAPTER SEVEN

More about the Greater Gifts

A Word of Knowledge

THE BIBLE is full of instances where a man of God was likely to be deceived, and needed to be told the facts of the case by the Spirit of God. Thus Ahijah was warned about the visit of Jeroboam's wife (1 Kings 14:5), and Elisha was shown Gehazi's treachery and dismissed him, who then took up service in the King's court (2 Kings 5:20-27; 8:4). And in Acts 5:1-9, God saved the early Church from the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira which was calculated to destroy the beautiful atmosphere of sincerity in which it began. The awful effect of such deception is exposed in the next chapter, when the Grecians were suspicious of the financial integrity even of those who managed the Church affairs!

       By such gifts the King of Israel was saved from the attacks of the King of Syria, when Elisha was able to tell him about the disposition of the Syrian armies (2 Kings 6:9), and Noah and his family were saved from destruction by the Flood (Genesis 6:17), combined with the accompanying Word of Wisdom, which enabled them to build an Ark which would be able to survive the catastrophe. Again, it was a word of knowledge which enabled Daniel to tell King Nebuchadnezzar his dream, and thus laid the foundation of his subsequent conversion (Daniel 2:29, 30, 47; 4:1-3) and saved the lives of Daniel and his companions.

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       Then again the Lord used this gift to convince Nathanael that He was the Son of God (John 1:49) and the Samaritan woman that He was Messiah, thus bringing the men of her city to a like faith (John 4:29, 39). Our Lord also was shown what was in the minds of His enemies and was thus enabled to deal with them (Mark 2:6-8). So, too, he knew from the beginning who it was that should betray Him, and so was forearmed against the shock when it came.

       On the other hand, through lack of seeking counsel from God and so receiving a Word of Knowledge from him, Joshua saddled Israel with the Gibeonites for hundreds of years against God's will (Joshua 9:14), and a rebellious Isaac was deceived by a lying Jacob (Genesis 27).

       In our own day this gift has been widely distributed to Evangelists such as Wigglesworth, Branham, Valdez, Nunn, Barratt and Williams and a host of others, to convince those who hear that God is indeed in the midst, and thus quicken their faith for salvation and healing. It is indeed most arresting to hear, for instance, Branham asking people if they will believe for healing if God will show him what is the matter with them and how it arose! So powerful is this gift that some who have never seen it in operation have not been afraid to accuse those who have it of trickery! But honest hearts believe and receive their healing. Branham has frequently been shown the exact situation which he would find when he arrived to pray for a sick person. Betty Baxter and her mother were told by the Lord the very day and hour at which he would heal her; and Valdez when in England, was shown what a pastor who came in late was thinking about the meeting.

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       A Word of Wisdom and a Word of Knowledge, then, differ from Prophecy, in that while Prophecy is undated and anonymous, and may deal with a present or far distant situation, they are to meet situations which are present and pressing. Prophecy again is to be spoken by the prophet to his hearers: these gifts need not be spoken at all, but may simply be used by the recipient to meet the present need, or may warn him of a hidden danger. Prophets may or may not have these gifts also, and those who possess these gifts may or may not be prophets also. It may be as well to stress again that these two gifts do not endow their possessor with the ability to speak with wisdom or knowledge of spiritual truths: they do not impart anything which is of continuous value in preaching or teaching, but are given when the recipients are in need of some special wisdom or knowledge to meet temporary situations such as have been outlined. The recipients are not wiser or more knowledgeable in spiritual truth than their neighbours in a general way—indeed like Holy Ann they may be very ignorant—but they are equipped by the Spirit from time to time with such wisdom or knowledge as is necessary to meet their difficulty or danger. The instances given in the Bible will suffice to show how very powerful these gifts are in the life of their possessor. Elisha, for instance, was surprised that the Lord had not told him of the death of the son of the Shunamite woman! (2 Kings 4:27). He was accustomed to live so close to God that he was never taken by surprise, but walked on earth in the light of Heaven! (John 11:9-10).

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