CHAPTER THREE

Prophecy

WE ARE NOW entering upon the study of "the greater gifts", and it may be well to begin by the consideration of a misapprehension, which is responsible for a great deal of spiritual poverty. We are inclined to think that the real prophets of Israel were far superior to us, and much nearer to God than we are, and that we cannot expect, e.g., to prophesy as they did. This is a false humility which directly contradicts the words of Our Lord. When the disciples of John Baptist came to question Him, he stated that John was a prophet and more than a prophet, and indeed that of men born of women there had not arisen a greater than he; but He immediately went on to assert that the least in the Kingdom of God was greater than John Baptist, because born of God, and therefore as a Son of God he was more privileged than any son of man, or even any angel. And He warned the disciples to call no man on earth father, for God in Heaven was now their Father; and to forget this would be to shut their minds to the glory of what had happened to them.

It is right to think as poorly as we will of our past selves, but not to minimise the exceeding grace of Our Lord, who is not ashamed to call us brethren. If God then used His servants as prophets, for Moses was faithful in all his house as