Summer 1986
Prophecy and the Prophet
Edited from an article by
Seeley Kinne

Contact Jehovah and you will become like Him. The closer the contact the more you partake of His nature. He is such a fountain of life that He imparts life to all who approach Him. This life and nature and imparting power is also in Jesus Christ. "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is". "Draw night to God, and He will draw night to you". James 4:8and I John 3:2.

There are varying degrees of experience and relationship with God, as is taught by many Scripture illustrations: as the court, holy place, most holy, the tabernacle and temple; Moses, high priest, priests, Levites, tribes in Israel; David's kingdom and army; greatest and least in the Kingdom, and many others.

"In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth." 2 Tim 2:20. The Kingdom of God is indeed a great house, in which are many vessels, varying in quality, capacity, rank and order. It requires extensive and particular course of preparation, as will be realized, one gets a revelation of an accomplished vessel and his work.

Prophecy is the utterance of a prophet. A prophet is a man of God, that is a man who has partaken of God, partaken of the Divine nature, eaten the flesh and drank the blood of Christ, the true bread of God.

It is not generally understood what prophecy really is. It is God speaking by the mouth of man. Yes, it is more than that. "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life". John 6:63. True words of prophecy are spirit words and words of life. "The Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power". 1 Cor 4:20.

"My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power". 1 Cor 2:4. To merely speak the words of the Divine truths without experimental knowledge of them is to be a Pharisee. Jesus said of them: "They say and do not." The Almighty is the farthest possibly removed from anything like that. His words are full of life and power. Christ has nothing in common with Pharisees.

The Son of God to become the Saviour of men must be the man Jesus Christ: a babe in a manger, a boy in the temple, a man, a carpenter, baptized of John. And He received witness of His Father from Heaven: a voice saying, "This is My beloved Son:" and the Spirit in the form of a dove, descending upon Him. One would suppose He would at once begin His ministry, but instead, "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil".

Jesus must know the vicissitudes and sufferings of man with the various attacks, insinuations and temptations of Satan, so malicious and painful. "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin". Heb 4:15.

Not only did Christ personally meet and vanquish Satan, but among the people in His ministry He met and shared their temptations, trials, problems and sufferings. He eats with publicans and sinners, they said, He was too familiar with the common people to suit the high religionists of that time. They had theories to promulgate, but He had life, spirit, power to impart. And He must know, not by observation but by experience, our afflictions and heart aches, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest.

When Jesus spoke it was the prophetic word, gracious, full of life, Spirit and power. The dead came to life, lepers were cleansed, the lame leaped, the blind saw and life sprang up wherever His Word came. For He not only spoke, He had compassion, He felt, He knew, He experienced and lived in the life of the uttered Word. This is a marvelous mystery, that Jesus not only spoke the Word: He was the Word. (John 1:1-5) He said: "I proceeded and came forth from God". "Proceeded as the living Word, from the Father, and came forth into the world, a Messenger sent by the Father". John 8:42.

The procession of the Word, the Son from the Father, is a most profound mystery; and can only be rightly understood as God reveals it to one. The mystery of the spoken word proceeding from the Living Son of God, the Word, is very wonderful too. That same infinite power that is in God the Almighty Father and in Christ the Almighty Son, is in their spoken proceeding Word. Nothing of it can fail. "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven". Psalms 119:89.

And so of Jesus the God-man, not only does the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily in Him, but the fullness of man and his nature also. Jesus not only knew us by our creation, by observation and discernment, but He participated in our thoughts and feelings, partook of our nature, and became sharer in our joy sand sorrows, our pleasures and pains, and all our vicissitudes: a merciful and faithful High Priest, in all points tempted and tried.

If then we men are to become His ministers and share the eternal Word in its speaking forth: and we are; for the procession or coming forth of the Word does not end with the Son, but the Word of God was preached of Paul, and the early ministry. Acts 17:13, 19:20.

He who proclaims the Word of God must first partake thereof himself. He must eat the book. "The husbandman must first be partaker of the fruit". He cannot speak the Word mechanically as a mere machine, like Balaam's dumb ass. But first shall enter into its fellowship, and experience its meaning and life. This is a living essential truth that lies at the foundation of the prophetic word of God. It cannot be evaded without becoming pharisaical.

"Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly". "Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink". "Out of his inmost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit". Col 3:16, John 7:37.

To become a co-worker with God in dispensing the Word of God, is a most exalted ministry of prophecy. But it requires being a partaker of the Word of God before one can become a dispenser thereof. Natural water carries in solution the elements of food. The water of life is the Spirit of Christ carrying the Word of God, His words and gifts. A prophet is a dispenser of the Word of God and its mirac