The people had heard many visions and prophecies, many of them false, and had become weary of them. This had reached the point where the people started to despise prophecy, treating it with indifference.
The Lord's answer to this would be to put an end to this proverb, and He would do so by fulfilling the prophecies which had indeed come from Him. Moreover, there would be an end to false prophecies.
The people, even if they admitted that Ezekiel was a man of God, said the visions would only happen in the distant future, so they could safely ignore them. God would show how wrong they were.
This short passage has relevance to prophecy today. The first thing we can learn is that we must not prophecy lightly, claiming every notion or idea that passes through our minds is a "word from God". The end result of such behaviour is that all words are treated with contempt.
Secondly, our reaction should not be to dismiss all prophecy, but to test all prophecy, as the New Testament instructs. To dismiss all prophecy is as disobedient to God as to glibly accept anything and everything.
Thirdly, this passage speaks of "flattering divinations". We need to be careful when people give flattering words. They should be tested very carefully.
So how do we test for the validity of prophecy? I am not going to attempt to give a complete answer (partly because I don't have one!), but here are a few pointers:
The Lord's answer to this would be to put an end to this proverb, and He would do so by fulfilling the prophecies which had indeed come from Him. Moreover, there would be an end to false prophecies.
The people, even if they admitted that Ezekiel was a man of God, said the visions would only happen in the distant future, so they could safely ignore them. God would show how wrong they were.
This short passage has relevance to prophecy today. The first thing we can learn is that we must not prophecy lightly, claiming every notion or idea that passes through our minds is a "word from God". The end result of such behaviour is that all words are treated with contempt.
Secondly, our reaction should not be to dismiss all prophecy, but to test all prophecy, as the New Testament instructs. To dismiss all prophecy is as disobedient to God as to glibly accept anything and everything.
Thirdly, this passage speaks of "flattering divinations". We need to be careful when people give flattering words. They should be tested very carefully.
So how do we test for the validity of prophecy? I am not going to attempt to give a complete answer (partly because I don't have one!), but here are a few pointers:
- It must be in line with the Bible. If it is not, then it is definitely not of God. Now if it is in line with the Bible, then that does not necessarily mean it is a "word from God", but even if we get it wrong the consequences of any error will not be less serious!
- True prophecy usually requires a change on our part.
- Encouraging words are normally given to those going through difficult circumstances.
- Prophecy does not stand by itself, it will normally be consistent with other things that God is doing in our lives.
- We need to distinguish between conviction and guilt. False prophets may use guilt to try and get us to make a decision of some sort (often to give money!). When God speaks He convicts of sin. Two key elements of Godly conviction are (i) it is clear, not ambiguous; (ii) there is a clear way out (a path of repentance).
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