11:28
One of the prophets named Agabus predicted a severe famine over the entire Roman world. It says "he stood up and through the Spirit ....". This is clearly presented as a "God thing". We are also told that it happened during the reign of Claudius. Luke grounds his accounts, both here and in his gospel, on two foundations. One is the work of God, especially through the Holy Spirit in Acts, and the other is in historical reality. Going back to the cessationist thing, the prophesied word here has no direct doctrinal value, i.e. It concerns an immediate event. There is no reason that God should cease from giving such words. That is not to say that a number of so-called prophetic words today are just so much hot air. Prophecy is still part of God's working with the church, but we need to use discernment.
11:29,30
In response to the prophetic word the disciples took action. They collected together help for the Christians living in Judea. They then sent the gift to the elders in Judea via Barnabas and Saul. So they took direct action in response to the prophetic word. If it is God speaking, then He speaks in order to get a response.
No comments:
Post a Comment