Noble D. Vater

To the law and to the testimony:

if they speak not according to this word,

it is because there is no light in them.

Isaiah 8:20

The problem of false prophets is one that has existed from the day in which the serpent lied to Eve; and it will exist until Christ comes to destroy the iniquitous one that as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:4). It is important to note (as a concordance will verify) that, in the writings of Paul, the phrase the temple of God always refers to the church.

In the days of Isaiah there existed people who consulted divines (i.e., fortune-tellers) and charmers. In the face of this reality, the Lord indicated with emphasis that there is only one source of information regarding His people’s faith and their manner of acting; and that is His holy Word, called in Isaiah 8:20 the Law (which expresses His will which we must do) and the Testimony (which expresses His will which we must believe).

If false prophets were always fortune-tellers, charmers, or servants of other gods, the problem would not be as dangerous as it is. However, many times the false prophets are found among the people of the Lord. In the Old Covenant they would do their work in the name of the Lord (YHWH or Jehovah); now they do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord has given clear warning of this in His Word.

Many will say to me in that day,

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?

and in thy name have cast out devils?

and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23

Paul warned the elders of Ephesus,

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Acts 20:30

Likewise, after describing his ministry and what true prophecy is (2 Peter 1:1-2, 13-21), Peter said in chapter 2, verse 1, …there were false prophets also among the people (i.e., Israel), even as there shall be false teachers among you….

It is important to note Peter’s change from the term false prophets among the Old Testament people to the term false teachers among the New Testament people. The New Testament times are not characterized by prophets.

In the New Testament lists, when the terms prophets and teachers appear, there is a strictly observed order: first apostles; then prophets; then teachers. We see this in 1 Corinthians

12:28-29; Ephesians 2:20 and 3:5; and Revelation 18:20.

Ephesians 4:11 follows the same order-first apostles, next prophets, later teachers. Although this passage adds the term evangelists before pastors and teachers, the terms apostles and prophets remain in first and second place.

Together with the apostles, the prophets have a unique place in the church. We see this from the connection between them in Ephesians 3:5 (…it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets…) and Revelation 18:20 (…holy apostles and prophets…). The place of the apostles and prophets is not in the superstructure—the building or temple raised upon the foundation, but in the foundation itself, as we see in Ephesians 2:19-20.

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,

but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner;

in Whom all the building fitly framed together

groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord…

One who asserts that there are still prophets now would have just as much reason to assert (as the Roman catholics do) that there are apostles, also, or an apostolic succession. However, the foundation of Christ’s church has been completed. To affirm that there are still prophets (as though the foundation were still being constructed) is to destroy the divine order (apostles, prophets, teachers), and set oneself in defiance of the Word of God.

Isaiah 8:20 tells us that the Word of God is sufficient for all that is done (the Law) and is believed (the Testimony). In so doing, it also gives us a norm or standard to judge any claim or teaching proposed by any person: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

This teaching of the sufficiency of the divine Word appears in many parts of the Bible, but especially in the New Testament. In fact, in Isaiah 8:18 (in the immediate context of this declaration of Isaiah on the sufficiency of Scripture, Isaiah 8:20) we find a statement which Hebrews 2:13 attributes to Jesus, the Messiah (see Hebrews 2:9ff ).

In the New Testament (John 15:15) we read that the Lord Jesus Christ said to His apostles, All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

He Himself is the truth (John 14:6); and all the treasures of wisdom, and all the fullness of God, dwell in Him (Colossians 1:19; 2:3,9).

He promised the apostles, The Comforter, the Holy Ghost …shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. …When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth (John 14:26; 16:13).

That is why Paul could say, I kept back nothing that was profitable, but have shewed you, and have taught you…. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God (Acts 20:20,27).

Jude (verse 3) exhorted his readers that they should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Paul exhorted, Put on the whole armor of God, including the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Ephesians 6:11,17). It would be impossible to put on the whole armor if some of the divine revelation is still missing (centuries later).

Of special importance is Second Timothy 3:16-17. All Scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, in order that the man of God be proficient, completely furnished unto every good work.

Because of this, we must reject the claim of anyone who says he has a message from God, regarding faith and the conduct based on it, which does not proceed from the Scriptures. We must stand with the saints of the past, with the reformers, and with those that have struggled, crying out, Sola Scriptura! Scripture Alone!

In the face of this threat, we must confess anew what Baptist and Reformed churches used to confess: The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture (from Point 6 of Chapter 1, 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith); and those former ways of God’s revealing His will unto His people being now ceased, this maketh the Holy Scriptures to be most necessary for man (from Point 1 of Chapter 1, 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith).

It is almost useless to examine the practices and the messages of those that supposedly come with messages from on high: if a person does not believe in what the Lord says regarding the sufficiency of His Word, neither will He believe in other things that the Bible teaches. If he twists one part of the Bible, he will twist another part. He who errs (or is mistaken) in the doctrine of the Scriptures will err (be mistaken) in many other matters of faith and practice.

Peter said that the prophecy of Joel was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, as we read in Acts 2:1,14,16-17 (citing Joel 2:28).

And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

…But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them,

“…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:

and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God,

I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh;

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy…”

Yet, those who claim that prophetic revelation continues do not believe that Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost. Rather, they expect us to believe that what characterized the coming of the Spirit still characterizes His continued working; but the Scriptures teach the contrary.

In many cases there has been an enslavement (or bondage) of the human conscience to so-called revelations and messages from God, which do not come out of the Bible but out of the human spirit. The weak and untaught, sincere persons who lack knowledge, have lived oppressed in their consciences.

Meanwhile, those that do not want to do the will of God according to the Scriptures find refuge in the belief that there are extra-biblical (i.e., from outside of the Scriptures) “revelations”; and they hope in, and wait upon, such things, instead of following what is written.

We recognize also that there are persons who, rightly and with good reason, reject the so- called prophets and their messages; but, wrongly and without good reason, do not want to submit to the Law and to the Testimony of God, but to their own ideas and preferences, or to the ideas of others that support the desires and sentiments of their own flesh.

Jesus taught His disciples (John 14:23), If a man love me, he will keep My words; and He prayed to the Father for His people (John 17:17), Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth. He declared, with reference to His true disciples (John 8:32) …ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Oh, that all could see the liberty that comes through believing and obeying the truth which God has given in the Scriptures—the Law and the Testimony!

—Translated and adapted from an article by Noble D. Vater, published originally in the magazine Heraldo de Gracia, 1981, #4.