Prophecy in the Old Testament is a direct revelation from God directed to the world through the tongues of the prophets. The prophets are not only those who have special books named after them, but also those who contributed to the history of salvation, such as Moses, Elijah, Nathan, David, and others. These prophets prophesied many prophecies, including those concerning the history and destiny of the people of Israel or the history and destiny of all humanity. In general, the prophecies warned of what God would do if the people continued to turn away from Him and be unfaithful to Him. Most of them also referred to the tragedies that will strike sinners, but on the other hand, they stressed God’s mercy and forgiveness, stressing that God remains faithful to His covenants.

The other topic that all prophecies deal with is the coming of the Messiah, which the people were waiting for. According to these prophecies, Christ is the last of the prophets, the one who inaugurates a new era in which all believers in his name will be a prophetic people, meaning that all who belong to him are responsible for the word of God and for conveying the will of God to the world. The Son of God was incarnated and became a human being and his blood on the cross inaugurated this era, and the church, that is, the community of believers, became the place of prophecy.

There is a lot of talk about Christ in the New Testament as the expected prophet. The Evangelist John, after narrating the incident of the multiplication of loaves, says: “When the people saw the sign that Jesus brought, they said, ‘Truly, this is the prophet who is coming into the world’” (6:14). But the people were not yet aware of the meaning of Christ’s message, because they were waiting for a prophet who would lead a national movement to restore the kingdom to Israel. When Jesus told them that he would be handed over to death and that he would not establish an earthly kingdom, but rather came calling people to repent, “then many of his disciples backslid and stopped walking with him” (John 6:66).

The Apostle Peter also mentioned in his sermon before the people in the courtyard of the Temple that the Messiah who was killed by the Jews was none other than the awaited prophet whom Moses spoke about. He said: “So Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up from among your brothers a prophet like me. So listen to him in everything he says to you. If he does not listen to that prophet, he will be cut off from the people” (Acts 3:22-23). But it did not occur to Moses or the prophets who repeated his words after him, that that awaited prophet would be the Son of God Himself or the incarnate Word of God.

The fact that Christ is the incarnate Word of God is a fulfillment of the prophecies that indicated that God will speak directly to all people, as stated in the book of the prophet Isaiah, who compares the people to a wife, and says: “For a moment I left you, and with great mercies I will embrace you. In anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting compassion I will have mercy on you” (Isaiah 54:7-8). The Prophet Jeremiah says in regard to the new covenant that God will establish with his people: “No longer will every man teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” ( Jeremiah 31:34).

At the top of the gifts enumerated by the Apostle Paul comes the gift of prophecy: “Seek love and aspire to the gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy” (1 Corinthians 14:1). The Holy Spirit is the One who distributes talents and gifts, and He is the One who speaks to believers who suffer persecutions and remain steadfast in their faith: “It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in your tongue” (Matthew 10:19), and it is He who makes every believer prophesy when the faith is sincere: “And upon my servants And I will pour out my faith in those days, and they will prophesy” (Acts 2:18).

Prophecy does not therefore mean predicting the future. A prophet is someone who speaks under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and reveals the secret of God’s management and will in the present circumstance. We are all called to be prophets, and this we achieve thanks to Jesus Christ, who allowed us to be children of God because he is the Son of God, who allowed us to become heirs with him in the kingdom because he is the heir, and thus we become prophets because he is the Prophet. Prophecy begins with the fulfillment of God’s will. This means making the “Our Father” prayer that the Lord Jesus taught us a real reality, especially when we say: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” so we work to achieve His will, not ours.

From my parish bulletin 1998