How God and Prophets Interact

Prophets clearly recognize the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in their role as God’s messengers. Peter well understood this relationship: “Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).MOL 12.4

Note Saul’s experience: “When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him [Saul], and he prophesied among them” (1 Samuel 10:10).MOL 12.5

Ezekiel often referred to the Holy Spirit’s presence: “Then the Spirit entered me when He spoke to me, and set me on my feet; and I heard Him who spoke to me” (Ezekiel 2:2; see also 3:12, 14, 24; 8:3; 11:5; 37:1).MOL 12.6

How did the prophet recognize the presence and power of the Spirit? By out-of-the-ordinary visions and dreams—and by the accompanying physical phenomena. Many have been the fulfillments of God’s promise that “If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision, and I speak to him in a dream” (Numbers 12:6). (The Biblical record does not make a clear distinction between a prophetic vision and a prophetic dream, the terms often being used interchangeably.)MOL 12.7

In Daniel 10, the prophet described some of the physical phenomena accompanying “this great vision” (Daniel 10:8). Although he “was in a deep sleep on my face... to the ground,” he was able to hear “the sound of his words” (Daniel 10:9). Others were with Daniel when he was in vision but he “alone saw the vision” (Daniel 10:7).MOL 12.8

Daniel was physically changed while in vision: “No strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned to frailty in me, and I retained no strength” (Daniel 10:8).MOL 12.9

Whatever may have been the particular phenomena accompanying a vision or dream, prophets knew that God was speaking to them.MOL 12.10

What we know about the prophets’ messages and how they delivered them is recorded in the Bible. Originally, not all the messages as we have them today were in written form. Some were public sermons, some were letters to friends or to church groups, some were official announcements by kings to their people. Some of the inspired prophetic writings were not even original with the prophets.MOL 12.11

Out of the plentiful prophetic messages presented over several thousand years, God has supervised a compilation that we call the Bible. This sampling has been preserved for one purpose: “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come” (1 Corinthians 10:11).MOL 13.1