Different kinds of Christian events attract different personalities and something as simple as the title of an event can make a huge difference in terms of who will be motivated to participate. Incorporating the word ‘Prophetic’ into the title is one effective way to draw a sell-out crowd. Why is it that as believers we are captivated by the prophetic? Probably all of us have attended events where prophetic words are being delivered. We can easily find ourselves quietly engaging our mind control ray to ‘will’ the prophet to call out our name, to point in our direction, to look us in the eye and give us that treasured ‘word’. Why is it that the prophetic is so captivating? Are we simply obsessed with the future or is it something deeper that draws us?

Personal words of prophecy can certainly have a powerful impact. In late 2009 I was just beginning to emerge from a very difficult season in my life. It seemed like everything had imploded and the future looked incredibly bleak in terms of our ministry role and expression. At that time I was given a predictive prophetic word that was a great source of encouragement to me in the midst of a very dark valley. I still go back and listen to it from time to time, recognising that much of it has already come to pass but that there are other aspects still to be fulfilled. If you’re interested you can listen to it here (remember that at the time I was emerging from great brokenness and disillusionment). Prophetic words of this kind supernaturally strengthen, encourage and comfort us (1 Cor 14:3). But is there more to the prophetic than this? Is there a deeper life-giving flow? What core part of me is being ministered to that hungers for words like these?

Many years ago I heard a message entitled ‘Prophetic Evangelism and the Father Heart of God.’ At the time it seemed like a tall order to cover these two topics in just 45 minutes, but what the speaker unveiled was that they weren’t two topics but one. Contemporary examples were given of God revealing dramatically accurate words of knowledge and prophecy for different individuals; laying bare their past, their present and their future. I think that without exception all of us love to receive words like these, not just so we can be inspired towards our future BUT because it unveils God’s heart towards us personally — He really knows me! He really understands me! He is with me in my circumstances! He believes in me! He LOVES me! God’s heart towards us is unveiled, indeed He Himself is seen. The prophetic unveils to our hearts the very heart and person of God Himself.

This begs another important question: If the prophetic powerfully unveils the very heart of God to our hearts, what is the highest expression of the prophetic? If personal prophecy is the micro expression, what is the macro expression? The opening salvo of the Book of Hebrews answers this question simply and categorically:

“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son… the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…”

Every prophetic expression that came prior to the Son is merely a foreshadowing, an incomplete expression that is surpassed and made complete by the exact representation – Jesus, the Living Word of God. Of course there are numerous examples of Jesus delivering personal and even corporate words of prophecy in the pages of the Gospels, but Jesus’ prophetic expression is much more than these – He continually unveils the very heart and person of the Father through every word, phrase, tone, action, miracle, touch, facial expression… indeed all of the time and through every single thing he says and does; ‘Whatever the Father does the son does also… for I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it… The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me…  Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!’ Jesus’ heart is in complete love-union with the heart of His Father.

This brings clear understanding of another well quoted Scripture in the book of Revelation:

‘The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy!’ (19:10 ESV)

Jesus is not just a prophet He is The Prophet. His perfect and tireless testimony during His life and ministry on earth was all about one person: His Father. Jesus, the one who is the pinnacle and perfect expression of the prophetic, unveils and pours into our hearts the very heart of the Eternal Father. He does so through every aspect of His being, through His every word and through His every action. Personal words of prophecy are just the starting place. The highest and most complete expression of the prophetic is this: The Eternal Father made manifest through the entire life of the Eternal Son. Sonship.

We can be captivated with the prophetic at every level without really knowing why… Why? Because the prophetic unveils the deepest longing of our hearts, it always leads our hearts home to the heart of our loving Eternal Father. The more our hearts come into love-union with His, the more we are conformed to His love by His love, the more we journey together with Him in sonship, the more His person and nature will be made manifest in us and through us to a thirsty world.