The Gift of Prophecy

“The Spirit of Prophecy”

The subjective reading of the expression “the testimony of Jesus” is further affirmed in Revelation 19:10, where it is equated with “the spirit of prophecy” (hē gar marturia Iēsou estin to pneuma tēs prophēteias). Two questions arise here. First, what is the meaning of the expression “the spirit of prophecy”? Second, why is “the testimony of Jesus” equated with the “spirit of prophecy”? GOP 193.2

The major difficulty with the expression “the spirit of prophecy” is that it occurs only here in Revelation 19:10 and nowhere else in the New Testament. Another difficulty is that John the revelator does not explicitly explain it anywhere in the book. The obvious reason for this is that the first-century readers of Revelation were undoubtedly familiar with the expression and, therefore, had little difficulty understanding exactly what John meant by this phrase. GOP 193.3

While it appears that the expression “the testimony of Jesus” was most likely coined by John, ¹⁴ the Jewish sources overwhelmingly show that the expression “the spirit of prophecy” was commonly used among the Jewish people at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation. As such, it exclusively referred to prophetic ministry. ¹⁵ The Jewish Encyclopedia explains that somewhere toward the end of the Second Temple period, the “Holy Spirit is at times identified with the spirit of prophecy.” ¹⁶ This equation can be observed, first of all, in the frequent occurrence of this phrase in the Targums—the Aramaic paraphrastic translations of the Old Testament used in the synagogue. Here are a few examples: GOP 193.4

Targum Onqelos to Genesis 41:38—“Thereupon the Pharaoh said to his servants: ‘Can we find a man like this in whom there is the spirit of prophecy from before the Lord’ ” ¹⁷ (so also Targum of Jonathan to Genesis 41:38). ¹⁸ GOP 193.5

Targum of Jonathan to Exodus 35:31 [regarding Bezael]—“. . . and fill him with a spirit of prophecy from before the Lord, with wisdom, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with every craft.” ¹⁹ GOP 193.6

Targum Onqelos to Numbers 11:25-29—“. . . the seventy elders; when the spirit of prophecy rested upon them, they began prophesying without ceasing. Now two men had remained behind in the camp . . . , yet the spirit of prophecy rested upon them though they were listed among the elders, but they had gone out of the Tent and prophesied in the camp. . . . Said Moses to him, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people be prophets in that the Lord would place the spirit of His prophecy’ ” ²⁰ (so also Targum of Jonathan to Numbers 11:25-29). GOP 194.1

Targum Onqelos to Numbers 27:18—“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Take Joshua, son of Nun, a man who has within himself the spirit of prophecy, and lay your hand on him.’ ” ²¹ GOP 194.2

Targum to 2 Chronicles 15:1—“The spirit of prophecy from before the Lord rested upon Azariah, the son of Oded.” ²² GOP 194.3

Targum to Isaiah 61:1—“The prophet said, ‘A spirit of prophecy before the Lord God is upon me,. . .’ ” ²³ The same in Targum to Ezekiel 11:5 and 41:38. ²⁴ GOP 194.4

Targum to Micah 3:7, 8—“And the false prophets shall be ashamed . . . because there is no spirit of prophecy from the Lord in them. But as for me, I am filled with the strength of the spirit of prophecy from the Lord.” ²⁵ GOP 194.5

These references are only representative; other similar texts may be added here. ²⁶ They all show how the phrase the spirit of prophecy was commonly used in the synagogue before and after the time of John to refer to “the Spirit of Yahweh which comes upon this or that prophet.” ²⁷ Since it was believed that all the prophets spoke by the Holy Spirit, “the most characteristic sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit is the gift of prophecy, in the sense that the person upon whom it rests beholds the past and the future.” ²⁸ GOP 194.6

Later rabbis held a similar view. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia explains: “In rabbinic literature, Ruach Hakodesh [Holy Spirit] is practically always the spirit of inspiration. The Spirit is referred to as the author of certain passages in the Bible, such as Song of Songs 8:5 or the passages in which God Himself is represented as speaking.” ²⁹ The rabbinical writings also show that rabbis widely believed that single biblical passages were “often considered as direct utterances of the Holy Spirit.” ³⁰ GOP 195.1

Although written in the post-New Testament period, it has been generally recognized that these sources reflect an earlier tradition, much of which goes back to the first century. ³¹ They show that for the first-century readers of Revelation the expression “the spirit of prophecy” meant the Holy Spirit who divinely inspires and empowers prophets to declare the message revealed and entrusted to them by God. This concept is attested also in the New Testament (cf. Luke 2:25-32; 2 Peter 1:21). GOP 195.2

At this point, a question arises: does the expression “the spirit of prophecy” refer to the Holy Spirit with whom all Christians are filled for their task of witnessing in the world, or does it refer to a specific gift of the Holy Spirit that distinguishes certain persons in the church from the rest of the believers? GOP 195.3

The above Jewish sources show that the expression “the spirit of prophecy” referred to the Holy Spirit speaking through specific persons called prophets, rather than to the whole body of believers in their prophetic role. This notion is also affirmed by Revelation 22:8, 9, which is clearly complementary to 19:10. ³² In both passages, John falls at the feet of the angel to worship him; and in both, the angel warns him not to do so. However, in Revelation 22:9, the angel explains that the “brethren who have the testimony of Jesus” of 19:10 are “the prophets.” Hermann Strathmann rightly observes: GOP 195.4

According to the parallel 22:9, the brothers referred to are not believers in general but the prophets. . . . This is the point of v.10c. If they have the marturia Iesou, they have the spirit of prophecy, i.e., they are prophets . . . like the angel who simply stands in the service of the marturia Iesou (cf. 1:1). ³³ GOP 195.5

That the concept of the Spirit bestowing the prophets with the prophetic gift is in view here is also affirmed by Revelation 22:6: “These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angels to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place.” The angel’s designation of himself as “a fellow servant with you and your brethren the prophets” is particularly significant in light of the fact that in the Old Testament the prophets were the servants of Yahweh (cf. Amos 3:7). GOP 195.6

The equation of “the testimony of Jesus” with “the spirit of prophecy” also shows that “the testimony of Jesus” does not refer to the historic testimony of Jesus while in the flesh, as argued by some scholars, ³⁴ but to His post resurrection testimony through the prophetic gift for the purpose of showing “the things which must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1). James Moffatt comments: GOP 196.1

“For the testimony or witness of (i.e., borne by) Jesus is (i.e., constitutes) the spirit of prophecy.” This prose marginal comment specifically defines the brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus as possessors of prophetic inspiration. The testimony of Jesus is practically equivalent to Jesus testifying (22:20). It is the self-revelation of Jesus which moves the Christian prophets. ³⁵ GOP 196.2

This assertion is further affirmed in the opening statement of the book (Rev. 1:1-3), which describes the chain of transmission of divine revelation from God to the church as a three-part process. The prologue tells us that the divine revelation begins with God. Jesus communicates the revelation through His angel to the prophet (in this case, to John) in a visionary presentation. John “bore witness” to the things shown to him in vision, which he refers to as “the word of God” and “the testimony of Jesus” (verse 2). These things he passed subsequently to the church as the words of prophecy (verse 3). GOP 196.3

Here and throughout the book, the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” is equated with “the word of God” (verses 2, 9; Rev. 20:4). The expression “the word of God” (ho logos tou theou) in the Greek Old Testament (LXX) refers regularly to the prophetic vision (cf. Hos. 1:1; Joel 1:1; Mic. 1:1; Hag. 1:1; Zech. 1:7). Thus, by referring to the contents of Revelation as “the word of God,” John shows that what he wrote down came from God in the same way as the messages of the Old Testament prophets. GOP 196.4

Thus we see that Revelation 1:1-3 shows that Jesus communicates “the word of God” to the prophets in vision as His own testimony, wherefrom it is “the testimony of Jesus.” This concept is emphasized also in Hebrews 1:1, which states that God, who in the past spoke through the prophets, now speaks through His Son. In the words of G. B. Caird: “It is the word spoken by God and attested by Jesus that the Spirit takes and puts into the mouth of the Christian prophets.” ³⁶ GOP 196.5

The prologue of Revelation thus seems to be the key to unlocking the meaning of the statement, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” It shows that “the testimony of Jesus” is “the word of God” conveyed by Christ as His testimony to the church by means of “the spirit of prophecy.” ³⁷ It is referred to as “the spirit of prophecy” because it is the Spirit who inspires and puts into the mouth of the prophet the words of Christ enabling them to communicate the prophetic word to God’s people on earth (2 Peter 1:20, 21). When the prophet transmits “the testimony of Jesus Christ” to the church, the church is to receive it as the “words of the prophecy” (Rev. 1:1). This is also further evidence that “the testimony of Jesus” is the self-revelation of Jesus to His church given through the gift of prophecy. GOP 196.6