The Abiding Gift of Prophecy

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Instruction to Our First Parents

With this comforting information and hope, our first parents went forth from the presence of God and their heavenly associates. They were now in the enemy’s land—in the dominion Satan had wrested from them, and in which he had established his kingdom of rebellion. Here they were to witness the cruel outworking of sin. Yet through the long dark night of the reign of sin there would be shining clear rays from the world of light from which they had been expelled. There was to be manifested in their behalf the mighty power of God, redeeming them from the power of sin. Thus they were “prisoners of hope.” Zechariah 9:12. AGP 37.3

The purpose of God for their redemption they had heard declared in Eden, and, now outside its gates, they must have it clearly, fully, and promptly set forth. This was imperative if they were to start right and keep right. Surely the Lord would cause them to understand His great plan of salvation. He would not leave them in the enemy’s land in ignorance, uncertainty, and peril, without communicating with them. AGP 37.4

An abundance of evidence indicates that the Lord began at once to unfold to this sorrowing pair His plan to redeem them, to bring them back to the beautiful Edenic home they had lost. How was this instruction given? The relation to their Creator AGP 37.5

was entirely changed. Consider the situation. They could no longer see Him face to face, nor have open communion with Him. Are we not driven to the conclusion that then, in their time of great need, the Lord began to make Himself and His purposes known through the divinely appointed gift of prophecy? Was it not at that time that the prophetic gift was graciously imparted to the human family? This appears evident from the following inspired statement by Zacharias at the birth of his son, John the Baptist: “Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began: that we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; … that He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life.” Luke 1:67-75. AGP 38.1