(Prophecy)
Many people think prophecy is strictly a prediction or divine word from some god telling what will happen in the future. While this is Biblically a big part of prophecy, it’s not the full meaning of it.
Prophecy is really just any word or message from God himself to a human: this message from God can include what will happen in the future, but it could also include commands and comments. The human who God chooses to receive this message and communicate with is called a prophet. A prophet is usually a human who God chooses to speak to in visions/dreams and also to work with; but usually after receiving the message this prophet is required to tell others/a specific group about the message.
Abraham was a prophet:
According to God himself, Abraham was a prophet:
Genesis 20:7
“...the man [Abraham]…he is a prophet…he will pray for you and you will live…”
However, Abraham was never really given messages about future events to tell other people (what a typical prophet would do). Instead, God just commanded him to go to a foreign land, trust in his promises and obey his commands.
​Though Abraham was at one time told about future events, these messages were not really meant to be told to anyone else: they were for him and his special son and his descendants alone. However, Abraham was considered a prophet because God choose to directly communicate with him, listen to him, and use him for his plan, more so than other humans.
Therefore, a prophet is just a human who God chooses to use for a specific plan and directly communicates with.
This would mean Adam and Noah were prophets as well, though most people/Christians do not really think of them as that.
This trend continued as God chose and worked with Abraham’s descendants: specifically, Isaac, and especially Israel (Jacob), Moses (and Moses’s siblings Aaron and Miriam), Sampson, Samuel, and King David
(King David is another good example of a person that is usually not considered a prophet but is clearly considered a prophet in the Bible as told about 1,000 years after his life by Paul:
Acts 1:29-20
“David…was a prophet…”
But King David was very unique among people who are called prophets: because he never seems to directly hear God speaking to him like all other prophets do: David had always heard God’s commands for him indirectly through other prophets [at first Samuel informed him God had chosen him to be king and then his personal prophet Nathan kept informing him of what God wanted to say to David] though it seems David needed other prophets that God directly spoke to to truly understand his will ,nevertheless David is considered a prophet. Because God choose to work through him and make him king of Israel as well as blessing his descendants in a permanent place of royalty forever, as well as, inspiring some of his lyrics [either directly or indirectly] to tell what would happen in the future in his music used in temple worship in Israel [the lyrics are now found in the book of Psalms] in fact this is why Peter says David was a prophet because he foresaw the messiah’s resurrection as he explains in one of his lyrics he quotes from:
Acts 1:27-31
“
(quoting Psalms 16:11)
‘‘...you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, you will not let your holy one see decay…’
…he was a prophet…Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay.’” )
However, in the later prophets God used (those after king Solomon’s reign in Israel: which would be around after 930 B.C.) prophecy concerning future events was a very big part of their messages from God, so prophecy became almost totally associated with strictly future prophecy.
At this point, a prophet became someone who usually told what was going to happen in the future (even though there is much more to prophecy and a prophet than that).
But still notice, a prophet still had to be told a message from God concerning the future:
Ezekiel 35:1
“...The word (message) of the Lord came to me:…”
And God would also command them to say certain things to their target audience (mostly Israel) like he did before:
Ezekiel 36:1
“Son of man (Ezekiel), prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say,…”
Even though prophecy is so much more than just a message from God concerning future events, that doesn’t make this type of prophecy any less important. Prophecy about future events is a very important: it lets people who hear it (or read it) understand what is suppose to happen next thus giving news in advance. God gives future prophecy so his people in the present can possibly understand what is going to happen and also so his people in the future can know what will happen, what is happening or what even has already happened (called fulfilled prophecy).